Enclosed Gardens
The Ellipse
The Ellipse, designed by Farrand to be "one of the quietest and most peaceful parts in the garden," was a central ellipse of grass surrounded by a high wall of American boxwood Buxus sempervirens. In the center of the grass oval, a single jet fountain was set on axis with the Box Walk.
In 1958, Alden Hopkins replaced the declining boxwood with a double row of American hornbeams, Carpinus caroliniana, clipped into an aerial hedge sixteen feet high and fifteen feet wide. In 1967 the Provençal fountain, purchased in 1927 and originally located in the copse where the Pre-Columbian Gallery now stands, was moved to the center of the Ellipse.
Further Information
The South Front
- South Side of the House
- South Lawn
- The Garden Library and Ribbon Walk
- East Lawn
- R Street Walk
- The Terrior Column and Enclosure
Enclosed Gardens
- The Orangery
- The Green Garden
- The Star Garden
- The North Vista
- The Swimming Pool and Loggia
- The Pebble Garden
- The Beech Terrace
- The Urn Terrace
- The Rose Garden
- The Fountain Terrace
- The Arbor Terrace
- The Box Walk
- The Ellipse