Nantucket Sanctuary

A repeat client’s new Nantucket home rested on a compact quarter-acre and brought a unique challenge: how to arrange an amenity-rich garden in such limited space. The house was still under construction when purchased—and the untouched, raw construction site required a full makeover.

Design goals included a functional but welcoming arrival experience, a rear outdoor living zone for entertaining, dining, and relaxing with swimming pool, pool house, chaise lounge seating, outdoor shower, plus all the functional appurtenances of AC condensers, propane tank, underground electric service and a storm drainage system. Additionally, privacy on four sides was requested, and beautiful plants that would thrive in the island’s microclimate.

For the front entry, RBLA crafted a gravel auto court with a wide, low stone wall to separate cars from the front porch. The remaining sides are hedged, with specimen trees added to create vertical foils to soften the house façades. Taking advantage of a change in elevation in the rear of the otherwise flat lot, RBLA divided the garden into two primary zones with a retaining wall and wide steps to visually separate the new pool house and swimming pool from the main house. Located on axis with the large French doors from the house, the steps establish a view corridor from inside down to the swimming pool and the two distinct grade planes enlarge one’s perception of space. The pool house terminates the long axis of the pool and was pushed as closely to the property line as possible.  Just enough space was reserved for the evergreen screen backdrop–junipers and tall hollies for maximum privacy, with foreground containers and handsome low plantings.

RBLA designed and curated every exterior element and detail—planting compositions, walls, fencing, gates, wood pergola, stonework and paving, granite firepit, landscape lighting, outdoor furniture and custom planters. They were composed in unison to enhance the archetypal New England village structures they pull together, and collectively transform this private Nantucket hideaway.