Parc des Eaux Vives, Lakefront park in Eaux-Vives district, Geneva, Switzerland.
Parc des Eaux Vives is a lakeside park along Lake Geneva's shore featuring landscaped gardens and diverse vegetation. The grounds contain sequoias, pine trees, and flower beds of rhododendrons and azaleas that create color throughout the seasons.
The estate was assembled in the 16th century by the Plonjon family and bought in 1714 by the banker Joseph Bouer, who had the manor house built in 1750. Louis Favre acquired the whole property in 1866, and the Société de l'Industrie des Hôtels bought it in 1897. The commune of Eaux-Vives purchased the park in 1913 after a subscription, and it passed to the city of Geneva in 1931.
From 1898 the park hosted paid attractions advertised as "Concerts. Attractions diverses. Tennis. Croquets. Piste vélocipédique. Restauration" for 50 centimes. A Luna-Park followed, with a "village africain", a water-chute, a skating rink and a Venetian lake with gondolas. Promoters claimed most attractions were scientific rather than a fairground.
The park slopes down from the Frontenex plateau to the Quai Gustave-Ador, so the upper entrance is reached from the Frontenex road and the lower one from the lakeside quay. The Tennis Club Genève occupies the upper part of the grounds, and the pond fed by a stream from a grotto lies near the restaurant.
The rhododendron collection in the park was a gift from the Netherlands, thanking Geneva for its humanitarian aid during the Second World War. The Tennis Club of Geneva, the city's first, has occupied the upper part of the park since 1898; its central court hosted the ATP Tour de Genève in 1980 and 1991.
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