Overlook - Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Overlook

Overlook

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The Robert W. Wilson Overlook is an ascending garden with spectacular views of Cherry Esplanade and the Cranford Rose Garden. Its winding path, shaped by smooth walls with integrated benches, leads visitors through a lush and ever-evolving landscape filled with summer-flowering crape-myrtle trees, ornamental grasses, and herbaceous perennials. The innovative switchback path allows better access to the Garden for visitors of all abilities.

The structure, named in recognition of the late Robert W. Wilson, a former Brooklyn Botanic Garden trustee, was designed by architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi and echoes the adjacent Steinberg Visitor Center, also designed by Weiss/Manfredi. The accessible route encourages visitor engagement with the Garden's landscape through the creation of communal gathering spaces and new vantage points.

The Robert W. Wilson Overlook was longlisted in the prestigious Dezeen Awards in 2022, and won in the Urban Planning/Landscape Architecture category at the 2023 International Architecture Awards.

Highlights

two adults and a child sitting on a park bench see from behind
A family at the top of the Overlook in late summer. Photo by Michael Stewart.
a monarch butterfly among wildflowers
A monarch among the meadow plantings in summer. Photo by Michael Stewart.
The pink flowers of Lagerstroemia 'Choctaw' (crape-myrtle),
Lagerstroemia ‘Choctaw’ (crape-myrtle) blooming in summer. Photo by Alvina Lai.
Lagerstroemia ‘Choctaw’ (crape-myrtle). Photo by Alvina Lai.
pink blossooming cherry trees on a green lawn
The view of Cherry Esplanade in spring. Photo by Rebecca Bullene.
Rendering of Robert W. Wilson Overlook opening in 2019. Courtesy of Weiss/Manfredi.
The orange leaves and cinnamon bark ofLagerstroemia ‘Muskogee’ (crape myrtle).
Lagerstroemia ‘Muskogee’ (crape-myrtle) and its autumn leaves. Photo by Lee Patrick.
Lagerstroemia ‘Muskogee’ (crape myrtle) and its autumn leaves. Photo by Lee Patrick.

Garden Layout

Show larger version of Overlook Map a map of the Overlook

Learn More

New Overlook Now Open
Bloom Alert: Crape-Myrtle
Robert W. Wilson Overlook Opens at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Image, top of page: Michael Stewart