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A Greenhouse Takes Center Stage in Cohasset
Jack Foley
Whimsy reigns in Marilyn Minot’s greenhouse, perched above a rocky promontory near Cohasset’s Little Harbor. The landscape surrounding Minot’s home is dramatic, and filling a glass structure with curious objects and blissful plants extends her penchant for using the picturesque setting as a living space.
More importantly, the greenhouse, built by Sandcastle Group of Marshfield, gives Minot a channel for expressing her fanciful side. A certified interior designer, she created an elegant interior for the home she shares with her husband, Attorney Winthrop Minot. When they married 12 years ago, they merged two museum-worthy collections of paintings and objects that warranted a formal setting. They engaged Vinnie Marasa, a professional who designs and installs art exhibitions, to appropriately place and hang each piece.
Out in the greenhouse, however, Marilyn Minot felt free to make eccentric choices and quirky combinations, resulting in a space that vibrates with color and energy. She becomes exuberant upon entering.
“My design concept could be called ‘SNL,’” Minot says. “Not Saturday Night Live, but ‘Stack, Nest, Layer’. High level design does that, and I don’t have a minimalist bone in my body.”
Playful Combinations
Inside the greenhouse, Minot places objects in unlikely groupings, creating layers of texture and shape that pull the space together into an offbeat yet unified whole. Colorful baby toys that belonged to her grandchildren have become playful accents, tucked here, there, and everywhere: a birdhouse xylophone, a purple ladybug, and a jump rope with Spongebob handles live comfortably with Steuben glass and a collection of Limoges porcelain boxes. Building 19 knick-knacks are paired with precious pieces of sterling and a bronze art nouveau sculpture Minot found online through Craigslist. Murano pendant lights hang in the entryway; multicolored sconces dot the spiraling arms of a firefly lamp. In the background, visible through the glass walls, shore birds dive and preen. Seasons change.
“I don’t try to make one thing more important than the other,” she says. Close to 100 plants grow and bloom, adding even more color and texture. This is, after all, a greenhouse. But it is so much more. Royal blue chaise chairs, big enough to sleep in, invite lingering conversation or hours lost in one of the books that fill the shelves. A working kitchen visually pops with a glossy fire engine red sink and appliances, plus an antique oven retrofitted for propane.
“A space should envelop each of the five senses,” Minot says.
A multi-zone sound system provides music on demand and a glass misting fountain releases a gentle fragrance as well as humidity to keep the plants happy. Ladybugs flit here and there, even in the snowiest months. Minot released 2000 of them to eat aphids off the plants. The greenhouse is also temperature controlled, which makes it a comfortable year-round retreat. On cool days, a small contemporary gel-burning fireplace provides warmth. “Sitting here, snug, enclosed by glass in the middle of a winter snow squall, you’re surrounded by snow swirling all around,” Minot says. “It is truly breathtaking.”
A Sophisticated Scheme
Whimsical as the greenhouse may be, designing it as a functioning outdoor living space required serious engineering savvy. The Victorian-style exterior, with its roofline Fleur-de-Lis finials, was inspired by a photo Minot saw in an English gardening magazine, but she devised her own plans for the interior, beginning with a vision of two inside levels to accommodate heating, cooling, and ventilation. Wiring snakes invisibly inside the dividers that separate glass panels. Her initial idea for using an existing retaining wall for the foundation had to be reconsidered when the original stonework was found to be crumbling. Extensive masonry was called for.
Minot is well suited for managing such a complex project. She worked for decades as the business manager for large law firms, where her responsibilities included planning office spaces and coordinating commercial construction. During her 13-year affiliation with Texas law firm Haynes and Boone, the company grew rapidly, expanding to seven offices.
“I worked very closely with the architects,” Minot says. “I needed a design scheme that I could put into any building,”
“I could take a space in a building with cement floors, and four weeks later it would be up and running,” she says. “I often wished I had studied architecture, but I have a business degree.”
When Minot married, however, she left the demands of her 60-hour-a-week work behind so she could be free to travel with her husband when his work required it. She also finally followed her heart and studied design. When she handed architectural drawings for renovating her Cohasset home to the contractor, John McKay of Norwell, Minot says he told her: “You should do this for a living.”
A Vision of Permanence
Minot is clearly in her element, sinking her roots into a setting where her talent can be expressed eloquently, personally, and permanently. Coming from a distinguished military family, she became accustomed to regularly relocating, beginning with a move when she was only six days old.
“I have moved 38 times in my life,” she says. “That’s an average of once every 17 months. My husband promises me I can live in this house the rest of my life.”
Family connections on both sides are cherished. A focal point of the living room in the main house is an impressive eagle, more than three feet wide, intricately carved from a single piece of black walnut by her maternal grandfather, General John Henry Woodbury, chief of ordinance for World War II. Clement Drew paintings of Minot Light, named for her husband’s family, hang near windows framing a water view.
Minot learned to love growing things from her mother, a consummate gardener who moved her plants from Arkansas to Florida when her stepfather was transferred with the Strategic Air Command during early tensions with Cuba.
The previous owner of the Cohasset property was also an accomplished gardener. Minot says she felt delighted to “inherit” mature plantings, and a landscape that was well planned and fitting for the spectacular setting. She has continued to develop the gardens, adding more spaces and creating inventive ways to utilize them. Something is always in bloom—from the first azaleas and anemones of April and May, to the roses that linger through September and October.
Escaping Outside
In summer months, five distinct garden areas become outdoor rooms, complete with furniture, carpets, and artwork. Relaxation comes easy in the garden outside the master bedroom, enclosed by boxwoods in cedar planters, with ornate Italian pottery complementing a striking orange and blue rug. A circular garden around a retaining wall and flagstone patio is a favorite spot for entertaining, with a teak bar and tables, plus terra cotta pots holding vines that climb to the upper deck, creating a lush canopy. Weatherproof paintings, prints, and wall pieces act as accents.
Another more casual garden, popular for parties, offers three bistro tables and six chairs. Abundant hydrangeas add festive color and flair. Not far away, water cascades over five levels of rock, and small pools are surrounded in summer by ferns and bright iris.
A courtyard just outside the lower front door is built around a stunning 19th century satyr statue from France, with water tumbling from a trumpet, into a pool brimming with aquatic plants. The heirloom fountain, cast in bronze by artist Albert Atkins, came from Winthrop’s grandfather’s home.
Amidst it all, the greenhouse, with its ornate roofline and Fleur-de-Lis finials, takes center stage as a cherished sanctuary of personal expression. Minot says this is the place where she goes to draw and paint, and to relax with family. Both she and her husband appreciate the peace and quiet of the scenic spot. “I have a strict policy: no phones no Blackberry, no PDA, no computer, and no TV,” she says. “It is our vacation room, our escape.”
