ftuKK-r,-,. ;x-;- K;f^.,3i;-: iii^rn^^ wmhVk t 1^ m^ w ^Mi^^^etw jf? SMn^. I z Q oi < O w o < oi Di w h X a Q w J U tL, o w CO p o K w h z w Q < & ^ AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS BY BARR FERREE Editor of "American Homes and Gardens" Corresponding Member of the American Institute of Architects and Honorary and Corresponding Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects 7:1/ mi I w^ (i ■' ' XI > •— ■ * " '-"''-ir .^ New York MUNN AND COMPANY MCMVl ^;.o,"fO'^ Copyright, 1904, by MUNN AND COMPANY I -7/ / -7(^10 BNURAVBU AND FKINTBU BV ANUREW H. KELLOGC; CO 409-415 Pbarl Stkbbt New York Plates in Duotone "Blairsden," the House of C. Ledyard Blair, Esq., Bernardsville, New Jersey— The Terrace Garden Frontispiece "Harbor Hill," the House of Clarence H. Mackay, Esq., Roslyn, New York— The Entrance Front Facing page 27 "The Elms," the House of E. J. Berwind, Esq., Newport, Rhode Island —The Entrance Front Facing page 73 "Faulkner Farm," the House of Mrs. Charles F. Sprague, Brookline. Massachtisetts-The Entrance Front Facing page 131 "The Orchard," the House of James Lawrence Breese, Esq., South- ampton, New York— The Studio Facing page 173 "Hacienda del Pozo de Verona," the House of Mrs. Phcebe A. Hearst, Pleasanton, California— The Music Room, West End . . . Facing page 2 1 1 "Georgian Court," the House of George J. Gould, Esq., Lakewood, New Jersey— The Terrace and Fountain Facing page 279 The Garden of the Hunnewell Estate, Wellesley, Massachusetts— The Terraces overlooking the Lake Facing page 289 Contents and Illustrations PAGE INTRODUCTION i "BLAIRSDEN," the House of C. Ledyard Blair, Esq., Bernardsville, New Jersey 5 View from the Lower Grounds 3 The Living-Room 4 The Outdoor Lounging-Room 6 The Entrance to the Grounds 8 The Dining-Room 9 The Enclosed Garden and Pergola lo THE HOUSE OF W. L. STOW, ESQ., Roslyn. New York 13 The Terrace and the South Front 12 The Hall 14 The Gold Salon 16 The Library 17 The Dining-Room 18 THE HOUSE OF P. A. B. WIDENER, ESQ., Ashbourne, Pennsylvania 21 The Main Front 20 The Side 21 The Dining-Room 22 The Hall 23 The Art Gallery 24 "HARBOR HILL," the Estate of Clarence H. Mackay, Esq., Roslyn, New York 27 The Entrance Doorway 26 The Terrace 27 The Staircase 28 The White Drawing-Room 29 The Fountain 30 Mrs. Mackay 's Boudoir 3° Mrs. Mackay 's Bedroom 32 Mrs. Mackay's Bathroom 33 The Stable 34 THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, District of Columbia 37 The North Front 36 The Entrance 38 The East Room 39 The State Banquet Hall 4o The Main Corridor 4i [ix] Contents and Illustrations PAGE THE HOUSE OF HERMAN B. DURYEA, ESQ., Old Westbury, New York 43 View of the Garden from the Loggia 43 The Main Facade 44 The Courtyard and Basin 45 The Sunken Garden 46 The Hall 47 The Long Walk 48 The Grassed Walk, Looking South 49 The Dining- Room 50 Mr. Duryea's Den 51 Mrs. Duryea's Bedroom 52 "INDL\N HARBOR," the House of E. C. Benedict, Esq., Greenwich, Connecticut 55 The Main Entrance 54 The Terrace 55 The Pergola and Shore Side 56 Entrance Gate and Avenue 57 The Fonnal Garden 58 The Pergola as Seen from the House 59 A Part of the Garden 60 NEWPORT PALACES A GROUP OF NEWPORT PALACES 63 "THE BREAKERS," the House of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt 67 The Entrance Gate 62 The Drawing-Room 63 The Entrance Front 64 The Library 65 The State Dining-Room 66 The Hall 68 "OCHRE COURT," the House of Mrs. Ogden Goelet 69 The Garden Front 70 The Library 71 The Dining-Room 72 "THE ELMS," the House of E. J. Berwmd, Esq 73 The Main Hall 74 The Upper Hall 7S The Ballroom 76 The Dining-Room 77 The Terrace 78 The Garden, Looking toward Bellevue Avenue 79 " BELCOURT," the House of O. H. P. Belmont, Esq 80 Baronial Hall 81 The Upper Hall 82 The Oval Dining-Room 83 The Exterior 85 fx] Contents and Ilt. ustrations PAGE " GREY CRAIG," the House of J. Mitchell Clark, Esq 85 The Main Front 84 The House and Lake 86 A View from the Garden 87 THE HOUSE OF MRS. RICHARD GAMBRILL 89 The Entrance Front 88 The Garden Front 90 The Loggia 91 The Large Salon 92 The Small Salon 93 The Dining-Room ^ 94 The Hall 95 The Pergola 97 " HOPEDENE," the House of Mrs. E. H. G. Slater 97 The Entrance Front 96 The Garden Front 98 The Dining-Room 99 The Library 100 The Drawing-Room loi " ROSECLIFF," the House of Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs 103 The Garden Front 102 The Sea Front 104 "WHITE HALL," the House of Henry M. Flagler, Esq., Palm Beach, Florida 105 The Library 105 The Main Entrance 106 The Colonnade 107 The Bronze Door 108 The Rose du Barry Bedroom 109 The Hall no The Grand Stairway 1 1 1 The Ballroom 112 The Dining-Room 114 THE HOUSE OF HENRY W. POOR, ESQ., Tuxedo, New York 117 The Garden Front 116 The Entrance ' 117 The Porch, Overlooking the Lake 118 Old Fashioned Garden and Terrace 119 The Main Hall 120 The Mantel in the Dining-Room 121 The Library' 122 The Smoke-Room 122 The Drawing-Room 123 [xi] Contents and Illustrations "BILTMORE," the Estate of George W. Vanderbilt, Esq., in North Carolina The Garden The Garden Front The Main Entrance The Entrance Tower The Fountain in the Court "FAULKNER FARM," Mrs. Charles F. Sprague's House, Brookline, Massachusetts A Wing of the House General View The Steps Leading to the Terrace The Hydrangea Walk The Pool before the Casino The Casino The Garden Under the Terrace Wall THE HOUSE OF STANFORD WHITE, ESQ., St. James, New York General View The Driveway The Piazza The Formal Garden The Hall The Living-Room The Dining-Room A Corner of Dining-Room MRS. A. CASS CANFIELD'S HOUSE, Roslyn, New York The Entrance Front The Terrace The Hall The Living-Room ' The Library "ROSEMARY," the House of Foxhall Keene, Esq., Old Westbury, New York General View The Formal Garden The Stairs The Fireplace in the Library '. "ALL VIEW," the House of C. Oliver Iselin, Esq., Premium Point, New Rochelle, New York. The Entrance Front The Open Porch The Entrance to the Grounds The Garden THE HOUSE OF LLOYD BRYCE, ESQ., Roslyn, New York The Garden Front The Main Doorway The Terrace The Drawing-Room The Dining-Room The Library PAGE 25 25 26 27 28 29 31 31 32 33 33 34 35 36 37 39 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 47 48 49 50 SI 52 55 54 56 57 58 61 60 62 63 64 67 66 67 68 69 70 71 [xii] Contents and I l l u s t r a t ions PAGE "THE ORCHARD," the House of James Lawrence Breese, Esq., Southampton, New York 17,3 The Porch ^T^ General View '74 Wall Fountain '75 The Pergola '7^ The Garden -77 The Music-Room '78 The Hall '79 The Dining-Room '^° The Conservatory '81 "THE MONASTERY," the House of Charles P. Searle, Esq., Swampscott, Mass 183 The Entrance to the Grounds 183 The Entrance Front 184 The Hall '^5 The Upper Hall '^^ THE HOUSE OF OGDEN MILLS, ESQ., Staatsburg, New York 187 The Entrance Front '^8 The Main Hall '^9 The Dining-Room ^^° " BELLEFONTAINE," the Estate of Giraud Foster, Esq., Lenox, Massachusetts 193 The South Front '9^ The North Front • '94 The North Court ■ '95 The Garden from the East Loggia '9^ The Pool from the Court '98 The Pergola and Fountain '99 The Pergola from the Driveway 2°° The Fountain in the Court 201 "MARTIN HALL." the House of James E. Martin, Esq., Great Neck, New York 203 General View ^°'* The Porte-Cochere 2°5 The Formal Garden 206 The Stalls ^°\ The Great Hall ^°^ The Dining-Room ^°9 CA LI FORNI A HOUSES 211 SOME CALIFORNIA HOUSES "HACIENDA DEL POZO DE VERONA," the House of Mrs. Phcebe A. Hearst 211 212 General View The Court Side ^^3 The Library "4 The Music-Room, East End "5 [xiii] Contents and Illustrations PAGE THE HOUSE OF FRANK S. JOHNSON. ESQ 217 General View 216 THE STUDIO OF FELIX PEANO, ESQ 217 General View 210 The Roof Garden 218 The Entrance 219 COUNTRY MANSIONS THE COUNTRY MANSION 2 21 THE HOUSE OF PRICE COLLIER, ESQ., Tuxedo, New York 221 General View 220 The Entrance Front 222 The Dining- Room 223 THE HOUSE OF MATTHEW BAIRD, ESQ., Ardmore, Pennsylvania 225 The Main Front 224 Ingle-Nook in the Hall 226 THE HOUSE OF MRS. CHARLES F. COFFIN, Montclair, New Jersey 225 The Entrance Front 227 The Living-Room 228 The Reception-Room .• 229 The Dining-Room 229 A Bedroom 230 "MILL-BROOK," the House of F. King Wainwright, Esq., Br>m Mawr, Pennsylvania 231 The Terrace Porch 231 The Entrance Front 232 The Terrace Front 233 The Court 234 The Hall 235 "CHATEAU REXSAMER," the House of Mrs. George W. Rexsamer, EHzabethtown, New York 237 General View 236 The Steps 237 A Picturesque Bit 239 THE HOUSE OF JOHN G. WRIGHT, ESQ., Brookhne, Massachusetts 239 The Terrace Front 238 The Entrance Front 240 The Terrace 241 The Hall 242 The Dining-Room 243 [xiv; Contents and Illustrations PAGE "ASHF'ORD," the House of Frank Squier, Esq., Belle Haven, rrrccnwieh, Connecticut 245 The North Front 244 The Pergola 246 The Garden 247 Garden Steps 248 The Macmonnies Fountain 248 THE HOUSE OF GEORGE S. GRAHAM, ESQ., Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 249 General View 250 The Entrance 251 The Dining- Room 252 The Library 253 "CRAIGSTON," the House of T. C. Hollander, Esq., Wenham, Massachusetts 255 The Entrance Front 254 The Pergola 255 The Stair Hall 256 The Terrace Front 257 The Music-Room 258 A Porch 259 "TALBOT HOUSE," the House of Talbot J. Taylor, Esq., Cedarhurst, New York 261 General View 260 The Entrance 262 The Terrace Front » 263 The Hall 264 The Drawing- Room 266 The Dining-Room 267 The Library 268 AMERICAN GARDENS THE AMERICAN GARDEN 271 THE OLD-TIME GARDEN 271 The Estate of Mrs. Edward C. Jones 270 The Estate of Horatio Grinnell, Esq 272 THE GARDEN OF "WELD," Brookline, Massachusetts 275 The Gazebo 273 The Fountain 274 The Terrace Steps 275 The Terminals of the Bowling Green 275 The Fountain 276 Venetian Well and Gazebo 277 Grecian Pot 277 XV Contents and Illustrations PAGE THE GARDEN OF "GEORGIAN COURT." Lakewood, New Jersey 279 The Bridge and Basin -7^ A Group of Statuary -79 A Marble Seat ^79 The Fountain -^° A Well Head -^' The Garden ^^^ The Electrical Fountain -^2 The Electrical Fountain— Another View 283 Terrace Steps ^^4 The Garden ^^4 MRS. JOHN L. GARDNER'S GARDEN, Brookline, Massachusetts 285 A Glimpse of the Garden ^^S A Little Touch of Japan 286 The Lily Pool ^^7 The Arbor , ^^^ THE GARDEN OF THE HUNNEWELL ESTATE, Wellesley, Massachusetts 289 A Terrace Walk ^^9 The Lake ^^° The PaviHon overlooking the Terraces and Lake 291 The Steps on the Terrace 293 THE GARDEN OF MOSES TAYLOR, ESQ., Mount Kisco, New York 293 The Pergola ^92 The Terrace ^94 The Formal Garden ' 294 THE GARDEN OF ALFRED NATHAN, ESQ., Elberon, New Jersey 295 A Marble Seat ^95 A Fountain ^96 The Sun-Dial and Seat 297 THE GARDEN OF FRANCIS BARTLETT, ESQ.. Prides Crossing, Massachusetts 299 The Terrace before the House 298 The Bronze Basin and Fernery 299 The Formal Garden 2°° A TERRACED GARDEN 3°! A Marble Seat 3°! General View of "The Terraces" 302 The Formal Garden 303 A Terrace 304 The Sun-Dial 305 [xvi] INTRODUCTION HE very brief space of ten years has been sufficient in which to develo]) an entirely new type of American country house, the house to which the words "stately" and "sumptuous" may be indifferently applied, with, at times, a quite realizing sense of their utter inadeciuac>'. Country houses we have always had, and large ones too; but the great country house as it is now understood is a new type of dwelling, a sumptuous house, built at large expense, often palatial in its dimensions, furnished in the richest manner, and placed on an estate, perhaps large enough to admit of independent farming operations, and in most cases with a garden which is an integral part of the architectural scheme. The formal garden, in which garden architecture has an important part to perform, is the most usual; but the garden is always present, even though a considerable latitude be permitted in its design and arrangement. It is a beautiful thing, this garden-love, which so embellishes the house, gives it a new meaning, adds to its beauty — rationalizes, in a word, the country life. It has opened up new fields of activity to the landscape designer, and, which is much more significant, has created new appreciations of outdoor life and broadened the vision of many an art lover. For the garden, finely laid out, exquisitely planted, suitably ornamented, if space be had, with sculpture, is a work of art, stimulating the imagination, helping mankind wnth its soft, gentle beauty, a source of joy and of unending delight. Garden appreciation in itself is not new, but the great, splendid garden, arranged and planted as a part of the scheme of which the house is itself the center, has, in late years, become so important a factor in American country life as to have fresh significance. In a book which, like the present one, is devoted to the architectural and gardening features of some of the more notable of recent American country houses, it might be naturally assumed that the art value of these places — meaning by that term everything that helps in giving beauty — might be considered as the single point of interest; yet, as a matter of fact, this great new building energy is not due to an interest in architecture as architecture, perhaps hardly to gardening as gardening, but to an entirely new conception of country life, and a new appreciation and realization of its manifold joys and pleasures. The movement countryward is not, in fine, a Renaissance of architecture, important as is the place architecture takes in it; [I] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS nor is it a Renaissance of the gardening art, important as that is likewise; btit l)Oth these factors testify, and in a most impressi\'e way, to a Renaissance of country Hfe. These great houses mean not so much a hking for them as buildings, though it will be readily admitted that their attractions as places of residence, with their luxurious accompani- ments and wealth of conveniences, are very great, as a realizing sense of the i^leasure of country- life, of delight in escape from the crowded conditions of cit>- living, and of an increasing affec- tion for the simpler and more natural life of the country, with its varied si)orts and open-air activities. That a palace in the country may be as luxurious as one m the city is, of course, quite true; but the love for country life, which is surely on the increase, is one of the most remarkable social features of contemporary American life. And to live in the country one must have a house; there must be accessory buildings also, numerous enough to meet the social needs of each individual owner. That the house may be a splendid architectural creation, and its allied Ijuildings handsomely designed as well as conveniently planned, follows almost as a matter of course. That the house needs an environment in keeping with itself is a further natural consequence, and the artistic house, with its artistic garden and the lesser buildings, is planned, arranged, and executed as an artistic whole, ministering to every possible need and fulfilling every reasonable delight. We stand on the threshold of a great movement to the country. Too long, it would seem, have our best energies been centered in the towns. The old idea of country life as syn- onymous with the farm no longer ]3re\'ails. The farmhouse type of country home is b}' no means extinct; but in every part of the country the magnificent new mansions of the rich are putting entirely new ideas into the cmTcnt conceptions of country life. The great country house is the outward visible sign of this new movement. It has called forth a fine architectural talent in its development, and has given a new field and a new scope to architectural activities in America. [2] X CO Q Z o DC o o w X h O ai CO < J CQ Q < O w J 6 tL. O w CO O I w a: h z fcd C CO [3] o o Pi I o I— I > Of < ►J P3 0 > u O w o w h O ^^'FF^^ls^'S^FFllF^ [4] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS terminates in the valley below, at the edge of a winding and V)eautifully clear lake, and on the other hill of the slope are the dense forests of a neighboring Country Club. It would seem, therefore, that the wild features of the landscape must be always i^reserved. As one passes through the gatewa}^ and approaches the house, which is ])laced on a stone terrace with almost menacing abruptness, one can hardly realize that scarcely two years sufficed to bring the land immediately around one to a fine state of perfection and growth. Rows of cedar trees of great age and size, as may he seen in the frontispiece of this book, have been transplanted for the creation of the formal ajiproach, and have been so ably blended with the natural licauties of the ]_)lace as to form an integral ])art of one of the most elaborate and extensive schemes of its kind ever carried out in America. The driveway, after it passes through the gateway and up the gentle slope, turns at the foot of the steps abruptly to the left, and thence onward to a level plateau of considerable extent, at the extreme end of which is located the mansion itself. The road encloses a green- sward with an ample water basin, filled with lilies and tropical plants, which reaches almost to the doorway. On ttn-ning to the right and approaching the house the formal treatment has been again ver\- happil}' carried out ; while on the left the natural wildness of the mountain- side has been retained in all its primitive beaiity — a fine touch of genius that enhances the contrast between nature and art which has been so completely attained in this beautiful estate. The house is built of red brick and Indiana limestone, and is designed in the style of Louis XIII. It is two stories in height, with a third story in the high pyramidal roof. It is simple and stately, the main doorway being contained within an ornamental stone frame- work, supporting a low pediment carried b}^ double pilasters. The general plan is rectangular, with projecting wings at each end, the shorter side facing the entrance roadway, and the longer overlooking the valley immediately below and the hills beyond. The spacious interior is extremely elegant, with reception-room, library, drawing-room, breakfast-room, dining-room, and music-room opening out of the great central hall. The hall, with its ornamental staircase, is entirely of Caen stone. The dining-room, at the end of the hall, is paneled throughout with oak and has a coffered ceiling. The hangings are green and gold, and the carving on the oak is also gilded, with a very successful introduction of color. The librarv is in Italian walnut, and, like the dining-room, is wholly paneled. The ceiling is plaster, and the mantel of marble. The tone of the living-room is gray. This is a charming room, delightfully finished with the decorative materials taken from an old draw- ing-room in Second Avenue, New York, the ornamental features of a fine old New York room being thus utilized in this modern New Jersey home. The l)illiard-room is treated in the Renaissance style with good detail. The upper floors of the house are given over to bedrooms, arranged singly and en suite, and with many bathrooms.- Bright, cheerful colors are used in the bedrooms, and a tour [7] [81 ^ 1 ^^-» •■^i?* ~~-^ 5l - «^,^- ~'I» • _ ■ i^ •-i._V-'^^:' .^H T^HS .^H ^^H ^^^^^tIIP ] ^^K ui 1 KmI 1 '■ ^^H m^' If -'^^ ^^^^f 1 mmk ^gfaenay ^ ^'Wm ^ ^|n^^ mm 1 ;,-'^S -— . szi^rr- -._. 'mm ^^^P^-f { "~^ ™=™'~=— 3 — — — - ■ — •■» <^B 'M v?i:v ■a ■■" . '»B'1' ;^:::::: *•«.-«* .'{ i'?^'^'*? r « . ?t^ — .- >». . — a^ — - — -— — . ),* r- ■ —. .K .iV ,.., ■. ft .. ;=!=- — ^ _— '-?«»:?« ■'^^ ^ «wsss ^^■i^ \ p : -^ ^>^i«^;««-■ ';^ i^»<^- ■ -si:i«> •ic--'5ift , 7SS '\ -J _J ii^ T ■ ' . - ^^1 ik M^H S ■' -wj' -^'Si^^ -^^g^gff^g^ ^^'^''^^'MHHHip m ■I — „^ ^m^ 1 .J o o as 6 z I — I g 5 w h CO < m Q <; Q w u o w CO O w h w O CO a! I — I < n — u J? z [9] [lo] "Blairsden" The House of C. Ledyard Blair, Esq., Bernardsville, New Jersey HE building of a large house means very much more than the incurring of a great expenditure. Costliness is, indeed, an essential element in all large building enter- prises— an element unavoidably entailed by the very extent of the building operation. And a great house in the country, destined for the accommodation of a family and the entertainment of many guests, must have space ample and abundant for every possible occasion. It is big, therefore, not to display the wealth that created it, but because size is a fundamental requirement. A large house requires a large site. There must not only be room to build upon, but there must be ample grounds for the proper environing of the house with land that will give the dweUing suitable individuality, pleasure grounds for the inmates, and perhaps a farm for their further delight and sustenance. A great house in the country implies opportunities for the enjoyment of rural life in every aspect, so that a large estate is l)oth a necessity and a natural consequence of the building of such houses. Acreage alone is not sufficient. The land must be pleasant to look upon, with fine out- looks across the country, and perhaps a stream or lake or harbor to add to its beauty. A beau- tiful site— that is the desideratum in all large country buildings, and very beautiful indeed are many of the places chosen for the location of our great country houses. The human element is supplied by the architect, the designing genius whose part it is to create a house that will fit the site, that will stand just where the house should stand, and which shall have an artistic outward character in keeping with the surroundings. Almost as weighty is the share of the landscape architect, to whom is assigned the agreeable task of beautifying the grounds in imme- diate contact with the house, of designing the formal garden, of arranging the walks and drives, of giving the crowning touch of beauty which welds every part into one perfect picture. Such a picture, combining in one splendid whole the elements that help in the making of fine American country places, is presented by "Blairsden," the picturesquely placed house that Mr. Blair has built on the steep slope of one of the mountains of Somerset County, near Bernardsville, New Jersey. It is a fine house, finely placed on a superb site; not, indeed, on the summit of the hill, but, more wisely, and somewhat after the Italian manner, on the sloping hillside, so that it may have the advantage of the wooded backgrotmd which adds so much to the beauty of the location. A rather startling innovation is the placing of the stable on the top of the hill, above the house, but it is so placed that it can not be seen from the house and is scarcely visible from the surrounding summits. The wooded slope of the hillside [S] o o q5 C z D O -1 O o Q H D O I Of < J CO Q oi < > Q (d J U O 1/3 O a: X Q CO < ca z [6] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS through the upper parts of the house presents a succession of pleasant pictures, admirably arranged for the comfort and convenience of the many guests who frequenth' throng this delightful home. The elevation of the house on a hillside, and the necessary luiilding of terraces on which to support it, provide some additional space below the main floor, which has been ])ut to good use. Here are a squash court, a plunge and Turkish bath, and Mr. Blair's lounging-room. Like all great country houses, "Blairsden" is amply provided with sumptuous gardens and grounds. Viewed from below, the house is supported by a great stone terrace, with double flights of steps. The space thus created forms a species of o]_ien court l)efore the house, and is treated with lawns and paths, and decorated with many bay trees. From the stone terrace descend the great terraced gardens of the estate, closely hned with trees and treated in a formal way, a superb approach, by which the traveler on foot may reach the house. At the farther end of the house, from the entrance doorway, is a pergola leading to an outdoor lounging-room, a unique apartment, with brick walls, open arches, high wooden roof, and a fireplace, a spot not only agreeable with all the agreeableness of good taste, luit from which can be had most charming views of the surrounding country. Within, and behind the connecting pergola, is a small enclosed flower garden court. The house is the center of a great estate, with stables, carriage houses, an automol)ile house, farmhouse, dairy, and other essentials of a like nature. Mr. Blair is much interested in his stable, and the finest possible accommodations have bqen provided for his blooded stock, all of which are housed and cared for in a state almost regal. [II] z o h D O Ed a < u < a; H w O CO O o a: h [t2] The House of W. L. Stow, Esq. Roslyn, New York |R. STOWS house is an Italian palace adapted to the exigencies of the American climate. Ver\' large it is, and splendidly environed, and best seen from the south, althovigh entered from the north. It is a stately pile, broad and firm in outline, simply designed and sparsely ornamented, Init withal characterized by fine dignity and charm. The main doorway, on the north, is modest enough, and is sheltered by a small glass marquise that flares slightly upward. But the south side is palatial, with an effect of quite monumental grandeur. Like man^^ Long Island country places, the house is built on high ground, with very beautiful natural surroundings. On the south it slopes rapidly away from the house, falls quickly, indeed, so that the terrace treatment is at once the most natural and the most effective. And most happih' this has been arranged. A spacious area is enclosed within a balus- trade, with a flight of steps at each end. A wonderful space this is, with the great house immediatelv behind, the steep cliff below, and, beyond, the rich farming lands of the near-by estates, and farther on, again, if the day be clear, the view is veiled by the ocean. Down below, immediately in the foreground, is a second space, enclosed with a hedge of evergreens. At the foot of each flight of steps is a pair of marble lions, standing on the high pedestals of the balustrade. The upper terrace is supported by a wall, carried wholly across the front, the center marked with three great arches. This lower space is a simple formal garden, and with old ItaUan well-heads, great marble vases, and other decorative adjuncts. One can here realize, if one has not reaUzed it before, that this is a superb mansion, a veritable palace, happily designed, finely placed, and suitably environed. The greensward, the massive retain- ing-wall of the upper terrace, the balustrade, and the enclosing stairways at the ends, the house above, make an ensemble of stately beauty that few American country- houses possess. The general effect is fine, and the im])ression one of much splendor. The house is palatial because it is large, excellently designed, and handsomely furnished. The interior is eminently livable and enjoyable. The rooms are not vast, as rooms in houses of this rank are measured, but are well proportioned to their uses, and the spaces have been judiciously employed. The main doorway leads immediately into an entrance or stair hall the full height of the house, and lighted above as well as by a window immediately over the door. A flight of stone steps, with an imposing stone balustrade, leads to the upper floor. Immediatelv in face is a monumental doorway to the hall. This is a splendid apartment, the largest in the house, occup}'ing more than half of the main Imilding, with four great windows opening on to the south