Before and After: A Garden Duplex in a Historic Chelsea Townhouse.
One of our all-time favorite remodels in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood is architect Julian King’s thoughtful update of a Victorian townhouse, which uncovered character-filled historical details and created a sunny back garden.
: For the interiors, see Minimalist Moves for a Chelsea Townhouse.
Above: Recycled bricks and stones found on the property during the remodel pave the garden and edge the garden beds.
Before After Above: The rear elevation was replaced; a new second-floor balcony overlooks the garden.
King moved the master bedroom to the ground floor, where a wall of glass slides open to connect it with the garden.
The kitchen he moved upstairs… Above: A new staircase leads from the kitchen balcony to the garden.
Above: The cantilevered stairs are made of ipe wood.
A generous bluestone slab serves as a landing at the base of the staircase.
Above: In his remodel, King honored the proportions of the townhouse’s Victorian design while updating the floor plans to create an intimate relationship between the garden and indoor spaces.
Landscaping: 10 Classic Layouts for Townhouse Gardens.
Small space, infinite possibilities.
Behind every city townhouse lies a garden.
Here are 10 classic layouts to accommodate dining, lounging, and play in a townhouse garden: Three-Part Harmony In London, a typically long and narrow garden is split up into three separate areas to create a sense of spaciousness.
“Steps of painted concrete with brick lead from the area by the back door up to the garden proper,” writes Kendra.
“The stairs are a focal point in themselves and support tubs of salad leaves and tumbling tomatoes in summer.
A tree fern also adds to the sense that this lower part of the garden is not just a preamble for the rest.” For more of this garden, see Designer Visit: The Black and Green Garden of Chris Moss.
Clean, Simple, and Low-Maintenance Above: Photograph by Douglas Lyle Thompson for Gardenista.
In Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, New Eco Landscapes designed a clean and simple backyard, “laid with local bluestone pavers that require nothing more than an occasional sweep with a broom,” writes Barbara.
Besides the shrubs, the beds are planted with drought-tolerant blue carpet juniper and Hollywood juniper; ground cover of ajuga and pine-bark mulch keeps the weeds down.