Another Garden Media Client Hits It Big in The Wall Street Journal

When Margie Grace of Grace Design Associates first told us about the Victoria Garden Mews, we knew instinctively this was a BIG story.

Anne-Marie Chaker of the Wall Street Journal loved the story and so did her editors. They took a closer look at the larger story and focused on the yard sharing from as simple as sharing a common garden to sharing living spaces, as in the Victoria Garden Mews. Read her full Wall Street Journal report here.

Or watch the WSJ Lunch Break video with Anne-Marie and Gwendolyn Bounds.

Yard sharing is really nothing new. People have been doing it for years. We'd identified it in our 2010 Garden Trends Report and talked about it again last year.  But the four couples who built this Santa Barbara, CA compound have taken the concept to a whole new level.

This LEED Platinum Certified living cluster proves green can be gorgeous. The four separate homes were conceived, designed and built by the families involved and their hand-selected team including Grace Design, Allen Associates and Santa Barbara Design and Build, in full compliance with Santa Barbara historic district’s demanding guidelines.

Where once stood a rundown Victorian house located in the historic district of Santa Barbara, now stands four separate gorgeous, high tech homes. One is the rebuild of the historic Victorian house. The other three homes are designed in southwest style architecture.

They are tied together with an integrated landscape, communal veggie garden, shared dining area and “art walk” designed by Margie, who is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and a past recipient of the APLD International Designer of the Year
All with the latest technology and green design, including a 14,000 gallon water bladder, car lifts for double-decker parking to maximize land use, and solar panels on the roof.

All within walking distance of town.

It is one of only 155 projects worldwide selected by SITES (Sustainable Sites Initiative) to demonstrate pioneering approaches to using land wisely. This urban infill trend is being supported by urban and residential planners around the country. Apparently Urban mayors like Corey Booker, Newark, NJ, are behind projects like this to solve local land use and quality of life challenges.

One of the owner's son and daughter-in-law now live in one of the units with their new baby. Dennis Allen gets to spend lots of quality time with his new granddaughter.

Life couldn't get much better.

Please visit our Flicker slideshow to see some awesome pictures.

Suzi
Garden Media Group