About Topo d'Oro
Hi, I'm César, a Chicago native with a passion for transforming spaces and nurturing the natural world. I hold a BLA (Bachelor of Landscape Architecture) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which laid the foundation for my diverse career in landscape design, carpentry, and stone work.
My hands-on experience spans continents — from working the farmlands of Mexico to planting mangroves in Puerto Rico, efforts that deepened my expertise in plants and sustainable practices. With a strong background in crafting functional, beautiful outdoor environments, I bring a blend of technical skill and creative vision to every project.
Whether it's designing landscapes, building with stone, or shaping wood, I'm driven by a commitment to quality and a love for nature. When I'm not working, you'll find me exploring new places as an avid traveler or cherishing time with my family — values that inspire my work and connection with clients.
Let's collaborate to bring your vision to life — rooted in experience, crafted with care.
We self-perform our masonry, iron and woodwork.
The design work and the crews are the same firm. Stonework, custom metal fabrication and structural woodwork are done by our own team rather than subcontracted out, which is why the railing detail, the wall cap and the beam profile are drawn as part of the landscape plan instead of bolted on afterward.
- 01
Design
Every project begins on the ground. We walk the property with you, take measurements, and read what the site is already doing — grades, drainage, sun and shade through the day, sight lines from inside the house, what the neighbors can see and what you would rather they didn't. We ask how you actually want to use the space, because a yard built for two people who read outside is a different landscape from one built for a dog, three kids and a grill.
From there you get a scaled master plan, AutoCAD construction drawings and 3D renderings, with stone, wood, plant and lighting selections specified before anything is ordered. Grades, drainage and structural detail are resolved on paper, where changes cost nothing. You see the finished landscape, and its scope, before a shovel goes in the ground.
- 02
Build
We pull the permits, handle the village approvals and put our own crews on the site. Masonry, custom ironwork and structural carpentry are self-performed rather than subcontracted, so the wall cap, the railing detail and the beam profile arrive exactly as they were drawn rather than as the nearest available substitute.
The work nobody sees gets the same attention as the work everybody does: excavation to depth, compacted base in lifts, drainage that moves water off the assembly rather than through it, and footings sized for Chicago frost. That is what decides whether a terrace still sits flat after ten winters. One firm stays accountable from the first cut of grade to the final course of stone.
- 03
Enhance
The last phase is what separates a landscape that has been installed from one that looks like it has always been there. Plantings go in with the seasons and mature size in mind, so the composition reads correctly in year five rather than only on opening day. Low-voltage lighting is aimed and adjusted after dark, on site, rather than guessed at in daylight.
Water features are balanced, furnishings are placed, edges and transitions are tuned, and the small corrections that only show up once the space is in use get made. We come back to make sure it matures the way it was drawn.
Evanston, Illinois
1329 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL 60201