Landscape Information
Originally conceived as “The Spanish Memorial Church” commemorating Ponce de Leon’s landing in Florida in 1513, the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, a Spanish Gothic structure built in 1925, was designed by New York architects Hiss and Weekes. In 1931, Nellie Cluett, whose parents were founding members of the church, hired Walter Thomas of Philadelphia to design a garden in their memory. The small garden, only 1/3 of an acre, reflects an Italian influence, with water features, parterres, and tropical plants orchestrated on two highly-detailed tiers.
The space is entered through the lower Tea Garden, a stone-paved gathering place with carved stone benches that is enclosed by walls and a small Tudor-style building. The contemplative, upper Color Garden is surrounded by a dense stand of palms and has twin gazebos for seating. The two gardens are united by a series of water features that originate with a raised, stone fountain at the far end of the Color Garden. Water flows into a shallow stone rill then continues into a linear sunken pool that bisects the Color Garden. Constructed from local coral stone, the pool is edged by lawn and parterres of cruciform-shaped, clipped boxwood. Water from the pool flows through an opening in a retaining wall and cascades into a raised rectangular basin in the Tea Garden below. The retaining wall, decorated with coral stone, tile and stucco, stone obelisks and ball finials, also incorporates a small arched stone bridge and a pair of wide stone stairs that connect the two levels.
