Ms. Kathi Grant

Formerly from New England, the owner of a very large Cape Cod-style home on a small-scale lot overlooking Lake Michigan knew an expert’s touch was needed. Her house sat perilously close to the water’s edge, its east side ravaged year-round by waves and threatened by ice in winter. Serious concerns for the home’s precarious location as well as the owner’s desire to create an East Coast mood required creative solutions.

Over the next five years, the landscape architect designed practical and aesthetic remedies to transform a vulnerable piece of lakefront property into a robust and charming retreat from Chicago life. To align forces with Mother Nature and to emphasize the theme, it was decided that stone upwards of half a million dollars worth would be used extensively.

To mimic the rocky, irregular shoreline of the Eastern Seaboard, over 300 tons of Lake Superior granite was hauled in by barge to create a higher seawall. Below the seawall, arranged on the steep embankment, seven to twelve-ton Wisconsin aqua-blue boulders were selected to evoke the drama of surfacing whales.  

A graceful Vermont fieldstone staircase leads up to the house while New York bluestone walkways invite strolling. A  historic East Coast cottage garden was recreated using hearty native trees, shrubs and flowers to withstand the challenging steamy summers and icy winters. 

To help the owner reminisce and to ensure privacy, a surround of fieldstone completes this featured property, punctuated by custom-designed wooden gates and fencing. The property has been featured in the 2001 National Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Tour, several regional garden walks and a 1998 issue of The Chicago Tribune.