The Caretaker’s House is a two-story Tudor style house built in the 1920s for the first caretaker of Franklin Park, James Underwood. Unused, but “buttoned up” for a number of years, the Caretaker’s House has been restored as the centerpiece of Franklin Park’s new Community Gardens. Contained in the Caretaker’s House, which is renamed the Chase Community Garden Center, is a Community Gardening Resource Center, Community Meeting Room, and offices for both Growing to Green and the American Community Gardening Association.

The AEP Education Pavilion is the center of educational programming on the campus. Designed to look like a brick carriage house, the AEP Education Pavilion has multiple doors opening onto surrounding terraces and gardens and has become a popular location for small social gatherings and business meetings. Within the building, children and adults learn about gardening, food and nutrition, conservation and the environment.

Culinary and floral demonstration gardens such as an international cuisine garden, aromatherapy cutting garden, a formal herb garden, a culinary parterre garden, a berry hours, apiary and adjacent pollinators garden surround the Education Pavilion. These gardens are maintained by Conservatory staff and volunteers. The Campus also has 40 community garden plots that can be rented by individuals and families for a nominal fee. No one lacks for ways to get their hands dirty—or learn about conservation, health, nutrition and community gardens—in this unique facility.