While we love nothing more than taking a peek inside some of the world's most remarkable homes, we're often guilty of overlooking their outside spaces. Whether commissioned by multi-millionaires from the upper echelons of society or designed by some of America's most celebrated architects, these incredible gardens could never be ignored. Retelling the country's rich history, these outside spaces deserve iconic status. Let's take a look inside the grounds of some of America's most renowned residences...
A National Historic Landmark, Middleton Place boasts 110 impressive acres of land – 65 of which are recognised as the oldest landscaped gardens in America. Spectacular and vibrant in equal measure, the grounds around this 18th-century rice plantation appear to have been frozen in time, epitomising the excessive grandeur of 18th and 19th-century plantation society. Located in Charleston, South Carolina, the property fronts three kilometres of the Ashley River.
Henry Middleton, a First Continental Congress president, designed his dream garden in 1741, to mathematical precision. Mimicking classical European styles made famous by the likes of André Le Nôtre, the master behind the grounds at the Palace of Versailles, the original garden contained walkways fringed with foliage and elaborate sculptures placed at the end of long vistas. Over the years, family members contributed to the grounds and the French botanist, André Michaux, brought the very first camellias to America, planting them at Middleton Place.
Arthur’s grandson, Williams, turned the property from a country house into a plantation in the mid 19th-century, expanding the gardens and planting beautiful azaleas. Now, Middleton Place features over 100,000 azaleas and has become renowned for its colourful annual displays. By 1940, the Garden Club of America described Middleton Place as the “most important and interesting garden in America.” Now open to the public, the estate boasts traditional stables and a Reconstruction-era African American freedman’s home, containing a permanent exhibit on slavery.
While most gardens are built around the home, Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright takes an altogether different approach. For his most iconic design, the great American architect built a property entirely integrated with its environment. As one of Wright's most famous and celebrated works, the building is also considered one of the greatest architectural triumphs of the 20th century. Yet as remarkable as the house is, the landscape around Fallingwater cannot be overlooked...
The house was designed as a weekend retreat for Edgar J Kaufmann, the owner of Kaufmann's Department Store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kaufmann commissioned Wright in 1934, to design him a bespoke residence that embraced its natural landscape – home to a colossal waterfall, great ridges, endless plateaus and spectacular gorges. Wright is said to have designed the property in just two hours – the amount of time it took for Kaufmann to drive to Wright's home to inspect his proposed plans.
Designated a National Historic Landmark and inscribed on the World Heritage List, Fallingwater emerges from rock and cantilevers over a cascading waterfall, allowing the three-mile Bear Run river to flow beneath its foundations. Subtly blending into the woodland that surrounds it, both the building and its garden are characterised by stone and water, and the house offers walls of glass to allow for unobstructed views from every living space.
More akin to a glistening European island than to America's southeast coast, The Ringling is one of the country's most impressive estates. The property once belonged to John Ringling, an entrepreneur that helped shape the modern circus. He was, at one time, one of the richest men in the world and in 1911, John and his wife, Mable, purchased 20 acres of waterfront in Sarasota, Florida, gradually adding to their collection, until they owned 25% of the city's land.
To this day, the property’s immaculate Bayfront Gardens remain an insight into the Ringlings’ opulent lifestyle. Mathematically designed, elegant statues watch over the dazzling Rose Garden, which covers 27,225 square feet of space. The Italian-inspired gardens fell into disrepair in the late thirties but were beautifully restored by horticulturist Ron Mallory in the 1940s. Today, the garden consists of roses introduced as far back as 1752, including Hybrid Teas and Grandifloras.
Mable envisioned an estate with exotic trees and unique flowers. Throughout the estate’s 66 acres, you’ll find 14 Banyan trees, the largest collection in Florida, as well as six varieties of bamboo. Elsewhere, the whimsical Dwarf Garden acts as a nod to the circus and is reminiscent of romantic 18th- and 19th-century Italian gardens. This enchanting world harbours unusual statues hidden among delicate palms. Now a state museum, The Ringling features 21 galleries of paintings and antiquities from around the world, but its gardens remain its most appealing exhibit.
