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n integral component of the renovation and restoration of
Hillwood Museum and Gardens was the extensive work done on
the designed gardens that surround the mansion. In planning
the gardens in the 1950s, Marjorie Merriweather Post consulted
with well-known landscape architects Umberto Innocenti and
Richard Webel of Long Island, NY and local landscape architect
Perry Wheeler, who assisted with the establishment of the
Rose Garden at the White House. The original plan combines
twelve acres of formal gardens with thirteen acres of native
woodland beyond.
Hillwood’s gardens include a circular
rose garden, where Floribunda roses bloom around a granite
monument holding Mrs. Post’s ashes; a "Friendship
Walk," dedicated to Mrs. Post for her philanthropic generosity
by a group of friends; a formal French parterre just outside
the drawing room of the mansion; a large crescent-shaped lunar
lawn; a Japanese-style garden and waterfalls representing
a mountain landscape in miniature; a greenhouse for orchids;
a large cutting garden; and a pet cemetery with small inscribed
tombstones and statues of dogs. The garden walkways are accessible
to visitors with disabilities.
As Mrs. Post intended, the gardens served
as outdoor extensions of the mansion’s interiors and
functioned as essential areas for entertaining and fundraising
events. In particular, the elegant French parterre complements
the adjacent French Drawing Room. "Mrs. Post designed
each of the garden rooms to flow logically from one to the
next," said Gwen Stauffer, Director of Horticulture at
Hillwood. "The design of the garden is influenced by
European styles that directly coincides with the collection."
French Parterre
The French parterre, one of Mrs. Post’s
favorite gardens, was extensively restored. Designed by Innocenti
and Webel more than forty years ago, the garden showed severe
signs of age and degradation. The limestone rills and curbstones
for the beds were cracking, the drainage system under the
garden had collapsed and failed, and some of the sculpture
had weathered harshly. Also, numerous features altered in
attempts to make repairs or to prevent further damage had
to be returned to their original design intent.
"Part of my job was to look at the
garden through Mrs. Post’s eyes so we could recreate
the original design intent and repair years of alterations,"
said John Sonnier, staff project manager of the renovation
of the French parterre. Sonnier, who worked with local architect
Richard Williams, did countless hours of detective work, extensively
researching in the Hillwood museum archives; interviewing
Alfred Manfree, the original parterre designer from Innocenti
and Webel; visiting several of Mrs. Post’s former estates
to study the gardens; and conducting an archeological-like
excavation of the existing garden.
A new drainage system, waterworks, and
limestone features were installed in the garden, and the appropriate
glass tile was located in Mexico and relaid in the pools at
each end. In addition, restoration treatment was applied to
the sculptures in the French parterre, including two 18th-century
white marble sphinxes, six 19th-century French limestone urns
from Paris and a terracotta replica of a marble Diana sculpture
at the Louvre. Also, the severely weathered swan fountain
was painstakingly removed and replicated in a more durable
Tennessee pink marble to capture the former glory of its design
and detailing.
Father and son team, Constantine and Andy
Seferlis, two well-known Washington stone carvers and sculptors,
worked together to replicate the swan fountain. Constantine
Seferlis is best known as one of the principal sculptors of
the Washington National Cathedral’s many gargoyles and
embellishments.
Another component of the restoration of
Innocenti and Webel's design for the French parterre was the
reintroduction of a decorative ivy back plate surrounding
the swan fountain, and a trellis system comprised of aluminum
panels was custom designed to protect the structural integrity
of the building. All plants were removed from the French parterre
during the rebuilding of the garden infrastructure, and afterward
the four parterres were replanted with the original hedging
boxwood, and the same variety of azaleas, arbor vitae, juniper,
and yew were planted in terrace beds and along the balustrade.
Additional Sculpture and Furniture
The many works of sculpture and pieces
of furniture throughout the gardens also were restored or
recreated. Intricately carved limestone fruit baskets in the
front circle were treated and re-carved at the base and 19th-century
Parisian urns at the entrance to Hillwood were completely
recreated by Constantine Seferlis. In addition, the majority
of metal garden furnishings were refurbished, while most of
the wooden furniture had to be replicated. All of the mahogany
pieces, which were custom made for Mrs. Post, were carefully
replicated in the same graceful lines of the originals and
replaced were originally used, with the help of archival images.
Plantings
Because Mrs. Post planted Hillwood's landscape
with mature specimens more than four decades ago, the horticulture
staff implemented a preservation plan to rejuvenate old plant
specimens and restore the botanical collections. In fact,
the entire azalea collection has been undergoing a rejuvenation
program since 1994. In some cases mature plants were replaced
with new ones of the same species and variety. However, some
are no longer available, leading the staff to propagate existing
plants to ensure accurate replication.
Precautions also were taken to preserve
the existing plant collections, in particular the American
elms on the south side of the house. The horticulture staff
worked with professional arborists to protect the trunks of
these trees during restoration with a protective "armor"
of wooden planks wired together. In addition, to protect the
root zone and prevent soil compaction by heavy equipment,
a conveyor belt moved soil between work areas.
In other sections of the gardens, entire
portions of the plant collections were removed or transplanted
into storage during the construction process. Along with the
plants from the French parterre, the large southern magnolia
on the side of the Porte Cochère and the adjacent trees
and shrubs were removed to accommodate the large-scale restoration
projects around the mansion. Additional improvements are planned
for the future, when the Japanese-style garden designed by
Shogo J. Myaida, will be extensively restored.
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