Immersion: Living and Learning in an Olmsted Garden

Olmsted designed the garden as a series of distinct rooms, forming sequential terraces in an architectural response to the downward sloping topography. The Water Terrace is positioned high on the oceanside bluff and features a rose-covered pergola, an ocean view shelter, and a stunning, 2800 square foot, five-pool water garden inspired by the sixteenth-century Villa Lante in Viterbo, Italy. The Lane garden was featured in Louise Sheltons Beautiful Gardens in America, the November 1907 issue of American Homes and Gardens, and numerous horticultural tours. By 1991, when Nola Anderson and her husband, Jim Mullen, purchased The Chimneys, the garden was in ruins, having not been maintained for nearly forty years. The renewed gardens are now the centerpiece of The Chimneys estate and a vibrant extension of a family home.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 08 April 2021
Publisher: Damiani

Boston financier and philanthropist Gardiner Martin Lane and his wife, Emma, commissioned Olmsted to design the garden in 1902. The garden was designed as a series of distinct rooms, forming sequential terraces in an architectural response to the downward sloping topography. The Water Terrace is positioned high on the oceanside bluff and features a rose-covered pergola, an ocean view shelter, and a stunning, 2,800 square foot, five-pool water garden inspired by the sixteenth-century Villa Lante in Viterbo, Italy. From this elevation, a series of granite steps descends through the gardens other rooms: a shady Overlook Terrace, a Lavender Terrace, a white-themed Tea Terrace, a substantial Vegetable Garden, a Crabapple Allée, and, finally, a semi-enclosed Rose Garden.

In its prime (1906 – 1935), the Lane garden was featured in Louise Sheltons Beautiful Gardens in America, the November 1907 issue of American Homes and Gardens, and numerous horticultural tours. By 1991, when Nola Anderson and her husband, Jim Mullen, purchased The Chimneys, the garden was in ruins, having not been maintained for nearly forty years. The gardens renewal became Ms. Andersons three-decade, hands-on personal passion as she rebuilt, restored, and recreated the garden, honoring the original Olmsted intent while completing the design with historic and contemporary plantings that pleased her evolving personal taste. The renewed gardens are, once again, the centerpiece of The Chimneys estate and a vibrant extension of a family home.

Renowned commercial photographer, Clint Clemens, was known in the advertising world for his work on the “loud and fast” – particularly luxury cars. Clemens, who had never photographed a garden, volunteered to take a few shots as a personal courtesy to old friends only to find himself drawn to the plants beauty.

Weight: 2342g
Dimension: 273 x 332 x 39 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9788862087391