This spot was chosen as the site for the relocation of the original Liverpool Botanic Garden, which had been established near Mount Pleasant in 1802 by William Roscoe and other local botanists.

The Exhibition was opened by Queen Victoria, and several temporary pavilions were erected for the occasion, along with a full-scale replica of the Eddystone Lighthouse.

[4] On 20 November 1940, the conservatory was destroyed by a German bomb intended for the nearby railway marshalling yard at Edge Hill; the surviving plants were relocated to privately owned glasshouses.

This Grade II listed building has been used since September 2013 as the Botanic Lodge Nursery for children,[8] retaining some of its original features.

[1][7] These beds, laid out in a scroll design inspired by the tiles of St. George's Hall, were raised in 1863 by curator John Tyerman.

[1] Close to the centre of the southern section lie the remains of a 19th-century cast-iron drinking fountain, which was Grade II listed in 1975.

[12] An underground tunnel running beneath the park was used during World War II as an air raid shelter for workers at the nearby Littlewoods Pools building.