Mehan Garden, formerly known as Jardin Botanico, was Asia's first botanical garden. It is an open space

Public space

A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...

 established in 1858 in Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. In 1913, it was renamed after John C. Mehan, the park superintendent.

The Garden is the open space off Liwasang Bonifacio (across the Philippine Post Office Main Building

Philippine Postal Corporation

The Philippine Postal Corporation, , abbreviated as PhilPost, is a government-owned and controlled corporation responsible for providing postal services in the Philippines. The Philippine Postal Corporation has an estimated 13,800 employees and runs more than 2,000 post offices nationwide...

), bounded by Taft Avenue, LRT Central Terminal

LRT

LRT may stand for:*IATA airport code for Lorient South Brittany Airport, France*Lewis Roberts-Thomson*Lithuanian National Radio and Television *Light rail, a form of urban rail public transportation...

, the Metropolitan Theater, and Manila City Hall. It is considered a great location for an inner city park. Inside the Garden are structures such as the Lawton Park n' Ride building and the Universidad de Manila.