Louis Benech
Eric Sander
THE GRITTY STREETS of Belleville, in northeast Paris, have acquired a hipster aura in recent years, but it’s the last place you might expect to find the landscape architect
Louis Benech.
Based in a secluded house off boulevard de la Villette, Mr. Benech, 57 years old, is the garden designer of first resort for members of the French establishment, who tend to make their homes at the opposite end town.
The life partner of shoe designer Christian Louboutin, Mr. Benech, is a celebrity in his own right in France, thanks to his work in the 1990s on the Jardin des Tuileries. He is currently finishing up a commission to redo a section of the gardens at Versailles. But over the past few decades, much of his work has been creating unique gardens for clients with names like Rothschild, Guinness and Pinault.
Born near Paris, Mr. Benech grew up on the Île de Ré, a windswept island off France’s Atlantic coast. Sojourns back on the mainland, in the gardens of relatives and family friends, left a deep impression. “I was raised on an island without trees,” he says, “but I developed a strange habit of kissing trees.”
Compared with the crafted wildness of English gardens, French gardens can seem strict and geometric, but Mr. Benech—who trained as a lawyer before rediscovering his true calling—sees the tradition differently. In France, the great gardens are about “the relationship between illusion and reality,” he says, a tension he often employs. The rationalism of French gardening, he argues, may be the means, but it is rarely an end. “Sometimes you don’t need to make sense,” he says, “just give pleasure.”
Here, a look at four of his best-known private gardens.
ROOFTOP GARDEN // Paris
Mr. Benech created this two-story landscaped terrace for the former chairman of Hermès
Agence de Louis Benech
The Esplanade des Invalides, on Paris’s Left Bank, is one of the capital’s most impressive public spaces—and one of its windiest. In 2004-05, Mr. Benech created a two-story, 125-square-meter landscaped terrace for
Jean-Louis Dumas,
the former chairman of Hermès, and his Greek-born wife, architect
Rena Gregoriadès.
“It’s not a garden,” insists Mr. Benech, “it’s a decoration.”
The challenge was to accommodate the opposing horticultural tastes of the pair. Mr. Dumas “was keen on Japan,” says Mr. Benech, while his wife preferred the Mediterranean flora of her native country. Plants include Japanese mint, magnolia and hydrangea on the north part of the terrace.
By using different levels of planters, Mr. Benech managed to disguise the terrace’s unattractive railings, which he calls “architectural details of poor quality.” And he used sturdy but relatively transparent grasses, instead of dense foliage. The grasses do well in the windy conditions, and don’t obscure the spectacular views.
If you have an urban rooftop garden: Don’t “use bamboo of any kind,” advises Mr. Benech. The roots can wreak havoc with waterproofing.
SUMMER GARDEN // St. Tropez
Knowing that client François Pinault would primarily enjoy this St. Tropez garden in the summer months, Mr. Benech emphasized plants that bloom in summer
Eric Sander
Mr. Benech created this hectare-size garden in 1994-95 for a villa belonging to French businessman
François Pinault.
The house is near the Chapelle de Ste-Anne, a simple but remarkable Provençal-style church. The steeple, though not a part of the property, was used as a visual element in the final garden design.
St. Tropez lies on the northern side of an eastward-jutting peninsula. The property, which overlooks the Gulf of St. Tropez, faces north. This meant careful planning. Northern light may be beautiful but, even in a southern climate, “it is not good for many plants,” says Mr. Benech. “That’s why I only planted the bougainvillea on the south side of the house,” he says—a spot, he laments, “without the view.”
Knowing that his clients would primarily enjoy the garden in the summer months, he emphasized plants that bloom in summer, like yellowhorn, a large shrub that produces a white flower. He also included “plants for fun,” like cordyline, a woody ornamental plant, and banana trees.
If you have a garden at your summer house: Don’t forget to plant for pleasure, says Mr. Benech.
SEMIARID GARDEN // Marrakesh
Mr. Benech created shade for Bernard-Henri Lévy’s classic Marrakesh riad using plants like glory-bower, a fragrant shrub, and mousethorn, an evergreen shrub
Eric Sander
In 2002-03, Mr. Benech designed a series of gardens, totaling nearly 2,000 square meters, for the grounds of a classic riad in Marrakesh. The palace itself dates back to the early 19th century and has had a “cascade of glamorous owners,” says Mr. Benech, including French actor
Alain Delon.
The current owners, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy and his wife, had planned to use the house throughout the year, except for the hot summer months.
A main challenge on the project was the clients’ wish not to see actual soil, compounded by a wish for areas of lawn, which aren’t suited to the extreme conditions of Marrakesh, where winter can combine hot days with freezing nights. Mr. Benech created heavy shade with plants like glory-bower, a fragrant shrub, and mousethorn, an evergreen shrub. For the sunny areas, Mr. Benech planted roses for the particular pleasure of the “maitresse de maison.” Roses also happen to be “very Moroccan,” he adds.
If you have a garden in a semiarid climate: That doesn’t mean you won’t have access to water, says Mr. Benech. So don’t plant for drought-like conditions if you don’t have to.
SMALL CITY GARDEN // Paris
Mr. Benech integrated the distinctive trompe l’oeil trellis in Claude Bébéar’s Paris garden into his project.
Georges Lévêque
In 1995-97, Mr. Benech created a formal garden for a private mansion in Paris’s 8th Arrondissement near the Élysée Palace, an area now dominated by offices. The clients, French entrepreneur
Claude Bébéar
and his family, were living in a building from around 1800, a neoclassical period of French architecture marked by simplicity rather than pomp. The garden area was dominated by the back wall’s distinctive trompe l’oeil trellis, created in the early 20th century. The house itself “is ravishing,” says Mr. Benech, but the existing trellis “was the central thing” in the project.
Without the trellis, says Mr. Benech, the 500-square-meter garden could have had an “informal” quality; instead, Mr. Benech played off the formal illusion of the trellis by creating an array of geometric hedges. He used “classical plants,” he says, like yew and boxwood.
If you have a small garden: Make it look bigger by using optical illusions, says Mr. Benech. The geometric array of hedges leading to the trellis appears to enlarge the space.
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