How to bring many layers of history together in one contemporary garden design? Credenhill, a 1938 home in Ivy, had a bit of a pedigree attached to it, in the person of noted designer Charles Gillette. The challenge for current owners Bebe Heiner and Bill Atwood was to integrate the original Gillette design—along with subsequent additions—with the needs of a 21st-century family.
“All the original Gillette landscaping was still there,” says Heiner, recalling the state of things when she became an owner of the property in 1997. (For more on the house at Credenhill, see page 33). A lovely winding driveway leads uphill through rhododendrons and mountain laurel toward the house, ending in a lollipop shape before the gracious front entry. Oak trees dot the slope, and on the west side of the house, a lawn surrounded by planting beds provides a tranquil perch with a seductive view of a neighboring farm.
Gillette’s design demanded respect not only because of his reputation (in the ’50s, he redesigned the grounds of the Virginia governor’s Executive Mansion, among other commissions) but because of its beauty. Yet some areas of the property remained unimproved. For example, when Credenhill was built, the side yard off the kitchen was thought of as a zone that only domestic help would occupy. “Nobody thought it was worth landscaping,” says Heiner. As a result, just outside the breakfast nook was a paved parking area and a dearth of plantings.
This area became ripe for reimagining. Atwood and his architectural colleagues designed a parking pavilion to provide a covered entry, and the couple hired landscape architect John James to plan a kitchen garden and patio that would provide food, not to mention visual appeal to those sitting just on the other side of the windows.
Behind the house, the landscaping was once limited to the original patio in brick and flagstone, with its double stairs leading to a steep wooded slope that invited little traffic. Anticipating grandchildren, Heiner and Atwood asked James to create a level lawn—a good place to play—below the patio.
The result is an oval yard that’s part of a generally symmetrical design, incorporating the original patio along with new terraces, pathways and plantings. A cutting garden on one side has black dragon Japanese cedar trees in each corner, and flowers such as shasta daisies, coneflower, dahlias and Siberian iris make for a visual feast from the kitchen. Balancing the cutting garden on the opposite side is an oval garden, with serviceberry, boxwood and periwinkle.
“I borrowed heavily from Gillette’s mix of formal and informal uses of planting,” says James. While the oval garden is formal in tone, edged with cobblestone, a new woodland walk to the swimming pool feels like a stroll in the forest. Holly, mountain laurel, bleeding heart and dogwoods line the way.
The pool itself has been downsized by Heiner and Atwood. “It had a deep end and a lot of wasted water,” says Heiner. “We made it more shallow so it could be heated.” Surrounded by a stone deck, the pool now features a pool house, also designed by Atwood, with an outdoor kitchen and an opening that, like a window, frames a view of the woods and lawn beyond. Mondo grass edges the pool deck, and skip laurel and cherry laurel create a sense of privacy and seclusion.
The side lawn designed by Gillette is a highlight of the property, with its layered view leading from informal planting beds to forest to the horizon beyond. Japanese holly, azaleas and camellias take their places among stately white oaks. In the corner of the lawn that’s closest to the house, James designed an obtrusive stone patio that perfectly updates the space. “I thought it was brilliant the way Gillette did this,” says Heiner. “We added this patio to enjoy it.” Adirondack chairs invite long looks at the view, and stones set into the grass with plenty of space between them create a casual, modern feel.
For all the improvements, it’s the simple gestures that make Credenhill’s landscape shine. In early spring, swaths of daffodils along the driveway draw the eye into the forest. And the wealth of mature oaks, including two that flank the house’s front door, is enviable. As Atwood says, “The trees own this place.”