HENRY AND PIOTR

Locals often refer to the Missouri Botanical Garden as Shaw's Garden. Henry Shaw was a 19th Century rich guy with vision and an interest in plants, His estate provided the cash and land tor today's garden, its extensive research program and adjacent Tower Grove Park (our loveliest, IMHO). 

This building was his home. It didn't have dancing ballerinas in silhouette in the late 19th Century. Today there is a son et lumiere show on special occasions. You can guess that The Nutcracker was going on here. Tchaikovsky and Shaw were rough contemporaries, although Shaw lived far longer. The water and air must have been better in St. Louis than Moscow. Still, you can almost hear the flutes and celesta over the bassoons and low clarinets as you look at the image.