Est. 1936 · Orlando Heritage · Botanical Collection · Historic Preservation · National Register of Historic Places
Harry P. Leu acquired the property on North Forest Avenue in Orlando in 1936, purchasing the existing house and 40 surrounding acres. He and his wife Mary Jane approached the gardens as collectors — their travels brought back camellias from Asia and Europe, exotic specimens from tropical regions, and plant material that formed the basis of what is now one of the larger urban botanical gardens in the American South.
The Leu House itself, the residential structure at the center of the property, reflects the domestic taste of a prosperous early twentieth-century Florida household. The couple restored and furnished it over their tenure, eventually deeding both the house and the entire garden property to the City of Orlando in 1961.
The city has maintained and expanded the gardens since then, growing the collection to approximately 50 acres. The Leu House Museum offers guided tours on the hour Tuesday through Sunday, closed during July. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The gardens are currently marking their 65th anniversary with a program called Legacy in Bloom, running through May 31, 2026.
Sources
- https://www.leugardens.org/Visit/Admission-Hours
- https://www.paranormalghostsociety.org/Harry%20P%20Leu%20Gardens.htm
- https://haunttracker.com/haunted-places/florida/orlando/leu-botanical-gardens/
ApparitionsPhantom footstepsCold spots
The Leu House sits at the physical and historical center of the garden, and the reported phenomena cluster around the house rather than the grounds. Tour guides working at the property over the years have described seeing the figures of Harry and Mary Jane Leu on the second-story porch — the place from which they would have surveyed the gardens they spent decades building. Footsteps have been heard in and around the house when no one is present.
A paranormal investigator cited in accounts about the property described their conclusion that the house is haunted not only by the Leu family but by a presence connected to an earlier period of the property's ownership — specifically referencing a death that preceded the Leus' tenure. The identity of this earlier presence is not documented in sources available for this entry.
The garden administration does not incorporate the haunted accounts into its public programming. The Leu House Museum tours focus on the domestic history of the early twentieth-century household and the botanical collection's development. The paranormal reputation exists in external sources rather than in the venue's institutional narrative.
Notable Entities
Harry P. LeuMary Jane Leu
