Alumnus renovates his sophomore landscape design 20 years later
Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things
are going to happen until you make them happen.—Frances Hodgson Burnett, author, The Secret Garden
The hidden light court encased within the walls of Duncan Hall in downtown Lafayette, Indiana, was neglected and overgrown when Aura Lee Emsweller was hired as the hall’s first executive director in 1996.
The Georgian, colonial-style building opened in 1931 as a meeting place for social, patriotic, charitable, educational, and cultural events. A 1958 addition created the inner courtyard, designed to allow light to pass through the stately ballroom windows. It was in this narrow, unkempt space with a mucky, untended pond and ivy climbing the brick walls that Emsweller’s 6-year-old son, Schuyler, discovered a wonderland for the imagination.
“No one else ever went in there but him,” says Emsweller. “To him, it was his private, secret place.” One afternoon, young Schuyler plucked a white blossom from the dense cascades of ivy and showed it to his mother, cradling it in his hands as if it were a treasure. “He said, ‘Mom, look! It’s from my secret place.’”
The delight in her child’s face sparked an idea for Emsweller — perhaps the bedraggled courtyard, obscured from the public for decades, could become a secret garden that brought joy and enchantment to others.
An Idea Takes Root
Emsweller contacted the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and got connected with Rob Sovinksi (A’75), professor of landscape architecture, who challenged his sophomore class to propose designs that would transform the decrepit 7-by-32-foot alleyway into a blossoming secret garden. The winning design would be revealed at the garden’s dedication celebration.
“I remember being so secretive about my design,” says John Haven (A’01). “It was an open studio, and I would work odd hours on mine because I didn’t want anyone to see it. Everyone was tight-lipped about what they were doing.”
Haven was one of about 35 students who presented designs to Emsweller and the hall’s board of directors. The contractors and volunteers who constructed the garden based on the winning design were sworn to secrecy. The top five student designers were invited to the grand opening.
“They opened the door, and there it was — my design,” Haven says. “It was very exciting at the time, as a student, to have one of your projects constructed on an actual scale.”
John Haven (A’01) poses in the secret garden at Duncan Hall in 1998.
Haven’s plan called for stepping-stones to be engraved with quotes from The Secret Garden. It was his thoughtful incorporation of elements from the book and Duncan Hall itself that resonated with the board, Emsweller says.
“His path had a meandering, organic feel with the placement of the stones,” Emsweller says. “You’re not just going to walk straight from the door to the fountain. He wanted you to pause, read the engravings, look at the flowers, turn a little. It gave a visitor more involvement with the tiny space. It felt more informal, like the secret garden was in the book.”
The flower light fixtures Haven chose were a subtle nod to a design motif that permeates the building. Tiny bells shaped like upside-down tulips can be found in the hall’s bronze balustrade, the staircase, accents by the fireplace, porthole windows, and on the light fixtures.
“He was looking at it from the perspective of harmonizing the space with Duncan Hall and the story of The Secret Garden,” Emsweller says. “Everyone loved it. His design was the clear winner.”
A Vision Reimagined
Fast forward two decades, and Haven has established a career as senior associate at LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects in Boston. His award-winning residential projects span from New England to the Pacific Coast, but he’s never forgotten his humble start in the secret garden.
“This past winter, I was going through all my old stuff, and I came across my original drawing for the secret garden,” Haven says. “I’ve kept it all these years rolled up in a tube. It was one of the only things I kept from school.” It was serendipitous then, when Haven received a call from Emsweller a few months later asking if he’d be willing to revise the plantings in honor of the garden’s 20th anniversary.
“It’s wonderful to hear that 20 years later, your design is still appreciated after all this time,” Haven says. “The general spirit of the garden was still there. The structure of the garden — the stones, the arbor, the fountain — had weathered well and looked great. But the plantings had started to fade. It had lost its original color and fullness.”
For the renovation, Haven wanted to introduce color and height back into the garden to soften the rigidity of the brick corridor. He made changes to the layout to loosen the edges of the beds and give the garden a more relaxed and casual feeling. Though Haven wasn’t able to travel back to Lafayette for the anniversary celebration, he was happy to collaborate with Emsweller and Duncan Hall volunteers to revitalize the secret garden once again.
“I’m thrilled that the garden is there 20 years later and that visitors to Duncan Hall continue to enjoy it,” Haven says. “Who knew my design from this little class competition would endure? Revisiting this project brought everything back home for me.”
When Emsweller first conceived of the secret garden, she envisioned a space that would evoke the same feelings of wonderment experienced by the characters in the classic tale. “It’s a beloved story for good reason,” she says. “It’s children who discover a secret garden, and through caring for the garden, they themselves are transformed.”
Decades on, the hidden courtyard continues to enchant children. Many visitors to the hall are first-graders participating in a two-hour educational program to promote citizenship, civility, and character.
“We tell them that being a good citizen is giving from your heart to improve your city,” Emsweller says. “The secret garden is only there because of good citizenship. Its design was volunteer; it was constructed by volunteers; and volunteers keep it up today. People have to keep giving and caring to create something beautiful so that others can enjoy it.”
This story appeared in the Fall 2018 issue of Purdue Alumnus magazine.
