Setauket Harbor Pond Park
Unconstrained Romantic
English Garden Design
Proposal
Joseph A. Betz, Architect
Professor & Former Chair
Department of Architecture & Construction Management
Farmingdale State College
State University of New York
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This work was presented to the Three Village Civic Association.
This is as an educational tool used at Farmingdale State College, SUNY
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© Copyright 2024, All rights reserved.
Unconstrained Romantic English Garden Design: a design that is unconstrained from the existing context and seeks to create a series of spatial experiences that focus on an "ideal" natural environment. This is the Romantic New England Village Green in the "English Landscape Garden" style reminiscent of the Stony Brook Village Green and Frank Melville Park.
Views of Stourhead Park
The English Landscape Garden emerged in the 18th century and presented an idealized view of nature. It rejected the more formal 17th century French Baroque Garden and 15th century Italian Renaissance Garden. It treated the landscape as a painting of layered series of light and dark spaces, inspired by the paintings of Claude Lorrain shown below.
Conceptual Design Philosophy
The proposed design organizes the space from the street to the harbor's edge with distinct spatial layers, giving the feel of depth and extension into the landscape. This is to give a painterly effect of lights and darks similar to the 19th century works of area artist William Sidney Mount and the 18th century English Landscape Garden Style.
Why Romantic Park?
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Setauket Pond Park’s natural setting, irregular edges, water, and history make it ideal
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Romantic Parks emphasize emotion, nature, poetry, and memory
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Aligns with user desire for making a sense of place with quiet reflection, informal wandering, and layered views
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Provides for program space and visual object (Pavillion) at the end of the journey
A Living Painting
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Foreground → Midground → Background → with Harbor in the distance
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Meandering paths, framed views, seasonal variation, historic harbor
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Designed to be experienced in motion and changing light
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Pavillion and Harbor in the distance
William Sidney Mount local landscapes
A Living Painting: Romantic Park Design as Spatial Composition:
Imagine the park as a three-dimensional landscape painting—a spatial interpretation of Claude Lorrain or Nicolas Poussin. The English Landscape Garden, developed in the 18th century as a reaction to formal European gardens, used compositional strategies from painting to shape experience.
This design approach layers foreground, middle ground, and background to create depth and emotion, replacing symmetry with meandering paths, framed views, and irregular plantings. Influenced by painters and designers like William Kent and Capability Brown (Hunt, 1992), this Romantic vision unfolds sequentially, like a narrative.
Key elements—architectural follies, reflective water, and eye-catchers—anchor views and evoke meaning (Turner, 1986). Far from being naturalistic alone, the park is a curated, picturesque environment—an immersive setting shaped by Enlightenment ideals and reinterpreted today to reconnect people and place (Batey & Lambert, 1990).
References:
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Batey, M., & Lambert, D. (1990). The English Garden Tour: A View into the Past. John Murray.
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Hunt, J. D. (1992). Gardening and the Picturesque: Studies in the History of Landscape Architecture. MIT Press.
Conceptual Layering of Spaces Diagrams:
Long Axial Columns vs. Layered Rows
Conceptual Maps of the Park Design:
The Village Green: The Village Green is approximately 350' x 180' and features a gazebo and restroom building. A required stormwater creek divides the space, spanned by an 8' wide stone bridge. The entire Village Green area will be elevated, as the existing pond is currently spatially sunken.
The Pond: To accommodate the Village Green, the pond will be relocated further back and dammed to retain water between tides, preventing it from appearing as a spatially depressed mud flat. A 25' wide strip of private property will need a pedestrian easement for park access, and to facilitate a bridge crossing and the construction and maintenance of the dam. The existing Kiwanis Bridge will be relocated to this new area. The Pond becomes the defining and central feature of the park, creating a sense of place.
The Lawn: This open space, approximately 200' x 200', will serve as a venue for seasonal activities and provide a quiet retreat away from road noise. It will feature a bandstand that doubles as a sheltered space when not in use. The grade of the Lawn will be elevated to prevent flooding during high tides.
The Setauket Harbor: The final layer focuses on Setauket Harbor. Currently, the park is overgrown, and the harbor is obscured by seasonal foliage. The new design will enhance visibility, offering views extending over half a mile to Strong’s Neck.
Proposed Three Dimensional Views
Edge where the harbor meets the land
Proposed Main Street Streetscape
Layering of spaces from the Street to the Harbor
