Elizabeth Samuel Garden

Rooftop garden celebrates the life of Liza Samuel, a great friend of the ROM

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is pleased to announce that work is underway on the Elizabeth Samuel Garden, a 9,500 square-foot "green roof" on the south portion of the Philosopher's Walk wing. Liza's Garden, as Elizabeth wanted it to be known, will be visible through the south-facing windows of c5 Restaurant Lounge, located at the pinnacle of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Liza’s Garden is expected to be unveiled in mid-June, in commemoration of Liza’s birthday, and is the gift of several trustees in honour of Elizabeth Samuel, former Chair of the ROM Board of Trustees, who passed away this past March.

“Liza Samuel was a wonderful friend of the ROM and served the Museum in numerous ways over many years. While this Garden was in its planning stages prior to Liza’s recent passing, we will now have it to remember her and her great love for her garden and all things green,” said William Thorsell, Director and CEO of the ROM. “Liza’s Garden is not a conventional green roof. Rather, it is innovative and bold, qualities that Liza championed at the ROM.”

The late Liza Samuel served the Royal Ontario Museum in many roles, including Chair of the Board of Trustees and founding member of the Board of Governors. As a long standing patron, she continued the Samuel family's century of extraordinary generosity in building the Museum.

The creation of Liza’s Garden was led by an advisory committee chaired by former ROM Governor Nicole Eaton, ROM Heritage Governor Susanne Loewen, ROM Board member Jack Cockwell and Kelvin Browne, ROM’s Executive Director of Marketing and Commercial Development. Designed by Plant Architect Inc., Gardens in the Sky, Green Roof Consultant, Liza’s Garden turns an ordinary roofscape into much more than a standard green roof. It creates an environmentally savvy as well as a dynamic landscape. It is a dramatic vista, affording the patrons of c5 a constantly changing natural view, a luxuriant foreground for the distant Toronto skyline.

“We’ve expanded on the current green roof technology to create a rooftop garden that adds an architectural vibrancy to the ROM. Liza’s Garden draws the viewer’s eye through the window and out onto the roof in all seasons,” said Lisa Rapoport, Partner PLANT Architect Inc.

The staggered grid of trees will capture the movement of the wind. The planting beds will be tilted, catching rain and snow between them, at the same time reflecting the sky. In consultation with ROM curators of botany, the plantings have been chosen to evoke abundance – a key distinction between garden and green roof. This is particularly remarkable as the roof is able to support just three inches of soil. As an added advantage, the roof will enhance the sustainability of the ROM in a number of ways: through storm water retention, reduction of the heat island effect, and the provision of a habitat for birds and insects.

This roof garden has been funded in Liza’s honour by her former board colleagues, her family, friends, members of the Department of Museum Volunteers, and other generous donations made in her memory. Additional support has been provided by the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, the City of Toronto Green Roof Incentive Program, and an anonymous donor.