terrace. It is paneled in black oak for two-thirds of its [13] a CO W o h CO O w CO O X I14] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS height, the upper jiart of the ]_)anehng being treated with small open arches supported on free columns. Above is a rich damask brocade of deep red. A narrow i)ainted frieze of grotesques runs around the room, and the ceiling is beamed and painted in small squares. The doors, which arc elaborately framed, as are the windows, have rounded to])s, with open carved woodwork in the panels. It is, therefore, a room rich in color, and with a structural decoration of quite unusual extent, very interesting in itself, very interestingly applied, and thoroughly successful in its effect. At the far end is a monumental chimneypiece, with fluted columns, the treasure tro\-e of a Florentine palace, as are most of the chimneypieces in the house. Electric lights are hidden behind the top of the wall panels, and produce a startlingly beautiful effect when illuminated. To the right is the Gold Salon. Here, again, is more splendor, yet thoroughly harmo- nized and quite sul)dued in effect. The walls are hung with old green silk, arranged in gilt panels. The rich door frame is also gilt, the color scheme being gold and green. The doorway is Spanish Renaissance. The mantel is plain, but beautifully wrought; over it is a portrait of the Duchess of Parma, by Suttermans, in a rich old monumental frame. The center of the ceiHng is filled with a large painting of the School of Tiepolo, and the room is illumined by crystal lights hanging from the walls. Three rooms on the end of the house open from the hall and adjoin the Salon. The central one is a ];)illiard-room; at one end is a conservatory, at the other a smoking-room. The dining-room adjoins the hall, and is nearly of the same size. It is a large apart, ment, l)rilliantly lighted by the spacious windows by day^ and at night b}' great electric standards placed in each corner. It is sumptuously furnished, and that many fine works of art enter into its adornment is thoroughly in keeping with the splendid manner in which the whole house has been planned and arranged. The floor is marble mosaic. The door frames are of marble, carved and ornamented with rich panels and friezes. Marble pilasters mark off the division of the walls, which are covered with green velvet brocade. There is a dado of green and black marble, and the same material appears in the serving tables or sideboards, each of which is supported by white marble pedestals. The ceiling, in green and gold, is decorated with small squares; in the center is a large square painting by Domenichino, the "Youth of Bacchus"; each of the four corners has rotund allegorical panels, painted by Claudio Francesco Beaumont. On one wall is a painting of the "Rape of the Sabines," by Vasari, and a number of old Italian portraits are htmg in the adjoining spaces. A small breakfast-room opens out of the dining-room; and then, beyond it, are the apartments devoted to the service, pantries, a dumb-waiter to the kitchen, which is placed below, where there are more pantries, storerooms, ice chests, servants' dining-room, and other offices, all so needful to the inhabiting of the house, and here down below, but with their own opening to the outer world, which the location of the house on a hill permits most conveniently. To the left of the entrance hall is the library. It is prefaced by a small recess. . The walls are lined with bookcases, above which are deep dark oak panels; the plastered ceiling is decorated with geometrical designs. The conspicuous feature of this room is the superb [IS] o < o o X a 6i| o O w O w h z I'"] w X h CO O h LO o w D O w [17] o o 6 o w h a. o h C/3 c w D O w z [18] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS mantel and chimnc_\-i)iecc, the richest in the house, magnifieentl)- carved with crowded ixuiels in rehef, and a veritable masterpiece, brought from Venice. Above it are three consoles with gilt busts. The fin-niture is chiefly old, and the walls are hung with old portraits. A goodly- portion of the bookcases is given up to Mr. Stow's collection of old blue and white china, which includes a number of pieces of the highest interest. In each corner hangs a large German silver lamp, connected with the electric light. Upstairs are bedrooms, boudoirs, and bathrooms. A great corridor runs through the house froi i east to west, opening on to the entrance hall, with a central balcony, whence one may look across at the tapestries with which this part of the house is decorated. The bedrooms are mostly hung with silk or other material, all delightfully furnished, and each with its own color scheme and its attendant bathroom. The third floor does not appear in the outward design as it is hidden b}- the cornice and roofing; it is entirely given up to the servants' c^uarters. [19] F [20] The House of P. A. B. Widener, Esq. Ashbourne, Pennsylvania HE magnificent residence of Mr. P. A. B. Widener, at Ashbourne, Pennsylvania, is one of the most sumptuovis hovises in the immediate neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is a house of the largest size, truly palatial in its dimensions, quite soberly treated, dignified, with a stately portico as the conspicuous feature of the main front. The porches, indeed, constitute the chief external adornment, for the front walls are plain, with widely spaced pilasters, each panel containing two windows in somewhat severe frames. This motif is carried wholly around the house, the various fronts difiiering only from the main front in the spacing of the pilasters, the arrangement of the windows, and the size and shape of the porches. A high balustrade completely surrounds the roof line, save where it is interrupted bv the entrance portico. The very spacious grounds are beautifully developed as an Italian garden, with the architectural accompaniments of retaining-walls, steps, balustrades, and other adjuncts which are so essential to gar- dening of this kind, but which are seldom carried out on a scale so truly grand as here. The beau- tiful lawns, the beds and banks of flowers, the palms, hydrangeas, bay trees, and other plants in tubs and jars, are arranged in excellent taste, and form a fine environment for the great house to which they belong. The palatial grandeur that the exterior so well expresses is richly de- veloped within. The hall occupies the center of the house, and is a THE HOUSE OF P. A. B. WIDENER, ESQ. [21] o o d 6 5 w X I d CO W qT w 2 w ft o CO D O K w h [22] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS splendid nxim, thirtv-six feet scjuare and two stories in heij^ht. Tt is completely built of Caen stone. The walls are divided into bays, with great pilasters su])porting the cornice at the ceiling; Ijelow arc round arched openings and doors; above are rectangular windows, opening into a gallery that is carried around the hall, with richly chased bronze railings. The stairway rises immediately from the central arch of the farther side, and is continued within to the upper storv. A gigantic Chinese vase supporting a candelabrum stands on each side of the steps. Before the mantelpiece are busts of Cosmo de' Medici and his wife, by Bernini. The hangings are of red velvet embroidered with gold, and in the center of the room is a large carved table supported on gilt figures. The colors, as a whole, as given by the hangings and rugs, are red, white, and gold, and the decorative treatment is very rich and sumptuous. The more important rooms open directly from the hall. On the right are the reception- room, billiard -room, and library, the latter a great apartment, fifty feet square. On the left a smaller hall leads to the smoking-room and sitting-room, and to the dining-room and the breakfast-room. All of these rooms are beautifully furnished and decorated. They are truly palatial, hospitable in size, lavish in their appointments, and present ex- cellent examples of present-day tend- encies in costly dwellings. This is particularly true of this house, for Mr. Widener gave up a grand cit}' mansion that he had built for himself, in order to live in this great new house. It is located in a pleasant suburb of Philadelphia, but near enough to the city to be quite suffi- ciently close for business and social affairs. It stands just outside of built-up Philadelphia, in a lovely rural neighborhood, where the pleas- ures of coiintry life, when centered in .such a home, must be almost unlimited. The chief room on the. second floor is the picture gallery, entered through an antechamber. Here is housed one of the richest and finest collections of paintings in the United States. The collection has been formed with tmusual taste and dis- THE HOUSE OF P. A. B. wiDENER, ESQ.— THE HALL. I23] W < ex: < w X h W Di w O Ci, C w D O w X h [24] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS crimination, and includes many ])aintings both fine in themselves and thoroughly represent- ative of the liest work of the best artists of all ]X'rio(ls. It is at once the chief pride of its owner and the crowning distinction of his house, for this room, more than the sumptuous li\-ing-r()oms, is the real center of Mr. Widener's house, and gives it an importance and interest that few other great houses in America possess. [25] Roslvn, New Yurk. "HARBOR HILL," THE HOUSE OF CLARENCE H. MACKAY, ESQ. THE ENTRANCE DOORWAY. [26] "Harbor Hill" The Estate of Clarence H. Mackay, Esq., Roslyn, New York R. MACKAY'S house, "Harbor Hill," is a stately, dignified composition, the some- what severe front being gracioush' relieved by the excellent carving of the dooi^way. It is built of a pale, delicate gray stone of delightful tone and color. A great, cool gray hall fills the center. It is two stories in height, paneled throughout in oak, with oak columns and pilasters and coffered ceiling. The windows opposite the entrance look out on to the head of Hempstead Bay. The chief adornments are four sets of old oak choir stalls from a church in Europe, exquisitely carved and beatitiful works of art. The chimneypiece, a fine old spoil from a European palace, is so huge that the wood of a single tree can be burned within it. The planning of the house is simple. In the center is the hall; at the entrance, stretching away right and left, is a wide corridor, at the left end of which is the main stairway — oak, like all the woodwork in the open public parts of the ground floor, r» ' •'i^^'^y^'^-^Y-y ' "HARBOR HILL," IIIK IIOL SE OF CLARENCE 11. MACkAY, ES(J.— THE TERRACE. [27] w < < h W h W < o <; u w < u o o w rr: -1 O <; X o >■ [28] o OS 6 z OS O h CO W w o 2 u O w en D O w h J J ctS C CO a: <; z [29] o Q O O CO < U < J J O m < [30] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS with a hea\-ih- carved railing; from the ceihng of the uppermost story hangs a great bronze lamp — a late Renaissance masterpiece. On the right is the dining-room, with ])antries and kitchen beyond — the latter in a separate wing — and the billiard-room; on the left are the librar}' and the white drawing-room. The library walls have a high paneled dado of polished wood below a covering of green stripes. Rare tapestries cover much of the wall space; above is a coved cornice pi polished wood. There is much furniture in the room — a piano in one corner, a fine old Ffench table near the fireplace, desks and tables, tables with lamps and tables with bric-a-brac, and a veritable garden of plants and palms. The whole room is surrounded with growing plants; great garden vases filled with fine specimens stand before two of the windows; mammoth Boston ferns, palms in the corners and by the windows; and yet the room is so large that there is no sense of overcrowding, and the plants are arranged in a truly decorative manner and in exquisite taste. The white drawing-room is cool and beautiful in color, all in white. Panels of mirrors fill spaces not occupied by doors; and of windows there are none at all, for it opens into an enclosed porch, or conservatory, to which, in a sense, it is an antechamber. The furniture is white, with caned seats and backs, covered with tapestried cushions; two great jardinieres with caned sides stand before the doors to the conservatory. Over a console, filling one of the great panels, is a portrait of the mistress of the niansion, a lovely, speaking figure. The conservatory beyond is another bower of flowers." White furniture here also, with red cushions; red carpet in the center; matting at the ends; glazed brick for ceiling. It is really an enclosed porch, looking out on to an open porch, with stone columns and red bricked floor. Beyond is the Italian garden; not as vet, it is true, laid out; but a graceful fountain fills the center, and a row of statues on each side hints what the immediate foreground will be when time and care have brought this portion of the grounds to maturity. The dining-room and billiard-room, on the other side of the central hall, are both noble apartments, for there is a splendid sense of space in this great house; the rooms are large, the windows ample, the ceilings lofty. Each room has its individual note and treatment; the dining-room is paneled throughout. An electric elevator takes one upstairs. Nearly half of the top floor is given up to nurseries, with separate rooms for the children and their attendants. Very pleasant these rooms are, in cool, quiet colors and fine furnishings, in which the quality of appropriateness has been very happily caught. All these apartments are communicating, and can, at the same time, be completely isolated from the rest of the house. Guest rooms, arranged in pairs, with a common bathroom, fill up much of the remainder of this floor, although some space for servants is found here, together with storage closets. Mrs. Mackay's cedar room has special interest. The second floor contains the apartments of the master and mistress of the house, together with some additional guest rooms. The latter are slightly more elegant than those [31] o o P w CO < U o oa [32 AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS above, but have the same ampleness of size that distinguishes all the rooms of the house. Mr. Mackay's rooms consist of his bedroom, finished in a cool shade of green, and a sitting-room, transformed at times into a place for exercise. A separate hall leads to my lady's apartments. Here, at last, is the queen's chamber, the intimate home of the active mind that dominated the creation of this palatial residence and the vast estate connected with it. A great curtain hangs across the hall, the farther end of which is enclosed as an anteroom. Like the other rooms of this suite, it is carpeted, curtained, paneled, and finished in mauve, a beautiful, gentle hue. The boudoir, or sitting-room, opens immediately from the anteroom; it is large, thronged with ftuiiiture, curtained and walled with my lady's color, and richly decked with the thousand and one articles — choice pieces of furniture, vases, lamps, pictures, bric-a-l)rac, books, and, above all, plants — which every great lady finds comforting to existence. Opposite the doorway is a canopied couch, over which hangs a rich ermine robe — a trulv royal throne for the queen that rules here. •'HARBOR HILL"— MRS. MACKAY'S BATHROOM. [33] [34] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS Mrs. Mackay's bedroom comes next, and then the bathroom, with its famous bath, chiseled out of a single piece of rich marble and let into the floor — a room unlike any bathroom, with rich furnishings, lamps, easy-chairs, tables, and plants. "Harbor Hill" is no single country house, isolated in the midst of rural surroundings. It is the center of a vast estate of five hundred or six hundred acres, with many separate buildings for the greater development and the more thorough enjoyment of country life. The carriage house and stable is quite palatial, with magnificent appointments for the horses, a special suite for the head coachman, and comfortable quarters for the men. The farm bam is a separate structure, admirably equipped for the extensive farming operations carried on here; and the farmer's house is an old Long Island farmhouse, long standing, and thoroughly restored and kept in fine order. There are kennels for the dogs, a special stable for the polo ponies, chicken houses and duck houses, conservatories and storage houses for bay trees, a dairy, and special houses for the men in charge of each department. Yet all these building features pale before the lovely attractiveness of the woods and drives. No less than ten miles of bridle paths — quite wide enough for a carriage — traverse the hills and valleys of this lovely estate, in which both nature and art have been combined in a thoroughly delightful manner, and so happily that the cultivated borders of the driveways — ^beautifully planted with flowering shrubs and greened with well-trimmed grass — merge naturally into the wilder beauty of the forests which still cover much of the land. There is true wildness in these woodlands, and Mrs. Mackay's own little rustic cottage, deep in the woods, and placed jtist where the views across the cotmtry are finest, is a tinily wood retreat from the more modern splendors of the palace on the hill summit. [35] w D O X w h I— I w h e D o U [36] The White House Washington, District of Columbia HE White House is the one residence of national interest in the United States. Other houses may have greater local associations, may be larger, more richly built and furnished, may be more splendid, in a word, but no dwelling is so supreme in its attractions to the people as a whole, so richly endowed with historical interest, or associated with so many notable people, as the house of our Presidents, the one truly State resi- dence of our land — the White House. The dullest imagination kindles at thought of it, and even the political opponent of its occupant for the time being views it with respect as the home of the head of our State. It is the Nation's house, the one residence in the country of abounding sentimental interest. It is a fortunate and delightful circumstance that its architectural interest is also great and very real, a fact of the more moment since the history of its building has not been altogether happy. Its original architect was an Irishman, James Hoban, who not only superintended its construction, but also its rebuilding in 1814, after it had been partly burned by the British. A stately and beautiful house it was he planned and built, and such it has since remained. It was but half finished when first occupied by Mrs. John Adams, on the removal of the seat of govern- ment from Philadelphia to Washington, in 1800. Twenty -five years later the north and south porticoes were built, although proposed as early as 1803, by B. H. Latrobe. Terraces, also, were added on the east and west. The east terrace disappeared early in the sixties; the west terrace, long since degraded into a foundation for greenhouses, has been now happily removed. Large sums of money have, from time to time, been spent on furniture, decorations, and supplies for the President's House, as it was styled for fifty years in the appropriation bills; but little of artistic value — of permanent artistic value — went into the building, and not until the very complete and beautiful restoration of Tgo2 did the White House interior become worthily repre- sentative of the best in American household art. This latter restoration was so skilfully done and was so very thorough, including as it did both structural and decorative changes, the rebuild- ing of the terraces, which were originally intended to form a component part of the building, and the erection of an office building, that permitted the house to be used, as it surely should only have been used, as a residence, that the names of the architects, McKim, Mead & White, are clearly entitled to be joined with that of the original creator, James Hoban. Judged by the standards of European palaces — and the White House, from its official use, is the only building we have that may be properly compared with them — it is not large; but it is a building of extraordinary beauty and dignity, a restful and altogether satisfying [37] w o < h Z w w h I w D O X ui h L38] o o CO < W W a: h I w O X w h [39] [40] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS exterior, of which it is hardly too much to say it has no rival in stateliness of efifect and simple loveliness among the great mansions of America. The straight lines of its fronts are broken only b}' the semicircular swelling of the south front, enclosed with a gracious colonnade of similar form, and the great portico of the north front, which serves as a porte-cochere as well as for visitors arriving on foot. Since the recent restoration a new entrance has been added to the end of the east terrace, where guests alight under a spacious porte-cochere, and enter a corridor formed by the terrace, with boxes for wraps and dressing-rooms in the main building, and where a stairway conducts them to the main floor. This arrangement has simplified the handling of the great crowds that throng the White House at receptions and on other festival occasions ; for more than any other house in America this building is the scene of great functions, bringing together immense numbers of people, that call for broad passages for their coming and going, and enormous rooms for their entertainment. The famous screen of colored glass, placed by President Arthur between the vestibule and the main corridor, has been removed, and six white marble columns, grouped in pairs, substituted for it. The keynote of the interior is thus set by the pure Colonial treatment of the vestibule and the main corridor, the latter with pilastered walls and round arched niches, with electric light standards of beautiful design. The walls are painted Colonial yellow, and a dull red carpet is laid on the center of the stone floor. Copyright by B. M. Clinedinst. THE WHITE HOUSE— THE MAIN CORRIDOR. [41] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The East Room — ^unquestionably the most famous room in America — is entered by the new stairs from the lower hall at its north end. It is a magnificent apartment, eighty feet long, forty feet wide, and twenty -two feet in height. The walls are paneled throughout with wood, save for a base of red Numidian marble, the panels being enclosed between pilasters supporting a finely modeled cornice. Over the doors and above the panels are sculptured reliefs — twelve in all — illustrating ^^sop's fables. The woodwork is wholly in white, with a high enamel finish; the four mantels are of richly colored marble, and the curtains and hangings are of yellow. The floor is superbly polished, and the ceiling, from which hang three immense crystal chan- deliers, is delicately enriched with finely modeled ornament. Low stools, covered with the same rich material that is used for the hangings, are aiTanged around the walls. It is a spacious and magnificent room, very beautifully detailed, and arranged with exquisite taste. The State Dining-Room is at the opposite end of the corridor, at the west end of the building. Its original area has been extended by including within it the western end of the main hall. It is now large enough to accommodate a hundred persons at table. Above a marble base the walls are finished with a superb paneling of beautifully grained English oak, enclosed within pilasters of the same rich wood. Splendid Flemish tapestries, illustrating the "Eclogues" of Virgil, hang against the wall, and to the cornice are fastened fine heads of deer, moose, and other American animals. The mantel is of white marble, the curtains of rich green velvet, the ceihng, in white, is beautifully detailed, and the floor is of polished marquetry. Three other rooms along the back of the house complete the State suite. Adjoining the State Dining-Room is the Red Room, which, like the other two, takes its name from its prevail- ing color. Its walls are covered with rich red velvet. The mantel is from the State Dining- Room. Many portraits, which formerly hung in the corridor and the East Room, are placed here. The Blue Room is oval in form, and is one of the most exquisitely proportioned rooms in America. Its walls are hung with steel l)lue ribbed silk, embroidered at the ceiling and above the wainscot with the Greek fret in yellow silk. The windows have heavy curtains, with a gilded eagle over the center of each. The marble mantel is supported by sheaves of arrows tipped with gilt bronze. This room is used by the President for official receptions, and its form and decorations are admirably adapted to ceremonial occasions. The Green Room, which adjoins it on the other side, is hung in velvet with a silvery sheen, and, like the Red Room, contains a number of portraits. The mantel formerly stood in the State Dining- Room. The private dining-room, which adjoins the State Dining-Room, has ctirtains of red velvet. The domed ceiling, like the other ceilings in the house, is white. A stone stairway near the main entrance of the East Room leads to the upper floor, which is now wholly given up to the family life. The old Cabinet Room is now used by the President as his workroom, and is an apartment rich in historic memories. The former offices have been transformed into bedrooms, and, almost for the first time in its history, the White House has been completely adapted to its proi)er uses, and is now a State residence, with ample and handsome rooms for State functions, and quite sufficient space for the accommodation of a large Presidential family. [42] The House of Herman B. Duryea, Esq. Old Westbury, New York R. DURYEA'S house at Old Westbury, Long Island, is a striking structure, built in the pleasant woods for which the neighborhood is famous. It is placed on the slope of a hill, the entrance part in three stories, the garden part in two stories. It has a striking exterior of white stucco, the somewhat severe front lieing relieved by an ornamental centerpiece and balconies in the second story. The garden front is much freer in treatment — is, in fact, a festal composition of quite unusual charm. Two wings extend from the main building, and end in open rooms, or porches, with trellised arches and walls. Above each window in the wings is a sculptured relief, emblem of the ornamental character of the rooms within. A columned center em- phasizes the middle of the main building, and above, behind a balustrade, is the oval exterior of the hall. The location of the house on the hillside, and the attend- ant fact that the front portion has a lower story which does not appear in the rear, are dis- tinguishing characteristics which vitally affect the plan, and make the interior one of most un- usual interest. The halls and corridors are its most striking features, and are arranged and developed in a very original way. The entrance hall is square, the pilastered walls of pink Caen stone. Steps be- tween a screen of Doric columns lead to a corridor connecting with a suite of bedrooms on the right, and with the service view of the garden from the loggia. [43] w < z a: w OS p w o w CO D O w h o [44] < oa Q <; Q <; >- h o o w CO W 2 w X O w CO D O X w h [45] z w Q a: < O Z w z D c/5 w a: h W w ai D O z <; O w CO D O w [46] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS department on the left. Two curved stairways, one on each