Sepia-tinted postcard of the conservatory in the Belfast Botanic Gardens, with part of the flower garden. The Royal Belfast Botanic Gardens were opened in 1829, as the working site of the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society; they were bought by the Belfast Corporation in 1894, and the Society liquidated. Richard Turner designed the conservatory, opened in 1840; the tropical ravine house was built by Charles McKimm, the head gardener, and opened in 1889