WordNet
n. a garden set below the level of the ground surrounding it
Wikipedia
The Sunken Garden is the central element of the Old Campus at the College of William and Mary. The garden consists of a long stretch of grass, lower than the surrounding area, that runs west from the rear of the Wren Building to Crim Dell pond. The area is very popular for students wanting to study outside or play games like Ultimate. Functionally, it is similar to a university quadrangle.
The Sunken Garden was first designed by College Architect Charles M. Robinson, who was working closely with J.A.C. Chandler on the project from 1919 to 1923. The design was reportedly based on the works of Christopher Wren seen in England, especially his work at Chelsea Hospital. The plan for a sunken garden on the campus was first mentioned in correspondence between J.A.C. Chandler and Charles F. Gillette in October 1923.
The plan to omit the construction of the Sunken Garden as included in building plans drawn by landscape artist Charles F. Gillette was first mentioned in the Board of Visitors minutes on February 12, 1924. The Board of Visitors was concerned that Gillette's landscape plan would call for an expenditure of $25,000 to $30,000.
In 1933, Dr. J.A.C Chandler reported that a Civilian Conservation Corps camp had been assigned to the College for the purpose of beautifying and improving the grounds. He recommended that the Board again consider the idea of the Sunken Garden. This recommendation was adopted and the President was authorized to employ Gillette to supervise the landscape work. Upon motion duly made and seconded, Gillette's bill for $1,400 for services rendered as architect for the Sunken Garden was approved and ordered to be paid. It was constructed by A.L Phillips Sons between 1935 and 1936.
Usage examples of "sunken garden".
After descending a broad flight of stone stairs, Michelangelo found himself in an atrium, closed on three sides by the house, and on the fourth by the flight of steps, giving the area the illusion of being a sunken garden.
He was at the very front of the house, at the head of a stone path cluttered with wind-driven leaves that ran along the edge of the sunken garden and toward the triumphal arch.
On the south and west of the house was a paved terrace from which steep green slopes fell to the sunken garden some twenty feet below.
He paused on the edge of a sunken garden below the terrace to get his bearings.
A breath of some rank jungle scent drew his eyes to a deep sunken garden where the administration building had stood, and he felt a faint revulsion from the tall, fleshy crimson stalks the machines had planted there.
The flagship groaned with mysterious voices (and Truck, wrenched out of his head by mounting alien energies, hallucinated briefly a Roman sundial isolated by a single watery ray of light in a sunken garden, smelling mint, glycol, horsehair) as Pater hurled her up and out.
Off to the left, beyond the parking space there was a sunken garden with a fountain at each of the four corners.