side, are the ai)])roaches to the upper hall, which is the center of the house — the point to which everything radiates and by which the plan is dominated. It is a splendid and surprising room, oval in form, two stories in height, lighted by windows in the outer wall, and by others in the upper floor, from which a flood of sunshine is thrown across the balcony that runs entirely around it. The whole of the lower hall is in pink Caen stone, the upper in white Caen stone; while the upper arches, which complete the inner circle of the upper windows, afford glimpses of Caen stone columns, still higher up, that support the ceiling of the upper corridor. It is a brilliant conception, carried out in a brilliant way. The architectural parts are beautifully refined, and while entirely adequate are carefully subordinated and subdued. The main arches of the lower hall are elliptical in form, and without mouldings; the smaller round arches over the doorways in THE H.ALL. [47] t4 < o z o w h < > O CO Z a5 W O w D o w [48] X 3 o o 'J J CO o h Q Z w X o w C/3 D O X w W [49] o o I a z Q W a: en Q < s w X O w D O td h [50] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS the cornei-s are slightly molded. The walls are injsticated, the arches being upheld on pilasters, which appear again in the upper floor to support the plaster ceiling. The floor, as are the floors of all the lower halls, is of red brick. A corridor runs at right angles through the house, cutting the central oval. To the left it connects with the dining-room; to the right it opens into the drawing-room. It is decorated with superb tapestries. The drawing-room and dining-room each completely fills a wing of its own, which is joined at right angles to the main building. The drawing-room is paneled in pearl. Great panels of red damask, curtains of the same brilliant color, and furniture from Battle Abbey in red and gold, give the dominant color. The fireplace is of yellow marble, with a paneled overmantel and a rare old mirror. The lights are beautiful girandoles of striking beauty MR. DURYEA'S DEN. [51] o o Q w m >< OS O [52] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS and originality. The end opens into the outdoor room, which is continuous with the house wall and covered by the same roof. It has a bricked floor and a beamed ceiling, and its arches look out upon the beautiful formal garden. The dining-room, which occupies the space corresponding to the drawing-room on the left of the oval hall, is paneled throughout in Italian walnut, with pilasters at the windows and doors, all very beautiful in color. The ceiling is elliptical and perfectly plain. The lights are girandoles. There is no mantel, but an English stone fireplace. Above it hangs a portrait of Mrs. Duryea, by John W. Alexander. An open-air room, identical with that at the end of the drawing-room, opens from the dining-room. The oval hall, for its part, provides space for two corner rooms, irregtilar in shape, which are used as sitting-rooms. One is especially set apart for the use of Mr. Duryea. It has dark green walls, on which are many old colored prints and other sporting mementos. The mantel is of green marble, and the furniture of the same color. The other room is paneled in two shades of gray. The curtains are red, with embroidered borders. The mantel is an old carved one, with an old mirror over it. A flight of marble steps leads from the center of the oval hall to the upper corridor, which opens into it. Here are Mr. and Mrs. Duryea's rooms, the latter a large room, with a boudoir adjoining it in the corner of the house. All these apartments are delightfully furnished, each with its own scheme of harmonious decoration and its own special color. More stairs lead to the upper third story, the corridor here forming a picture gallery. The rooms are entirely set apart for guests, and are arranged en suite with bathrooms. Each is furnished in chintz, vei-y beautiful in color and delightfully varied. The space immediately without the house at the back forms the formal garden. In the center, between the drawing-room and the dining-room, is a long pool, with a fountain at one end. At the farthest extremity this garden is enclosed with high trellises of wood, painted green, with a high niche of the same material directly opposite the two ends of the wings. BrilHant beds of flowers surround the house and enclose the trellises. From each side extend two broad grassed walks, bounded with privet hedges, beyond which are solemn rows of cypress. These are beautiful stretches of green grass, reaching off on the one side to the trees, and on the other to a roadway. Behind the enclosing trellises is a thick wood, which spreads away in all directions, the whole house, both front and back, being set in the woods, which have been cleared away somewhat in its imrnediate vicinity. The house presents a brilliant exterior as seen from the garden, the exterior of a bviilding quite palatial in scale and palatial in expression. Every single feature, the decorated walls, the delightful end porches, the novel trellises, the water garden in the center, the blooming plants and vines, all help in creating an ensemble of very great charm and interest. [53] l54] "Indian Harbor" The House of E. C. Benedict, Esq., Indian Harbor, Greenwich, Connecticut [IVEN an irregular piece of land, jutting out into the waters of Long Island Sound — a veritable peninsula — a liberal appropriation of money for buildings and a garden, a fine taste and vast enthusiasm on the part of the architects, and there is no wonder at all that Mr. E. C. Benedict's house at Indian Harbor is one of the most beautiful country houses in America. The irregular shores of Connecticut contain many fine sites for handsome homes, but the whole coast contains nothing more picturesque than Indian Harbor, an irregularly shaped rock that runs out so far into the water as to take the house quite beyond the limits of the mainland. It is a wonderful situation, a scene of utmost peace and charm; and the great house built here is, with its subsidiary buildings, one of the finest residences in America. It is a veritable palace, a house of great size, built so far out on its rock as to be prac- tically surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Sound. It is approached by a curving driveway that presently enters a formal treatment of its bordering land. Immediately to the left is the house of Mr. Frank S. Hastings, Mr. Benedict's secre- tary, itself a fine and beau- tiful dwelling rising directly above the water, and connected with Mr. Benedict's own house by a stately pergola, built directly above the wall which skirts the land, and which rises in steps to the higher level on which the greater house is built. And very splendid this mansion is, designed in a pure Italian stjde, a stately Italian palace built on this quiet New England shore, whose rocky surface has been transformed into a superb formal garden in THE TERRACE OF "INDIAN HARBOR. [55] OS O PQ Di < < Q Z O w Q c« W o CO Q z o c CMC w Oh w JS6] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS complete keeping with the monumental character of the dwelling. The house is white, quite elaborated in its structural parts, its blocked and pilastered walls, stately arches, finely proportioned columns, and quite abundant use of the balustrade. Carving in relief is sparsely used, Init when employed it is introduced in a thoroughly legitimate manner to properly adorn and embellish the architectural features. It is a majestic and impressive building, rising alwve the water like a dream-palace. But it is very real, built solidly upon a rock, vast in size, so beautifully environed as to immediately give the impression of being an ideal residence on an ideal site. The chief entrance, which faces the drive by which the estate is entered, is one of real grandeur. A monumental flight of steps rises in the center to the opening in the porte-cochere. Handsome balustrades on either side enclose sunken gardens, and bound the roadway, which rises to the level of the main floor, where guests dismount beneath a porch which is an integral part of the house design. The roof of this porch forms a terrace, very broad and stately, with an inner part covered by a high central arch supported on coupled columns, with outer columns against the end piers. A very gracious motif this, with the circular pierced windows in the ends over the flat-topped openings, a truly Italian frontispiece, very happily used and very successful as the chief feature, the predominating note, of the exterior. The house is L-shaped, with a great wing on the right, completely filled with the draw- ing-room. One side of this room, therefore, immediately overlooks a formal garden, which is botinded on another side by the walls of the main building. 'It opens on to a spacious porch with a semicircular end, which is directly above the rocks at the water's edge. This porch also connects with the pergola that unites Mr. Benedict's house with that of Mr. Hastings, bringing the two residences into immediate contact. This plan is obviously one determined by the site; it gives a drawing- room with three open sides, the windows of two of which look out upon the water, while those of the third give a view on to the pergola and the main entrance. The water views are, of course, the very views for which the house was built, and the more important rooms must ENTRANCE GATE AND AVENUE, "INDIAN HARBOR." [57] O Pi < o < s O w O M < I— t Q [S8] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS present as many of them as possible. Hence the dining-room is placed at the extremity of the main building, and has three open sides, all giving upon the water. It is enclosed on the end with a great porch with a curved center. This porch is so close to the edge of the rock as to almost overhang it, and thus, with its adjoining room, has a position of quite unusual beauty. On the main front — the land front — the house is entered through a spacious vestibule which immediately adjoins the porte-cochere. This in turn opens into a great hall, reaching wholly across the front from end to end. On the right is a doorway to the drawing-room; in the center is a corridor leading to the dining-room. On the right of this corridor are the library and the den; on the left, pantries and service-rooms, with the kitchen beyond. The arrange- ment of the rooms is entirely logical and quite compact, notwithstanding the considerable floor area over which they are dis- posed. Apart from the interest which attaches to this house as a very stately, gracious and refined piece of architecture, is the still greater interest that arises from its surroundings. The estate is a unit. The archi- tects who planned and designed the house also planned and designed the grounds. A single mind permeates the whole, house, gardens, subsidiary build- ings, walks, fountains, decora- tions. It is an interesting study in house designing, with the grounds and surroundings in perfect harmony with the dwell- ing. It would seem that, so far as is possible, this house and garden is a work of art. Nature is here called upon to do her loveliest, and in the fine natural scenery of the locality that did not seem a difficult task. The architects were called upon to give of their best thought, and THE pergola AS SEEN FROM THE house. [59] a! O PC < X < o z w Q a: < a w h o h a: < 0. l6o AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS the result shows how far they succeeded. Apparently there was no limitation in any direction ; and yet the house is not too costly, the grounds not too elaborate. > The other buildings of the estate, in addition to the architectural features of the garden, include a boat house and stable. The former is, of course, necessitated by the location of the property and the very ample boating and sailing facilities, which are among its chief attrac- tions. The stable is an extensive group of buildings, designed in the same style as the house, but somewhat more modern in feeling, an ornamental structure of much quiet dignity. It is grouped around a stable yard, which it encloses on three sides, and is placed considerably to the left of the entrance driveway. It need hardly be added that it is very complete in its appointments. Nor should the gate lodge be forgotten, a charming little house of stone, which, although modest in style, stifficiently proclaims the importance of the estate to which it is guardian. [6i] ii w h < O w u <; h w w h I H 1—3 pa a; W O Z > CO D J W Z a: o u a: O CO O X w X h a; w < w oa w [62] A Group of Newport Palaces COMMUNITY of wealth and pleasure, Ncw]:)ort is the chief city in the United States in which these characteristics are thoroughly dominant. The social aspects of this summer capital — for its in-gatherings of pleasure-loving people are truly national — are known of all men ; Init the highly important fact that this great social activity needs and necessitates an architectural background, a habitat, a scene and setting commen- surate with its splendid pleasures, is less generally recognized, or certainly very much less Copyright, 1897, by Frank M. Cliild, Newpi.rt. K. I, "THE BREAKERS"— THE DRAWING-ROOM. heard of. Yet the houses of Newport are most important to the gay doings of this beautiful city ; for the life of Newport is concerned solely with pleasure and with entertainment, and fine houses, richly furnished and decorated, spacious and elegant, built and adorned with a delight- ful disregard of cost and expense, with beautiful grounds arranged in a sumptuous fashion — these are the requirements, and the legitimate requirements, of Newport palaces. [63] t64j AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS Splendid ijiiilding, therefore, is a fundamental princiijle of Newport building. And so great have been its architectural activities of late years that a friendly rivalry has sprung up among the owners of its large houses as to who shall have the most magnificent home. Each new house is grander and finer than its predecessors. The resoiu'ces of our most resourceful architects are taxed to their utmost; the skill and ingenuity of our decorators and furnishers are all but exhausted that the spacious mansion be fitly decorated and amply furnished; the taste of our best landscape architects is brought into play that the grovmds and gardens be in C'>|>yriglit. 1897, by Frank H. Lhild. Newport. R. I. "THE BREAKERS"— THE LIBRARY. keeping with the lavish scale in which each great house is maintained. If the social life is maintained at a high key, the architectural life, so to speak, is raised to a corresponding degree. The architectural thought which lay behind the creation of Versailles is identical with the ideas that have brought the great houses of Newport into existence. It is true that Ver- sailles was a single palace, built by a despotic monarch for his own delight, while Newport is an aggregation of palaces, built not by despots, but by free American citizens. But the palace of Versailles was a vast architectural background for court fetes and festivities of all sorts. Just so the palaces of Newport are architectural backgrounds for the pleasures and sports of [65] Copyriiiht, I8 O W o w K H Qi O O u w u o z [70] aa h D O O w u o [71] [72] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS that again the highest roof of all, emphasized with the richest dormer of the series. The garden front has a loggia of five delicate arches connecting the two wings, and is surrounded with a balustraded and stepped approach, which is continued on the two adjoining sides of the house. The stately hall is almost without parallel among the palatial rooms of great American palaces. It is monumental in size, and designed and decorated in a monumental manner. It consists of two parts: an outer hall, which is entered directly from the main doorway, and which contains, on one side, the stairway, built of stone and carried on arches; and an inner or main hall, which is purely decorative in purpose. It is three stories in height, built of Caen stone, plain below, with paneled arches and pilasters, very refined in design and beautifully chiseled. The second story is a superb arcade, decorated in every part, having round arches carried on piers, all minutely carved and paneled, with delicate slender outer columns and a band of rich panels above. These arches open on to a gallery which runs entirely around the hall. The third story is also open, with low round arches; those on the sides opening into the cove which supports the gently curved ceiling, while those at the end are cut into the wall. There is rich sculpture here, with groups and single figures in the end spandrels, and single figures upholding the uppermost cornice on the sides. A large painting fills the entire center of the vault, save where it is paneled at each end. The sumptuous note that is struck by this magnificent hall dominates the whole house. The dining-room is a rich apartment, with pilasters and paneled walls, having paintings let into the architectural framework, and a painted ceiling. The lireplace is double, with an elab- orately carved shelf, above which is an oval mirror. The library, which overlooks the cliff, has been finished in the Louis XVI. style in oak and gold. The walls are entirely paneled, with a decorated cornice that supports a plain ceiling. The rooms are spacious in size, and richly furnished in keeping with the especial styles in which they are designed. "The Elms," the House of E. J. Berwind, Esq. "The Elms," the house of E. J. Berwind, Esq., is a very recent addition to the great houses of Newport, and is much later in date than any of those already described. It is stately in design, and is in the sumptuous Renaissance style which has become a favorite vogue in residences of this class. The house is of generous size, broadly treated; the horizontal lines are well marked, and the windows large. The central part, projected just sufficiently to mark the entrance and to emphasize it, is well conceived and well carried out. The rising ground on which it is placed adds materially to its dignity. That the interior is ornate the exterior has already told us. No one builds a house of this design in such a place without preparing for greater sumptuousness within than may be discerned without. One naturally lavishes decorations on an interior that one refrains from exposing to the vulgar eye outside. The inside of the house is, therefore, very much more splendid than the splendid outside. Broad corridors, lofty ceilings, large rooms, gilding, [73] < M S J w « S H [74] < a, w h w w X [75] o o J < h [76] o o a: 6 g S w X h w [77] u < OS w H w [7S] D w > < > w -J ►J w o O h O z I— 1 o o z" M Q OS < a h w [79] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS precious marbles, superb tapestries, rich furniture, fine paintings, costly carpets — these form the contents of every great house, the individuality depending upon the taste of the owner and the architect, and the particular kind of rich possessions available. All these adjuncts to splendid living are well used in Mr. Berwind's house, which is richly furnished and decorated and contains many notable works of art. The chief rooms are the ballroom, the dining-room, the library, the palm-room, the draw- ing-room, the breakfast-room, the gallery hall, and the stair hall. The stairs ascend on either side of the entrance and rise directly from the main hall, which in itself is a spacious apart- ment, richly decorated and furnished. The ballroom is a very beautiful apartment, paneled throughout, and with paintings let into the panels above the great double doors. The dining- room is one of the finest rooms in the house, with a coffered ceiling, monumental mantel- piece, decorative panels, and fine paintings. It is truly a "state" dining-room, ample in size, and admirably adapted to the giving of large dinners and elaborate entertainments. The best use has been made of the surrounding grounds by a formal treatment with terraces and stairways, vases, statues, and. shrubbery balustrades, and a free use of shrubbery and plants. The garden is not large, for the comparative smallness of the Newport gardens has been frequently criticized; but it has been very beautifully treated, and forms a very happy setting for the mansion for which it has been created. (( Belcourt," the House of O. H. P. Belmont, Esq. "Belcourt," the house of O. H. P. Belmont, Esq., was also designed by Mr. Hunt, but is much earlier in date than "The Breakers" or "Ochre Court." Built when its owner was a bachelor, it has been somewhat flippantly described as the home of a bachelor with a taste for hospitality and for horses, or, in other words, "a palatial stable with an incidental apart- ment and an incidental ballroom." It is immaterial whether this be literally true or not; it certainly is no longer true, for a verv gracious lady now presides over it. It is more to the point that its plan and arrangement called for unusual treatment, and that these unusual require- ments have been met in a thoroughly happy and delightful way. The house is two stories in height, with a third story in a mansard roof, lighted, save in the corner pavilions, which have larger windows, with oval dormers with curved hoods. It is built of stone and brick, rough cast, the central wall paneled below, with rectangular windows below the large round arched windows, which form a glazed arcade completely filling the center of the front. The interior court has much greater picturesque interest, being finished in rough cast and open timber work, with an open loggia above, which, notwithstanding its lightness of construc- tion, is the dominant feature, and whose drai)ed cvu^tains or awnings give it quite a Southei"n air. The hall is finished in oak, modest below, and with a staircase under a carved arch that leads to the upper hall, which is much more elaborately treated with carved doorways, a coved [So] Copyri^^ht, 1S97, by Frank H. Chilil, Newport. K. I, "BELCOURT"— BARONIAL HALL, CONTAINING ORGAN LOFT AND COLLECTION OF RARE ARMOR. [81] < X W D w O u [82J O o 6 z I— < z Q < w X H I h a: o w I83] a. CO < U u h IX O w P o X w h < U w ;i84] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS ceiling, and an enclosed and decorated cage for the stairs which lead to the stor}^ above. There are some rich articles of furniture in this hall and splendid rugs on the floor. The music-room is frank- ly Gothic, with jiointed windows and archways, and a high pointed vault, which is not the less effec- tive because it is made of plaster. This great baro- nial hall was built with the view of producing a properly appointed space in which to display one of the finest collections of old armor to be seen in this country. Many of the suits of mail have port, Rliode Is-Lind. Rich.ird M. Hunt, Architect. "BELCOURT," THE HOUSE OF O. H. P. BELMONT, ESQ. been mounted on manikins and placed upon horses, which have been draped and fully caparisoned, showing how the knights would appear when arrayed for a tourney. The loft above is provided with a large and sweetly toned organ, while the windows are filled with colored glass representing battle scenes and tournaments. Richly embroidered flags hang from the ceiling, from which also depend large chandeliers. A screen covered with historic bits, spurs, and other medieval trappings forms an important part of the collection. The beautiful dining-room is oval, treated in green and white, and designed in the Empire style. The walls are marked off with columns, between which hang heavy cur- tains. The room is lined with mirrors, the openings of the bay window being closed at night with the same surfacing. "Grey Craig," the House of J. Mitchell Clark, Esq. "Grey Craig," the house of J. Mitchell Clark, Esq., has the advantage of a very distinct character among the Renaissance palaces which abound in Newport. It is a genuinely castellated building, quite unusual in style, and, quite unusual for Newport, placed on an estate of about one hundred and twenty-five acres. The house stands alone, [8sl < o z < o XI a: h [86] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS with no near-by edifice with which it may come in immediate contrast. It is built of stone taken from the land on which it stands, a pudding-stone having the quality of a natural concrete. Much of it is covered with natural moss, and hardly an individual stone shows; but there is a superb massiveness in the walls, which are dark gray, with a genuinely antique character. The house is entered under the great massive tower. A vaulted corridor or entrance hall leads to the great central hall, a superb apartment, two stories in height. It is not only the central room of the house, but the most important. To the left is a platform, with a fine ])ipe organ, flanked on cither side l^y a cathedral-like window; below them are Sjmnish church stalls, with high, heavih- carved backs, having opal panels with heads in the center; fine black oak stalls of unusual beauty, admirably placed. On the opposite side is a row of columns and pointed arches, a certain irregularity being given to the space by cutting off a part with curtains. The walls are of rough gray plaster with sand finish, and, save the carved capitals of the columns, there are no moldings or decorations beloved of the architects. The coffered ceiling is of California redwood, with beams supported by old Florentine shields ; in the center is a large skylight, with a brilliant sunburst in the middle. At night this is lighted above. The walls are hung with superb old tapestries and rare paintings. The parquet floor is covered with rich rugs. The furniture is old and chieflv Italian. "GREY CRAIG"— A \'1EW FROM THE GARDEN. [Sy] I Z o fa w u Z < h Z w w h 5 < o y 2 o w D O a: w 188] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The general shape of the building is rectangular, with the entrance at one end. A small corridor to the left of the entrance leads to Mr. Clark's den; an elevator, also recessed, is just before his door. Immediately opposite, on the right, is a staircase to the second floor. Passing into the hall, one is at once attracted by the great window at the end of a cor- ridor exactly opposite the entrance hall. To its left is the dining-room, to the right the draw- ing-room, the two rooms and the separating corridor being so arranged that, from the dinner table, one may look out through the drawing-room windows upon the view beyond. The dining-room is three steps above the level of the entrance corridor. Like all the interior, except the drawing-room, it has sand-finished walls. The furniture is gilt and red, and o\'er the \'ast marble sideboard is a mirror which reflects the view from the great bay window opposite. The drawing-room has an elliptical vault, illuminated at night. with lights placed in stars, abotit a hundred, a brilliant efTect that needs to be seen to be appreciated. The walls are hung with cloth-of-gold material, against which are placed mirrors and pictures. The furniture is gilt and of Italian origin. The second floor has a series of corridors and loggias surrounding the central hall. Here are guest rooms and the rooms of the owner. In the far corner, adjoining the owner's bedroom, is a morning room, decorated in Chinese materials and with Oriental effect. The corner windows afford a superb view. The House of