Landscape Information
Built in 1967 on a hill overlooking eighteen wooded acres in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, this Greek Revival mansion replaced the earlier residence of Atlanta mayor Robert Maddox. Surrounded by a peristyle of 24-foot-tall Doric columns, the home opens onto grounds updated by landscape architect Edward Daugherty prior to and after its construction. Daugherty retained many features of the original landscape, including its dignified arrival drive, native tree collection (e.g. magnolias and white oaks), the tennis court, and the curved lawn terraces to the west of the house, which earlier functioned as an amphitheater and a means to mitigate erosion. The terraces lead to a formal, Italianate fountain in a wide basin encircled by classical statuary and a box hedge parterre. Daugherty planted crepe myrtles and yaupon hollies in the area, and evergreens at the perimeter of the property. A manicured front lawn is separated from the house by winding entrance drives that converge at an octagonal roundabout with a central water feature. West of the house, an open terrace spreads out from the drawing room and is connected to a lower rectangular lawn by concave/convex stairs designed by Daugherty. To the north of the house, Daugherty created a semi-circular path that descends twelve feet into an enclosed contemplative space, while to the east he raised the ground level to extend the porch into a morning room garden. With the help of the Georgia Botanical Society, Daugherty established a wild garden of native plants in the woods in the western section of the property, but it has since been abandoned. A vegetable garden and greenhouse were added on the east side of the property in the early 2000s.
