Awards

2009 Awards : Merit Award - Design Category

Millman Homestead

Jordan Honeyman

A derelict landscape once surrounded three restored 19th century buildings in southern Delaware. The goal was a laid back weekend retreat - bold garden spaces for entertaining and fund raising that incorporated rural vernacular site elements respectful of the historic structures. Our completed master plan makes strong connections among the existing buildings and new garden rooms within a framework of lush, drought-tolerant plantings. Once part of a 220-acre working farm in 1840, the site is presently three acres and home to two additional renovated historic outbuildings. An 1850’s log cabin moved from the Shenandoah Valley is used as the guest cottage and an 1860’s train depot relocated from Harbeson, DE became the pool house. The site falls into four functional zones: front garden and parking court, rear lawn dining terrace, swimming pool and depot garden, and orchard meadow. Vernacular materials were used throughout. The gravel entry drive and entry court are edged in local granite cobbles and unpainted plank fencing and gates, similar to ones at Scotchtown Plantation in Hanover County VA, match the house’s cedar-shake siding. The swimming pool has a re-circulating salt water system and an outdoor shower reminiscent of corncribs found on area farms. A garden folly is made from salvaged columns from a former school in Easton, MD. The orchard consists primarily of old, heirloom fruit varieties and low mow grass. Site plantings are hardy, drought-tolerant varieties, mostly native to the mid-Atlantic coastal plain region or time-tested varieties typically found on old area properties. Impervious surfaces were minimized to encourage positive drainage and reduce stormwater runoff. The Millman Homestead is now a beautiful design expression of history blended with contemporary aesthetics and environmental sensibility.

Jury Comments:

nice vignettes in many places...;
overall a high quality design application;
a very sensitive hand and eye...