Mrs. Richard Gambrill. The startling beauty and daring originality of Mrs. Richard Gambrill 's house give it high rank among the notable houses of America. It is one of the most individual mansions in Newport : a house of refined beauty, admirably studied in all its parts, yet of truly spontaneous design. It is a large, rectangular building, with a high-pitched roof, which contains two stories of dormer windows, the upper series being small ovals. The high plain chimneys are a very marked feature of the roof. The walls are without vertical lines, and have no architectural treatment, save a shallow string course at the base of the windows in the second story. The windows have no external frames, but are sunk in the thick wall : each has a carved keystone, which, in those of the first story, is assimilated with a carved decoration under the shallow balconies below the upper windows. These balconies are supported by carved brackets, and the base of the windows is enclosed within wrought iron railings. A somewhat narrow cornice, with quite marked projection, crowns the wall and serves as a base for the roof. Such, very briefly summarized, are the chief elements of the design of the main part of the house. The ornamental features of the exterior are, however, very marked. The fine proportions, the admirable spacing of the voids and solids, the treatment of the carved ornament — very slight, indeed, but very admirably used — sen'c at once to give this design distinction. But the doorways and loggias are so highly ornamental, and the latter so original, as to give [8g] m h z i-^0. o -■>' "; ai ■" .' £ fc ■^r--"^-' Z ■! w V o a: <: o w X t h 1 1 S' I ' ¥~^ «'-^' OC '-■i. - M ■■ •■ } S .' '■* < o • ', p OS V^ < o a< a: 1 Qi S tiH o w UD 3 ; o i X i S : H [90] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS a sjiecial character to this most interesting house. The doorways are quite monumental in design — round arched portals with double columns, sui)i)orting an entablature which carries a l)alustrade, forming the central balcony. The detail here is very l)eautiful and in l)rillianl contrast with the sobriety with which the adjoining walls are finished. The loggias are the chief distinction of the house and its most conspicuous ornament. They stand one at each end of the garden front. The\' are identical in design, one story high, with three arches on the side and a projecting ba}- on the front. The arches are plainly cut, without moldings, l)ut have large car\'ed keystones and festooned spandrels. The walls are trellised in formal ])atterns with large ui)])cr ovals, and the windows have elal)orately designed fanlights in the arches THE LOGGIA. [91] z o ■J < w o < w h I J J 5 < o p ai <; O o w c/) D O w H I92I r z o < < CO U X h 5 < O Q a: < u c/:> C w O X w h ji^i^iii [93) o o 6 z z I— I Q X h I 2 pa < o a < CO O CO D O w H [94] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS o\-er the oiieiiings. The balustrade which crowns the cornice has sculptured groups of children on the corner piers. The grounds which surround the house have been arranged in line harmonx- with it. The building stands on a terrace, much of which is enclosed within balustrades. The a])proaches of the two fronts are much alike, with broad flights of steps, balustrades finished at the ends with large vases, and very symmetrical bay trees. On the right of the entrance front is the stable, and a service yard which is placed at a lower level than the spacious fore court and other grounds. On the other side of the house is a great green garden, with paths of grass marked ofT with low borders of flowers, and a vast central fountain, whose jet throws a stream of water high into the air. Stone benches are placed around the fountain, and groups of statuary stand on decorated bases. On the sides of the house the view is closed with a latticed pergola, with piers of small o]3en circles and latticed panels. Sculptured figures stand under the openings, and at one end is a great domed summer house, also of lattice design. With such a splendid exterior, a sumptuous interior follows as a matter of course. The entrance hall is designed in a monumental manner, with walls of Caen stone and columns of polished marble. The door openings are flat, with round arched niches between them, and the cornice is richl}- detailed. To the right, the stairs to the upper story ascend in a graceful curve; behind them are the i^antries and service-rooms which connect with other rooms and THE HALL. [95] z o Qi u z < Z w w h I oi u h < CO w ai O z o Z < w z Q w O X [96] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS THE PERGOLA OF MRS. RICHARD GAMBRILL. with the kitchen in the basement. To the right is the Hbrary, a daintily designed room in very light green. Three large rooms on the garden front complete the apartments on this floor. In the center is the salon, exquisitely paneled with ornament in low relief. The living- room on the left is paneled throughout with Italian walnut, with ornaments in subdued gold. The dining-room, on the right, is paneled with pilasters. The loggias form open rooms for the summer, but are enclosed for the cold weather. Their lower walls are lined with stone; above is a frieze, painted by James Wall Finn, of vases of flowers and birds under trellised arbors. A similar design, with many variations, is painted on the ceilings. A light bluish green is the dominant color in these very remarkable and highly individual decorations. "Hopedene," the House of Mrs. E. H. G. Slater. "Hopedene," the house of Mrs. E. H. G. Slater, is designed in a quiet Itahan style, very subdued in treatment, but thoroughly good and homelike in character. The entrance is on the side, with a round roofed porch. The windows of the first story have round arches; those of the second are flat-topped, all quite simply cut in white stone and directly ap]:)lied to the brick of which the wahs are built. The garden front has two symmetrical wings, with a broad terrace between them, enclosed within a balustrade and covered with a wide awning_ In the center of the second story is a triple window under a great round arch, which lights the stairs in the hall. A semicircular porch in two stories is the central feature of the opposite side, which is supported by a terrace, with balustrades and steps. A very low sloping roof, with low dormers and broadly projecting eaves, covers the building. [97] H o Z w O < w X h I a: -1 w C/2 a: o z o z w z w Q W Oh o [9«] O O a: 6 z s w X H w z w Q O [99] < P3 w Z w a w o [loo] o o 6 z < Q w a h w 2 w Q W O [lOl] [l02l AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS A large hall fills the center of the house. It is designed in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The richly decorated ceiling is suppoi'ted by Ionic columns. The walls are paneled and decorated with ornamental niches. The stairway fills one side, with a platform below the triple window. The furniture coverings and curtains are of green velvet. The reception- room and library are on one side; the dining-room, with pantries and kitchen beyond, on the other. The reception-room is paneled in oak, with paintings let into the large panels. The smaller panels are delicately ornamented, and the mirror frame is very elaborately treated. A cornice in relief completes the wall decoration. The dining-room is more formal in style, the cornice upheld by Corinthian pilasters, and the walls paneled and with built-in mirrors. The doorways are surmounted with semicircular arches with decorated panels. The library is a room of quite unusual beauty, and is a close copy of the celebrated library in the Chateau de Blois. Like its famous prototype, the walls are completely covered with small decorated panels, and the fieur-de-lis forms the motif of the ornamentation of the overmantel. The house stands on a little peninsula, so that two adjoining sides directly face the ocean, and, indeed, open directly upon it. The grounds are laid out as a formal garden, and are decorated with many notable pieces of sculpture and handsomely carved marbles. "Rosecliff," the House of Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs. The design of "Rosecliflf," Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs's house, is based on that of the Grand Trianon at Versailles. It is in no sense a reproduction of that famous palace, for no attempt has been made to reproduce its vast scale, and the second story, which is treated as an architectural attic, does not appear in the prototype, but was quite obviously necessitated by American conditions, which, in a residential mansion, required a structure of more than one story in height, as is the case with the French palace. The Grand Trianon is a somewhat cold building of not very great architectural interest. Quite the contrary can be said of Mrs. Oelrichs's house, for it is smaller, more compact, and more ornate; and, being an American residence containing a large suite of splendid rooms, it is apparent that the design is original, although, like many original designs, it is based on a distinct historical idea. The house is built of white terra-cotta, and its general plan is after the form of the letter H, giving an open court on each side. The architectural treatment of the exterior is throughout quite similar, and consists of round arched windows in the first story, enclosed within pilasters supporting an entablature, above which is the second story, with flat-topped windows and smaller pilasters corresponding to those below. The open court on the seaside is filled with a great terrace, enclosed within a marble balustrade, with large vases on the corners and at the top of the steps, and decorated with bay trees and other plants. On the lawn below are three large groups of sculpture, the central one, an impressive seated figure of a woman, forming the chief feattire of a fountain. [103] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The courts which fill the centers of the tw.o sides are somewhat differently treated, but each includes a terrace which projects well forward beyond the walls of the house. The garden front is distinctly the richer, as befits the more retired and private part of the house. The wings are longer here, with three windows on the side, while on the sea front they have but one. Across the three central openings of the center is a colonnade of double columns, with an entablature on which are four sculptured groups. The garden terrace has no balustrade, but is laid out in box borders and adorned with many plants and bay trees. Two standing lions are placed at the center of the steps, and the platform contains marble seats, superb vases, and a delightful fountain in the middle. Another fountain stands on the lawn below. In a very literal sense of the word this magnificent house is a palace. It is architectural elegance of a very refined and penetrating character. It is sumptuous architecture, moreover, very beautifully composed and very carefully treated. It is a house built quite obviously for stately living, and has, most naturally, a thoroughly distinguished air. The grounds have been developed and decorated in a sumptuous manner, and add very largely to the splendor of the mansion which they surround. " ROSECLIFF"— THE SEA FRONT. ;io4] "White Hall" The House of Henry M. Flagler, Esq., Palm Beach, Florida. IKE many great modern houses, the Flagler mansion at Palm Beach is compara- tively simple in its external treatment. It is eminently stately and serene, the great colonnade of the main front being the chief external adornment. The columns are monumental in scale, and the five great arched openings behind them, and the large windows above, are direct expressions of internal splendor of dimensions which the whole of the exterior admirably denotes. Architecturally, it is two stories in height, the attic story being in the roofs, which are long and low and sloping, and whose varying heights have been cleverly utilized in giving variety to the silhouette. It is classic in feeHng and in detail, but bears unmistakably the character of a great American countr)' house, admirably adapted to its environment in the beautiful Florida landscape in which it has been placed. "WHITE HALL"— THE LIBRARY, [105] < Z w w [io6] X ■a b U Oi W Oi W O a: Z w 0 O w h < X w h 55 [107] f^' ■^ '^ } ^S, M— T I i: .Jl I "WHITE HALL"-^THE BRONZE DOOR. loS] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS • The front is a liundred and seventy-five feet long and the de])th a hundred and fifty- five feet. Such dimensions would be intolerable in a Northern house; Ijut thcv are none too great here, since the center of the dwelling is occupied by a court, about ninety feet by fift}- feet, spacious enough to amjily light all the rooms and passages that oi)en upon it, and forming a most entrancing center to this magnificent home. Directly before one, as one enters the hall, is the double staircase of white statuary marble to the upper story. It occupies fully a half of the whole length of the hall, standing in a recess of its own, the beginning of the stairs being marked off with four columns of pohshed Anicrican white and green marble, with a great marble vase before each group. The hand- rails are beautiful examples of modern lironze work; before each ramp is a fine piece of old tapestry; a central window looks into the court. The walls are of white and green marble, and at each end is a screen of double columns, standing one close behind the other, forming inner vestibules to the rooms that open from either end. The ceiling is richlv carved, and treated in gray with ornamentation in solid gold ; in the center is a large circular painting by Benevenotti. The chairs, tables, and chests with which the hall is furnished were expressly "WHITE HALL"— THE ROSE DU B.ARRV BEDROOM. [109] < X w X h < X X [no] Q Z < a w h a: w 5 liii] o o < W h h [il: AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS made for this room, and are fine examples of costly workmanshi]j. The splendid marble floor is partly covered with superb rugs. The general treatment is Louis XVI. On the right of the hall is the drawing-room, and on the left the library. The latter is an agreeable room to read in. Nothing is wanting to heighten the effect. The style is Renais- sance. The walls have a high wainscot of Circassian walnut, with red Spanish damask of two shades above. The walnut mantelpiece between the windows is paneled with brass ornaments, and is richly gilt, the overmantel being filled with a life-size portrait of Mr. Flagler. Then comes the art gallery and music-room, an apartment of large size, admirably designed for the choice collection of paintings it contains. It is treated in old ivory and antique gold. In the center of the ceiling is a copy of Guido Reni's "Aurora." It is lighted with jeweled crystal chandeliers. At one end is a large pipe organ. The next room is the billiard-room, a quaint apartment in the Swiss style. The beamed ceiling is distinctly Teutonic in decorative feeling. The grand salon is on the right of the hall, corresponding to the library. It is Louis XVI. in style, and is a sumptuous apartment in French gray, the walls paneled in gold and gray Ijrocaded silk. It contains a beautiful mantel of white statuary marble; the ceiling has decorated medallions; the portieres are richly embroidered, and the furniture is elaborate and costly. Immediately adjoining it is the dining-room, most hospitable in size. The style is Frangois I., and the color scheme a rich green; the walls have a paneled wainscot of satinwood below and a rich brocade above. The elaborate mantelpiece supports a mirror. The beau- tiful ceiling is coffered in large squares, with ornaments in high relief, and is green and cream. The furniture was expressly made for this room. Adjoining the dining-room is a small break- fast-room, in ivory enamel; the ceiling ornamentation is tipped with gold; the furniture is mahogany with bronze mountings. Beyond is the kitchen, with pantries, serving-rooms, storage-rooms, and other depend- encies, filling an extension beyond the main building. In a corresponding space on the other side are two offices, one of which is set apart for Mr. Flagler's personal use. The rear of the house — in the space on the farther side of the court and corresponding to the hall— is filled with a ballroom. The style is Louis XV., and the color scheme white and gold. Five great openings on either side form the motif: on one side they are windows; on the opposite side they are curtained doorways. The spaces between have round arched panels filled with mirrors. The hangings and draperies are of Rose du Barry silk. The decorations are almost purely architectural, the doorways, windows, and mirror panels being encased within a wood paneling. The panels over the doors and windows are copies by Gatty, of Paris. The ceiling is treated in large rectangles, the alternate ones being the richer. The room is illuminated by lights dependent from the ceiling and by side lights. The furniture, as befits a ballroom, is confined to low stools and benches. [113] o o OS I O Z z < a: h [ll4l AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The bedrooms, which fill the upper story, are fitted up with rare taste and fine indi- viduality of treatment. Much of their furniture has been especially designed for the particular rooms in which it is placed. Unlike a great covmtry house in the North, this vast Southern palace has no outbuildings and subsidiary structures. One does not keep a stable of horses at Palm Beach, and one does not need elaborately planned and cultivated gardens to set off one's house. Plants and flowers, trees and shrubs, grow here unaided and with rare Southern profuseness and rapidity. [lis] Iii6] The House of Henry W. Poor, Esq. Tuxedo, New York ^^3||HE house of Mr. Poor is one of the most notalile at Tuxedo. It occupies a command- ^"^ '^s ^"S position on the summit of Tower Hill, and dominates the whole of Tuxedo Park. ^1 It is a beautiful house in the Jacobean style, stately and dignified in its ]jarts, and admirably adapted to its position. No tower or pyramidal effect was needed to give emphasis to such a situation, but the roof line is very happily broken by the curved gable ends, the tops of which stand out free against the skv. It is U-shaped in ].)lan, the hollow containing the entrance front being awa}- from the bluff on which the hovise is Iniilt. This front has a slightly ex- tended center, with an open porch below, and two short wings, which create an open court. The house it built of dark red and black l)rick, with stone trimmings. The most elaborate feature of the exterior is at the main entrance — a richly carved frontispiece of stone that verv happilv empha- sizes its purpose. The whole design is quite svmmetrical, although the left wing contains an addition for the service rooms, and a kitchen court enclosed within a brick wall. These parts have, however, been so subordinated as not to interfere with the general harmony and symmetry of the design. THE ENTRANCE. [117] w < w X h O o o h-1 a; w > o u o CL, w a: h [iiS] < a!. oC W h o z < w Q < Q 2 O < [J"J] < X g a: lI20] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The garden front follows out the same general idea, but the three gables here are on a line. Here are three slight extensions, surmounted with gables, each containing bay windows in two stories. All the windows are in groups or pairs, mullioned with stone frames. The side porches, in two stories, are fine, built of stone, with stone paneled ]Mers; richly coffered ceilings add to their splendor. The one overlooking the lake seems built directl}- on the cliff, and commands a superb view. The main doorway opens directly into the hall, a gallery-like apartment which runs the full length of the house. Immediately in face is the drawing-room; to the right is a double- arched entrance to the stairs, and then the library, wh'ch is entered from the end of the hall. To the left is a small reception room, with the dining-room beyond and a passageway to the service rooms. All the main rooms on this floor, therefore, open directly on to the hall. A very charming hall it is too. From floor to ceiling it is paneled in oak, with richh" carved door-frames. The ceil- ing, like all the ceilings on this floor, is plastered in geometric design. The floor is of hard wood, with a rich green carpet. It is at once a hall and a gal- lery, admirably proportioned and treated throughout in a thoroughly architectural and dignified manner. Manv hand- some pieces of furniture are placed within it; high-back chairs handsome tables, a cou- ple of fine old chests before the windows. The drawing-room walls are covered with light gray silk of delicate texture. A rare old Italian door-frame, elaboratelv carved in stone, encloses the doorway. The ch'mneypiece is also treasure -trove from Europe, and fills a goodly part of one THE MANTEL IN THE DINING-ROOM. [I2I] THE LIBRARY. IHE SMOKE ROOM. [122] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS side. Oil one wall is a fine old ])iece of ta])estry in a richly carved canopied frame. The room is not large; for this is a summer home, built for summer use only, and for a life chiefly si)ent out of doors. It is, therefore, quite natural that the library should be a larger room. It is lined throughout with books to the tops of the door-frames. The mantel is modern, of wood, decorated in panels. At one end is a great table; toward the other a rare old desk, with large carved figures. The dining-room, like the hall, is paneled throughout in wood; it has an ornamented stone mantel of ample size. Just beyond is the pantry, with a servants' dining-room in the wing; the corresponding wing on the library side is filled with a suite of apartments, a sitting-room, and bedrooms. The archways enclosing the space within which are the stairs are richly carved, as are also the newel posts and handrail. The under-steps lead down to the Smoke Room. The floor is of l)rick ; the walls are of wood, unpaneled ; the ceiling is beanied ; the fire])lace is encased within a gigantic stone framework that saw much use abroad before being finally set up here. There are many trophies; the walls are thickly covered with prints and illustrations of hunting and horse life; a narrow shelf is crowded with jars, pots, steins, candlesticks, ]:ilates, and knick- THE DRAWING-ROOM. [123] AMERICAN EvSTATES AND GARDENS knacks in delightful profusion. There are deer heads and other relics of the chase, and strings of hornet nests — most suggestive of the strenuous outdoor life. It is a room of quiet, simple charm, a room for a man to be happy in, and happy with his friends. One has but to step out of the door to find one's self on one of the terraces. Tuxedo Park is itself one great garden, so beautiful are its lawns, so fine its roads, so clean its shrub- bery ; a hydrangea or two, or perhaps some other brightly colored flower, seems all to be required. A splendid house on top of a hill is apt to be a bit isolated. Mr. Poor promptly argued that, if there were not room at the top, he would make room by building up his mountain until he had space sufficient and to spare. So the outer corner of his flower garden is supported by a high wall, giving him as much space as he desired on the summit, and a corner of the globe that he has made his very own. It is a lovely spot, arranged in terraces that gradually diminish in elevation, but still kee]:)ing well to the summit on which the house stands. It contains two fountains, both old and European — one with a bronze summit, the other wholly of stone. And of pots and well heads, of carved benches and ornaments, of bay trees and curious plants, of roses, dahlias, and other plants of bloom and foliage, there is a plenty. It is a cleverly designed garden too; for, although the total area is not large as large gardens go, the apparent size is most considerable. It is a charming, lovely open space, with the eternal view beyond, this strange, gentle, quiet forest land, so marvelously peopled with modern palaces, so thoroughly subdued by American civilization, and yet still retaining the rare beauty of its natural state — this wonderful contrast of man and nature! [•-Ml "Biltmore" The Estate ot George W. Vanderbilt, Esq., in North Carolina T is a flattering comment on the architectural splendor of Biltmore that, while Mr. Vanderbilt's great house is not new as new houses are now counted, public interest in it as the greatest of American country houses has never languished. Its building has been followed by the opening up of a long unknown country, and the develop- ment of countrv activities and interests on a scale never before attempted in America. The house is as completely without rivals as is the estate. It stands on a sjmr of a hill which has been leveled to make space for it, overlooking the French Broad River. It commands what is surely one of the most magnificent views in the world, a succession of hills and valleys and rolling country of almost limitless extent, reaching as far as the eye can see, stretching Copyright. 