We named this courtyard “The Slat House” to pay homage to the historic slat house that was part of Hotel Royal Poinciana which originally served as their green house and conservancy.

To turn the two walls of this outdoor terrace into our own slat house, we have lined the façade with lattice and extended the paneling into the garden to enclose the courtyard.  We used a vine pattern lattice as a play on the typical vined façade walls that you see in many of our gardens.  The panels transition to scallops as you move through the space.

Our slat house is open air on the south side and roofed in by a canopy of pleached Mahoe trees on the north side.  We used the difference in lattice pattern and overhead condition to create spaces amongst our outdoor room.  The house was painted Chantilly lace by Benjamin Moore to brighten up the space and provide an elegant contract to our lattice that is dressed in Benjamin Moore’s color of the year – Agean Teal. 

The south wall is adorned with all yellow Oncidiums hung in handmade terra cotta pots on the lattice.

A 19^th Century jardinere sits atop a stone plinth on the west side filled with annuals and Canna Lillies at the base.  The center of the courtyard has a pebble mosaic Koi pond that our partner John Lubischer crafted by hand with Koi made of crushed terra cotta brick.  The floors are a Spanish limestone in a herringbone pattern with reclaimed Detroit brick as the joints.  The flooring transitions to gravel and stepping stones as you walk under the Mahoe trees.  The garden is furnished with extravagant gold oak leaf pieces from London.  A mirror hangs at the end of the pleached allee inviting you to adventure to all areas of the garden.

John Volk later converted the historic slat house into a playhouse for 250 people with palms all around and a painted green floor.  We strived to make visitors feel as special in this Garden as the theater guests did back then.