HousetrGarden 
V o 1 . IV OCTOBER, 1903 No. 4 
“MAXWELL COURT” 
A RESIDENCE AND GARDENS IN THE ITALIAN STYLE AT ROCKVILLE, CONNECTICUT 
Designed by CHARLES A. PLATT 
T HIS is an example of a residence and 
garden built together and anew without 
the necessity of conforming to previously 
existing architecture or natural landmarks. 
A wooden dwelling, which formerly stood 
near the center of the estate, was torn down 
and its site and foundations ignored. It 
was therefore a tabula rasa upon which the 
architect began his work, but it was a tabula 
inclinata as well; and this fact, while of 
advantage to the final effect of the place, 
must have added greatly to the difficulties 
of an execution which meant the adjustment 
of a site to a design. 
The estate which has been named “ Max¬ 
well Court” consists of about nine acres and 
lies on a steep slope overlooking the small 
town of Rockville, a suburb of Hartford, 
Con necticut. 
The hills sur¬ 
rounding the 
town are ab¬ 
rupt without 
being rugged, 
and so steep 
is the one in 
question that 
success in 
growing grass 
upon its sur¬ 
face during 
the past rainy 
season is 
looked upon 
as a miracu¬ 
lous feat per¬ 
formed by the English gardener. In order 
to obtain a level setting for the house, its 
terraces and the garden, two lines of retain¬ 
ing wall had to be built, one rising from 
the slope below, another sunk into the 
hillside above. Between these earth was 
then placed, four thousand cart-loads being 
needed for the garden alone. 
The entrance avenue runs close beside the 
upper wall, over the top of which light 
branches of barberry wave invitingly to am- 
pelopsis and English ivy which have been 
planted at the base. Above is a grove of 
young chestnut, maple and oak trees, pro¬ 
tecting the house upon the north and throw¬ 
ing a dignified shade over a forecourt where 
the drive terminates within high walls of 
brick ornamented with the same gray lime¬ 
stone that is 
used for the 
architecture 
elsewhere. 
Th e grass 
carpeting the 
grove above 
is ended ab¬ 
ruptly by the 
wall, and 
here, if he 
look sharply, 
the visitor 
may find a 
way of reach¬ 
ing the wood, 
obtaining the 
view of the 
149 
THE MAIN ENTRANCE FROM THE HIGHWAY 
