!"# $%&'(&) *&+,#) at Queset is like a family heirloom found in the

attic—magni-cent but a bit tarnished. Abandoned for generations, this ruined garden is a silent testament to Edwardar-ian era bon vivants and a golden age in American gardening. .ough many his-toric landscapes have been lost, this clas-sically inspired garden has survived albeit largely forgotten under a choking tangle of vines and brambles. Preservation e/orts are underway and it is now being reclaimed from the shrouds of nature.

A Renaissance revival for a Renaissance garden.

Winthrop Ames (0123 -0452), scion of a wealthy manufacturing family, was the designer of the Italian Garden at his fam-ily’s country seat in North Easton, Mas-sachusetts. .e Queset estate – named for the stream that runs through the property

– was established in 0167 by Winthrop’s father, Oakes Angier Ames. He built the original manse, a handsome Gothic Revival residence designed by Andrew Jackson Downing. .e Ames family had

The Italian Garden at Quesetby James O’Day, &8'&

View of the Italian Garden’s re!ecting pool and pergola, c. "#$%.

O’Day · $

lived in this area since the late 01th century earning their livelihood as blacksmiths and manufacturers. By the 04th century, they had made their &rst fortune manu-facturing shovels, supplying nearly 93: of the shovels used worldwide by the late 04th century. Skillfully parlaying their newfound wealth, the Ames family capi-talized the nation’s -rst transcontinental railroad, the Union Paci-c, thus making their second fortune as railroad barons.

Like the Medici of Renaissance Italy, the Ames family became seminal -gures in politics and the arts. In the political realm, Oakes Ames served in Congress and his brother Oliver Ames served as Governor. As patrons of the arts, they commissioned the noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted for the numerous public buildings, monuments and private estates that they built in North Easton.

Having little interest in the fam-ily business, Winthrop studied art and architecture at Harvard University and lived abroad for many years. He eventu-ally established himself in New York’s theatre world, taking full advantage of family money and his theatrical talents. He -nanced and built two Broadway landmarks – the Little .eatre (renamed the Helen Hayes .eatre in 0415) and the rebuilt Booth .eatre (named for actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth). A;er the First World War, Ames produced and directed Broadway shows, successfully reviving such faded comic operas as Gilbert and Sullivan’s 'e Pirates of Penzance and 'e Mikado.

Despite his career in New York, Win-throp Ames made Queset his home and

(above) Detail of Assyrian statue amongst fountain

sprays and water iris.

(below) 'e vine-clad pergola also served as a stage for

summertime theatre

Aerial view of the Queset estate with the Italian Gardens in lower center of image.

'e Gothic Revival cottage at Queset by Andrew Jackson Downing.

O’Day · (

he began enhancing the property with projects re<ecting his generation’s taste and wealth. Ames began laying out the Italian Garden in 0400. .e choice of such a formal garden can be attributed to popular trends during this period. Known as the Country Place Era (0143-04=3), America’s moneyed elite built grand estates mod-eled a;er those in Europe. Formal garden designs inspired by Renaissance and Baroque were popularized by such noted arbiters and designers as Edith Wharton, Beatrix Farrand, Charles Platt, Stanford White, and Guy Lowell.

In an interview conducted by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 0453, Ames comments that Frederick Law Olmsted had once been involved with the estate and had “made some changes in the naturalistic planting about the lawns and

O’Day · )

elsewhere.” As for the design of the Italian Garden, he was rather self-deprecating:

“'e more formal features of the place – the [Italian] garden, the croquet lawn and the ‘yard’ – were designed (if proceed-ing largely by trial and error can be called design) by me; my wife supervises the !ower planting, and we owe much to the interest of our superintendent, J. Fred Coles.”

Winthrop Ames de;ly applied his talent for stagecra; to garden design by transforming a humble kitchen garden into a Renaissance-inspired vignette

– hortus conclusis – nestled in the wood-lands and the surrounding vernal ponds. Taking advantage of a gentle slope, he designed a series of terraces and stone

'e Ames children pose with the family dog in the Italian Garden.

steps cascading from the brow of the hill to a stone columned pergola at its base. A re<ecting pool featured a cast stone Assyr-ian -gure playing the pipes–with fountain sprays amongst iris–was a principal fea-ture. Ames created a sense of mystery and allure – giardino segreto–by enveloping his garden with a hedge of native, Rosebay rhododendron. .e verticality of colum-nar trees marching up the terraced hillside further emphasized the in<uence of Italian Renaissance gardens. Clipped Bay trees in wooden casisse de Versailles tubs were strategically placed for additional dramatic e/ect.

Photographs of the Italian Garden from the 0473s illustrate a well-groomed

O’Day · *

and mature landscape. Posed among the clipped hedges and stone terraces, two young girls (presumably Ames’ daughters Catherine and Joan) explore the wonders of the garden. Another image depicts the handsome, stone-columned pergola that also served as a stage for impromptu plays put on by Ames’ visiting theatre friends.

Upon retiring from the New York theater world in the early 0453s, Ames returned full time to Queset where he took an active interest in his gardens and played a role in the founding of the Cambridge School of Drama in 0457. Fol-lowing Winthrop Ames’ death in 0452, it is unclear how long his garden was looked a;er or maintained. .e Queset estate was eventually subdivided and some portions were sold by the family. Over the years, the property fell into disrepair and the Italian Garden was all but lost.

Although it is no longer threatened with obliteration, the garden still faces

challenges. Appropriate restoration schemes and funding are still necessary if it is to be preserved and maintained as an historic landscape. Since 7339, the Ames Free Library Trustees have reclaimed

“ownership” of the adjacent garden with a 44-year lease for the site. In order to expand and improve the library’s research capacity, the library will rehabilitate the outlaying, historic buildings to create a campus for research and administrative facilities. With the proposed campus sce-nario, the Italian Garden has the potential to be an integral part of the library’s rede-velopment plans. .e restoration cam-paign for the buildings is underway, yet funding and rehabilitation plans for the garden has yet to be -nalized. However, as the Italian Garden at Queset approaches its centennial (7300), its signi-cance as an historic designed landscape has at last been recognized. !© Copyright $%%# O+ce of James O’Day LLC

Plan of the Italian Garden at Queset (Courtesy: 'e Ames Free Library/Illustration: Kath Holland).