One of the most interesting and unique properties I have ever photographed was the estate and gardens of Peter Van Dyk Berg and his wife, Theodora (Teddy). Peter was a true lover of architecture and a collector of all things architectural, both large and small. For the over fifty years that he had been collecting, he had amassed remnants and architectural curiosities that included entire intact barns and several complete 18th-century houses, 15th-century mantlepieces and stone work, windows of all shapes and sizes, a tavern, architectural columns, hardware and ironwork, staircases, cupolas, weathervanes and gargoyles just to name a few. By day, Peter was a NYC attorney and he and Teddy were permanent residents of New Canaan, Connecticut. However, much of Peter’s collection was on display at their sprawling 300-acre estate atop a mountain just outside the small town of Walpole, New Hampshire, a spot they simply referred to as “the mountain.”

While Peter’s obsession was architecture, it could be said that Teddy’s passion was gardening. To this end, Teddy and Peter employed the services of noted garden designer, Gordon Hayward and master dry stone waller and stone artist, Dan Snow to construct a series of gardens and stone structures to surround their unique home which has been described in Peter’s own words as “a blend of eighteenth-century colonial with elements of revival style from the first thirty-five years of the twentieth century.” Both Peter and Teddy were great admirers of the English garden aesthetic and accompanied designer, Hayward and his wife, Mary on several trips to England to study garden design concepts in some of the most famous English gardens such as Great Dixter and Sissinghurst. It is no surprise that Peter was particularly inspired by the work of English architect and designer, Edwin Lutyens and employed some of his design ideas as he built his home in Walpole

Hayward and Snow would work on the gardens and property off and on over an 18-year period, later to be joined by gardener, Helen O’Donnell. And, in addition to Teddy who was a hands-on gardener, alongside Hayward and Snow was a team of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, construction experts and restoration specialists who would continue to incorporate the architectural elements that Peter had scavenged on his many worldwide trips.

Peter passed away in 2013 at the age of 89 and not long after that the mountaintop property in Walpole was sold. Teddy returned to and still resides in New Canaan. Luckily, for posterity and future generations, Peter and Teddy’s beautiful and unique property has been documented in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens as well as in two separate books: The Accidental Architect by Jeffrey Simpson and Gardening on Granite by Gordon Hayward with Dan Snow. A limited number of copies of both of these titles are still available through Village Square Booksellers, Bellows Falls, Vermont. Click on book titles above to link directly to the volumes.

All of the photos in the gallery were taken in June of 2013, just six months prior to Peter’s death.