A Thoughtful Landscape on the Rhode Island Coast

On the upper terrace, landscape architect Tara Vincenta anchored wind-resistant umbrellas in the buff-colored granite terrace to provide shade while withstanding coastal gusts. The team at Moore House Design sourced the outdoor furniture

The entrance gates set on granite posts match the trim of the house and open to a peastone parking court and the guest cottage. Fragrant lavender spills over the bluestone-edged bed that lines the pathway to the front entrance. Drifts of Incrediball hydrangea and fountain grass soften the cottage courtyard.

Fragrant lavender spills over the bluestone-edged bed that lines the pathway to the front entrance.

Drifts of Incrediball hydrangea and fountain grass soften the cottage courtyard.

Straightforward, strongly defined, and salt tolerant, Russian sage and fountain grass flank the main entrance. A water feature directly across from the door provides a soothing soundtrack, and Dragon Lady holly acts as a privacy hedge.

Below the umbrella-shaded terrace, bluestone steps lead to a peastone firepit terrace that overlooks the gabion wall and cove.

The design team planted a rain garden filled with liatris, feather reed grass, baby joe-pye weed, black-eyed Susans, fountain grass, and asters to absorb water runoff.

The corridor beside the house is flanked with inkberry, switchgrass, and joe-pye weed.

A polished basin fountain from Stone Forest accents lavender beds along the peastone pathway to the guest cottage.

The lower-level color-block rain garden focuses on a palette of lavender (liatris and joe-pye weed) and yellow (black-eyed Susans.

It was necessary to leave a coastal buffer intact between the landscape and the cove, but it was permissible to open up the view by trimming shrubs to four feet. The area also includes storage for kayaks, and the gated gabion wall hems views to and from the water.

Before taking on any project, Tara Vincenta listens. The principal of Artemis Landscape Architects hears clients’ hopes and dreams for their property and talks with
other members of the design team. But the pivotal moment comes when Vincenta stands on the land and perceives the space. Brought to a Jamestown, Rhode Island, project by architect Ron DiMauro, Vincenta saw the site’s hidden view that was begging to be unlocked and celebrated.

The clients, of course, had their wish list and the DiMauro team knew the building parameters, but the property told Vincenta how to make a landscape possible. “I design by feeling,” Vincenta explains. “I have to stand in a landscape and feel it. Then I know what the land is asking for and how we can put all the pieces together.”

The project began in 2020, and DiMauro’s team had their fair share of architectural conundrums to tackle. Although the property is 165 feet wide, only thirty-six feet were suitable for structures due to surrounding wetlands. In that tight envelope, the clients, Rhode Island natives, tasked the architect with incorporating a contemporary Tudor-style main house, an attached two-car garage, and a separate guest cottage. The resulting home is narrow and three stories tall. To fulfill the clients’ request for stucco with a slate roof, project manager Tyler Zagryn utilized an acrylic stucco that would withstand oceanfront weather.

With the garage facing the street, the home’s main entrance is tucked away and off to the side, so the owners asked Artemis to craft a beautiful entry path that would be obvious to first-time visitors. The fountain-flanked bluestone walkway is so successful that, as Zagryn attests, “Who wouldn’t want to walk down that pathway?”

Vincenta took all challenges in stride, skillfully installing a rain garden filled with deep-rooted panicum, joe-pye weed, liatris, asters, and black-eyed Susans massed in sweeps of color. Similarly, other color-block plantings line the view corridor. Balconies beckon the family to bask in the view, while perennials around terraces lead the eye down to a gabion wall framing the water and coastal scrublands.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d live in such an idyllic spot,” says the homeowner. It’s a sentiment they’ve echoed to Vincenta. “This is their forever home,” she says. “It’s a brilliant contemporary take on an old-world house by the sea. Here we celebrate nature.”

Project Team
Landscape design: Artemis Landscape Architects
Architecture and interior design: DiMauro Architects
Interior design: Moore House Design Builder: K&R Construction Co.