IPSWICH — His fingerprints can be found all over town, but nowhere more indelibly than historic Castle Hill.
Arthur Shurcliff was a summer resident of Ipswich and a towering figure in the field of landscape architecture. He's best known for his designs for Colonial Willamsburg and the Esplanade along the Charles River in Boston.
Locally, he laid out what is now called Strawberry Hill and the housewife's garden at the Whipple House.
His most stunning single accomplishment, however, might be the Grand Allee, a sinuous half-mile of greenery rolling wavelike from the veranda of the historic Crane Estate to the Atlantic Ocean below.
It's hard to believe the view could be improved, but that's the aim of a project just getting under way.
The Trustees of Reservations, owners of the Crane Estate, are undertaking a restoration project that is meant to return the Allee to Shurcliff's original design. Nearly 100 trees will be removed and replaced with smaller ones that will be trimmed as hedges as they mature.
The trustees' landscaping consultant, Cindy Brockway, said the trees were sheared on a regular basis until World War II but have been left to grow unfettered since then.
"The view now is about half what it was" when Shurcliff designed it, Brockway said.
Not only will the vista be more stunning, the statues along both sides of the Allee will be better displayed, she said.
In 2007, a storm brought a number of trees down along the Allee, which prompted the Trustees to consider replacing those that remained. But people were afraid to touch the iconic Allee, so Brockway was brought in to research its history and develop a plan to revive it.
Brockway said 104 Norway spruce trees will be planted, along with 26 Eastern white pines. Although other species were considered, those two seemed the most apt for the seaside environment, just as Shurcliff intended.
Two large cisterns on the property are also being restored.
Richard Crane, the estate's original owner, had the huge underground storage tanks built to collect rainwater. They'll once again be pressed into service to store water for a modern irrigation system for the trees and lawns of the Allee.
"This is a great opportunity for people to witness the preservation of the Grand Allee for another 100 years," Brockway said.
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