Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens

Sculptor Ann Weaver Norton's hand-built brick monoliths set in a seven-acre tropical garden

The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens occupy seven acres of dense tropical planting around the Spanish-Revival house where the artist lived from 1948 until her death in 1982. Nine monumental brick sculptures stand in the garden — square shafts and abstract figures up to six metres high — and a small gallery in the studio holds her smaller wood and granite carvings.

The garden itself, designed by Ann Norton and her landscape architect husband, is a small ecosystem of palms, philodendrons, banyans, and rare cycads. It is one of the quietest places in central West Palm Beach. Open Wednesday to Sunday; allow about ninety minutes. 253 Barcelona Road.

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A story
Ann Norton was the second wife of museum-founder Ralph Norton, and a sculptor in her own right. After his death she withdrew to their West Palm Beach home and spent the rest of her life building the seven massive brick figures that now stand in the garden, each one assembled by hand from thousands of dry-laid bricks without mortar.

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