Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1480367
O ne morning in May, cup o f c o f f e e i n h a n d , Kevin Vogel c l i m b e d a s t e e p spiral staircase that took him from the back hallway of his family home to a private office upstairs. The light-filled corner room had been built in 1964 as a bedroom for Kevin and his brother, after their sister was born. The space has been renovated a couple of times since, its small windows now replaced with vast panes of glass overlooking a grove of oaks, pecan trees, and Japanese maples, their magenta leaves blazing. From here, Kevin can see the p o n d w h e r e h e swam as a child. The wooden rowboat his father built by hand is long gone, but the gravel paths he explored still wind through a lush four- acre garden blooming with pond irises and dogwoods, shaded by cedar elms and bald cypress. More than 80 large sculptures dot the grounds, s o m e s h o w c a s e d amid cultivated beds of ivy and Asian jasmine, others placed along pathways or near benches for contemplation. The property hums with l i f e : b u t t e r f l i e s , birds, frogs, lizards, Valley House was designed in 1953 by Donald Vogel and Fort Worth architect John Wesley Jones. From left, outdoor sculptures by artists John Brough Miller, Charles T. Williams, and Deborah Ballard. RIGHT Donald Vogel's second wife, landscape architect Erika Farkac Vogel, redesigned the garden in the 1980s. Here, runoff from the pond meanders through beds of fern, Asian jasmine, and ivy, amid a thicket of bald cypress, Mexican plum trees, hollies, and bamboo.