was once owned by a passionate
gardener, whose large backyard
became a neighborhood highlight. On Sunday mornings, when parishioners attended the two
nearby churches, the owner opened the gates fronting her property so that passers-by could take in the view of a broad lawn
sloping down to a pond. Perennial beds backed by manicured
shrubs and stately trees presented a riot of bloom. With time,
the view of the garden became as much a part of the neighborhood as a public park or a local sledding hill.
The current owners, a husband and wife, hadn’t planned
on being stewards of such a legacy when they were looking for
a home. All they wanted was a place with a two-car garage and
a yard. What they found was this house, designed by Chapman
and Frazer, the notable architecture firm credited with a number of late medieval– and early Renaissance–inspired buildings
in Boston’s Back Bay. Built in 1911 and surrounded by 2½ acres
of gardens, the property was not only bigger than anything the
couple had dreamed of, it also had a monumental impact on the
memory and imagination of its neighbors. Located in a historic
district in a Boston suburb, the property was reviewed by the
local historical society, which weighed in on the proposed landscaping plans, saying that any new garden design should retain
a view corridor from the street to the pond, where the previous
owner had built a gazebo and where, rumor has it, three marriage proposals took place.
“But of course,” says the wife, “we had our own ideas. In
the garden, we wanted privacy, color, and wildness. We did not
want it to be too groomed.”
“A primary consideration when buying this property was that
it not be another suburban backyard,” her husband adds. “That
meant not just private, but private and wild. At the same time, I
love play spaces for football or Frisbee, and we wanted modern
outdoor living with a kitchen, a swimming pool, and a spa.”
To reconcile their desire for privacy with local determina-
tion to preserve views for the neighbors, they turned to Dan Gor-
don, principal of Dan Gordon Landscape Architects in Wellesley
and Edgartown, Massachusetts. In collaboration with project
manager Patrick Taylor, the new owners developed a landscape
that still brings pleasure to passers-by while meeting their own
unique requirements.
The
house
reclaimed granite found in New Hampshire is used as paving (above) as well as
for walls (top) and for the sturdy posts that flank this and other wooden gates
designed with a simple Arts and Crafts motif.
landscape architect dan
Gordon designed granite walls
with dramatic curves (facing
page) to counteract the
dominant rectilinear shapes of
the house, garage, and
swimming pool. Small metal
fixtures installed around the
pool and the outdoor kitchen
hold citronella oil to ward off
mosquitoes.
