Greenville Estate

This 1920’s stone home reflects the height of the Dupont family’s influence in the Brandywine Valley.  Its grandeur deserved highlighting and enhancing, and yet over the past 100 years, certain elements such as the driveway, pedestrian circulation, relationship to neighboring houses demanded reconsideration.  My team and I jumped at the chance to update this stately home and grounds in a way that respected its historic significance.  

Working with its homeowners and their knowledge of English and French gardens, we protected the legacy trees and planted over 200 mature evergreen and canopy trees to create a bubble around the estate, shielding it from nearby traffic, noise, as well as a newly-built community.  With a horticultural buffer established, we set about reconfiguring the flow of vehicular and foot traffic. Upon arrival, guests now travel through a masonry entrance that echoes the house while being equipped with modern controls. A realignment of the driveway leads them directly to the front door rather than outbuildings as before.  Once there, guests intuitively travel along the new promenade, down the tree allée, and through the classically-inspired four-square garden, all newly-added features.

As the property is low-lying, it historically had a high water table and struggled with drainage issues.  Coordinating with engineers and stormwater management, my team and I developed a green infrastructure solution that redirected storm run-off away from the house, reduced erosion, and created meadows and vegetated swales.  Through these efforts, we succeeded in transforming wet lawns into lush spaces that enhanced views and served to filter stormwater before returning it to streams and ponds on the property.  Our re-envisioning took an estate that felt disjointed and turned it into a holistically grand experience for homeowners and visitors alike.