Only one obstacle stood in the way of a Long Island retreat: a grove of 100-year-old cedars.
By Andrea Timpano
A diagram of the property, which also includes a tidal wetland.
Laguardia Design Group
When an entrepreneur on the hunt for a new home laid eyes on this waterfront property in Southampton, New York, a leafy, eight-acre lot with sweeping views of Long Island?s Peconic Bay, it was love at first sight. The aging, Adirondack-style house on the lot proved less endearing. On the recommendation of friend and landscape architect Christopher LaGuardia, FASLA?the founder and principal of LaGuardia Design Group, who?d originally scouted the coastal homestead?the homeowner reached out to the architect James Merrell for design help. Merrell worked with the client on a plan to raze the house and build a new, slightly longer one in its place. There was just one hiccup: Eleven 100-year-old eastern red cedars set near the existing house stood in, or too close to, the path of the expanded program. LaGuardia knew the team had two options: They could either cut down the trees or figure out a way to move the historical plants to new spots on the property. LaGuardia, who?d successfully relocated large trees in the past, advocated for the latter. Transplanting them would maintain the lot?s ample tree canopy, which ?overlaps with many neighbors,? LaGuardia says, and it would benefit the animals that inhabit the site. ?It?s a very unique ecological setting,? he adds. ?It sets up a habitat ...