House of the Four Winds

This project is the result of our collaboration with the client to restore a historic Howard Van Doren Shaw house and garden, ‘House of the Four Winds’, in a suburb north of Chicago.

The intent was to provide a modern interpretation of this historic pleasure garden which would provide year-round interest and meet the new-age living and entertaining needs without giving up the original feel and structure of the space. All old stone was to be reused, not replaced, to ensure the integrity of this historic garden, and all infrastructural elements remained faithful to the original schematic plan. The formally arranged elements of running water, cool stone and shaded areas were inherent to the design, and those concepts were retained as key elements in the re-interpretation of the property. Layering of foliage was as important as coordination of bloom times in order to re-create the sensuous, historic feel of the garden.