June 17, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



241 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribuns Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1896. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial Article :— An Architectural Garden. (With plan and figure.) 



Thomas Hastings. 241 



Pinus muricata CarlPurdy.zip 



Foreign Correspondence: — Notes from the Temple Show.. .William Goldring. 244 



Plant Notes 245 



Cultural Department: — Flower Garden Notes IV. N. Craig. 246 



Choice Perennials A". Cameron. 246 



Orchid Notes E.O. Orpet. 247 



Trevesia palmata, Chinese Dianthus G. IV. O. 247 



Correspondence : — Notes from Santa Barbara Charles H. Shinn. 248 



Notes from West Virginia Danske Dandridge. 248 



Azaleas at Brooklinel T. D. Hatfield. 248 



Notes from Southern California E. D. Sturtevn-nt. 249 



Recent Publications B. E. Femo-ai. 249 



Notes =5° 



Illustrations : — Indian Harbor, Long Island Sound 243 



Pergola at Amalfi, Italy, Fig. 35 245 



An Architectural Garden. 



THE location of the house of Mr. E. C. Benedict, on the 

 Indian Harbor property, is certainly one of the finest 

 on Long Island Sound. The old Indian Harbor Hotel (once 

 known as the Americus Club, of Tammany fame) was built 

 on this point some years ago, and was still standing when 

 the present work was begun. This beautiful point of land, 

 almost entirely surrounded by water (on the west side by 

 a landlocked harbor), and rising as it projects toward the 

 water, so that the point on which the house is situated is 

 the highest point of the site, is exceptional. It is covered 

 with beautiful wild woods in a good state of preservation 

 (see plan on page 243). 



The site of the old hotel was adopted for the present 

 house because of its height and proximity to the water, its 

 beautiful outlook, and also because this portion of the land, 

 being very rocky, is less wooded and needed architectural 

 treatment. The materials used in the main construction 

 of the building are either stone or brick, covered with a 

 stucco composed of cement and marble dust. The roofs, 

 where apparent, are covered with red Italian tiles, while 

 the architecture and landscape work are somewhat Italian 

 in character. 



At the entrance, a stone lodge, somewhat picturesque in 

 its treatment, and stone walls across the point, with 

 wrought-iron gates, are built among the Oak-trees in such 

 a way as to harmonize with the natural beauty of the spot. 

 After passing the lodge, a drive of about an eighth of a 

 mile through absolutely wild woods leads gradually to the 

 architectural features of the house and its surroundings, a 

 few flowering bushes in groups being the first indication 

 of cultivation. At the point where the different roads to 

 the stable, service house, docks, etc., meet, a semicircular 

 stone bench and wall are built, beyond which avenues of 

 symmetrically planted trees lead through the natural woods 

 to a formal entrance with stone walls and grilles. Beyond 

 the grille, a broad and formal avenue, with six rows of trees 

 symmetrically planted, leads through a formal landscape 

 to the inclined drive or ramp, and to the flight of stone 

 steps, both of which lead directly to the porte cochere. The 

 house is at the apex of the property and also of the general 

 composition. 



The formal landscape is thus treated as a gradual transi- 

 tion or introduction between the perfectly natural woods 

 and the absolutely formal portion of the composition — the 

 house and terraces immediately surrounding it, with ramps 

 and staircases, etc. This principle of general treatment in 

 landscape prevails in all the fine works of Europe and other 

 parts of the world. In Versailles, for instance the Chateau 

 on the town side is treated with an entirely formal paved 

 court, a theatre forming one wing of the court, a chapel the 

 other, an elaborate entrance, grilles and walls enclosing it 

 on the fourth side. The other facade of the Chateau faces 

 beautiful parks, terraces and fountains, the axis of the 

 Chateau being an extended vista, so that the eye glances 

 first over entirely formal surroundings, and gradually, 

 througfh a less formal srarden, until it reaches the natural 

 landscape beyond. 



This effect has been sought on the land side of Mr. Bene- 

 dict's house, though, of course, in a very much less ambi- 

 tious and extensive way, owing to the limitations of the 

 site. On the waterside, the terraces, with overhanging bal- 

 conies and balustrades and stone walls, have been treated 

 so as to follow the outlines of the rocks and to lead grad- 

 ually from the architectural to the natural, the immediate 

 surroundings of the house being formal terraces and terrace 

 gardens. When approaching the house, whether from the 

 land side or from the water side, the transition from the 

 natural to the artificial is gradual, and in itself natural, the 

 whole landscape forming a beautiful foreground or frame 

 for the crowning feature — the architecture. When looked 

 at from the house the treatment forms a foreground, lead- 

 ing gradually to the natural, and at the same time framing 

 the landscape. 



The treatment, in detail, comprises the main house, 

 which is L-shaped, the hollow of the L being south and 

 east, which gives not only the most beautiful outlook, but 

 also the best exposure for sunlight and cool breezes. The 

 treatment of the gardens within the terraces is formal, with 

 hedges, flowering plants, gravel paths, balustrades, steps and 

 vases with Palms and Bay-trees. The trellis-work, or per- 

 gola, is somewhat similar to the celebrated one at Amalfi, 

 an illustration of which is given on p. 245. It is to be cov- 

 ered with large-leaved vines, and to lead from the main 

 house to the smaller house, which is built for the use of 

 members of the family. 



From the main house a flight of steps leads to the dock, 

 which is placed at an angle to suit the channel, permitting 

 the landing of passengers from a large yacht directly at the 

 dock. On the upper landing a semicircular seat, surrounded 

 by columns and covered with a trellis of vines, forms a 

 half-way resting-place. A pavilion which overhangs the 

 rocks overlooks the tennis-court on the land side. 



The boat-house, in the hollow, is the dining-room of the 

 old hotel, moved down and altered for the purpose. The 

 terraces and walls along the trellis and the east and south 

 sides of the house are the old foundation walls of the Indian 

 Harbor Hotel, restored and altered as to details and crowned 

 with balustrades and other features. A picturesque path 

 leads from the stone seat at the entrance, along the water 

 edge and along the trellis-work, down over the rocks, all 

 around the property, following the water's edge. Between 

 the stable and the mainland about five acres of land have 

 been made by building bulkheads and dredging the land- 

 locked harbor, so as to permit of its use for the anchoring 

 of yachts. These five acres of made land will eventually 

 be used, in part for vegetable and flower gardens, and in 

 part for grazing lands ; a small farm is located in the woods 

 north of the made land. East of the stable, on the bulk- 

 head that has been constructed to reclaim the land, a large 

 coal and ice house, engine house and repair shops have 

 been provided, as well as a dock which will permit a large- 

 yacht to be laid alongside it during the winter in a per- 

 fectly landlocked harbor. 



In carrying out the details of the scheme much blasting 

 for cellars and other features was required, furnishing prac- 

 tically all of the stone needed, not only for the foundation 



