Magic Garden

Spindler, the 45-year-old proprietor of Andrew Spindler Antiques, an eclectic shop in nearby Essex, and his late partner put a lot of work and more than a little love into this North Shore home, which was built in 1937 as the summer residence for a family of avid gardeners. The result is a magical place where the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces blur. Says Spindler: "The house, which has a strong organic quality, long before it became fashionable, is about experiencing nature."

The renovations started in 1988, and the concept of connecting the "gutsy granite house," as Spindler describes it, with views of the rugged coastline was crucial from the start. When Spindler and his partner began, the living room had two picture windows and a dinky aluminum door in a wall that faced a neglected patch of grass, littered with broken glass and rocks. They installed three pairs of French doors in the living room, all of which open to what is now an extended terrace paved with locally quarried granite cobblestones. To the second story, across the rear of the house, they added a fretwork-railed balcony, onto which two bedrooms and a bathroom open. The roof got a widow's walk with similar fretwork, which is reached by a spiral staircase in the attic -- itself a work in progress. (Spindler hopes to create a library up there, its detailing modeled after a boat's, with built-in chairs, bookshelves, and writing tables.) To further maximize the view, trees were cut back and the overgrown garden was excavated and expanded.

Even the exterior trim color was carefully considered. At one point, a Chinese red was a possibility, but ultimately they realized that they wanted the house to be perfectly integrated with its natural surroundings. The resulting sea-foam green is a close match to the color of the lichen on the rocks. "We wanted the house to appear as if it had, in fact, grown out of the rocks," says Spindler.

While the balcony, widow's walk, and abundant windows make it impossible to ignore the natural world, it is the terrace that connects life within the house to the landscape beyond.

In the summer, it's a place to have coffee in the morning, read and nap in the afternoon, and entertain in the evening. There's the lure of the ocean and a hypnotic bronze sculpture by Walker Hancock of a male figure gazing upward to the sun. "It's a work about revelation and light," says Spindler. The strong lines of the cushion-topped teak furniture by Henry Hall Designs hold their own in the space, their silhouettes casting fanciful shadows on the stone. The seats are arranged around a table fashioned from a rock that was unearthed on the premises. Spindler appreciates those instances when "natural elements find harmony among the man-made."

Just as the terrace is the transitional space that connects house to outdoors, it is also the gateway to the garden below, which meanders mazelike through the property's acre and a half. Curved stone steps, adorned with stone orbs from an architectural salvage shop and flanked by Western larch trees (an unusual species for the area), descend lazily to the garden. Skip past a bed of irises and a smooth oversize stone that reminds Spindler of a Noguchi sculpture, and you'll step into a shade garden, complete with a rustic bench that is nothing more than a slab of stone perched atop two rock blocks. One of the most dramatic elements of Spindler's garden is a huge Japanese white pine that had grown around a boulder. The tree is now dead, but the wood is gorgeous and the shape sensual. As Spindler says, the tree is "married to the rock."

We continue along a gravel pathway, under an aromatic evergreen tunnel formed by juniper, until we get to a labyrinth of rock pathways among massive lichen-covered boulders, where assorted succulents peep out of crevices.

We keep walking until we come upon an evergreen shrub called euonymus, which has been clipped into the shape of a pyramid. Beyond a massing of Montauk daisies, there is a stone teahouse that Spindler named Petra, for the ancient Middle Eastern city. "A grand name for a little building," he says. The teahouse and its grounds are a recent acquisition that nearly doubled the size of Spindler's property. (Originally part of the main property, the parcel had been sold off in the 1970s.) It's also a work in progress. The interior is empty, but there's an outdoor fireplace and seating area, which Spindler jokingly calls "the tribal council." Spindler has big plans for Petra. He envisions cooking over an open fire and using the structure as a refuge that will offer a faraway experience, though right next to his home. The final piece is the Japanese garden, which was masterminded by Spindler's partner. Here, Japanese maple trees and dwarf juniper grow next to two ponds, each spanned by an ornamental bridge.

The journey through Spindler's outdoor rooms is full of wonder, and a bit disorienting. Spindler makes a habit of taking visitors up to the widow's walk after a garden tour because the aerial view helps them get their bearings. From there, he can describe every bend and planting from memory, although he credits Rockport-based Mary Mintz, who specializes in organic gardening, with maintaining the property.

While Spindler clearly cherishes his house and its gardens, he attests that it was his love for his partner that brought him here, more than the surroundings. Spindler views the care and improvement of the house and garden as part of his partner's legacy.

Says Spindler: "With the great joys and losses that come with life, nature can offer much comfort and many lessons." ª