The Ellipse

About

This home and garden have been created and reinvented over the decades in the heart of Brookline’s Fisher Hill Neighborhood. Owners Matthew Shakespeare and Fritz Backus enjoy a long-term collaboration with Landscape Architect Heather Heimarck, HighMark Land Design; together they have created a series of dramatic non-traditional gardens interwoven into the historic fabric of the original home and neighborhood. You are welcome to experience this garden that the neighborhood watches with enthusiasm and curiosity as it unfolds throughout the seasons.

The ellipse garden was created after a long goodbye to a majestic European beech tree which had occupied and shaded the majority of the spacious sloping front garden. After the beech, a transformation of the use, drainage, and horticulture was called for. The garden now consists of a wilder “public garden” along the sidewalk and a quiet private garden within the walls of the sunken ellipse. Inspired by Japanese scholar gardens and modern art, the walls are 7’8” tall corten steel that surround garden islands within a crushed stone ellipsr . The inner garden expands the owners outdoor living and gardening opportunities complete with a “shedteau” designed by architect Bruce Miller, a faerie ring of beech offspring, greenhouse, and entertainment areas. Come enjoy the fountain and discover the secret garden and meandering paths around the ellipse -- see if you can find the spot where the walls echo your voice. This garden is infused with experiential drama and is enlivened with sculptures and found objects. The outer “wilder” garden is inspired by the work of Piet Oudolf; the garden wakes in the spring to an exuberant mix of bulbs followed by ornamental grasses, astilbe, ferns and other perennials. The team embraced the freedom to mix native plants, nativars and non-native specimens.

The terraced backyard garden is undergoing a restoration and will be open for view from the upper terrace only. Guests can appreciate the vista and enjoy a specially commissioned fountain by sculptor Peter Evonuk.

This garden's estimated size is .5 acres

2025 Open Day: Sunday, June 1

Hours: 10-4