Jamaica Plain, Mass.
Reed Hilderbrand Associates & Maryann Thompson Architects

Reed Hilderbrand and Maryann Thompson join forces for the new Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden in Boston

By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

	Click images to enlarge Photo © Alan Ward

Being tapped to design a garden for plant experts sounds as daunting as cooking a holiday meal for Julia Child and Jacques Pépin, but Glen Valentine, a project manager with landscape architect Reed Hilderbrand in Watertown, Massachusetts, describes working with Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum as a partnership of complementary strengths. “The client was demanding about the horticultural requirements, which makes sense—plants aren’t just ornaments to them, they’re the lifeblood of their institution,” he says. “But they fully supported our ideas for creating a framework for their new collection.” He’s talking about the Leventritt Vine and Shrub Garden, which Reed Hilderbrand designed with Maryann Thompson Architects of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though clearly Modern in character, this green oasis in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood nevertheless feels as timeless and classic as a string of pearls (or steak tartare, to continue the metaphor).

Founded in 1872, the Arnold Arboretum comprises 265 acres of Boston’s 7-mile-long Emerald Necklace, and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Sprager Sargent, the arboretum’s first director. Harvard set aside a 3.5-acre parcel for planting vines and shrubs that are difficult to grow or care for elsewhere on the grounds. The design team they tapped had worked together congenially on other projects, and this one proved no different. “Our aesthetic sensibilities are very similar, and we share ideas freely,” says Thompson.

The site, shaped like a blade of a pinwheel, drops 30 feet toward its northernmost point and is bounded on the east by a stream. The arboretum needed a flexible classroom space and gathering spot as well as a garden, so Thompson placed an open-air pavilion at the southwest corner of the slope that opens up expansively to the plantings below. Unlike traditional botanical gardens, Reed Hilderbrand eschewed a rigid symmetrical plan or arbitrary geometric construct around the pavilion. Instead, he laid out rows of wide terraces that slide and fan their way down the sloped terrain. A central processional lawn cuts through them at a grade gentle enough for handicapped access.

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the People Owner President and Fellows of Harvard University Landscape Architect Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Inc. 741 Mount Auburn Street Watertown, MA 02472 Tel 617-923-2422 Fax 617-972-3740 www.reedhilderbrand.com Principal-in-charge: Douglas P. Reed, ASLA Project Manager: Glen Valentine, ASLA Project Architect: Adrian Smith Project Designer: Scheri Fultineer Architect of Record Maryann Thompson Architects 14 Hillside Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 www.maryannthompson.com Principal-in-charge: Maryann Thompson Project Architect: David Suttle Engineer(s) Structural: Ocmulgee Associates, Inc. Civil: Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. www.vhb.com Consultat(s) Landscape Contractor: Schumacher Landscaping, Inc. Lighting: Ripman Lighting Consultants www.ripmanlighting.com Geotechnical: Haley & Aldrich www.haleyaldrich.com General contractor Lee Kennedy Co., Inc. www.leekennedy.com Photographer(s) Alan Ward 617-926-3000 Chuck Choi Architectural Photographer chuckchoi.com

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