When Diana Hansen met the original owners of her property, she learned much about its past. Once home to the late artists Georges and Eleanor Bridges, the 1921 cottage, with hints of Greek and Spanish architecture, possesses a unique character and a storied history.
The Bridges befriended authors Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, both of whom, on occasion, visited their cottage. Diana says the Italian-style gardens would have been set for a party, lined with tables and lights, and lively music would have filled the night air. Almost a century later, the Hansens have kept the garden as close to its original shape and structure as possible. “[Eleanor’s] garden was her passion,” Diana says, “We feel a mission to keep the garden just as it was.”
The lush landscape also inspired a business—White Flowers—for Diana Hansen, pictured above left. It all began with simple sketches of floral prints she made to hang in her home. “I decided to make the prints into T-shirts so I could wear them,” the shop owner says. “People kept asking me where they could get them.”
Bordering a tranquil garden path, terra-cotta pots, above, hold blush-colored clusters of flowers and encircle the vibrant greenery of topiaries, creating serene visual counterpoints to classical statuary. “You almost have to be a sculptor to do the hedges,” Diana says.