1903. by C. F. Ray. Aslie^ille. N. C. "BILTMORE"— THE GARDEN. [125] |120] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS indefinitely off into a region filled with beautiful spots, and with suggestions of other l)eauties, unseen, yet suggested. This is the su]3renie attraction of Biltmore — the wonderful scenery — for the house has a site that at once commands the loveliest views, and gives it, as a dwelling, the best possible situation and the greatest advantage. The circumstances that led to the foundation of this great estate are well known. Mr. Vanderbilt was attracted to it by its wonderful scenery and fine climate. The accumulation of land proceeded at a rapid rate, until now the estate comprises an area of one hundred and forty-seven thousand acres. Statistics are uninteresting and perhaps of little value, and yet unless the size of this great property is realized its ver}- untxsual character will not becom])re- hended. To say, therefore, that the park contains thirty-eight miles of macadamized drives, seventy of wagon road, and two hundred and sixty-five miles of trails in the forests, is to express more than commonplace facts, but offers a guide to determining the scale of the property. Biltmore comprises two parts — the home grounds and the estate. The home grounds are in the immediate vicinitv of the house, as the name -implies, and thev have been treated with much elaboration of detail, with terraces and gardens, and gardens again descending down the slopes, and including among other interesting features an old English garden, with fruit trees trained against the walls, a fascinating spot and a trulv delight- ful one. As for tlie estate. Nature there is still Na- ture, and perhaps will always be so. The area is much too large to l)e reduced to formal treat- ment, and much of it would lose its present grandeur if subjected to cultivation. As a matter of fact, the fviture of Biltmore will be a mat- ter of development. Mr. Vanderbilt, as is well known, is deeplv inter- Copyrifihl. iqos, by C 1* Kay. Ashevillc N. C "BILTMORE^ -THE MAIN ENTRANCE. [127] Copyri-lil, \ BILTMORE"— THE ENTRANCE TOWER. [128] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS ested in arboriculture, and has already established an arboretum which ranks among the most extensive in the world. Here forest culture is carried out on the largest scale yet attempted in this country; a school of forestry is in active operation, and many valuable results have already been obtained. And in this lies one of the chief characteristics of this estate — its vast size enables most extensi\-e experiments in ]ilant and tree life to be carried out on it. These experiments all have an economic value, for the owner's idea is not to experiment for the sake of experimenting, but to obtain results of positive value that will be helpful not alone to the management of this pro])erty, but which will be available to landowners and land cultivators throughout the entire country. Much has already been done in these directions, and much more will doubtless be done. But it is a notable fact that this great estate is not kept ttp as a place of pure enjoyment for its owner, but it is intended to be a great practical college in agriculture and forestry. And so it is that, while planned as a private, personal estate, it has already become a national institution, whose value to the country at large increases each year. Mr. Vanderbilt has, and perhaps wisely, chosen to regard the interior of his magnificent dwelling as personally belonging to himself. Freely permitting the photographing of the exterior, he looks upon the interior as having interest only to himself and his friends. " Biltmore " suggests, but does not reproduce, historic models. It em- ploys historic ideas and familiar motifs, but it employs them, as the great architects of the great periods of archi- tecture have done, as the models and tools at hand. Just as each^Gothic church and each Renais- sance palace is a distinct and individual compo- sition, although using ^ . . , . ^ „ „ . ^ „ m r ^ o o Copyright, 1902, by C. F. Kay, Asheville, N. C. motifs famihar to every " BILTMORE"— THE FOUNTAIN IN THE COURT. [129] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS one, and most of all to the designers of those times, so here the most beautiful ideas are employed, but employed afresh and in a new way. The open stairway at Biltmore recalls, as it was doubtless intended to recall, the great stair at Blois; luit it recalls it only as an octagonal stair lighted by many windows must recall it. One can not get away from the original structure, but the stair at Biltmore is not the less an individual creation, distinctive and modern. And the same may be said of the house as a whole. It resembles a French chateau, since that resemblance was intended. Yet it is familiar in suggestion only, for it is a new and original composition, designed by an American architect for American surroundings. It is a wonderful example of the proper use of historic precedent. The house speaks for itself. It is a great house of a great estate, and as such it stands alone among the great houses of America. It expresses that idea ver}^ fully, and, if it expresses it well and artistically, it surely has achieved a very marked success. Nothing has been spared, neither within nor without the house, nor in the large private grounds that stu'round it, that might add to its beauty or make it admirable as a place of residence. [•30] O CU CO a! C/3 O w D O X h a2 W Z < "Faulkner Farm" Mrs. Charles F. Sprague's House, Brookline, Massachusetts ITATELINESS is surely the character note of the great house of "Faulkner Farm." It is a design that combines, in a very marked degree, the qualities of dignity, sobriety, and beauty, the three qualities essential to successful building, in a fine architectural ensemble. It is a house of great size, with wings and outbuildings that themselves cover almost as much area as the great central structure ; but it is a building that attracts one by its very dignified parts, and the thoroughly successful wav in which a simple, direct, and straightforward use of good forms and the employment of good materials have been joined in producing an effect that is at once grandiose and without effort or undue enrichment. The garden, which forms so fine a feature of the place, was designed and arranged by Mr. Charles A. Piatt after the house and a good deal of the structural work on the grounds had been built. No doubt, from the landscape architect's standpoint, this entailed certain disadvantages, since perfect freedom of design was denied him; but of the artistic success of the garden there can be no doubt. From the designer's stand- point there may not be that thorough unit}^ which rightly pertains to every great art work; from the visitor's stand- point there can be only delight that so charming a garden was created in this lovely place. "Faulkner Farm" is a large estate, with the varied i-ural industries that belong to such a property. The garden, however, is in immediate prox- imity to the house, and its design necessitated the com- plete transformation of the grounds in near juxtaposition to it. The general plan is "FAULKNER FARM.' [131] K^'Jt- §fitB^mai€=^j*^ [132] J <; < w o z < as Q O <: Oi W h w I h O H O 2 Q < c« a, W h w I h [133 1 o z So < o w X h w as O bi W ec J O O td OS oi J < KU] o g <; u w X h < a: w Z [i jjJ [136] AMEiRICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS simple. \The hotise is a vast rectangle. A broad drive leads up before one front, where is a great graveled forecourt, that affords ample space for waiting carriages. Beyond it — to one's right as one drives up to the house — is a grove of trees, largely planted here as a part of the general scheme, and adorned with a fountain at each end. The central path leads up to a beautiful circular temple, which stands on a level space on the apex of the hill on which the house is built. The formal garden, the Italian garden, is to the right of the house. It is not too large, measuring two hundred by one hundred and thirteen feet, but it is ample in size, and the spirit of the Italian garden, as well as its forms, has been translated to this fine New England hillside. At the farthest point from the house, and marking the limits of the garden, is the Casino, a graceful structure, entirely unenclosed on the garden front, and decorated within in the Pompeian style in colors, a novel and effective decoration. Before it is a pool with a fountain, and on either side stretch the columns and piers of the pergola. Architecture comes into use only in the boundary enclosure; but it is employed in strong, graceful lines, in well-built walls, in admirably proportioned columns, in sturdy piers. The Casino is at once a summer house and a retreat, and the climax to the garden as a whole. The pool before it brings the charm of water into the garden, a charm penetrating and real; The whole of the space other- wise unoccupied is given to the garden proper, to the plants and shrubs which make it joyous, and to the art works which give it life. The foliage is chiefly that of perennials, but ample space has been left for annual plants, and many brilliant notes of color are won by this combination of natural growth. The garden contains not a few furnishings in the form of old wine jars from Italy, well heads from Venice, classic busts, carved stonework and balustrades. Each has been placed with care, and for specific purpose in adornment. UNDER THE TERRACE WALL. [137] \^^w, [•3S] The House of Stanford White, Esq. St. James, New York jN old house once occupied a part of the ground on which Mr. White has l:)uilt his house; a portion of it has been retained, but so transformed and modified as to be entirely lost in the present house, which is thus practically an entireh- new building. Three gables, front and back, form the striking feature of the exterior, the service wing to the right being recessed on the front, and not counting in the impression received from the entrance road. The walls, including the gables, are pebbled throughout, the quoins of white cement, the woodwork painted white. The kitchen wing is wholly enclosed on all sides by a close lattice of delicate wood, a device that gives plenty of air and shade, and thoroughly shuts off this part from the inquisitive eye of the passer-by. The whole exterior is embowered with plants— great boxes of hydrangeas, palms, bay trees, oleanders, and many mimic trees from Japan, most of them in their own jars or vases, THE DRIVEWAY [139] < SI N < pa X [140] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS some of which are rare old works of art. Below the side porch is the Italian, or formal, garden. It lies beyond a terrace wall, and is small, but brilliant with color. It is square, with walks bounded with box, and an outer higher box border for a final enclosure. In the center is a large circular basin and fountain, with a stooping Venus in the middle. Farther down, below a lower terrace, is the pergola which closes the garden beyond which are the trees of the forest. Across the roadway is a smaller enclosed garden, ablaze with hardy phlox, a brilliant mass of bloom, with lofty dahlias beyond. A wonderful view may be had from the inner porch, a view so broad and entrancing that even Long Island, with its host of pleasant spots, can scarcely equal it. To the farthest right stretches Crane Neck Point, that reaches far out into Long Island Sound. Immediately below one is Stony Brook Harbor, and, beyond, the quiet waters of Smithtown Harbor; and then, farther on, the blue waters of the Sound, filling in the horizon. All this is at one's feet; but before it can be reached one must cross a gently swelling lawn, that spreads in delightful green to the forests and low bushes which entirely surround its distant borders. Far off, and quite some distance below the house — whose altitude is exceeded by but two other spots on Long Island — is a Grecian temple, a graceful circular structure with Doric columns, whence one mav view in quiet and peace the waterscape below, or look upward toward the house and lawn at one's back. THE FORMAL GARDEN. [141] X h [142J AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS On a pleasant knoll, not far off and shaded by trees, is a great semicircular seat, and just before it is a white rei^roduction of the Diana designed by Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens for the Madison Square Garden tower. Roughly speaking, the house consists of three parts. To the right is the kitchen and service department; in the center is the entrance hall, which is L-shaped, enclosing the dining- room on two sides ; to the left is the living-room, a vast apartment which occupies fully a third of the ground floor. The hall, by which the house is entered, consists of two parts. One portion of the L is a corridor, which runs directh' through the house; the other, at right angles to the passage, is a large rectangular room containing the stairs to the upper floor. The walls are entirely covered with split bamboos, a novel and interesting surface covering that gives a quiet note of color and quite distinguished texture of surface. The bamboos form the background for a rich collection of objects which this indefatigable collector has gathered from all parts of Europe, but chiefly from Italy and Spain. Arranged against the side wall of the corridor are twisted Spanish carved columns, six in ah, standing in the corners and on each side of the THE LIVING-ROOM. [143] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS doorways to the living-room. Fine tapestries are hung on either side, with old mirrors in richly carved gilt frames and many curious carved ornaments. In the stair hall is a host of things. Both it and the corridor are paved with dull red enamel bricks, on which rich Turkish rugs are spread. The stairs are open and without banisters, the stair wall, like the other parts, being covered with bamboo. High up on the outer stair wall is a fine figure tapestry, with a larger example on the hall wall below. The mantel is treasure -trove from Italy — two giants upholding a decorated cornice. All sorts of trophies are hung on the walls. On the side is a vast carved chest. A high case clock stands just beside the entrance doorway. There is some yellow covered furniture in the hall, which, with the light yellow of the bamboo walls and the many old carved and gilded ornaments, gives a joyous, welcoming color, a brilliant opening to this delightful home. The dining-room is white in tone and color. Toward the lawn it is wholly lighted with windows, a continuous series giving a rare sense of openness to the room. A low seat is built below them, with a shelf at the window base, and on it is a host of jars, bowls, and vases. Over the windows are plates hung against the wall, plates and baskets of open pottery work, chiefly of Italian origin, and many of large size; they are mostly white in color. The two side walls are paneled in small square wood panels with shallow mouldings, all painted white. Here are more plates, delicate in color and in texture like the others; mirrors, also, in rich gold frames, round and oval in shape; gilded ornaments of carved wood likewise; a host of treasured THE DINING-ROOM. [144] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS articles. Against the farther wall is a fine old sideboard, richly furnished with silver and cut glass; on either side of the entrance door is a small old console, decked with silver and china ornaments. The remaining side of the room, which is directly opposite the windows, is wholly covered with old Dutch tiles in white and blue. In accordance with the old Dutch custom, a curtained shelf rtms across the top, and on it are stood more things of interest— old glass bottles, a colored bust, gilded ornaments. In the center is the fireplace, likewise lined with tiles, with open iron screen in front and quaint Chinese dogs in color on either side. An old carved serving table stands on one side by the service entrance. The ceiling is white plaster. That the floor of the living-room is stained and spread with splendid rugs; that the walls are of bamboo, largely covered with tapestries; and that the ceiling is of bamboo, are facts easily grasped and, perhaps, quickly comprehended. But within these tapestried walls and beneath this bambooed ceiling are gathered a veritable wealth of curious, beautiful objects. There are fine old carved chairs. There are spacious sofas and chairs of ease and of state; A CORNER OF DINING-ROOM. [i45l AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS there are lamps and candelabra of all sorts; there are silver lamps dependent from the ceiling; and in the center a curious, mermaid-like affair, with branching antlers carrying candles. There are mirrors in rare old frames ; fine old pictures ; ornaments of shell and beads ; Persian blue and white tiles over the doors to the side porch; carved window frames from Holland over the entrance doors from the hall ; wonderful Italian twisted columns — of quite rare beauty and elaborateness — stand in the four corners of the room. A great gilded chest is between the entrance doorways, and is loaded with numerous beautiful objects in metal and other materials ; and there are gilded figures and carved ornaments hung and stood where some note of color has been needed. The very multiplicity of its contents speaks not alone of comfort, but of interest, and real, living interest, in everv^thing it contains. If Mr. White's house is tmique — and this much overworked word can rightly be appHed to it— this room is clearly its most tmique part. [146] Mrs. A. Cass Canfield's House Roslyn, New York RS. CANFIELD'S house is a building of vast size, all of brick, red with spots of black, presenting a stately spreading front, and so pleasantly environed with lofty forest trees as to seem to be just the sort of house one might naturally look for in this lovely spot. It consists of a large central building, three stories in height, with long wings on either side, of two stories. Its proportions are dignified in the extreme, the whole front being of great length, while the additional height in the central part adds very materially in the majestic effect. It is a front that depends very largely on its dimensions, and these are so generous and good as to give it at once a distinction wholly its own. The single note of ornament is the main doorway — pilasters supporting a broken curved pediment. The window openings are bricked over with a small stone keystone, and the cornice, both of the center and the wings, is surmounted by a balustrade. So much skill has been displayed in disposition of the parts forming this front, the masses of the^ building are so well composed the proportions so good, the spacing of the windows so clever, and the ornamental features so admirably handled, that it is, as a whole, a front of quite penetrating attractiveness. A spacious platform, paved with brick, and reached by stone steps, and to which bay trees in great pottery jars give a pleasant note of color, forms the approach to the main door- way. The entrance hall is rectangular; it is white, with pilasters on the wall immediately in front, on which hangs a superb tapestry; rare old light standards are fastened on either side. On each side of the entrance is a recess with a window. To the right is a separate hall contain- ing the main stairway, and then, beyond a tapestried curtain, is the guest wing, the whole of the right wing, both on this floor and the floor above, being given up to guest rooms. These are charming apartments, beautifully furnished, the walls paneled and covered with fabrics of delicate colors, and the rooms arranged in suites, with their attendant bathrooms. Just inside the door is a sitting-room in green for the bachelors, who are lodged on the first floor. A separate stairway to the upper floor and a separate entrance on to the main front render this wing entirely independent of the other parts of the house, from which, if need be, it can be wholly cut off. The wing to the left is arranged in a similar manner, and, with its own entrance and stairs, can be similarly isolated. This part of the house is especially given up to the children, with a children's dining-room on the first floor, beyond which are the kitchen, the servants' hall, the pantries, serving-rooms, and other service apartments. The upper floor is the [147] X ^ E h Z o tL- W o z < OS h z w w a: h I Q w Z < u CO < U C/3 Oi O u O X w a: h [148] w o < Pi Pi w h I Q J I — I Z <: u < < d2 o w D O X w [149] -J < X u X h [ISO] o o Pi 6. :z > 1-J w K [iSi] a: < m h [152] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS children's floor, with the bedrooms on the sunny side and the bathrooms on the opposite side of the corridor. Large rooms, cheerful colors, pleasant furniture, and quite individual treatment in each case are the characteristics of these attractive apartments. The main rooms of the house are on the south front of the central Iniilding. They are three in number— the library, the drawing-room or living-room, and the dining-room. The hvmg-room fills the center, the other two opening from it as well as from the corridor, which is an extension of the entrance hall. The library is in oak, paneled to the ceiling, with round arched windows, and arches of similar form over the niches into which the bookcases are built. Curtains of green damask over lace curtains give the color note. The mantel is of green marble. The living-room or drawing-room occupies the center of the house; its open end is rounded and lighted by five windows, which give upon a terrace without. It is a large room, of quite unusual form and richly furnished. The walls are paneled with French walnut, with a plaster cornice and plain ceiling. The curtains are of red damask, the furniture of red and gold and of tapestry, and the screens of red silk, red thus being the prevailing color. Side candle lights project from many of the panels. The mantel of mottled marble has a built-in mirror above it. The furniture is both old and new, the former numbering many articles of unusual beauty and rarity, including a fine old French writing-table, old French cabinets, and other pieces. The dining-room is white, with the panels of the walls separated by pilasters, enclosing plain panels of a very delicate buff. Rich blue curtains at the windows give the distinctive color. The mantel is of soft yellow Italian marble. On the walls are portraits of General Lewis Cass and Mrs. Cass and of Mrs. Canfield. The sideboard is a fine piece of old oak, elaborately carved. Mrs. Canfield's own rooms are immediately above in the second storv. They comprise two bedrooms, with the boudoir directly between them and over the living-room. Like it, it has a circular window. It is a beautiful apartment, the walls covered with wood panels throughout ; the windows hung with curtains of Rose du Barry pink and white ; the furniture and ugs in quiet harmony with the delicate treatment of the architectural features. Mrs. Canfield's bedroom is square and white paneled; a deep blue carpet is on the floor, and the hangings are light mauve and blue. The bedroom on the other side is finished in green, with green silk panels and curtains. The house contains a number of historical relics and docu- ments of the highest interest. The terrace at the back is suj.iported by a brick wall, in harmony with the structure of the building. Large vases stand on the enclosing wall and steps, and just l)elow is a pleasant border of rose bushes. The ground dips suddenly here, with a great green field beyond, and then, as far as eye can see, stretch the undulating farm lands of the adjacent countryside, with the Hempstead plains in the distance. It is an entrancing outlook upon a smiling landscape of gentle woods, green fields, and thriving farms. [153] < c £ < c/ w w" Z w < X X o O o DC w X h < o , ^ [154] " Rosemary " The House of Foxhall Keene, Esq., Old Westbury, New York |R. KEENE'S house at Old Westbury, Long Island, is finely placed on the summit of a hill, with beautiful rolling country in the foregrotmd, while behind is a thick growth of trees, in which the stable is placed. It stands on a terrace, broad enough to give space to a house garden and to pi-ovide a floral setting for the fine Colonial dwelling placed upon it. It is strong and sturdy in its simple lines, all in white, and with a splendid portico which rises to the roof. It is a well-composed front, of dignified proportions, very charmingly placed on the edge of a wood. The plan is ^evy direct and straightforward, consisting of a central hall, reaching from front to back, from which four spacious rooms open, two on each side, the drawing-room and library on the front, the dining-room and billiard-room at the back. The hall is entered imme- diately from the main doorway, without the interposition of a vestibule. It is in red and white, each tone very clear and positive. The high paneled wainscoting is continuous with the door trim, which includes decorated pilasters and an ornamental heading. The mantel and chimneypiece are elaborately detailed, and over the fireplace is the motto of the house: "Rose- mary, that's for remembrance." The stairs at the end are very cleverly arranged as a decorative feature, and add greatly to the interest of the hall. Beginning in the center, they divide half- way up at a platform below a triple window, and continue reversed on each side to the upper floor. The light, delicate handrail is in keeping with the Colonial character of the house. The spaces beneath the upper flights are enclosed, and serve as pantries and entrances to the kitchen l:)elow. The rooms that open from the hall are alike in dimensions, and so spacious that the really high ceilings seem somewhat low. Each has its own color scheme, very boldly carried out. The drawing-room is white, paneled in wood throughout, with a white plaster ceiling, with an oval enclosed within a festooned frame. The mantel has an elaborately detailed framing, with a built-in mirror, muUioned and traceried like a window. There are curtains of rich red damask at the windows and doors, and the furniture is in red and gold. The piano, in Italian walnut, was especially made by Steinway for this room, and approximates an old spinet as closely as possible. It is beautifully ornamented inside with an Adams decoration. A wide doorway, with pilasters and columns, opens into the adjoining dining-room, whose deep dark tones are in fine contrast with the more brilliant colors of the drawing-room. It is finished in mahogany, handsomely paneled to a height of about seven feet, with carved figures in the upper piers. The walls above are covered with dark green figured damask, the same material [155] [iS6] "ROSEMARY"— THE STAIRS. [iS7] < X h a: OS < u c/:i o [158] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS being used for the curtains. The large chimneypiece of wood is enclosed within columns, and similar columns support the door-frame. The chandeliers, which hang from the corners of the ceiling decoration, are gilt baskets containing bunches of white and purple grapes. The library is richly stocked with books, contained in the cases which entirely surround the lower walls. Above is tapestry, light brown in tone, with a closely designed tree pattern in shades of dark green. The curtains at the doors and windows are of the same material. There is an old carved mantel and fireplace. The billiard-room is in the deepest shade of purple. The ceiling is beamed, and the immense fireplace has a large overmantel, with upper columns and a carved centerpiece. The built-in seats and chairs are covered with purple leather, and the rug and curtains are of the same hue. Both the billiai'd-i-oom and the library open on to a side porch which overlooks the flower garden. The garden is placed at the foot of a series of terraces, and is reached by flights of steps, bordered on either side by low flowering plants and rows of box. It is planted in formal style, but is without architectural adjuncts. It is a great square, located on a level tract just before the deep woods which bound the property at this point. It is ablaze with bloom, a quaint and beautiful flower-spot of penetrating brilliancy. A commanding feature is the poles on the sides and scattered through the flower-beds, which are completely covered with profusely blooming white clematis — a very beautiful decoration in a very beautiful garden. [159] li6o] "All View" House of C. Oliver Iselin, Esq., Premium Point, New Rochelle, New York HETHER taken in its most literal sense or not, Mr. Iselin has devised a very happy and delightfully descriptive name for his house in New Rochelle, New York. A garden by the waterside would be equally expressive, for his house stands on the tip of Premium Point, which juts out into Long Island Sound at New Rochelle, and gives it a water view at once extensive and beautiful. Very lovely and peaceful it is here, with the gentle calm of rippling water softly washing the green shores, with their low rocked points — a coast thronged with strange-shaped stretches of land into the water, as though both land and water had fought for supremacy, and then rested in the quiet beauty which now so distinguishes them. There is no solitary outlook here, but one of ravishing variety, the land and water so intermingled that it is hard to tell if one be island or peninsula, the other bay or river, lake or sound — a landscape dotted with pleasant houses, enclosed, in the background, with groups and groves of trees. Mr. Iselin has for his house, therefore, almost every possible qualification of beauty in its surroundings. A dwelling so environed must be stately and fine, and the architect has risen to the full measure of his opportunity. The splendid front has a recessed center, with two end wings slightly projecting. The corners of these wings are supported by immense pilasters, which rise to the top of the main cornice. The uppermost story is treated as an attic, a central curve in the wings giving space for a window, and creating a fine silhouette for the roof line. The great pilasters are so completely the feature of the wings, and, in a sense, of the whole front, that the windows enclosed within them are plainly framed in the white marble which is used for the ornamental parts and encased in the walls of solid brick. The distinguished severity which characterizes the end pavilions gives way in the center of the front to a freer and more ornamental treatment. The central wall is, indeed, quite festal in character. The entrance, in the center, is a very charming structure in white marble, completely filling the space occupied by the ground floor and the story above it. The round arched opening is supported by pilasters, and the terrace of the roof is enclosed within a balustrade. The doorway under the porch is rectangular, and the whole is finely detailed and beautifully executed. The walls of the two upper stories are treated as window-galleries : two on each side of the porch in the first story, and eight — a beautifully glazed series — in the upper story. The modest dormers in the attic are in good contrast with the bolder treatment of the ends. The gardens of "All View" are extraordinarily fine, and their own great inherent beauty is enhanced by their close juxtaposition to the water. The large formal garden is entirely [161I X o O 0- a. ^ td < [162 AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS enclosed within a high hedge, grown ahnost on the very edge of the land. It is a great rectangle, and is comparatively simple in design — four lawns placed around a central circle, each lawn having a central bed of flowers and being surrounded with wide borders. Simple as the plan is, the i^lanting and arrangement have been so admirably done that its very simplicity is only apparent on the closest analysis. Unlike many large formal gardens, this one does not depend on an architectural setting for its effect. It is formally j^lanned and planted; the enclosing "ALL VIEW"— THE ENTRANCE TO THE GROUNDS. [i6j (4 o < u h tLl .164] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS hedge has all the character of a wall, l)ut, save for the marble steps and some minor ornaments, the garden has no constructive helps. But there is no loss because of this. On the contrary, there is a special individuality in the dependence on nature — on plants and shrubs, on trees and vines, on brilliant blooming flowers placed so their own brilliant colors will be the garden's greatest joy. The rose garden, near the house, is a spot of quite unusual beauty, and contains an immense quantity of plants, cared for in the most thorough manner and brought to an unusual degree of perfection. It is difficult to characterize the beauties of so lovely a place as this, but it is clearly a fine illustration of good taste in gardening, and a garden of strongly marked individuality. [165] .