
Arts & Crafts Style / Residential Tuxedo Park




The Carriage House
The clients wanted their own driveway, separate from a driveway shared with an adjacent residence. Karen Arent Landscape Architect worked with engineers to design and locate the new driveway.




WeeWah Lodge
Much of the structure and design of this estate in Tuxedo Park, New York existed. The goal of various landscape designs were adding elements, structures, stone walls and pavements. Plantings enhance and harmonize with existing gardens and landscapes from the arts and crafts era.




The Library
Projects on this six-acre property embrace the Arts and Craft aesthetic of rusticity and the vernacular. New structures were carefully designed and crafted using native and indigenous materials to harmonize and blend seamlessly with the existing structures built around the turn of the century. Over 400 Barberry shrubs were removed from the property to open the landscape and breathe life and vitality into the spaces. Existing paths and steps were uncovered and restored. Gardens were planted with a mixture of native and flowering species, carefully chosen for habitat value, aesthetic beauty and adaptability. The new landscape, with all the new structures and plants, exudes a timeless beauty that harkens to the turn of the century landscape that once existed.
Foundation ruins were partially converted to a swimming pool, 30’ wide and 70’ long. Salvaged balustrades along with new balustrades were used to provide a safety rail on one end of the swimming pool where a ten-foot high wall was built to contain the swimming pool. Karen designed gates and fencing to provide pool enclosures. Pavement was added in the formal garden area to create a sitting space. Plantings were installed throughout the property, including the formal garden space, boat house and great lawn. A greenhouse was sited and a vegetable and cut flower garden was designed. Karen prepared plans for various approvals, construction documents, and planting plans.




The Manor House
The primary goal of this project was to bring the estate’s landscape back to grandeur. Over the years, the original landscape was neglected and nothing existed except lawns, beautiful old stone walls, and hints paths. KALA created functional, aesthetically pleasing spaces to provide passive and active recreation for a young family to enjoy. The driveway was redesigned to include a service area hidden from the formal entrance to the home. A half basketball court was carefully inserted into the landscape, screened and framed with Boxwood hedges. A formal garden was created in a nook, using the original entrance gates to the property and hand chiseled granite stones. Stones were added to define the driveway and create raised planting terraces and lower garden spaces. Gardens on the western and eastern sides were created that celebrate huge rock outcroppings and provide space for respite and recreation. Planting design took cues from historical photographs, with formally planted spaces closest to the home surrounded by original stone walls and more natural spaces further away from the home. Natural spaces, enhanced with native plantings, provide space for the children to explore.




Marion Hall
KALA designed a swimming pool for an historic home on steep slopes at the edge of a lake. An existing wall was rebuilt and extended, with carve-outs for a fire place, wood storage, sauna, and bathroom. Concrete walls clothed with Hollies support the pool on the fill side. Siting the pool at the basement level allows convenient access to the home while screening the pool from the formal first floor. Karen also designed a sunken tennis court, motor court, putting green, and large level lawn areas for the family to enjoy. Rain gardens capture and clean storm water from asphalt areas. Plantings in the rain gardens not only clean storm water, but provide screening of the motor court and adjacent large residence. Carefully choosing plants for function and cultural suitability yields an idyllic garden setting for a backyard with modern amenities the family enjoys.