About the Sacramento Garden & Arts Center
Located adjacent to the beautiful rose gardens of McKinley Park, the Iva Gard Shepard Garden and Arts Center provides a meeting place for clubs whose main focus is in horticulture, flower arranging, conservation, history, antiques and the arts, including painting, photography, ceramics, metal work, weaving, and other related arts and crafts. The facility is owned and managed by the City of Sacramento Recreation and Parks Department.
Are you interested in renting the facility for a private event? Find more information here!
You can also download this detailed facility guide PDF.
Sacramento Garden & Arts Center
The Sacramento Garden & Arts Center is an incorporated, non-profit corporation that was formed to provide assistance to the Shepard Garden and Arts Center and to act as a community outreach vehicle for the Center's arts and horticultural education program, and to support its social and recreational functions. Membership is open to any amateur club that meets our objectives . Club Members pay annual dues and participate in fundraising events throughout the year; monies derived from these activities are used to fund special projects at the Center which improve and support the activities of the Center's member clubs.
History
Built in 1958 by the City of Sacramento and designed by Raymond R. Franceschi the SG&AC, originally named the Sacramento Garden and Arts Center, is an outstanding example of mid-twentieth century architecture. The Center, nestled in the McKinley Park Annex, was later re-named in honor of Iva Gard Shepard, a leader in the garden community and a Sacramento Bee garden columnist who served as the Center's Board president for many years.
Most notable of its exterior features is the dramatic roof line that combines an A-line form with that of a "butterfly" style appendage that extends over the patio. This in dramatic contrast to its surrounding neighbors which are noted for the popular styles of architecture from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. The Center, as was common in the late 1950s, utilizes stone and wood with flair and exuberance. One of its more notable features on the interior is the massive two-sided fireplace made of flagstone and terrazzo, with a glass mosaic on one side and a huge copper vent on the other. The broad hearth serves as seating, making this feature the heart of the building.
Over the years the Center has been home to a large number of flower, gardening, and creative arts groups, some of which have met there since the Center was opened. For more than fifty years the Center has opened its doors to any and all who have as their goal the advancement all things related to gardening and creative endeavors.
Make a Donation to
Sacramento Garden & Arts Center
Contact: M.J. Kelly—shepardcenter@gmail.com