Campus: IUPUI
The historic Ball Nurses’ Sunken Garden and Convalescent Park was originally designed for the patients at the Rotary Convalescent Hospital as a “therapeutic greenspace” in 1929. Over the years the Ball Gardens became a staple site for IUPUI’s nursing students, providing them with a quiet place to relax or meet with friends, and it later became the site of the nurses’ pinning ceremonies and formal graduations. The Ball Gardens were also home to the beloved statue of Eve, known to the nursing students as “Flo,” whom they would often decorate or pose with for photos.
On June 21, 2016, IU president Michael McRobbie, IUPUI Chancellor Nasser Paydar, and School of Nursing Dean Robin Newhouse rededicated the refurbished Ball Nurses’ Sunken Garden on the IUPUI campus.
This garden is the only example in Indianapolis of a public garden design by The Olmsted Brothers and is the only remaining Olmsted Brothers planned garden and park designed for therapeutic and healing purposes in an urban medical campus setting that exists in the United States today. Because of changing trends in hospital design following World War II, all of the Olmsted gardens have been demolished or built upon, except IUPUI's Ball Nurses' Sunken Garden and Convalescent Park. For this reason, the Ball Gardens are now listed in the National Register of Historical Places.