Property fans will be only too aware of Richard Neutra’s legacy of beautiful and innovative modernist designs. Yet few people know that this great Austrian-American architect was also a keen landscape gardener. Located in Palm Springs, California, Kaufmann House (also known as Kaufmann Desert House), was built in 1946 and was cleverly curated to perfectly suit its arid setting. From its flat roof to its shaded outdoor spaces, Neutra created an incredible home that fully embraced the Californian climate.
Another commission by Edgar J Kaufmann, the home was designed as a vacation residence for the department store giant and his family. Much like Fallingwater, Kaufmann House is perfect for its environment and Neutra created the ultimate indoor-outdoor home that effortlessly blended the interior living spaces with the spacious, desert landscape beyond. An extension of the San Jacinto Mountains that frame the house, the garden was formed from sand, boulders, palm trees and cacti, while a dazzling pool reflects the surrounding scenery.
Based around the principles of clean lines and simple geometry, Neutra's most iconic design is enhanced by the landscape on which it sits, with the natural stone of its walls melting into the sand of the garden. Designated a historic site by the Palm Springs Historic Site Preservation Board, Kaufmann House features as a stop on local architecture tours, allowing keen admirers of the great architect to steal a glimpse of this truly spectacular family home.
Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, Monticello was the former home of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. Positioned in Charlottesville, Virginia, Jefferson inherited the land and designed the house and gardens himself. Spanning 5,000 acres, Jefferson used enslaved African-American labourers to tend to the grounds, harvest saleable tobacco and wheat, and tend to an experimental laboratory of ornamental and botanical plants from around the world.
In fact, at one time 150 enslaved labourers worked in the grounds of Monticello and two in particular helped to shape the spectacular estate that we see today. Wormley Hughes, Monticello's head gardener, tended to the grounds and planted many of its seeds, while Gardener John aided with Jefferson's important kitchen garden, which was not only there to feed the family, but to provide an additional source of income. John planted a sugar maple tree that has been on the site for more than two centuries, while perennial bulbs continue to flourish here after 115 years.
Kaufmann House isn't the only impressive property that Richard Neutra designed. Scheimer House, located in Tarzana, Los Angeles, was the great architect's final project and after he passed away in 1970, it was up to his son, Dion, to complete the build. Since it was finished in 1972, Scheimer House has only had one owner and it went on the real estate market for the very first time in 2015, with an asking price of £4.5 million ($5.5m).
Designed for wealthy Hollywood executive producer, Lou Scheimer, the house needed to make the most of its spellbinding views across the horizon, while also offering a garden that felt like part of the interior itself. Walls of glass allow for a seamless flow between the inside and outside spaces, while a huge reflecting swimming pool sits in front of the main living room, enhancing the landscape views and making it feel like part of the lounge's décor.
In fact, in some rooms of this mid-century marvel, the pool encroaches inside. An indoor stream and waterfall add to the quirks of this post-and-beam house, while large stepping stones in bold geometric shapes help to further link the interior with the garden, without halting the flow of water. Soft shrubbery and palms of different shapes and sizes break up the three-acre backyard, adding to its texture and providing endless focal features.
The historic estate of Dumbarton Oaks can be found in the Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington, DC. The former residence of Robert and Mildred Bliss, the property now belongs to Harvard University and is home to an important Research Library and Collection. Yet aside from its educational importance, Dumbarton Oaks also benefits from having one of the most picturesque gardens in the country.
In the early 1920s, the Blisses hired architect Frederick H Brooke to make modifications to the house and over time, they increased the estate's grounds to an impressive 54 acres. Mildred took on responsibility for shaping the newly enlarged grounds, working with landscape gardener, Beatrix Farrand, to create a series of beautiful terraced gardens, a wilderness meadow, orchards and tranquil wooded pathways that weave their way through the estate.
