Open Days Garden Tour: The Lake|Flato House

The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Tour in Austin showcased a diverse group of gardens.  Today's featured garden is an example of that range.  In fact, this stop on the tour wasn't as much about the gardens as it was about the house and the art in the garden.

Of the six gardens on the tour this was the one I most wanted to see.  I've been a huge fan of architects David Lake and Ted Flato's work since the moment I saw one of their homes on the cover of Metropolitan Home magazine more than 20 years ago.  The architecture was clearly Post Modern, yet I knew at a glance, without reading the article, that this house was in Texas.  Vernacular architecture at its best.  Lake|Flato is based in San Antonio so I have seen several of their local commercial projects, but have never visited one of their residences.  This house is listed on their site as the Lake Austin House.

This stop on the tour, listed in the brochure as "Austin Private Garden" was more about the site and art on display than garden design and plants.  We had access to a list which provided the names of the artists, but not the names of the pieces or the materials used.

Through the front gate set into a limestone wall along the road, very little is visible from the road.