STIMSON

Chestnut Hill Residence

This property occupies a corner site in a historic neighborhood. As avid art collectors, the Owners envisioned a museum addition below the rear of the property that left a large part of the landscape on structure. This gallery space was designed to integrate fully into the site, with flush skylights that puncture a lawn panel used for entertaining and a glass head house as a focal point of the garden that also allows significant pieces of sculpture to be brought into the gallery below. a series of outdoor spaces comprised of gravel, granite and lawn become a neutral framework for an expanding sculpture collection. Pleached lindens punctuate the installation at the glass head house, while espalier oak trees screen the street beyond and form a backdrop for landscape sculpture. From the street side the site design remains restrained and elegant, with weathered bluestone, minimal lawn and groundcover responding to the historic context of the surrounding neighborhood.