Sonnenberg Gardens
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Sonnenberg Mansion
Show map of New York Show map of the United States
Location	250 Gibson Street.,Canandaigua, New York
Coordinates	42°54′0″N77°16′21″W / 42.90000°N 77.27250°W /42.90000; -77.27250
Built	1887
Architect	Bowditch, Ernest; John Handrahan.
Architectural style	Queen Anne[1]
NRHP reference No.	73001240
Added to NRHP	September 28, 1973[2]

Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park is a 50-acre (20 ha)state park^[3] located at 151 Charlotte Street inCanandaigua,New York, at the north end ofCanandaigua Lake, in theFinger Lakes region ofUpstate New York. The house and gardens are open to the public every day, May through October.

The property was once the summer home ofFrederick Ferris Thompson, a prominent banker in New York City, and his wifeMary Clark Thompson, whose father,Myron Holley Clark, wasGovernor of New York State in 1855. The Clark family was from Canandaigua. Mr. & Mrs. Thompson's main home was in NYC in a large townhouse on Madison Avenue. The Thompsons purchased the Sonnenberg property in 1863, keeping the name, Sonnenberg (which means "sunny hill" in German). In 1887, they replaced the original farmhouse with a forty-roomQueen Anne stylemansion. The property also had a 100-acre (40 ha) farm to the east. Sonnenberg's gardens were designed and built between 1902 and 1919, and originally consisted of nine gardens in a variety of styles.

The Thompsons had no children. The nephew who inherited the estate after Mary Clark Thompson's death in 1923 sold the property to the Federal Government in 1931, who built a veteran's hospital (today theCanandaigua VA Medical Center) on the adjacent farmland.^[1] The government used the mansion to house doctor's families and some nurses. In 1972, by an act of Congress called the Sonnenberg Bill, the mansion and its grounds were transferred from the Federal Government to a local non-profit organization formed to restore and reopen the property.^[1] It was opened to the public in 1973. All nine gardens have been restored and visitors can tour the mansion. In 2005, theNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation bought the estate. It is still operated by the non-profit.

Today most of the gardens have been restored, as follows:

• The Conservatory – ALord & Burnham conservatory complex, built between 1903 and 1915, and considered one of the most important residential greenhouse complexes in the United States. The complex includes a domedPalm House, with other glass houses featuringorchids,cacti, and tropical plants.
• Japanese Garden – A miniature mountainous Japanese landscape, withtorii gate. It is said that its tea house was modeled upon a very old tea house inKyoto, since destroyed by fire. In addition, there is a statue of Buddha.
• Sub Rosa Garden – A green garden (having no flowers) with white marble fountain complex set off by green lawn,boxwood, andevergreens. The fountain isZeus, withArtemis andApollo.
• Rose Garden – Abelvedere with over 2,500rose bushes. The main beds are red, white, and pink; other beds are more varied in color.
• Italian Garden – Four sunkenparterres in afleur-de-lis pattern, bordered byyews, with about 20,000 annuals in the bedding.
• Blue & White Garden – Blue and white flowers with aZelkova japonica tree in the center.
• Pansy Garden – Planted with pansies with a delightful pedestal fountain as the centerpiece.
• Moonlight Garden – Only white flowers, blooming late afternoon, and many fragrant. Includesheliotrope,tuberoses andverbenas.
• Old-Fashioned Garden – A geometric garden, in which a lowboxwood hedge forms thequincunx pattern of five circles. Four quarter sections, each with a center circle, are filled with annuals and perennials surrounded with diagonal intersecting walks, and anarbor in the center bisects the fifth circle.
• Rock Garden – Formerly three gardens (the Wild Garden, the Lily Garden, and the Rock Garden), completed in 1919, but now merged to form an informal, wooded garden. Its path winds through a canyon constructed ofpuddingstone, with natural pockets and crannies used for alpine plants. Water includes 500 feet (150 m) of streams,waterfalls, and pools fed bygeysers and springs.
• Grounds were planted with many specimen trees (some planted by important guests), now numbering over 140 varieties.

Built between 1885 and 1887, the 40-room Queen Anne style mansion was designed byFrancis R. Allen, a notedBoston architect. Allen also designed and oversaw the remodeling of the mansion approximately 15 years after it was constructed. Two of the three floors are furnished and open to the public.^[4]

The mansion'sfacade is rusticatedgraystone withMedina sandstone trim and gables made fromtimber andstucco. The roof isslate withlead-coatedcopper.

In addition to the nine gardens and mansion, the property hosts the Finger Lakes Wine Center, which is housed in the Bay House and offers a number of localwines for tasting and purchase, as well a fine gift shop.

A cafe is located in the Gardener's House serving light lunches.

• List of botanical gardens in the United States
• List of New York State Historic Sites
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Ontario County, New York

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park.

• Official website
• New York State Historic Sites: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park

• Botanical gardens in New York (state)
• Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
• New York (state) historic sites
• Museums in Ontario County, New York
• Historic house museums in New York (state)
• Japanese-American culture in New York (state)
• Japanese gardens in the United States
• Houses in Ontario County, New York
• Canandaigua, New York
• Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
• Greenhouses in New York (state)
• National Register of Historic Places in Ontario County, New York

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles using NRISref without a reference number
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use American English from January 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• NRHP infobox with nocat
• Commons category link is locally defined
• Official website not in Wikidata