Rockview prison greenhouse to be transplanted to Boal Mansion

Transplanting is nothing new for a greenhouse. It’s where new plants are born and grow until they can be moved somewhere else.

The greenhouse on the grounds of Rockview state prison is still full of leaves and plants, but they are the ones that have taken it over slowly since the old Victorian structure of glass and wood was abandoned in 2000.

It isn’t the vines twining through broken windows or weeds clustering around the stone foundation that are being transplanted — it’s the building itself.

The greenhouse has been sold to the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum. After working out the details, the museum picked up the period building for the bargain price of $65.

What will take some real green, however, is the restoration. According to museum director Bob Cameron, that could cost about $100,000.

“We could build a greenhouse on-site cheaper, but it would just be a modern greenhouse. You would lose all this history,” he said.

The aged nursery looks like something out of a turn-of-the-century ghost story, like it should be nestled in the backyard of a stately home. That is where it will be going.

The plan, Cameron said, is to take the building, which dates back to the start of operations around 1915 at Rockview, and move it to the museum, where it will be placed over what used to be an old swimming pool at the 200-year-old property. The pool will be excavated, allowing the greenhouse to become a home to trees instead of seedlings.

The hope is to create a tropical rainforest-type environment and use it to raise butterflies.

That would be a real change from the state Department of Corrections use, which was much more practical. For decades, the greenhouse was part of the prison’s agricultural operations that helped feed the inmate population.

According to Facilities Maintenance Manager Michael Wenrich, the greenhouse fell out of use when the facility outgrew it and opened a larger, but less picturesque, operation. When the prison was first opened, it had a population of 1,012 inmates. Today, it houses 2,401 at Rockview alone, while its sister operation at Benner Township next door holds another 2,050.

The number of people wasn’t the only thing that changed over the years. The greenhouse did, too. You can see it in the spaces between the wood frames.

The glass over the door is thicker and decoratively laced in a spiderweb pattern, which Cameron said is common to the era’s architecture. The smaller rectangular panes around the edges are of varying ages, but mostly thin, clear plates that could have been replaced multiple times over the years. Many of those are missing or shattered or gape like broken teeth around the perimeter.

Overhead, the long, thin planks of glass were replaced at some point — probably in the 1960s or ’70s — with sheets of fiberglass. Those have also fallen with time, darkened and bending out of place.

The fiberglass was more efficient than the single-paned glass. Cameron said what fills the frames next will be a new evolution that brings the antique greenhouse a new modern functionality. He wants to partner with others who can help make decisions about the glass that will make it more practical in a state with long, cold winters. He thinks Penn State will be a valuable resource.

That move may be the easiest part.

“I’ve moved 24 historic buildings,” Cameron said.

The greenhouse should come apart easily. He pointed to five arches where it should disconnect like a toy model. The rusting gears and supports would be cleaned and restored. The doors falling off their hinges would be taken all the way off. The whole thing would be reconstructed over new concrete walls on the site.

What will take time will be all the prep work along the way. Cameron said it could take up to nine months just to get permits and other preparations in place.

And then there are the volunteers.

Wenrich said the inmates in the Community Work Program would help with dismantling the building. But Cameron can use other people to help bring the greenhouse back to life at the mansion.

According to Cameron, the Boal Mansion plays host to thousands of visitors annually. In 2017, guests have come from every continent but Antarctica, from 26 countries and from almost every state in the union.

“It’s like the American ‘Downton Abbey,’ ” he said.

The greenhouse would be a perfect complement.

“This is a perfect example of architecture at that period,” Cameron said. “We are excited to be able to preserve it.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Rockview prison greenhouse to be transplanted to Boal Mansion."