Duke Farms

Duke Farms is the magnificent 2700-acre property created by James Buchannan Duke, benefactor of Duke University. Located in Hillsborough, New Jersey, it was the lifelong home of his daughter, Doris Duke. Ms. Duke thought of Duke Farms as a haven for flora and fauna – and these ideals have inspired and informed our work. VITETTA is the lead planner and designer helping the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Duke Farms Foundation develop and implement an exciting new vision and plan for the transformation of Duke Farms to its new environmental mission; it will provide the public with education programs and increased access to the property’s unique cultural landscapes. Our work includes two LEED-certified rehabilitation projects; the adaptive reuse of a stable building as an orientation center that will start a visitor’s journey through the property, and the renovation of a Lord and Burnham conservatory structure that will be a contemplative learning place with new display gardens. Each building’s improvements will embody the mission’s “green” ideals and connect people to the surrounding landscapes and mission.

Duke Farms was assembled and developed by James Buchanan Duke, beginning in 1893, and was added to and cared for by his daughter Doris Duke throughout her lifetime. Inspired by his native North Carolina, Duke sculpted the mostly flat farm landscape into a varied and densely planted terrain. The centerpiece of the property is a chain of lakes connected by waterfalls and spillways. The grounds were open to the public as a park until 1915. J.B. Duke constructed over forty buildings, two miles of stone walls – in the property's iconic boulder style – and miles of winding internal roads, carriageways and paths. The spectacular grounds surround the massive foundations of his never-completed mansion. The contrast of the unfinished structure with the expansive, developed landscapes – now being transformed the new environmental mission – will be truly unique.

The Farm Barn and Orchid Range Buildings are projected as LEED Platinum Certification