^^%asssiMis,i.iiSSi& [i66] The House of Lloyd Bryce, Esq. Roslyn, New York |R. BRYCE'S house is beautifully situated on the summit of a hill, covered with rich lawns, bordered by the forests overlooking the waters of Hempstead Harbor. It is simple and gracious in design, so spacious and well proportioned that its size is not at first apparent. It consists of a large central building — the house proper — ^with two wings connected with the main striicture by short galleries. These pavilions are attached to the garden front, and do not form a feature of the entrance front. The house charms and satis- fies by the directness of its design, the simplicity of its de- tail, and the dignity of its pro- portions. The brick walls are without ornamental treatment, save for the broad cemented quoins that are needed at the angles of so large a building to give strength and emphasis to the bounding edges. The pro- portions of every part are fine; the wall spaces are ample, with large windows generously spaced; and the white of the corners, the entrance doorway, the hoods and sills of the win- dows, and the cornice which crowns the whole, is in verv happy contrast with the red brick of which the house is built. The outer pavilions, which form so interesting a feature of the garden front, are identical in design, with rounded openings and low slop- ing roofs. Arcaded galleries of round arches connect them THE main doorway. >67] w u < a: Pi w h ['68] o o a: 6 z <: Q W h [.6g] o o 6 z 5 u [170] a: < X f-H [171] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS with the main building. One serves as the kitchen; the other is an open room, affording superb outlooks upon the land and water beyond. A lake, in the immediate foreground, adds to the charm of the garden side. The house has a stately plan, with a circular vestibule floored with marble, and with columns of polished marble supporting the ceiling. On each side is a rectangular passage, or antechamber, with the library beyond to the right and the drawing-room to the left. The dining-room is between these two, its windows directly opening on to the garden. Both library and drawing-room have monumental doorways opening into their antechambers. The drawing-room is white, with walls of paneled wood, tinted a delicate pearl gray, with dead-white trimmings. The rich red damask curtains, and the gold and white furniture covered with the same material, give the needed color. The room contains much old furniture here, and many pieces of old Chinese red lacquer, which are quite unique. The mantel of Itahan marble is delicately carved, and a crystal chandelier hangs from the ceihng. The stairs are placed in the antechamber to the library, which is a lovely room, not quite so large as the drawing-room. It is wainscoted with walnut, which gives a fine contrast to the V)lue curtains that determine the color note of the room. Many bookcases are built into the waUs, but space is found for some choice paintings. The mante is of black and white marble; above it hangs a fine picture by Van Loo. Again some fine old furniture, with modern easy-chairs, and many interesting ornaments. The windows on the side open on to a terrace, with a flower garden beyond. The dining-room, like the others, is large, with wahs of green and old gold, very subdued in hue. The mantel is of black and white marble, with mirror, clock, and candelabra of the Empire period. There are family portraits here, including one of Peter Cooper, and some good old tapestries. Just outside a fountain plays gracefully on the terrace, and across the waters of Hempstead Harbor and the Sound, which lie far below, is the dim outline of the West- chester coast. It is a scene of wonderful beauty and peace, an outlook on to Nature at her best — a vision of undulating lawn, of fine forests, of distant water. There is a large swimming pool near the house, and the grounds contain two tennis courts, one cemented and one grassed; and not far from the house, but enclosed within high hedges, is a garden of old-fashioned flowers. The property is a large one, comprising about two hundred acres. A part of it was at one time owned by William Cullen Bryant, the poet. [■72] Q X W w" W td q5 CQ u Z < w O CO D O G < O OS O w "The Orchard" The House of James Lawrence Breese, Esq., Southampton, New York HE word "Hospitality" is writ large over this fine mansion; for the house is a mansion, though the design is simple, the architecture restrained, the decorative elements refined and subdued. An old house which once stood on the grounds was moved to the present site, a house that scarcely covered more than the space now occu- pied by the entrance hall and the library. Its low ceilings have been retained, and thus the general scale set ; but the house as a whole is an entirely new structure, in which the archi- tects completely responded to the ideas of the owner, with the result that one of the most delightful and individual of Long Island country places has been created — for it is a real creation, and more than an erection — on the rather fiat land which is characteristic of Southampton. Outwardly the house is a frank adaptation of the old Southern Colonial house to modern requirements. If it recalls one model more than another, it is perhaps the historic lines of Mount Vernon which it suggests. But it is a sugges- tion only, and the house has been planned and carried out without thought of copving, and with the single idea of making a hospitable place where one might live comfort- ably in the country, entertain "THE ORCHARD"— THE PORCH. [173] E ■2 W a" w Oil P3 M O z w < J W O w o w O < '■J O w h >• s u z [174] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS one's friends, and engage in such rural sports and undertakings as a man of wealth and culture might naturally be interested in. Mr. Breese has Inult regardless of space, and in a manner that is best described as ample. The main building contains but two rooms — a music-room and a library, separated bv a wide entrance or general hall. Beyond these is a rear hall, running the full length of the house and connecting the two main wings; on the right is the studio, with a squash court beyond; on the left, the dining-room, breakfast-room, and kitchen, with servants' quarters still farther out. Each of these latter buildings is recessed still farther away from the central axis, so that the rear of the building surrounds a great court, open at the farther side and enclosed on the three others. Hospitahty and livability are the dominant qualities of this house. Mr. Breese has erected a place that may, in many senses — since it is very wonderful and wonderfully interesting — be called a ' ' show place ' ' ; yet he has been quite indifferent to splendor in his search for comfort, convenience, and the pleasure of living in a pleasant house. His rooms are delight- ful; low ceiled, agreeably col- ored, tastefully decorated and furnished, almost completelv, with genuine old mahogan}' pieces picked up bv himself, mostly in the South. The color schemes mav be briefly summarized. Music- room — pale green silk hangings and wall paper, white India rugs, and white (polar) bear skins; main hall — all white paneling, dark red India rug; library — light brown hangings and paper, green India rug; rear hall — wainscoted below, reproductions of old Colonial landscape wall paper above, in delightful cool gray tones; dining-room — white panels to the ceiling, blue decorations, "THE ORCHARD "—WALL FOUNTAIN. [75] [^7b] z w Q as < O w h O as < u as O w h [177] o o U So fcd X a X [178] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS the walls hung with brass plaques and blue Chinese plates; studio — but that deserves a paragraph of its own. The ceilings are throughout of old Colonial designs, in low relief. The mantels are chiefly old ones. All of the doors on the first floor are old New York doors of mahogany cut down to fit their present places; and much of the interior trim is genuinely old. The house is absolutely harmonious and in the best of taste. It is frankly and tnily Colonial in character. The two wings are connected with the main portion by nan^ow passageways: the one on the right has been transformed into a conservatory. The floor is glazed with old Chinese tiles ; the ceiling, arched latticework ; one wall contains a fine old Italian fountain picked up in Italy. The conservatory forms an antechamber to the studio, which is entered immediately through it. The latter is the most elaborate room in the house. It is paneled in California redwood; above are large decorative panels — old Flemish paintings on canvas, perhaps designs for tapestries, but very beautiful and rich in color. The room has a total height of about nine- teen feet, and is ceiled with beams of California redwood, with rough white plaster between. The floor area is forty-five feet by thirty feet, so that here is a room of very large proportions, and filled with a host of beautiful and interesting objects. The vast fireplace is built of stones taken from the foundations of the old house. The opening is over six feet high and six feet wide: only driftwood is burned in it, and the flames shoot up with such brilliancy that several "THE ORCHARD"— THE HALL. [179] o o a: 6 Z Z 5 X h Q < X '■J a^ O X [.8oJ AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS entertaiiinicnts have iiccn given in the room without other hght. Just betore the Iirc])lace stand two old Itahan ecclesiastical candelabra, massive and splendid examples of old brass work. The ceiling candelabra are likewise old Italian, and directly from the center hangs a full-rigged Dutch ship, a metal model at least a hundred and fifty years old. The stairs at the liack of the studio lead to the billiard-room above. Beyond are a dark-room, a gun-room, a bic\"cle-room, and a fjathroom, connected with the squash court. The rose garden is just beyond the porch at the back It is alwut sixty feet square, and fills the space enclosed by the wings of the house. In the center is a graceful fountain : the walks are of brick, box lined — a lovely and beautiful spot of flowers. The pergola stretches back from it on either side full two hundred feet; bounded on the outer edge with a low brick wall, above which rise short square piers; within, a row of circular columns, the whole flat-roofed with natural branches. At the far end it is open to the ground, with double rows of columns opening to a still farther vista beyond. The space beyond contains the vegetable garden ; but the central path is lined with peach trees on either side, and ultimately it is proposed to extend the pergola down this path clear to the bounding wall of the property, a good six hundred and sixty feet from the house. The si)ace within the pergola is brightly planted with hardy shrubs and flowers, so selected that, throughout the season, there will l)e a constant succession of bloom. Without it is a similar bed along the "THE ORCHARD"— THE CONSERVATORY. isr AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS enclosing walls; then a path, and the trees of the old orchard, which happily enough fit in perfectly with the present development of the grounds. The estate, which comprises thirty acres, has been so planned that the house and garden stand considerably to the right of the center of the whole property, the house grounds running right through from the main road to the boundary of the farthest end. On each side are broad stretches of lawn; the old trees determined the location of the house, and the newer plantings were designed to assist the effect of the original growth. To the left of the main entrance is a long drive, reaching straight back to the stables and service houses, and here, well beyond the house grounds and the vegetable garden, are grouped the l^uil dings needed for the culti- vation of so varied an estate. Here are the gardener's cottage, corn cribs, ice house, machine shop, hotbeds, carriage house and stable, chicken houses, an old barn, a shooting tower, greenhouses, and other buildings, among which the garage for automobiles should not be forgotten, the plant being so complete that Mr. Breese is able to carry out every possible work in connection with the automobile repairing, save casting, and even that is looked forward to in the future. The shooting tower, a most unusual feature, was built for the sport of shooting clay pigeons. [.82] "The Monastery" The House of Charles P. Searle, Esq., Swampscott, Massachusetts HE very unusual house of Mr. Charles P. Searle, at Swampscott, Massachusetts, attracts attention both Ijy the novelty of its design and its very extraordinary situation. For much of the inner part of the house overhangs the sea in a quite literal sense, although the entrance front, embowered in large trees, hardly suggests such a situation. The grounds are enclosed with a stucco wall, whose plainlv cut arches and curved crest are repeated again in the forms of the entrance porch. Placed as it is on a rock, the design of the house has cahed for clever planning, with an adaptation to the various levels of the site, and an economical utilization of the available area. The color scheme is quite unusual: the walls are gray, the roof brilliant red, the latticed windows pea green. The entrance porch is applied diagonally to the main structure, and faces a forecourt within the enclosing wall. The principal door opens on to a vestibule in green and white, beyond which is the hall. This is a great \-aulted apartment, two stories in height, finished in a very unusual and original manner. The walls are pan- eled to the springing of the vault arches, and colored French gray ; the upper walls are entirely filled with lattice- work of pea green. There is a large mantel of gray stone, with a carved overmantel, with festoons in relief, above. At the farther end are the stairs, partly enclosed within open woodwork. The walls of the upper landing are cov- ered with palm-leaf paper in green and white; the balus- trade is painted green, and a green carpet is laid on the stairs. A few steps up the stairs is the morning-room, "THE MONASTERY"— THE ENTRANCE TO THE GROUNDS. [183] Z o w u z «; a; h z w a: h w w" OS < w c/3 w < U a, O u D O I w h >■ OS w h < Z o u h [184] ►J <: X h OS w h < z o [185] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS finished in the same way, with palm-leaf paper and with green paint. It opens on to a large porch, so close to the edge of the rock that the water is prac- tically below it. The dining- room adjoins the morning- room, and is finished in gray, with green wall decorations. The service-rooms and kitchen adjoin the dining-room and are continued along the hall. Another portion of the house opens to the right of the vestibule and hall. Here is a small stair hall, with a private stair to the upper floor. Im- mediately adjoining it is Mr. Searle's room, which is finished in yellow. It has a tiled mantel and paneled seats. Beyond it, with a large doorway opening into the hall, is the music-room. The woodwork is painted gray, and the walls are covered with pink and white paper. There is a white marble mantel, and the furniture is chiefly antique. Curtains of pink and white add to the very distinctive cheer and charm of this apartment. "THE MONASTERY "—THE UPPER HALL. [i86] The House of Ogden Mills, Esq. Staatsburg, New York jHE house of Mr. Ogden Mills, at Staatsbtirg, New York, stands on a high bank overlooking the Hudson River, and has the rare advantage of a lawn that sweeps down to the water's edge, without the interruption of the railroad that cuts many of the fine sites on the river. It is superbly placed, with beautiful outlooks on to the almost matchless scenery for which the Hudson is famous. The old Livingston manor house once stood tipon this site, and not only determined the location of the j^resent building, but its framework formed the basis of its structure, which has been built aromid it, and which served as the nucleus from which it has been expanded. It is a house of beautiful stateliness and symmetry, with a front, which faces the river, of truly monumental proportions and grandeur — a building quite Colonial in feeling and expression, but larger in scale and of more academic detail than the older house which preceded it. It is a front of great length, large enough to be impressive through sheer size, but ver}- beautifully composed, and proportioned with fine grace and dignity. In the center is a portico of six great columns supporting a pediment, a feature always impressive and beautifril when well done, and here carried out with consummate skill and ability. Long stretches of wall, containing two stories of windows, support it on either side. A broad, plain cornice is carried wholly around the top of the wall, and, in the wings, is sui mounted with a balustrade. The walls are perfectly fiat, without structural projections, but their architectural treatment has been designed with a fine realization of the value of refined surface decoration. At each end are two pilasters, reaching from base to cornice, and spaced so that a window opens between each pair. The window frames of the lower story are surmounted with small pediments carried on consoles; those of the upper story are simply outlined in a bare wall. A rectangular panel is sunk above the central window, and delicate festoons hang above the adjoining window on either side. A very considerable variety is thus obtained by simple means, and, since the scale of the building is so large, the resultant effect is at once fine and beautiful, quite rich, indeed, and yet without suggestion of overelaboration. The scheme of the wall design behind the portico is distinctly different; thoroughly individual, yet in fioll harmony with the other parts. The windows here are in three tiers, the upper series being quite low. The entrance doorway is triple, the central opening having an entablature and pediment supported on columns, while the side open ngs are enclosed within pilasters. The pediment above the central opening and festoons over the entire group sufficiently emphasize the importance of this feature. Festoons appear again over the two [187] h z o oi. w z <: h z w w h -J z w Q 'O O O w o o w I h I SSI < X [189] o o a; z z 5 X [190] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS central windows of the second story. The lower windows are without the pediments seen in the wings, and those on the stairs in the second tier are quite frankly placed exactly where they belong and out of symmetry with the others. This is an interesting illustration of the moderate freedom with which the architectural parts have been handled. The interior of the house is thoroughly in keeping with its majestic exterior. The rooms are of great size, as may be expected in a house of such dimensions, and they are handsomely finished and furnished. The great hall is paneled with wood in a somewhat simple design, l)ut it is a very beautiful room. The woodwork of the ceiling follows the general motif of the paneled walls. It is abundantly furnished, and contains some historic family portraits. The chief rooms of the house connect directly with the hall. These constitute the series of apartments usual in dwellings of this type. The dining-room, which has been chosen for illustration, is a good example. It is a vast rectangular apartment, paneled with colored marble throughout, the cornice on the longer sides being supported by pilasters. Magnificent tapestries form the leading feature of the wall decorations. They are stretched within frames, placed in the center of each wall, and are finely spaced within ample surrounding surfaces. The ceiling is richly detailed, with a great central circle and smaller circles at either end. The lights are girandoles and standards placed in the corners. The dehcately carved and decorated side tables placed against the walls are beautiful pieces of furniture. [191 [192] " Belief ontaine" The Estate of Giraud Foster, Esq., Lenox, Massachusetts |R. Giraud Foster's house, at Lenox, Massachusetts, is a wonderful house in a wonderful place. The landscape of the Berkshire Hills is so very lovely that the art of man is hardly needed to add to its beauty; but Mr. Foster has, in his splendid house and beautiful gardens, added a new note of loveliness to Lenox, and created a fresh spot of interest that is almost without parallel in the extraordinary care and exquisite art that have been lavished upon it. The house and grounds constitute the component parts of a single creation, in which each bears a definite relationship to the other. The house is so large and so sumptuous in its materials and its design as to be rightly described as palatial. It consists of a vast central build- ing with two wings, that form an open court on one side. The south front has for its chief motif a great portico, supported by Corinthian columns, rising to the full height of two stories and embracing the three central windows. The adjoining walls contain each two windows, separated by so wide a space that room is found for an ornamental slab between those of the upper story. The house is built of brick and marble, but the brick is quite subordinated, the whole of the central part of the south front being marble. A high balustrade is carried around the top of the building, partly concealing the attic, which forms the third story of the center. The building is finished with a loggia at each end. The north front is less grandiose in design, but very full of interest. Two low wings project from the main structure, that on the east being a palm-room and entrance, that on the west the kitchen and servants' quarters. In their inner corners are square towers, integral parts of the house, which is here three stories in height. The leading motif is the round arch, which appears in every part — in the loggias on the ends, in the ends of the wings, on the two exposed faces of the towers, and the three arches of the center. With the exception of the side walls of the wings, all of the first story is of marble ; the upper walls are of brick, with marble trimmings, and the third story of the towers is again of marble. Obviously, the south front is the front of state and of honor, and the north front is the home front; yet neither contains an entrance doorway. The chief entrance is through the palm- room, and is indicated by a marquise of wrought iron, very original and striking in design, which is placed before a round arched opening, which otherwise gives no indication of its importance. The palm-room is lined with brick, and has an open beamed roof of wood. It is lighted with great round arched" windows, in the sjjandrels of which are superbly mounted heads of wild animals. It contains some grand ferns and other decorative plants. A flat arched door, closed with magnificent gates of wrought iron, and on either side of which stands a column [193] inth. -•,'v 194] h D O (J X H o z Z H Z o u J J ca [195] 'J o o J H < w h O OS u, Z w Q Qi < Z < h z o u J w [196] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS of rare marble sujiporting an antique statue, connects it with the rotunda, through which the hall is entered and the main part of the house is reached. This rotunda is a circular room, beautifulh' paneled and vaulted, and lined throughovit with stone. Cushioned seats are built in below the panels, and a Roman table stands in the center. The main hall is on the north front of the house, having three large round arched windows opening on to the court. The ceiling is flat, with a segmental arch at either end, one over the beginning of the stairs, the other before the enclosure at the far end, and in which stands the fireplace. It is brilliantly lighted by the great windows, which are hung with silk curtains, and is walled and floored with marble. A deep frieze is carried around the upper walls, painted in subdued tones, and representing hunting scenes and foliage in the rectangular panels, and birds and plants in the spandrels between the arches, which, in their turn, have a broad border of painted ornament, this happy mural decoration