Jardin des Serres d’Auteuil

The great glasshouses at Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil face a formal central garden, giving the site a strong architectural order before the plants are considered individually. Their late nineteenth-century structure contrasts with the changing shapes and textures of the collections inside. The garden belongs to the City of Paris' botanical network, with a history reaching back to 1761.

Plant collections and the modern glasshouses

The collections include rare plants, notable trees and a palm house, with different environments bringing plants from several parts of the world into one place. The interest is in both the individual specimens and the way their surroundings are recreated. A glasshouse visit can therefore shift quickly from the formal layout outside to a much denser interior landscape.

The modern glasshouses around Court Simonne-Mathieu add another architectural layer. Introduced with the court complex in 2019, they make the relationship between botany and tennis unusually visible. The historic and contemporary buildings are distinct parts of the same wider Auteuil setting, rather than interchangeable glass structures.

The outdoor garden and tournament access

The outdoor garden offers another pace, with paths and formal planting allowing the buildings to be seen across open space. That makes it a worthwhile visit for an interest in gardens or architecture as well as botanical collections. The glasshouse façades and the views between them are part of the experience, not only a route to the indoor plants.

During the tournament, access around the adjoining tennis facilities can follow special arrangements. Ordinary free garden admission should therefore be considered alongside the actual open gates and available areas for the date. The lasting appeal is the combination of planted collections and glass architecture, with two periods of building clearly present in the same landscape.