The Cawood House and its Italian garden
Like so many young couples in the years immediately following World War II, my parents were avid to build their own home in which to raise their family. Also, like so many of their peers, their means were modest
Will L. Thompson’s Garden, Park, and Legacy
Thompson Place, Central School, and the Potters’ Ghosts
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Skyview Manor
Skyview Manor was built by the founder of Potters Savings and Loan, John J. Purinton, in 1920. For me, it has always been more than a house, even more than a grand house. It is the embodiment of many abstractions: the entrepreneurial spirit of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries culminating in the expansiveness of the roaring 20’s, the expression of the adoption of “the country house” concept, the values of capacious comfort, the attention to details which, even after many years of familiarity, still sometimes surprise and delight, and, very importantly, the relationship of its siting on one of the highest points in the area to its view and surrounding gardens.
A detail that delighted me was my discovery of the design of the gate’s lanterns is identical to the one used in Forest Hills Gardens, outside of New York
Backyard Inspiration
Before I lost the blossom battle with the ravenous deer herds, I drew much inspiration from my gardens. While never pretending to be anything other than an hobbyist, I enjoyed studying the forms and structures and growing habits of the plants and shrubs of the property. I especially was drawn to Tree Peonies after reading about Linwood Gardens in Pavilion, New York which lies between Buffalo and Rochester. Tree peonies, as contrasted to the more familiar herbaceous peonies that everyone’s grandmother grew, develop on a woody stem/trunk which does not die back each autumn. The Linwood Gardens were the grounds of a Buffalo businessman’s summer home and were developed by his son, William Gratwick who, along with the artist Nassos Daphnis, were hybridizers of Tree peonies. We visited the gardens several times, and purchased some of the divisions that were offered. Linwood is not a commercial nursery and maintains no retail outlet, but they do offer divisions at their spring festival that are available for pick up in the autumn when they perform the digging and dividing. After one purchase, Lee Gratwick gave us as lagniappe a small twig of a “Daedalus” one of the Daphnis hybrids. Today, it is the showpiece of the front planter for its blooming period of only several days. Tree peonies’ blossoms are as evanescent as they are exquisitely beautiful. Visit https://www.linwoodgardens.org
Overscaled Peony Panel
Skyview Manor
The Tree Peony Saunders hybrid “Marchioness” was the model for my drawing which was transformed into a decal. The square plate is white Fiesta Ware and the brique-a-vin and platter were produced by the Hall China Company which is now out of business.
DESIGNS
The 2 tile alternating matching scheme as a design technique
Early on as I began to explore tile designs, I sensed a certain frustration using the customary vocabulary of the familiar tile types. I had no desire to copy Dutch Delft designs or Portuguese azulejos or Mexican talaveras or Persian Izniks. After some experimentation with designs based on Aesthetic Movement motifs, I encountered a design that utilized 2 tiles which matched each other on all four sides. Not only did this allow great dimensional flexibility for both horizontal and vertical directions, but it increased both the scale of the field and the imagery. It, nevertheless, still respected the grid of the tile as opposed to murals which ignore the grid entirely.
Rococo Chinoiserie Toile
The assembly of the alternatingly matched tiles immediately leads to discernable groupings of 3 and 9. By the additions of bordering tiles and corners or of designed “frames”, dimensionally customized panels are readily created.
Rococo Framing element shown would horizontally match the dimension of 3 tiles. The right two from the center tile would be the mirror images of the left two.