Garden Art Group

CRAFTSMAN STYLE IN SARATOGA

This was a new house with an old pool, inherited from the previous house on the property. The clients brought with them a bronze statue (possibly the goddess Diana) from the wife’s family home. She has the look of something that might have been used at one of the 19th century San Francisco fairs or exhibitions. We built a raised fishpond so the lady and her goat could see their reflections. The house architecture is reminiscent of the American Craftsman style of the early 20th century, although the interiors are modern. Our landscape walks the same fine line between old and new. The wooden decks near the house are made of Ipe, a sustainably harvested ironwood from Brazil. The pool was reconfigured with boulders, a waterfall, and ornamental grasses to evoke the love of “naturalness” often present in the classic American Arts and Crafts gardens. All gates, arbors and hardware were custom built for the project, as befits a garden in this style, which was attempting to support the individual craftsperson in an era of incipient mass production. The happy clients refer to this as their “Park.”