thus relieving the coldness of the marble. The chimneypiece at the farther end fills almost the entire wall, and rises to the ceiling. Delicately carved Doric columns support an entablature, beneath which is the fireplace. The upper part contains a large mosaic within an enriched frame, and the detail of the side is delicately cut and colored. The fire-dogs are marble lions carrying heraldic devices, standing on high bases. The doors opening into the hall have painted borders over the openings, and on each side stand marble columns supporting sculptured animals or other figures. Busts are placed on brackets between the windows. On the platform at the head of the stairs is an open arch overlooking the rotunda. The salon is the first room on the south front. It is a magnificent apartment, designed in the style of Louis XV., and is paneled throughout with wood, with a delicately ornamented cornice and decorated corners in the ceiling. Paintings are let into the walls above the doorways and over the built-in mirrors. The fireplace of marble is exquisitely enriched with gilt bronze. The windows are draped with rich curtains, and the costly furniture is in keeping with the architectural accessories. A crystal chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling, and beautiful gilt girandoles are applied to the panels of the wall. The living-room adjoins the salon and occupies the center of the south front, its windows opening out on to the monumental yjortico. It is in the Louis XIII. style. Not less elegant in its furnishings than the salon, it only differs from it in style, and in being, as its name signifies, the living-room of the family. Its walls are paneled to the ceiling, partly in wood and partly with superb pieces of damask silk. At either end is a fireplace, rich ])ieces of mottled marble, the overmantel enclosing a full-length portrait — of Spanish royalties — in a frame of the same material, beautifully enriched with gilded bronze. Over the doors and the large panels adjoining the fireplaces are exquisite paintings of heads with seated putti. The furniture includes some notable tables and cabinets, and the lights are girandoles and great vases standing in the comers transfornied into candelabra. The dining-room, in the Louis XV. stjde, is the last on the south front, and completes the series of "state" apartments. It is entered from both the hall and the living-room. Its [197] am h oi O o X h O b O o Cu w h Z h Z o W J w oa [19S] <: h z D O Q Z < o o OS w w DC h w Z < Z o w J w oa [199] > < > Q td X o < o o Oh td X u Z Z o -I _I W CO [200] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS walls are paneled in wood, enclosing large paintings of rural life, the cornice being supported by pilasters with gilded capitals. The fireplace is beautifully detailed, and has a built-in mirror with festooned frame above it. Over the doors are arched panels, with carved decoration of foliage. The floor, as in the other two great rooms, is almost completely covered with a magnificent rug. Of the other rooms of the house, it is only necessary to refer to Mr. Foster's own room, which opens immediately from the rotunda, the doorway to which is enclosed within a superb old Italian door frame of carved wood. It is a beavitiful square apartment, richly furnished, and with an old Italian mantel, above which is an old Italian mirror in a splendid frame, gilded and carved, and surrounded with paintings in medallions. The superb situation of the house is almost without parallel. A long, winding drive through the forest brings one to a turn, below which is the magnificent fountain to which the place owes its name. The contrast between the thick woods and the open house space is quite startling, and the effect is heightened by the lavish enrichment of the grounds and the costly works of art that are used in their decoration. The drive divides in two above the head of the fountain, and is continued down on either side to a drive across the north front of the house, by which the BELLEFONTAINE"— THE FOUNTAIN IN THE COURT. [201] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS stables and a gate lodge are reached to the west, and other parts of the estate are approached toward the east. Behind the fountain the drive is upheld by a marble wall, with a retaining wall on the farther side, beyond which is the thick growth of forest trees. The great fountain is placed at the head of a long pool, and is surrounded with a pergola of twisted marble columns, imported, like most of the marble work, from Italy. It forms a magnificent climax to the house grounds, and is a structure of unusual beauty. Beyond the drive is the court enclosed on three sides by the house. It has an outer balustrade, whose piers support vases and statues and contains many fine bay trees of great size and age. At very few places in America wih there be found such a combination of natural scenery and primeval woodland with the most formal treatment of landscape effects imported from France. As the visitor approaches the house from the north through the winding forest drive, he is not prepared for the sudden transformation which meets his eye when he emerges from the woods on to the terrace overlooking the long basin and the north front of the house. Here everything is laid out with a geometrical nicety and upon the most formal lines. The avenues of poplars lining the straight drives which approach the house from the east and west, and the little formal gardens bordering the loggias at both ends of the house, are French in spirit and in perfect harmony with the architecture of the mansion. In front of the house is a beautifully graded sweep of lawn, and the view of the distant hills is not broken by the presence of a single tree, while the natural forest at the north side of the house affords a splendid back- ground of green, which sets out the white walls of the house to the best advantage. [202] "Martin Hall" The House of James K. Martin, Esq., Great Neck, New York SIHE house of Mr. James E. Martin, at Great Neck, Long Island, is very beautifully H*f i placed on a high cliff that rises abruptly above Little Neck Bay. It is a stately ^1 building in black and red brick, with white terra-cotta trimmings. The corners have channeled pilasters, and in the center of the entrance front is a porte-cochere, two stories in height, supported by Ionic columns. On the right is a long wing containing the kitchen and service rooms, and built out on the cliff on which the house stands, so that on the opposite side it has a lower story with a service entrance. On the water-front the whole of the first story is arcaded, except in the center, with porches within the arches; the walls are supported by piers, with columns at the entrances. In the middle is a large portico, the full height of the house, with a rounded center. Arcaded porches are also built at each end. The main entrance is by the door under the porte-cochere. It opens into a vestibule-like passage, which, however, is not shut off from the interior; on each side is a passage leading to a small room. Directly in face is the great central hall, which serves both as living-room and reception-room. A short passage, with niches on either side, connects the vestibule with it. The hall is very large, two stories in height, and entirely surrounded with a gallery sup- ported on arches. The stairs rise in pleasant curves on either side of the entrance doorway, and form one of the most striking features of this great room. It is an apartment dominated, in a verv unusual degree, by the very extensive woodwork that enters into its construction. This is painted white, and the walls and panels of the ceiling are red. Round columns support the arches of the lower story, which have broad moulded faces and ornamented keystones or cartouches. Similar arches are applied to the wall beneath the gallery, and the doors are surmounted with broken curved pediments. The gallery round the upper floor has a beautiful spindle rail, with slightly projecting balconies in the center of three sides, and channeled columns behind it, with pilasters on the wall, uphold the ceiling. This is arranged in panels with moulded beams and a central skylight. A fireplace is at the farther end on each side under the gallery. Metal lamps hang from the ceiling in the upper gallery, which in itself is an upper room, beautifulh' furnished and with many small pictures and other decorative objects on the walls. The dining-room is on the right, and is two steps lower down than the great hall. The woodwork is white, the walls yellow. There is a high paneled wainscoting supporting curved shelves, on which are placed many fine specimens of blue and white porcelain. The ceiling [203] < w CO ti. o u O h < X < [204] DC « u o '-J h ai O X -1 [205] o < o < o w a: h < Z h < [206] CO W H <: X [207] < < w oi O a: h ►J < 2 h [20S] o o °r 6 z 3 X ►J z h < [209] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS is paneled, with white beams and yellow centers. It opens on to an enclosed porch, lined with brick, with an enclosed bay window beyond a triple archway, both portions forming a part of the series of porches on the water-front of the house. The billiard-room is on the opposite side of the hall. The woodwork is once more white, but the walls are green, and the ceiling has l)ut three large panels, instead of the many small ones which characterize the other rooms. The porch without looks on to a small formal garden in the center of the lawn, containing a sun-dial and two large marble vases. The house stands so close to the edge of the cliff that there is no space for a garden ; but the broad steps of the central portico descend on to a green slope upheld b}' a wall supporting a balustrade. This is interrupted in the center by steps, at the base of which stand marble hons. The terrace wall and balustrade are continued at right angles to the end of the dining-room. The water of the bay is almost directly below, so sheer is the cliff and so abrupt the descent. Quite in the distance are the gray walls of Fort Schuyler, across Long Island Sound. [210] o z w h O o u D § w h < e Oh CO o CO D o X h <; Z O w > w Q O N O o. Q < Q Z w o < X Some California Houses ERHAPS no architecture is so generally regarded as distinctively American and so distinctively modern as that of the houses of the Far West, and particularly those ^T^f^., ^^ California, which follow, as their generic type, the old Spanish Missions. To the Eastern eye, which is very apt to view buildings of every kind as somewhat necessarily modeled on European ideals, and more especially on the ideals of England, France, and Italy, the buildings of a frankly new type, which have become quite prevalent in California of late years, seem to be thoroughly characteristic of our warm Western lands. Their attraction, indeed, is twofold, and consists not alone in the unusual style of their art, but in the thoroughly admirable way in which they meet the local climatic conditions. That many of these buildings have charm, and quite distinctive charm, is true. An old civilization is created afresh in their plastered walls ; an old life is recalled in their spacious plans and rigid outlines; new ideas, and a new treatment of old ideas, here find expression in buildings contemporary with ourselves. The mystery of romance, the poetry of adventure, the fascination of tradition, are stmimed up and vitalized in these houses, which are at once so distinctive and so new. Their charm, however, is not altogether in the novelty of the ideas contained in their design. Yet, more than any other group of buildings, they represent a wholly new note in our national architecture — a note that belongs entirely to them, since they perpetuate the heritage of a different civilization from that which obtains in the East, and they certainly meet climatic and social conditions which are peculiarh' their own. "Hacienda del Pozo de Verona," the House of Mrs. Phcebe A. Hearst. The great country seat of Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst, at Pleasanton, California, to which has been given the picturesque name of the "Hacienda del Pozo de Verona" — the "House of the Well of Verorta" — is a fine type of the distinctively Californian house. It is situated in the Livermore Valley, at the entrance to Niles Canon, not far from San Francisco Bay. And here, on a site commanding a magnificent prospect, and surrounded b}' thousands of acres of vineyards and fruit orchards, Mrs. Hearst has built her country house, in a style that closely approximates a Mexican home of wealth and refinement. It is a building of vast size, with an exterior of utter plainness so far as ornament is concerned, but of considerable dignity and variety in its parts The whole of the exterior structure is covered with cement, and the walls, as required by the climate, are of great thick- ness. The roof is covered with Spanish tiles, and the long water-spouts project far beyond [211] JUt>< [212] < z o W > w Q O N O (X w o < Q Z w u < X f2I3] o oi > w Q O N O Oh J W Q < O Z l-H U <; X [214] Q h (Z) <: w I s o O as U c« D X Z O a!, W > w Q O N O Oh w Q '.''* Q ^^^'/^ *' 'V a: Ik ''''•' ''r O B'"^ X K'-^i CO < [246] w Q <; o w a: Q as O CO <: [247] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The carriage entrance is on the north. Here is a great square pergola, a stately arbor with Doric columns and low rounded archways in the center of two sides — the house forming the fourth side — for the driveways, which in the central space are bounded by octagonal lines enclosing a circle on which stands a sun dial. The pergola is now well covered with vines, but it has quite tinusual stateliness of design. Its base is entirely surrounded with a thick- growing hedge of privet. The entrance porch to the house is small and low, "ASHFORD"— GARDEN STEPS. two Doric cokimns stipporting a finely modeled entablature and pediment. Built-in seats on either side are suggestive of pleasant hospitality. The other parts of the front are thoroughly restrained, the windows plainly set in simple frames, so that the severe cornice is the chief relief of the upper wall. There are four dormers in the pointed roof, the outer ones with two windows, the central pair with one. The severity of this front, therefore, heightens the effect of the splendid pergola in a thoroughly legitimate way. The elements in the design of the south front are very similar, although the treatment is essentially different. Two great pedimented porticoes project from the ends of this front, each with four Doric columns on the front and two on the sides— porticoes quite grandiose in scale, and yet very thoroughly harmonized with the building to which they are attached. A trellised jjorch or pergola connects them just before the house, which, above the center, swells into a bay window. In the center of the garden space between the porticoes is a delicious fountain, l)y Frederick Macmonnies. The general character of the interior is dominated b}' a true Colonial feeling without any regard for archaic effect. <- < CO h [253] o h z o z < h Z w w h W oi' W Q Z < J o a: u o w o w I Z O h < [254] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS It is handsomely finished in dark quartered oak, with a high paneled wainscoting and a heavily beamed ceiling. The open fireplace is faced with Indiana limestone, and the walls are lined with built-in bookcases. A billiard-room is beyond, occupying a special wing projected on the back of the house, whose great brick chimney, directly on the end, is a striking feature of the exterior. It is a Gothic room, with an open timber roof — a splendid room, handsomely furnished, and admirably adapted to its purpose. (( Craigston," the House ot T. C. Hollander, Esq., Wenham, Massachusetts A ]:)leasant drive through a hilly cotmtr}' and past many fine estates forms the approach to Mr. T. C. Hollander's house, at Wenham, Massachusetts. It is placed on the summit of a high hill, which afl:ords magnificent outlooks for many miles around. Wonderful views, indeed, can be had from every part of this house, each hilltop bearing a notable estate, or a rare old farmhouse, whose picturesque qualities have been heightened with age. Most of the land immediately around Mr. Hollander's house has been left in its natural state, uncultivated, so far as modern art might change it, but still bearing " CRAIGSTON "—THE PERGOLA. [255] <: X < Z o h < [256] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS a plentiful foliage of native grass and wild flowers. A spaciovts terrace has been cleared before the house, and beautifully planted with shrubs and flowers— a true garden spot, set among wild surroundings. The house is a long, low, ramljling structure, rough-cast, with exposed timbers; very varied as to heights and roofs, quite unsymmetrical in the disposition of its parts, yet full of a character and charm that pervades and harmonizes the whole and renders it a very interesting bit of design. It is, in point of fact, a group of buildings, homogeneously joined together in a single stmcture, each part with a distinct purpose and an individual form. The residence portion of the house occupies the center of the group. It is two stories in height, with two bay windows as its leading feature, and a high pointed roof, with a gable surmounting one bay window, and a dormer the other. To the left is the music-room, which has a wing to itself, and on the right are the servants' quarters, with the stable on the far end. The entrance front, therefore, is composed of various elements, each with its own particular use— and to this fact it owes its wide extent and undeniable interest. The house is entered through the great hall, which fills the center from front to front, and opens at the farther end on to the terrace at the back. It has a beamed ceihng and a paneled "CRAIGSTON" THE TERRACE FRONT. [257] o o u X Z o H CO o [-^58] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS wainscoting. The woodwork is painted white, and the mantel, of l)rick, is of Colonial design. On the right is a smaller hall, containing the stairs, which is paneled throughout with French walnut, with built-in bookcases. This pleasant, cheerful little room serves also as the library of the house. Behind it is the diiiing-room, with a spreading bay window at the farther end. The woodwork, which includes a paneled wainscoting, is painted white. The chimneyjjiece is built diagonally across one corner, and has a paneled overmantel; in the corresponding corner is a built-in china closet. The walls above the wainscot are blue, and blue curtains and a blue i"ug complete the color scheme. On the opposite side of the hall, the front of the house has a beautiful little reception-room or sun-parlor, brilliantly lighted with windows, which fill much of its outer walls. Behind "CRAIGSTON "— A PORCH. 259] o>- W O >■ < h O cs < O w P o X w CO o 1 o CO < h [260] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS it is the billiard-room, which is finished in oak. The paneled wainscoting is tinted a very dark green; the walls above are painted in a green-and-white lattice design. There is a brick fireplace, and the sash curtains are of green silk. The music-room is beyond, and fills a wing of its own. It is a large room, especially built for the immense pipe organ which is its principal contents. The open beamed roof is in oak, as IS the rest of the woodwork. There is a high paneled wainscot : the upper walls are left in rough plaster of a yellow tint. The fireplace is of Caen stone, and the windows of leaded glass. The grounds around the house are well equipped for outdoor sports. There are tennis courts, tracks for hurdle racing, and other provisions for delighting the sportsman and providing for his entertainment. "Talbot House," the House of Talbot J. Taylor, Esq., Cedarhurst, New York. Mr. Taylor's house is a rambling structure, pleasantly environed in the agreeable landscape for which Cedarhurst and the near-by places are famed. It is built partly in brick and partly in half-timber work. The irregular plan lends itself very happily to the tmibered gables, many dormers, and fine chimney stacks, which constitute the external features. The house was not, indeed, built all at one time. The oldest wing, closely covered with ivy, is now apportioned to the service; but the new parts have been so happily harmonized with each other and with the older structure that the house is, in a very complete sense, a thorovighly harmonized composition. This is the more note- worthy since the external architectural expression is decidedly irregular and varied. The larger part of the main building is two stories in height, with a sloping roof. The general plan consists of a main part, containing the entrance hall and the drawing-room, with two forked branches running out at different angles, the larger one of which abuts against a pavilion con- taming the library. The picturesque architecture of the half-timbered upper story, the high pitched roofs, and the gay and ingeniously varied dormers are delightful expressions of this irregular ground plan. The house is entered through a glazed and latticed porch, thickly overgrown with ivy. The hall is paneled in oak, very darkly stained, square, plain panels, without ornament and without cornice, rising directly to the plaster ceiling, which is decorated with an elaborate geometrical design, the patterns otitlined in moulded ornament decorated with scrolls and foliage. The staircase rises immediately to the right of the entrance door, and is continued above it, the level here being a few steps below that of the main floor. On one side is the fire- place, the stone facing of which supports a simple shelf. Flanking the fireplace stand two great bronze candelabra. The hall contains some handsomely carved oak chests, and rich [261] z < lit: h z w w X h w P o X h O < fcji;'.!.. ..^Ll^li^^tiL^'^^'i-": [262] h 2 O c< O <: as W h w M h w (/J o O PQ <: [263] <: w w CO D O X h O J <: h [264] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS tables and chairs com])lete its furnishings. A beautiful rug is laid on the center of the dark -stained floor. To the right is the drawing-room, paneled in wood like the hall ; but the design is dis- tincth- richer, and the upper panels above a moulding, form a frieze of small squares, each beautifully carved. The ceiling is beamed, with plain white panels. The fireplace is a simple Tudor arch cut in the stone facing; the arch is surmounted by a slender shelf carried on car\-ed supports, and with panels formed below it. Immediately opposite the entrance door is a large bay window, almost completely glazed and opening on to the end porch, by which it is com- pletely surrounded. On either side of this opening, and on either side of the doorway, are fine old lantern standards. The draperies are rich red velvet; the furniture is old gold covered with tapestry; and on one side is a superb open cabinet, elaborately carved. Directly opposite the main doorway, in the hall, is a door that leads to an enclosed porch or sun-parlor. The door by which it is entered opens on to a balcony or gallery, for the main floor is some steps lower down and is paved with brick. Fine palms and other plants are placed here, and in one corner is a fountain. Farther on, in the hall, the corner forms a passage, by which the dining-room and farther parts of the house are entered. The plan changes its direction here, affording charming vistas of farther rooms so devised that only small parts can be seen— an arrangement that is delightfully suggestive of mystery and extent. From this corner the service quarters branch off to the left, while t,he other main rooms are continued on the right. The service quarters are quite extensive, with pantries, kitchen, and .servants' - dining-room on the main floor, laundry below, and sleeping-room above. The dining-room is distinctly gallery -like in plan, with two sides brilliantly lighted by wide groups of muUioned windows. The walls, almost white in color, are plastered, with slender, strip-like wood pilasters m the comers, angles, and other points of emphasis. The pilasters carry a narrow strip of wood, which serves as the cornice. The white ceiling is di^•ided into great oblong panels by heavy beams, covered with a richly plastered decoration. The gen- erous fireplace has a rare old frontispiece, richly car^'ed in stone. The floor is laid in large blocks of black and white marble, and the curtains, which are partly spread upon the floor, are in beautiful dark mauve damask. The same material is used in the chair coverings, the heavily carved chairs and dining table being of quite unusual beauty. The sideboard, oppo- site the fireplace, is also beautifully carved. The doors on the two ends of the room are glazed m small squares. The radiators are placed within a wainscoted screen beneath the windows. Beyond the dining-room is the superb library, which is of truly magnificent dimen- sions. It is the largest, the sunniest, the most cheerful room in the house, and the most inter- esting both in its decorations and in its situation. The doors from the dining-room open on to a balcony, below which is the library. The room is so very large that, without the increased height given by this unusual arrangement, it would have been too low. But the balcony is at once its most important and ornamental feature. It is a broad passage, enclosed within piers and arches, with a pierced balustrade of intricate design. On the outer face the piers are [265] O O 6 z td o h O ca <; [266] o o 6 z z 5 w X h w D O X O [267] >- < pa J w K h w D O H O CQ i [268] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS ornamented with gaines. To the left is a staircase to the upper floor. The dehcate Tudor arches of the arcade are repeated as a wall pattern on the entrance wall, and the ceiling design- large sciuares containing circles— is identical with that of the rest of the room. The great fireplace, like most of those in the house, is of quite rigid simplicity; luit above it is richly paneled in carved wood. The spacious windows admit a flood of light, and the larger part of the walls is lined with bookcases, above which are a number of paintings that show to advantage on the dull gold with which the room is finished. There are wonderful space and comfort in this room, which, although located structurally at the very end of the house, is its real center and social head. The second story is wholly given up to bedrooms. They are of many shapes and sizes, with some quite unexpected combinations that are due to the irregularity of the plan. At the extreme left, over the drawing-room and porch, are Mr. and Mrs. Taylor's own rooms, three in number. The first is a boudoir, and from this the two bedrooms open. Both are alike in plan. They are lighted with dormers, which give the ceiling the shape of a gambrel roof, and they are lined throughout— both walls and ceilings— with oval or oblong ''panels. Red and white tapestries add very distinctly to the great charm of these apartments. The grounds surrounding "Talbot House" are quite extensive, although, as Cedarhurst is thronged with estates and summer homes, the absolute extent is, of course, somewhat limited. The outer buildings include an extensive stable .and vast conservatories, while the squash court should not be overlooked. Beyond the lawn, below the end