[Female Narrator] When Claire Golden bought a 1920s Mediterranean
bungalow in San Antonio's Alamo Heights,
she restored both the interior and exterior.
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In 2008, the San Antonio Conservation Society presented her their Historic Preservation
Award.
It all started a few years ago when she was driving by and saw that it was for sale.
And you can't but look this house from the street if you're really looking at property--
I mean gardens and land and homes.
[Narrator] The light falling on its original terraces
convinced her that it was time to leave the long-time home
and garden she'd made with husband JY (for Joseph Yale), who passed away in 2000.
In the garden's renovation, her first call was to Carlos Cortez, a faux bois concrete
artisan, for a bridge he'd designed.
The water that once flooded the yard from the street was re-directed into a stream.
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The dry bed was there, the form was there, and I thought, 'what a waste.'
[Narrator] Claire turned the problem into an inviting
outdoor foyer.
Even in summer, it's a refreshing place to entertain.
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Cortez designed faux bois furniture to match the setting.
In back, architect Don B. McDonald included the garden in his house renovations.
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Although the house was designed around a courtyard, it was just grass until Claire realized its
potential.
When you travel to Mexico, you go to Italy and you go--
and you see things...
and you see how people live in courtyards.
If you're interested and you look, you bring something back from each trip.
And certainly Mexico was a strong link, and their gardens.
[Narrator] From the flat courtyard,
McDonald terraced the narrow hillside into a series of rooms,
connected by a miniature aqueduct, a series of ponds and rills.
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He accented with close-up fountains.
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With structure in place, it was Claire's turn to consider plants.
It was very stark and very hot without the plants and it was scary,
and I looked with...trepidation...
at this bright white rock and brick.
[Narrator] As Claire found plants and hauled them in,
she worked with McDonald, as well as designer Charles Bartlett.
...yesterday, so they're...
Four palms augment the aqueduct's vertical definition.
They accented with textures that soften and cool the stonework.
I just did it by love not by training, not by training,
but my mother loved to garden,
and as you see there not many flowers here, I'm more of a bush lady,
um...I kill flowers.
[giggle]
So you see a few flowers and a lot of greens.
And I feel more comfortable with it.
[Narrator] Still, she tucks in flowers everywhere, many
of them sentimental favorites.
But the anchors are large, leafy specimens, chosen for texture.
Their flowers and fruit are a bonus.
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The courtyard and the way it is, it lends itself to...
growing plants that...retain their plant-life even through a freeze.
[Narrator] For the central axis view of the courtyard
from indoors,
architect McDonald designed a loggia.
Claire and Bartlett extended the garden to the guesthouse,
renovated by McDonald from its former life as a garage and quarters.
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Throughout, Claire's mischievous personality, designing hand, and vision turned ideas into
destinations.
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It's hard for me now to look at it objectively.
It's like your family and so when you when you grow with something which I feel I have
is growing with this house
and growing with the plants.
When you do that, it becomes family.