Homewood Campus Tour

The Decker Gardens, bordered by the Greenhouse, Nichols House, and the Johns Hopkins Club, were originally known as the Botanical Gardens and were used by members of the biology department to grow plants for research. By the early 1950s, the gardens no longer served an educational purpose, and in 1958, when Nichols House was built as the president's residence, they were completely re-landscaped with aesthetic criteria in mind. In 1976, the gardens were done over again, and named for trustee Alonzo G. Decker, Jr. and members of his family in appreciation for their generosity to Hopkins.

The statue in the middle of the pool, the Sea Urchin, was sculpted by Edward Berge. It stood in Mount Vernon Place, near the Washington Monument, for 34 years before being replaced by a 7'10" copy, which fit in better with its monumental surroundings. Frank R. Huber, the man who left the city the money to make the copy, asked that the original be given to Paul M. Higinbotham, who donated it to the University.

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