Fletcher Steele and the Lilacs

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The lilac hedge and several other garden features of the property were designed by Fletcher Steele. The famed landscape architect had created more than 700 elaborate gardens throughout the United States, including several in the Rochester area, and perhaps his most famous, the gardens at Naumkeag in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

 

Near the end of his career, Steele returned to his family’s Pittsford Village homestead. Here he met Doctors G. Porter Perham and and David Mactye, who were restoring the house at 99 South Main. The three became good friends and traveling companions.

 

In 1967-68 the two young psychiatrists joined the ranks of the renowned designer's final clients.

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Steele asked Perham if he enjoyed the view of South Main Street and when Perham said, “not particularly,” Steele suggested the lilac hedge as a buffer. He specified a particular humus to be brought in from New Jersey and supervised planting of about 60 lilac bushes that border the east and south sides of the front yard.

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Other features of Steele’s design include the brick sidewalk that arcs from the street to the front steps, and the curving, stone-lined planting beds in the back yard. 

 

Robin Karson's biography of Fletcher Steele tells of a small dinner party he attended just a few days before he died in July 1971. It was hosted by Perham and Mactye and we can easily imagine the guests toasting the recently restored home and its new Steele-designed gardens.

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