Courtyard Gardens Around the World

click thumbnails for larger pics

Courtyard gardens, with their sense of intimacy and security, have influenced home design from ancient China to modern America. Green architects have recently rediscovered the benefits of courtyard design - a central open space provides a home or building with natural daylighting and cross-ventilation. If you're lucky enough to have your own courtyard, or if you just fantasize about owning one, we've rounded up a few examples from across the globe...

FIRST ROW
• 1 David and James' Modern Courtyard Garden, Minneapolis
• 2 Westminster Presbyterian Church Courtyard, Minneapolis
• 3 Marrakech Riad in Morocco from Light Locations
• 4 Communal Courtyard in Sweden from Alvhem Estate Agents
• 5 Narrow Courtyard from Australia via Normal Room

SECOND ROW
• 6 British Courtyard Garden via Normal Room
• 7 Stone Courtyard from France
• 8 Irish Courtyard Garden from Premier Cottages
• 9 New Orleans Courtyard
• 10 Courtyard at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii

(Photos: David and James, Paul Crosby, Light Locations, Alvhem, JB via Normal Room, Fatal via Normal Room, Premier Cottages, Maison de Village, Flickr member glass window via Creative Commons License, Flickr member LFL16 via Creative Commons License)

Comments (4)

The white wire chairs in the top photo, I think they used to be called Italian Dining Chairs? They used to be incredibly popular and very easy to find.They stack for storage and were powdercoated so they didn't get hot if sitting in the sun. I haven't seen them available for years. Anyone know of a current source?

posted by n2denim on June 5th 2009 at 6:35am
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For a second I thought my cat had been cat-napped after viewing the first picture.

posted by Brandyjane on June 5th 2009 at 8:53am
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Sorry, I left two of those chairs behind when we sold our house last year. They once were as ubiquitous as the molded plastic one which supplanted the wire ones are now, but I haven't seen any (even at flea markets) in many years, either.

posted by SherryBinNH on June 5th 2009 at 9:04am
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These were fun to look at. The one with all the bicycle parking was really different looking.

posted by baileyb on June 5th 2009 at 7:47pm
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