PARK ROAD PLAYHOUSE:
Eclectic Flair Adds Year Round Interest
to Mount Pleasant Garden

The 1700 block of Park Road NW is made up of mixed dwellings – two apartment buildings on one end and two mansions on the other. Row homes, condo converts and sprawling duplexes meet in the middle. Mount Pleasant Street borders on the east, and Rock Creek Park lies several blocks to the west.

The duplex at 1726 Park Road, home to Dana Keeney and Paul Young, always catches a curious glance and look of wonder from visitors to the neighborhood. This is due largely in part to the contemporary art sculpture that Paul created and named rush hour. It is a grouping of tricycles mounted to an iron post that seem to be intersecting at perilous angles. The sculpture emerges from a tranquil shade garden and is a unique urban scarecrow. The house’s façade is painted in glaring, traffic stopping colors, and there is a tricycle that has broken free from the congestion of the sculpture and appears to be climbing up the side of the home.

All this colorful expression is fully juxtaposed by the formal wraparound porch complete with hanging ferns. The mix is a wonderfully orchestrated blend of artisan expression meets New Orleans charm.

Your journey’s just begun.

When taking the path alongside the home, you are quickly thrown back to the formalities of a traditional Mount Pleasant garden. A giant oak shades the walk and a custom-made iron gate directly ahead beckons you to come explore what lies behind the garden walls. Your senses are quickly comforted as the noise of a busy city vanishes and the soothing peacefulness of a tranquil garden invites you in. The path inside the walls hugs the home’s perimeter and is flanked by lush evergreen Acuba and towering columnar Yews. The hosta and mixed groundcover soften and add interest to the garden beds.

The path opens to a large flagstone patio that surrounds an enormous locust tree. The flagstone is then repeated in a path that flows through the garden. There is a lawn area in the center of the flagstone that softens the lines of the patio and walkway. The columnar Yews continue along the right side of the property and provide privacy from the neighbors’ garden. The Yews, like a living fence, add structure and formality to the garden. The height of the three-story home is softened along the back stairs by towering Leyland cypress.

Many folks would be more than happy to have just one water feature in their garden. This garden has two. An ornate fountain is built into the side garden wall and adds the sound of cascading water. This flows to the hot tub area, which is enclosed by an elaborate custom curtained pergola. The area surrounding the hot tub is landscaped with Encore azaleas, beautyberry, hosta and lilies. The remaining gardens flow from this area and are filled with peonies and callas, roses and oak leaf hydrangeas, euonymus and mahonia. Something is always blooming, and there is interest in the garden during every season. The statuary throughout the garden breaks up the plantings and increases the interest and whimsy therein.

To the rear of the garden, there is an enormous grape arbor. The arbor, another custom built attraction in the garden, adds a shaded retreat and an air of mystique to the garage area. During the summer months, it is quite easy to forget that the garage exists due to the Mahonia hedge and grape arbor. The vines produce loads of green grapes in mid summer. Just picture yourself being fed bunches of grapes while soaking in the hot tub and absorbing the relaxing environ that is held within the gardens of 1726 Park Road. Superb.