About

A Communal Landscape

Mellon’s offices have been on East 62nd Street since the Foundation’s beginnings in 1969. This “group of modest brownstone houses,” as Paul Mellon described them, is the heart of an expanded campus that in 2022 encompasses six townhouses on both 61st and 62nd Streets. As these additional buildings were acquired by the Foundation, the walls separating their backyards were removed. Over the years, the slabs of bluestone paving common to each lot were rearranged into terraces and paths that unify a loose assemblage of plants of various types, sizes, colors, and seasonality into a lyrical patchwork connected by a common thread: beauty.

The garden’s inherently communal spirit and unselfconscious artistry guided the landscape architects at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) in their redesign, which opened in 2022. The alterations and additions preserve unique character of the outdoor space while increasing its capacity as a place to gather with ease. Using existing and supplemental bluestone quarried from upstate New York, MVVA reconfigured the paving to create smoother and more accessible pathways and ample open space. The addition of some 70 trees, perennials, shrubs, and bulbs enhances the existing plantings, which together represent the four seasons and transitional moments in their fullest flowering, ensuring an abundance of color and fragrance year-round.  

Bridging time and seasons, Mellon’s garden is a place of constant evolution and surprise. A plant might bloom predictably each year, but its flowers are a source of continual delight as they evolve over time. Diverse by design and purposefully welcoming, the garden is a true common area. This shared green space is an exceptional rarity in an urban workplace—and treasured as such by those fortunate to share it.