porch, is a beautiful enclosed garden, shut in with high hedges, but planted in good taste. [269] CO W z o Q OS D w a: o w h < H W U ac h I w O a; < C D C z [270] The American Garden ^f-^—'i The Old-Time Garden. HE beauty of the old-time garden never lessens. Year after year it has bloomed its fine old flowers; year after year its hedges have thriven, its box borders grown greener and greener, its flowers more and more redolent of the simple life of the past. Very beautiful these fine old garden spots are, and very rare, for the march of progress and the changes in taste have swept so many of them awa}' that comparatively few have survived to delight the eye and enchant the fancy of contemporary folk. The verv rarity of these gardens — of good old gardens, of old gardens well grown and well preserved, of old gardens that to-day are as brimful of old plants as of }'ore— adds vastly to the present-day appreciation of them. The jiassion for antiques is now well-nigh universal, and old gardens are among the rarest of antiquities, because their survival has meant, in most cases, more years of continuous care and thought than Americans, as a people, are apt to lavish on any object. The old garden has had to be maintained and tended year after year, and from sheer love of its beauty and old-timehness. Its survival is hardly short of a miracle. The old-time gardens teach a rare lesson of constant care and uninterrupted interest. They have not survived by accident nor through inherent sturdiness of growth. Their stout old plants have needed constant replenishing; the l)orders of box have yearned for trimming; the paths have cried aloud for cleaning; the shrubbery must be cut, and the ^'ines trained, and the whole kept in that spick-and-span orderliness which seems so charmingh- characteristic of old-time life. The old-time garden makers were not concerned with the mighty jiroblems which now beset the designers of modern fine gardens. The materials at their hands were few and unim- portant. They planted shrubs easy of cultivation ; they made borders of ])lants close at hand ; they planted the seeds of ready growing annual plants, and were content to watch their sim|3le flowers grow and bloom and transform what may have been a waste into a bower of color and foHage. The homehness of the plants was the best evidence of the dee])-seated love of the old garden maker. He knew little of vistas and axes, and of garden architecture he had never heard; but out of the simple plants that thrived in the open soil he created gardens that, when they have survived, have been sources of unending joy to those who knew them, who walked in their narrow paths, and loved each simple old-time flower. [-^71] w Z 2 a < O O h < h w w u, ^1 Z G oi < O h D O [272] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The old-tiine garden was an individual garden. It would be a mistake to su]:.pose that the gardener, the specialist in garden making, is a new-fashioned adjunct to the country house. The modern gardener differs from the old gardener exactly as the modern garden differs from the old garden. But ever and always the old-time garden was an individual garden, a garden in which the master and mistress took a definite personal interest, a garden in which the mistress often labored with her own hands, and which she regarded as her very own, not alone by right of ownership, but by right of actual labor. The old-time garden is a modest garden, alive with the "common" plants. But every one of these lovely old plants— and many others— has a real inherent beauty of its own, and as inherently present in the single plant as in a whole border. If they are "common," it surely can not be because they are coarse and ugly, but because they can be so readily grown, because so many grow them, and because of their easy culture, that they seem scarcely of the same class as the more difficulth' grown plants of the costly modern garden. The old-time garden was planned on the simple idea of using plants that grew easily and naturally, with perhaps the slightest effort, and certainly with the utmost flowering. It was not splendor that was sought, but charm, the charm of foliage and of color, per- haps chiefly the charm of color. Plants that gave these results were eagerly sought after and industriously cultivated. It is highly significant that, beatx- tiful as these old gardens must have been in the days of their first blooming, they are beau- tiful to-day, and do not suffer in interest in comparison with the more pretentious efforts of the modern gardener. THE GARDEN OF " WELD "—THE GAZEBO. [-'73] ~T"WJffff^^*W^. D. < < h D O w X h a CO M z o C/3 O z < N a: < O < h W O z o a: < O h [274] AMERICAN P:STATES AND GARDENS The Garden ot "Weld," Brookline, Massachusetts. THE TERRACE STEPS. The making of Italian gar- dens is the most characteristic tendency of garden craft in America. It is an art so refined and beautiful, that is so finely effective, that gives so much pleasure and possesses so much absolute beauty in itself, that it is no wonder our landscapes are being Italianized, and our great houses, when it can be fittingly done, embowered in that for- mal surrounding of architecture, sculpture, and plants that the garden makers of Italy knew so well how to use. That this type of garden has aroused the utmost enthusiasm in this country is established by its frequency, and that it has led to many very beautiful results is apparent from many of the garden views in these pages. The Italian garden is an architectural garden — that is to say, architecture, and its great sister art of sculpture, are essential elements in its design. The house — and the garden 'exists only for the house — must be of an art and design that will harmonize with the somewhat severe forms of classic art in which the Italian gar- den has found architectural expres- sion. The architectural setting of the garden — the enclosing walls, the pergolas, the rest places, the seats, the niches — may then be as elabo- rate as one chooses or as simple. The one quality that leads to success in the making of an Italian garden is harmony. Beautiful it must be, but beauty is inseparable from a work of art. The garden must l:)e harmonious in plan; its THE TERMINALS OF THE BOWLING GREEN. [275] ¥^^:z} D O w h O w Q a! < w H [276] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS parts must be in harmony one with another; there must be no discordant note; each part must be so designed and arranged as to contribute its quota toward the effect of the whole. For every garden must be a whole, in which every plant and tree, every stone, every elaborated architectural device, every piece of sculpture, every single element that has place in it, is subordinated to finality of effect. The beautiful garden of "Weld," which forms a portion of the estate of Larz Anderson, at Brookline, Massachusetts, is a fine type of the Italian garden in America, designed with a wealth of architectural accessories, and planted with discrimination and taste. The architectural framework is confined to the bounding enclostire. It is nearly square in plan, with a built-up enclosure of terrace and balustrades on the sides, and a pergola at the ^^' VENETIAN WELL AND GAZEBO. GRECIAN POT. end farthest from the house. In the space before the pergola is the fountain, a very beautiful old piece of work. It stands at one end of the niall, which runs through the center. On either side are spaces with flower beds arranged symmetricalh', while tubs with bay trees are placed at intervals. The mall and flower beds are at the lowest level of the garden. Toward the outer edge is a higher walk, paved with brick, and the highest level is reached in the enclosing walk, which is on a level with the gazebos. There are two of these, placed at the comers nearest the house. The formal garden is shut off from the house by a grove of trees. A beautiful bowling green stretches between the grove and the house. The latter stands on the apex of the high hill on which the estate is situated. [277] CO < P Z <; o Q I— I oi n w h a O a oi O w C O u h <; h en W w h H O O < O o s z [278] < Z D O Q Z < U < W h Q D O O w o X w a: o< O z < 5 o w en AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The Garden of "Georgian Court," 1/akewood, New Jersey. The fine propei'ty of Mr. Geoi-ge J. Gould, at Lakewood, New Jersey, has, from its first development, excited much ptiblic interest. The house, placed among the pines that throng the grounds around it, was the favorite work of its architect, the late Bruce Price, and the garden, which was developed some years after the house had been finished, was one of his latest designs. It is a truly sumptuous garden, most elaborate in its architectural setting, stateh' in its dimensions, splendid in its planting and arrangement. The conditions that attended its creation were exacth' those that were favorable to fine realiza- tion. The owner is a man of culture, and possessed of a fine appreciation of art and art values; there was great wealth, without which rare and costly works of art can not be produced or accjuired; there was a fine site — for nature had already made the frame that awaited only the creative touch of the designer. And that was the last essential, and in some respects the most important. For a true artist can redeem the most barren landscape, as Le Notre and his associates showed at Versailles, and as has been shown many a time again where barren spots have been made to bloom with undying beauty of nature and art. But Mr. Gould was fortunate enough to have as his architect a man of profoundly keen artistic temperament, who saw a magnificent opportunity in the creation of this garden, and who rose to the full limit of his opportunity. Thus, under Mr. Price's guidance, and with an enthusiasm that was almost limitless, the grounds around the Gould house were trans- formed, embellished, adorned, and glorified. It is neither necessary nor helpful to compare this garden with any other; it is sufficient that it is fine and distinctive, and these two words sum up about the utmost limit of praise of any work of art. Mr. Price's perception of proportion and fitness was seldom better illustrated than here. His task was to create a garden, and he did that and A MARBLE SEAT. A GROUP OF STATUARY. [279] h Z D O W X h P o u z <; 3 aJ O W a 280] "GEORGIAN COURT"— A WELL HEAD. "GEORGIAN COURT"— THE GARDEN. ,[281] < O y H u w w w H O o < a o a [282] [283] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS TERRACE STEPS. nothing else. When architecture was needed for retaining-walls and balustrades, for pergolas and exhedras, it was called into use, and architectural adjuncts employed exactly whei"e they were needed and nowhere else. And the same fine rule runs through the whole work. Broad paths lead to points of interest and create fine vistas. Foliage is grown where it will help in the creation of a work of beauty. Vases, statuary, fountains, and seats are placed where they, too, have a definite note in the general effect. Some of these ornaments are of rare interest — all of them are of unusual grace and richness ; for a perfect whole can not be made out of imperfect parts. The electrical fountain, designed by J. Massey Rhind, the sculptor, is a case in point. It consists of a white marble basin, sixty feet in diameter. The centerpiece is a colossal nautilus THE GARDEN. [284] AMERICx'YN ESTATES AND GARDENS shell in lironze, forming the chariot, in which stands the driver of a pair of white marble sea horses. White marble sea nymjihs are pla^'ing in the water. On the front of the shell is an octopus, and in the top of this is set a sheet of glass. The inner and outer walls of the shell are sufihciently wide to allow for an electrical attachment and lamps, which, when lighted with the colored lights, throw the color through a circle of manv small jets. The effect is enhanced bv six jets of water falling on the central group. Mrs. John L. Gardner's Garden, Brookline, Massachusetts. Mrs. John L. Gardner's garden, in Brookline, Massachusetts, is the result of twenty years of continuous growth and cultivation under one owner. This fact is of special interest, for most of the fine gardens of our time have been created in a few months or in a year or two, and represent a definite idea carried to realization within a very brief period. Gardening art, as it is now understood, was scarcely known in America when Mrs. Gardner began the arrangement of her beautiful grounds, and her garden, therefore, has been slowly evolved, although long ago brought to its present high state of culti^'ation. The estate is a considerable one, comprising about forty acres. The intelligent care that has been lavished on it for so many vears has long since made it one of the "show" places THE GARDEN OF MRS. JOHN L. GARDNER. [285] O X u D O h w h a Z Q < z o Ci. O Z 'A Q a: < o X H [286] o o Oh J w X h I OS w Q a: < 2 X O [1. o z w Q < o w h [287] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS of Massachusetts. There are lovely lawns, well-kept walks shaded with bamboo trellises covered with vines, great masses of brilliant colors, rhododendrons, azaleas, peonies, roses, hardy phlox, dahlias, and many other flowering shrubs according to their season, beautifully planted, with a very fine appreciation of their blooming values. There are trees, also, many so fine and rare and of svich grace and size as to be veritable treasures. The grounds are so large, so well wooded, so com])letel>- cultivated, that the estate con- sists, in a sense, of a series of gardens, so varied is the treatment, so constant the surprise of fresh beaut>- that each part presents. One large portion is entirely enclosed within a hedge of fir trees. Low rows of box border the walks, and in the center is a fountain — Neptune standing proudly on a sea monster. Roses grow profuseh- in this space, and many other plants, the season's rapid march being noted in quick succession of exquisite flowerings, so skilfully planted that each seems quite predominating in its own special time. Farther up on the hill are ponds, in which are tubs and jars of aquatic plants, many of great rarity, and flourishing with that profusion of growth which is the satisfying testimony to careful tending. A Jap- anese summer house has been built between the ponds, a simple little house, distinctly THE ARBOR. [288] < O o l-H /J Oh W h [291] < o a w Oh U h o>. CO w of o ►J >■ <; w Z G < X h THE STEPS ON THE TERRACE, ame;rican estates and gardens When j^lanted these trees were very small, and for twenty years their growth was retarded twice annually in order to induce a compact and close habit. Many of them are now more than forty feet in height and sixty feet in circumference, the hemlocks especially having been highly successful. A terrace garden borders the lake. Below, it is contained within a marble retaining-wall ; above is a pavilion, with red roof tiles, supported by red sandstone. The terraces have been treated as Italian gardens. To the south of the house is a fine grove of pines, including an avenue bordering a walk. Beyond them is the rhododendron garden, with'^'a trellised arbor, to which curtains may be attached to shelter delicate jolants. To the left of the rhododendron garden is the holly path, between beautifully rounded hedges of arbor-vitae. Beyond the hedges are the greenhouses, stables, and jflower garden. In the height of sunmier, the flower garden is filled with rich bloom, and here, in the autumn, is a magnificent display of chrysanthemums. The Hunnewell estate has long since demonstrated many important facts in American horticulture. Mr. Hunnewell has shown that, in fifty years, it is possible, with suitable care and attention, to produce a garden in this country which for beauty and elaborateness will favorably compare with many Old World gardens. He has shown, further, that American trees and shrubs, or trees that are hardy in this country, are as capable of formal treatment as the trees more ordinarily used for such purposes abroad. He has demonstrated that many trees of many varieties may he artistically grouped, and that an outdoor museum of plants may be as attractive and as beautiful as though their beauty and adaptability to beatitiful effects were the chief objects sovight. The Garden of Moses Taylor, Esq., Mount Kisco, New York. The beautiful garden attached to the country home of Moses Taylor, Esq., at Mount Kisco, New York, is a further illustration of the formal garden in America. It is not large, but has been designed with fine taste, with a small pool and fountain in the center, and a pergola closing the vista and overlooking the valley below the house. The plan includes an interesting arrangement of beds of flowers and shrubbery, and is an excellent illustration of the fine effects in landscape gardening which can be accompHshed within comparatively restricted areas. Mr. Taylor's garden, however, is quite ample for the house. 293J THE GARDEN OF MOSES TAYLOR, ESQ.— THE TERRACE. THE GARDEN OF MOSES TAYLOR, ESQ.— THE FORMAL GARDEN. 294] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS The terrace is very beautiful. It has been wisely planned on the simplest lines — a mere open space among the tree tops, whose size is enhanced by its situation and by the great trees which immediateh- surround it. The stately balustrade is properly broken and supported by pedestals and piers, and the single vases appropriately mark off the borders of the space toward the house. It is an excellent example of good results accomplished by direct means and in the most direct way. The Garden of Alfred Nathan, Esq., Elberon, New Jersey. The garden of Alfred Nathan, Esq., at Elberon, New Jersey, is, in a quite literal sense, a garden by the sea. The entrance driveway describes a circle before the house, and encloses a fountain — a beautiful circular pool, with a gracefvtl little figure of a bo}^ embracing a swan. Stone seats are placed at intervals in the path around the fountain. The formal garden, on the right of the house, is a large rectangular area, reached by marble steps and laid out in paths which cross each other at right angles, meeting in a central circle, in which is a sun-dial. A MARBLE SEAT IN MR. NATHAN'S GARDEN. 295] '-^ -C Oi w z <; X < z; Q w J < O z w Q < O w h < h Z o [2y6j l2'J7l w D O X w X h OS O w o < w h w h w -J h oa U < m O w O oi < w h [298] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS At the farther end is a great stone semicircular seat, with vases on either side. Other seats, rectangular in form and beautifully carved, are ])laced at the ends of the cross path. Behind the house is a grassed space, laid out in garden style, and immediately beyond is the ocean, the estate being directly on the edge of the water. It is a beautiful, open situation, devoid of trees, it is true, but the omission is largely compensated for by the delightful manner in which the garden has been planted with shrubs and flowers. The Garden of Francis Bartlett, Esq., Prides Crossing, Massachusetts. The garden of Mr. Francis Bartlett, at Prides Crossing, Massachusetts, is a striking example of the fine gardens with which the eastern part of Massachusetts is thronged. It is thoroughly individual in design and in development, a spot of wonderful natural beauty, to which art has given a special note of charm and completeness. A long, winding driveway leads up through lovely woods to the house. Just before it is reached the road passes be- tween two magnificent Japan- ese bronze lanterns. The house stands on a terrace, the road within a balustrade, in the semicircular projections of which are placed immense bronze Japanese vases, gigantic works of art with delicately elaborated surfaces. There are large jars of Japanese pottery on the balustrade piers. In the center, immediately be- fore the house, is a vast Japanese basin of bronze, with a bronze water fowl beside it, standing on a mass of rocks thickly planted with ferns and rock shrubs. A flight of steps descends from the center of the terrace to the formal garden. Its flower beds form an elaborate geomet- rical design, bordered with box, and beautifully planted with THE BRONZE BASIN AND FERNERY. [299] z cq O < O < o Ci. Oi h- u z <: a: b. o Z Q X AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS evergreens, shi-ubs, and lirilliantly flowering annuals. In the middle of the central path is a richly carved well head, and at 'ts end a trellised arlwr. And all around the garden, completely shutting it in rom the outer world, so completely, in fact, that no hint is given of the street immediately without and below, are trees, great forest trees, of magnificent height and foliage, a curtain wall of luscious green, at once impenetrable and lovely, adding to the beauty of the spot and giving it unexpected charm and mystery. A Terraced Garden. The terraced garden is the natural garden of the mountain side. It may, indeed, l)e considered a type quite apart by itself, since a garden seems instinctively to belong to level ground, and one built tier above tier is so rare as to be exceptional. This very unusual garden is, however, beautifully illustrated in the estate of Mr. O. D. Munn, at Llewellyn Park, Orange, New Jersey. The mountain side rising behind the house has been converted into terraces, leveled and faced with grass, and laid out in pleasing variety. Yet in this garden, as in many other successful gardens, the natural configuration of the land forms the basis of the floral ornamentation. The house stands against a slope of the Orange Mountain, which rises to a considerable height above it. This at once determines the garden and its special forms. The hillside must, indeed, be left bare, or subjected to ornamental treatment, and ornamental treatment both demands and necessi- tates the terrace as its leading feature, if it does not preclude the use of everything else. This, however, amounts to no limitation what- ever in the hands of capable garden designers; on the contrary, the very idea is so novel and so interesting that an additional zest is given to the solution of a problem that is especially fascinating through its very difficulty. And the creation of a garden whose chief feature is to be a series of terraces, ranged one above the other, involves difficulties of arrangement and disposition which will not be apparent at the first conception of the idea. Shall the terraces V)e treated alike, rising in tier above tier in solemn succession of identical forms? Shall they be wholly ornamental, or will it be possible to put some of them, at least, to A MARBLE SEAT. 501] i4 < Z CO U < Pi w h h [302 z w Q < O < si O b- W h [303] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS some utilitarian puqDOSe? And if the planting is to be varied, in what way and to what extent shall it be done? The relationship of the garden to the house, and its own natural declivity, vetoed at once any suggestion for broad terraces with considerable horizontal surfaces. A rising series was, therefore, determined upon, as at once the most natural and the best basis of design. The terraces are artificial in so far as the}- have been given regular form and have been leveled and faced with grass, liut they closely follow the basic outline of the natural slope, to which they bear the relationshi]) of a crown and ornament. Standing, as it does, on a hillside, the front of the house overlooks a vast stretch of territorv, the view Ijeing over lawns and roads, fields and trees, with New York itself — a mere speck in the landscape — dimly visible at the farthest point. The terraces are at the Ijack of the house, rising far above it to a lofty grove of trees, where a pleasant summer house, reached liy the long succession of steps, affords another lookout upon the country below and the land l)eyuml. The first terrace alxjve the driveway is a sloping grass bank, adorned with a marble fountain, copied from an Italian church font. The second terrace is a true formal garden, some fifty feet wide and se\-eral hundred feet long. It is of such ample size that room is afforded for quite extensive floral embelHshment. It is, therefore, laid out in typical foiTnal style, with graveled paths arranged in a geometrical design, paths bordered with box and low A TERRACE. 1.304] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS THE SUN-DIAL. hedges, enclosing shruljs and plants of great variety. It is not the least remarkable charac- teristic of this very interesting garden that, save the bay trees and the annuals — and of the latter there are a plenty — it is planted throughout with hardy American shrubs, or with those of foreign origin that flourish well in this climate. Many varieties of box and cypress have been used here, and in a most effective way. The annuals give the color notes that are V)Oth abundant and beautiful. Everything like carpet gardening has been avoided, and the annuals planted for effect of color only— great masses of bloom and foliage, splendid in their massing, yet the simplest method, and the one which yields the best results. This formal garden on this single terrace is so large in size, and has reahzed so completely the purpose of its designer, that, were there nothing else, the garden would still have great interest. But it is the other terraces — there are nine in all — which give the distinctive character to this estate. Above the formal garden comes the kitchen garden. In most estates these two would be quite widely separated, possibly by lawns and paths, certainly by green hedges, which would hide the homely kitchen garden from its brilliant neighbor. But in the present case there was no room for th^'s great surface development; nor, indeed, was there necessity for it; for the terraces supphed ample room for Ijoth gardens [305] AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS by the very simple device of planting their edges or borders with flowering plants, while the humbler vegetables flourished within and behind them. Low flowering plants are used for the lower borders, and higher ones for the upper, a system that perfectly maintains the individuality of the terraces. Had high flowering plants been used on the lower terraces, the individual effect of each would, to a certain extent, have become confused. The system that has been followed gives each terrace its own character, which is ftxrther heightened by the development of a careful color scheme, each terrace having a well marked color of its own. Thus, one has a border of red; another is rich in yellow; in a third, purple will be the chief color, while blue and white or other shades are represented in others. All these borders are so laid out that each plant in its season is followed by another variety, so that the entire garden will be in gorgeous bloom the entire summer. At the stmimit, and on the sides, the whole of this great ascending garden is enclosed within a thick forest growth, that frames it splendidly and beatttifully helps in giving it individuality. It is thus no unrelated spot upon the hillside, but a complete and finished garden, novel in design and arrangement, and yet so completely natural that no other kind of a garden could have been developed here or been so effective. ,,"1 ^>- [306] 'NA?fclO,f4 SCDI 3^5002 00343 3880 ' esiHies and g.irdpns, '?^f77 m m ^iipi?il ^Jffi'li x>r 'i^Si'^Kfei^l ;Sffi:5S?ji;«i£i^ i^i^'Oii^^^H - -it:- -■ 'i :■■< J*i:i'