This restoration received an Award of Honor from the Northern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Client: Wells Fargo Corporate Properties Group

Architect: Royston, Hanamoto, Alley & Abbey, Mill Valley, California Crane & Sekimizu, Honolulu, Hawaii

Landscape Contractor: Jensen Corporation, Cupertino, California

This roof top oasis, adjacent to the boardroom and executive dining rooms at the Wells Fargo Corporate Headquarters in San Francisco, was designed in 1985 by Royston, Hanamoto, Alley & Abbey in conjunction with Crane & Sekimizu of Honolulu. Serving as both a visual and physical retreat, this Japanese styled garden's original function had deteriorated with years of wear. Plants were dead or dying, the terrace's structures were decaying, and faulty drainage was creating problems in the offices below.

Suzman Design Associates began restoration by first dismantling the garden, meticulously mapping the existing design plant by plant and rock by rock for precise placement on reuse. Our experts re-engineered the installation, improving it with new, high-tech waterproofing, upgrading the drainage and irrigation systems and adding elevated pavers. The faulty bamboo fountain was replaced as well as a dying Red Leaf Japanese Maple. Corrective plantings of dwarf Mondo Grass addressed the inadequate groundcover. Discriminative pruning renewed the forms of a Black Pine and various beech trees. By replicating the original decking with old-growth Oxford Cedar, inlaying a granite panel, cladding the columns with redwood laminate and restoring the benches and trellis structure, the resulting restoration revives and preserves the spirit of this classic Japanese garden design.