Manchester Garden Cottage began more than a century ago as the gardener’s residence for the original Stedman Hanks Estate, a coastal property shaped in part by the Olmsted Brothers. Estate plans and correspondence from 1931 document a working landscape of greenhouses, orchards, and a vaulted mushroom cellar.
The renovation preserves the cottage’s modest scale and historic character while opening the home to light and garden views. Broad porches extend the living spaces outdoors, a compact Soake pool settles into the side yard, and windows frame greenery throughout the interior. Even the driveway follows alignments found in the original Olmsted drawings, maintaining the property’s established patterns of movement.
Inside, original forms and materials are balanced with clean-lined millwork and custom detailing. The vaulted brick mushroom cellar has been transformed into a wine room, giving an unusual remnant of the estate a new purpose. Each intervention expands the possibilities of the cottage without overwhelming its character.
The renewed home feels closely tied to the landscape that first shaped it: intimate, carefully crafted, and surrounded by gardens.
