REVOLUTIONARY LANDSCAPE

Dan Gordon Landscape Architects creates historical gardens in Concord, Massachusetts.

- Nancy A. Ruhling

PERCHED ATOP A HILL IN THE AMERICAN MILE HISTORIC DISTRICT OF CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, IS A SPECTACULAR GEORGIAN REVIVAL RESIDENCE THAT HAD BEEN RESTORED TO HISTORICAL PERFECTION. • PATTERNED AFTER THE LONGFELLOW HOUSE ON BRATTLE STREET IN CAMBRIDGE, THIS CIRCA-1900 HOME HAD BEEN BUILT FOR CHARLES HOVEY PEPPER, A RENOWNED LANDSCAPE AND PORTRAIT PAINTER.

The site is as significant as the architecture, if not more so. Concord, the scene of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, literally is the birthplace of the United States, and this home is near the area where many notable writers lived, including Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau.

The house is a treasure. But its grounds, which cover nearly six acres, were another matter entirely. They were not up to par with the architecture of the grand house they surrounded.

“The landscape was unexceptional,” says landscape architect Dan Gordon, whose eponymous firm was commissioned to remake the grounds. “It looked like an afterthought.”

While the garden rooms that were there were pleasant enough, the overall design suffered from there being no significant connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.