The homeowner, dressed in blue and white, in a very Hamptons summer setting
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In Perfect Harmony Chris LaGuardia | LaGuardia Design Group
It is difficult to imagine that this was once a neglected property. Now it is the quintessential Hamptons garden— boxwoods, hydrangeas, blue swimming pool, and all. In the estate section of East Hampton, within close proximity to Georgica Beach, sits a shingle-covered saltbox-style house that has been lovingly restored by the homeowners. It is approached via a semicircular driveway lined with layers of planting including hedges, cloud-pruned boxwoods, hydrangeas, and billowy grasses. The house’s front door is painted bright blue. The overall effect is traditional Hamptons retreat and the very picture of summer. Standing next to the shingle-clad house, however, is a contemporary structure, which, while it echoes the sloped roof of the main house, is all glass walls and straight lines. This modernist structure serves as the property’s main house. From its interiors and through its large glass walls, one gets to take in the gardens created by Chris LaGuardia and his firm LaGuardia Design Group. “It was a dilapidated understory that was not maintained well but it had a few mature specimen trees on-site,” recalls Chris of his first visit to the 2-acre property. “We worked and preserved the very large mature trees while implementing a large exterior design program,” he adds of the landscape design master plan. The homeowners, a couple with teenage sons, wanted the landscape design to link and integrate the architecture of the two very distinct houses in their compound. “They also wanted it to be functional for their family but very lush with
moments that reminded them of Mediterranean gardens,” explains Chris. “We worked closely with their architects and interior designer and established logical and thoughtful circulation between the arrival, main house, guesthouse, and exterior spaces.” By using a very edited planting scheme and color palette limited to green, white, and purple, the garden effortlessly flows from traditional to modern. The guesthouse is bordered by a showy display of white limelight hydrangeas. An allée of crape myrtles underplanted with grasses and purple Russian sage links the traditional guesthouse to the modern main house. Swaths of Russian sage are repeated on corners of the glass house as a continuation of materiality. There is a gravel courtyard surrounded by a canopy of trees, which is used as an outdoor dining area with a pair of extra-long tables. Immediately next to the alfresco dining space is the kitchen garden with raised beds made from Corten steel where the family grows vegetables and flowers for cutting. In the distance is a mown path flanked by a border of purple verbenas. A large expanse of lawn is the perfect space for soccer and football games for the children and their friends. “This garden shows how the landscape became the unifying device that ties in the new modern architecture of the main house with the traditional architecture of the guesthouse,” explains Chris. “We created an overall contemporary garden aesthetic that incorporates classical garden design elements likes allées, walking paths, and formal gardens.”
Contemporary Gardens
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