The Blue Garden Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape

Acknowledgments -- Preface / by Charles A. Birnbaum -- Introduction: legacy in blue -- The context for the blue garden ; The Newport architectural heritage ; The Olmsted firm and the Newport landscape -- The estate on Beacon Hill: the owners ; Arthur Curtiss James ; Harriet Parsons James -- The estate on Beacon Hill: the designers ; Architects: Howells et Stokes -- Landscape architects: Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Olmsted Brothers ; Landscape architectural assistants: John H. Greatorex, Percy Reginald Jones, Charles Robert Wait, Hans J. Koehler, Harold Hill Blossom -- The estate on Beacon Hill: construction ; acquisition of the property ; Early development 1908 -- 1910 ; Early planting considerations ; Considering a formal garden ; The second phase of word 1911 -- Formality with distinction: the "Blue Garden" ; Evolution of an idea ; Implementing the idea : early construction ; Refining the -- the Persian water garden ; Planting the garden -- the perimeter ; Planting the garden -- An interior of blue with a "touch of white" ; Furnishing the Blue Garden -- Celebrating the garden ; "The masque of the Blue Garden" ; After the pageant ; Using the Blue Garden ; Changes in the Blue Garden ; Other garden rooms: the rose garden -- Years of decline ; The depression decade ; The passing of Arthur Curtiss and Harriet Parsons James ; The post -- James tenure ; Early reclamation -- A new era ; Recapturing the story ; Recapturing the place: preparation for reconstruction ; Construction ; Earthwork and soils, irrigation and the water system ; Planting ; Planting for a sustainable future ; Conclusion -- Photographic essay / Millicent Harvey and Marianne Lee.