A couple months ago, I wrote a story for Remodelista about a modernist landmark Brooklyn Heights townhouse restored by Starling Architecture. The post focused on the sophisticated midcentury-style kitchen, but I was equally enamored with the verdant backyard, cleverly laid out as multiple outdoor “rooms.”
The goal, says landscape designer Nishiel Patel, the mastermind behind the exterior overhaul, was to forge a better connection between the inside and outside. “Previously overgrown with non-native shrubs, the garden acted as a barrier between the two ‘living rooms’ (interior and exterior), discouraging use of the garden completely,” she explains. In addition, the path from the home to the rear pergola (the main living space in the backyard) was awkward, requiring “two sharp turns to even enter the garden.”
Her solution: “We designed the garden to re-orient the home and the exterior deck [the rear pergola] towards a central and usable verdant courtyard, unlocking new views and connections between the two.”
Here’s how Nishiel reset the landscape design on the right path.
Above: “The facade of the house is landmarked, including the integrated large plant beds and entry stairs, so we treaded lightly,” explains Nishiel. “We did, however, add a Hollywood juniper and two Japanese maples to the front with a shrubby understory of rugosa rose and ‘Pee Wee’ oakleaf hydrangeas. The junipers and maples were selected for their twisted and gracefully open forms, respectively, as a contrast to the monolithic cube form of the house. Both trees are commonly found in the neighborhood which, over time, will make them feel as if they’ve always been there.” Above: Nishiel redirected the path from the interior living room to the exterior living room (the raised deck with pergola in the rear) so that it was more straightforward and easily accessible. In the middle, she added a fire pit area with Adirondack chairs (left) and a hot/cold plunge station (right). Above: “While the garden’s primary exposure is from the south, the light is filtered through two existing and large honey locust trees on the adjacent street. Naturally, the light is dappled, and the pockets of more direct and intense light change throughout the day. So we chose to create a matrix of plants that do well in the shade (oakleaf hydrangea, Pennsylvania sedge, Japanese anemone, Actaea, and Brunnera), and then a lot of perennials that prefer varying levels of direct sun (Amsonia hubrichtii, Sesleria autumnalis, Echinacea pallida, Echinacea ‘White Swan’, Martagon lilies, Verbascum, and Penstemon), with the goal of letting nature take over at some point. The plants will do well if they find themselves in a location that allows it!” Above: The cedar hot tub is from Northern Lights with the all-electric pumps, and the cold plunge is the Cold Stoic from Renu Therapy. “Both are intentionally recessed into the new deck so that they appear almost like pure shapes carved into the deck rather than stand-alone objects. This meant that we needed to excavate and retain the earth below by almost four feet to maintain airflow around them and provide subgrade drainage (in the form of a dry well) when the pools needed to be drained. We took advantage of the space below to also hide the hot tub equipment and provided a secret hatch in the deck for access below.”
Above: “Both the fence and pool deck are made of 2×2 clear cedar. The fence was added, wrapping three sides of the space and creating a continuous visual enclosure around the entirety of the garden. All the wood was treated with black pine tar, a natural and long-lasting wood preservative. Pine tar is an interesting finish because while it takes much longer to dry/cure than a stain or paint, you only need to apply more coats to maintain it. Even better yet, the more coats applied, the less you need to maintain it in the future.” (See Curb Appeal 101: Everything You Need to Know About Pine Tar.) Above: Surrounding this fire pit area are a range of plants: Hydrandea paniculata, Ilex verticillata, northern bayberry, Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’, Sporobolus heterolepis, Actaea racemosa. The Vaughn Teak Adirondack Chairs are from Rejuvenation; the Concentric Fire Pit is from OR.CA Living.
Above: Nishiel’s favorite part of the project? The black basalt cobble pavers with a “chipped edge.” “The infill between them is Organic-Lock, a stabilized crushed stone, which was a bit of an experiment that worked really well. The cobbles were selected to evoke the repeating concept of the square found in the house’s design. The pavers within the paths are scattered loosely through crushed stone, fading naturally into the plants, so that they appear more organic and less structured. Additionally, the connections are intentionally made to be somewhat indirect, coaxing the users to move in varied ways between the house and all the exterior spaces.” Plants pictured: Yarrow, Amsonia hubrichtii,Echinacea ‘White Swan’, Nepeta ‘White Cloud’, Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’. Above: “The pergola itself is landmarked because the top of the structure is visible from the adjacent street, so for many reasons, we kept it! Neither the pergola nor the deck were in the best condition, so the restoration required significant repairs and refinishing, including replacement of all of the 2×2 purlins on top. The pergola was made of cedar and the existing deck was made of solid 4×4 pine members. It was impossible to know the original finish of the pergola or deck under probably decades of aging, but after sanding every member, we refinished it with black pine tar to match the new interior fence and pool deck.” Above: A Hoist Pendant by RBW hangs over the raised outdoor living room (to the left is the dining space). The MG501 Cuba Lounge Chairs are by Carl Hansen & Son; the Haven Sofa is by Neighbor; and the Pavilion Coffee Table by Paul McCobb is a CB2 reissue.
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