Mildred and Beatrix worked on the gardens for almost 30 years. While the Fountain Terrace was inspired by the English Art and Crafts movement, the tree-lined Green Garden was designed to offer panoramic views of the entire estate. To this day, everywhere you look you'll spot gems that the pair handpicked to decorate the grounds, from benches and gates to fountains and sculptures. While Harvard owns 16 acres, 27 now belong to the National Park Service. Open to the public, the grounds of Dumbarton Oaks are not to be missed.
In 1979, work on American comedian Bob Hope's bespoke residence was complete. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's former apprentice, John Lautner, the house and its sprawling six-acre garden are quite unlike anything you might have seen before. Entirely embedded into its setting in Palm Springs, California, the Hope Residence appears to rise from beneath the very ground on which it sits. In fact, so ingrained is this property in its environment, that you can barely see it from the Araby Trail above.
Likened to a mushroom and a spaceship, the Hope Residence dominates its surroundings, yet the grounds around the house are also able to shine, thanks to their extensive rolling lawns, tennis courts, putting greens and swimming pool. The garden also offers an outdoor fireplace in a large conical chimney, located on one of the garden's exterior terraces. The house faces the jaw-dropping view, allowing for panorama of the Coachella Valley and the San Jacinto Mountains from every single window.
Resembling a high-end country club, beautiful trees and palms decorate the edges of the property, allowing it to become truly ingrained on its plot, while a waterfall appears to originate from inside the home's walls. A large circular opening in the property's sweeping roof exposes the desert sky and offers shaded patios that blur the lines between inside and out. In 2013, the estate was listed for sale for £41 million ($50m), but two years later it was scooped up for a modest £10.4 million ($13m).
A visit to Hearst Castle is not complete without exploring the breathtaking gardens that encompass native plants, rare flowers and lush foliage. The castle’s history began back in 1865, when George Hearst, a powerful miner, rancher and self-made millionaire, purchased 40,000 acres of ranchland. Following his wife's Phoebe’s death in 1919, his only son William Randolph Hearst inherited thousands of acres of land around San Simeon, and over time the spread eventually encompassed an astonishing 250,000 acres.
The media tycoon, who at his peak owned more than two dozen newspapers nationwide also dreamed of building a property similar to those he had seen on a European tour he had taken with his mother as a young boy. Hearst Castle was to become the realisation of this dream as he and architect Julia Morgan collaborated for 28 years to construct a castle as beautiful as those he witnessed in Europe.
William’s vision allowed him to pursue what has been classed as one of the most ambitious architectural endeavours in American history, the result of which is the retreat he called La Cuesta Encantada – Spanish for ‘Enchanted Hill.’ Like the interior of the castle, the lush, serene gardens were planned and developed with as much care and attention to detail by Hearst and Morgan, and although by 1947 he had to leave the remote location because of his fragile health – the estate was still unfinished even though it comprised 165 rooms and 123 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways – the beautiful grounds still feature foliage that have been at the castle since Hearst resided here.
As America's largest privately-owned home, Biltmore is one of the most spectacular architectural wonders in the world. Built for George Washington Vanderbilt II in the late 19th century, the majestic Gilded Age mansion spans 178,926 square feet and sits on an 8,000-acre plot that has been landscaped to perfection. No matter what time of year you visit this extensive estate, you'll find magical blooms, hiking trails and one of the most impressive Rose Gardens in the USA.
Located in Asheville, North Carolina, Biltmore uses a century-old model for maintaining its endless grounds. When Vanderbilt planned his estate, he wanted a lavish home where he could entertain, but equally he craved a home that preserved its surroundings. He developed a self-sustaining estate that was both fruitful and environmentally friendly, and Biltmore's horticultural experts now maintain the estate using Vanderbilt's original methods.
Boasting over 250 varieties, the Rose Garden is perhaps Biltmore's most seductive offering, but in mid-April the estate's Walled Gardens come to life with Darwin hybrid tulips of every colour. Elsewhere you'll find flowering dogwoods, poppies, snapdragons and pansies, while the Biltmore Winery, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, offers endless rolling fields that add to the magic of American's most formidable estate.
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