The more I looked at this house
from all angles, I thought of my
conversations with Fay Jones
and my visits, years ago, with
Alice Walton, to the magnificent
church he designed in Fayetteville,
Arkansas. The Grajales-Kirschner
house, like the church, is set in
pastoral splendor by a beautiful
pond, the house in a small English
park.
The seven acre site has been
cleared and planted with clusters
of old trees and large lawns by a
pond hearkening to romantic sylvan
18th century ideals, themselves
nurtured by the ancients' fastidious
placement of temples and villas.
Phifer's house could be placed
in any of the great gardens of the
age of enlightenment because
it is an object of both profound
contemplation and an amusing
pavilion, with staggering punch.
After all, these great gardens of
yore are peopled with columns
affixed to any number of follies, but
not one garden, however imperial,
had such a building as this, had
HYLAND
