Residential Projects
A welcoming calm in an urban setting
An Urban Oasis, Chicago
With a mixture of contemporary and traditional architectural motifs, the indoor rooms of this new single-family home flow seamlessly to the exterior terraces, lawns and swimming pool. Located on a busy Chicago street, a planting of mature hedges and trees create both visual screening and noise attenuation. Courtyard spaces focus heavily on the movement and sound of a garden fountain, as well as the warmth and glow of a sculptural stone fire pit. Birch tree plantings around stairwells reinforce an “in-the-woods” feel and provide further virtual removal from the urban setting and enhance the sense of this being an oasis in the city.
An Urban Oasis Chicago
An English manor garden on the prairie
The Rumsey Estate, Lake Forest
This 1912 English manor home was built on eight acres for Chicago commodity trader Henry Rumsey by noted architect Charles Coolidge, who also designed Stanford University and the Art Institute of Chicago. The areas immediately adjacent to the house and swimming pool are styled in the English manner and include a formal lawn, parterre gardens, perennial border, koi pond, viewing circle and spa grotto. The original gardens at the estate were designed by the famous Midwest landscape architect Jens Jensen. Although the original Jensen landscape plans were found in the University of Michigan archives, returning all areas as originally designed was not feasible given changes made to the property during the intervening years.
Rumsey Estate & Mayflower Ravine Lake Forest, Illinois
Mayflower Ravine
An engineering and landscape plan was devised to prevent further loss of slope and tableland for the deteriorating Mayflower Ravine which abuts the Rumsey Estate. A full restoration of the ravine was developed and subsequently approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. The project constructed a stable watercourse capable of sustaining a habitat of revegetated plantings indigenous to the ravines of the North Shore, and a signature Jensen Council Ring further reinforces the historical aspect of the ravine.
Modern elements accent traditional living
A Lakeshore Escape, New Buffalo
On the Lake Michigan shore, this landscape, for a house that appears to be a cluster of contemporary cedar-clad weekend cottages, transitions from dense oak woods on the bluff above down to the grassy dunes below. Helping with the change in elevation, sand-blasted concrete and bluestone come together to create a garden framework that responds to the underlying architectural grid of the house. Garden plantings rely almost exclusively on hardy natives brought together in a composition of bold textural contrasts and subtle gradations of green tones. The back garden is wide open space that embraces the lake views and encourages family games across the tapestry of lawn.
Private Residence New Buffalo, Michigan
Lush plantings offer relaxing backdrop
Private Walled Garden, Evanston
Within the enclosure of 180 linear feet of original brick garden walls, Kettelkamp & Kettelkamp created a green oasis that draws upon the bold lines and classic styling of a 1920s Tudor Revival-style manor house for inspiration. A rugged Arts and Crafts-inspired pergola provides a relaxing location to sit back and admire a classic, 80-foot-long English-styled mixed border backed by the garden’s wall and fronted by a stone-edged ellipse of manicured lawn. The border features roses, lilies, hollyhocks, phlox, and perennial geraniums mingled with hydrangeas, variegated willows, and smoke-bush—all punctuated with boxwood globes. A beautiful children’s playhouse serves as a whimsical visual terminus at the border’s far reaches, and four handcrafted Tudor-style gates with custom iron grates crafted by an English blacksmith provide access.
Private Walled Garden Evanston, Illinois
A calm and sophisticated getaway
Michigan Summer House, New Buffalo
Nestled in a wooded clearing a stone’s throw away from Lake Michigan, this garden is a calm yet sophisticated weekend retreat from the city. The outdoor spaces are an extension of the crisp, clean lines of the architecture; a rhythmic rectangular module defines everything from the lawn, surrounding stepper path, pool and dining terraces, down to the ‘grass-paver’ system proposed for the front drive-court. This contemporary take on a rural, farm compound features nostalgic landscape elements such as an apple orchard, roadside bands of kinetic ornamental grasses and farm-style fencing freshly interpreted to create a cohesive composition in harmony with the architecture and site.
Michigan Summer House New Buffalo, Michigan