On April 7, the Elks Club Lodge in Newport opened its doors to a community forum hosted by the Friends of Newport Preservation. The two speakers were individuals both connected to architectural disciplines, one in building and the other in landscape.
Patricia O’Donnell gave a talk on landscape design that was enlightening and inspiring. Her talk was on the qualities that a thoughtful, well-conceived plan ought to aspire.
To be specific, the subject discussed was the serpentine garden path at The Breakers that this group is working to preserve and restore. This was a plan that had the direct input from the three main players of this significant (arguably one of the most well-known in America) property: the Bowditch design firm, the architect (Richard Morris Hunt) and the owner (Cornelius Vanderbilt).