Favorite space Favorite Space: Rediscovering a garden at 160-year-old home

The owners: Architect Dan Erdman and Natalie Erdman, executive director of the Madison Community Development Authority.

The home: A 160-year-old stone house in Shorewood Hills.

Favorite home feature: When they first looked at the house, said Dan Erdman, it seemed like it had somehow been frozen in time amongst a neighborhood of homes built mostly in the 1950s. “It was incredibly charming and picturesque,” he said. “Unfortunately, the interior appeared as it too had been frozen in time, and it would require a considerable amount of work. But what I discovered only after buying the house was the extent and unique character of the informal gardens and landscaping.”

The home had been occupied by the same family for nearly 80 years, but in recent years, the lot had been badly neglected. “Uncovering paths, bridges, stone walls, sculptures, I felt like an archaeologist on a dig site. There’s even what appears to be an old winding stream bed that ends in a little concrete pool. An elderly neighbor stopped by one day and asked if the spring was still flowing. Wow, I thought, now that must have been neat.”

How they did it: The couple replaced retaining walls in the garden and cleaned the growth. “But I just basically uncovered it,” Dan Erdman said.

The house itself had to be renovated to make it livable by today’s standards. That meant, among other things, adding on a new kitchen and an attached garage and driveway. The key was to do it without destroying any of its charming features. A priority was to not change the character of the front of the house. The couple kept most of the rustic interior doors which have these old-fashioned iron door latches. Even though none of them lock, they are a part of what makes the house special.

Why it’s a special place: The fact that the house is 100 years older than most everything else around it makes it pretty special.

Advice to other homeowners: “You really have to have a love and respect for old things,” Dan Erdman said. “While modernizing a house is necessary, keeping as much of the old unique features as possible will ultimately be rewarding.”