Sagaponick Retreat

A classic product of speculative development, this summer residence exhibited familiar suburban shortcomings: an exposed front lawn, minimal tree cover, confused circulation, and no clear separation between guest arrival and service access. HMWhite restructured the property into a cohesive, mature landscape retreat through a series of strategic architectural and horticultural interventions.
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Fundamental to this transformation was the removal of the central driveway and reorientation of the garage doors to its opposite side. A gracious front lawn was revealed and now flanked by two discreet driveways—one for guests and one for service—restoring a sense of ceremony, privacy, and spatial clarity.
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To the rear, a dense Poplar forest became the project’s hidden asset. Selective thinning and strategic transplanting brought mature Poplars to the front, visually bracketing the house in a shared planting language. This unifying woodland context gives the home an illusion of age and permanence. Underplanting of St. John’s Wort and Caryopteris reinforces visual cohesion and calm, while newly framed views of the surrounding agrarian fields expand the sense of place—grounding the retreat in its agrarian past while embracing a timeless, quiet elegance.