146 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE 



laundry, man's room, refrigerator and storerooms, shower room for 

 the athlete, tool room and billiard room, the latter with arched and 

 settled stone fireplace that would rouse to the joy of living the most 

 phlegmatic and pessimistic skeptic or indifferent stupid tyke. 



Returning to the first floor, one passes under the big cement- 

 sheathed and terra cotta fire-protected steel I-beams that stiffen 

 the house immensely and carry the north side of the hall, and 

 climbs the broad stairs to the 20 x 40 foot second story hall, which, 

 wainscoted and beamed, forms a vaulted room from which tran- 

 somed French windows lead to the west balcony. 



In the forty-foot staircase tower, half way to the third floor the 

 flight is broken by a projecting mahogany railed balcony which seems 

 suspended in mid-air. The stair turns and lands between columns 

 on the third floor, w r here are rooms and baths for guests. 



There is a fourth floor for servants and above that the lookout. 



All bathrooms are tiled, fixtures of the best, properly back-aired, 

 and with chimney ventilation. 



Hanging Balcony. 



Scant head room under the curved balcony leading to the third 

 floor prevented the use of twelve inch wooden girders. Instead of 

 the ugly chain-hung-from-ceiling method, two pieces of heavy iron 

 trolley rail placed through double walls one a closet wall and 

 fastened thoroughly by braces, gave a fine holding purchase. On this 

 the balcony was built, and it is as solid as the proverbial meat axe. 



Drachenfels has a boulder stone foundation, sides of stucco pan- 

 eled with chestnut timbers, and roof of stain-dipped shingles. (It 

 should have been of slate or tile.) Plate glass is used in all lower, 

 and clear leaded glass in all upper windows, except twenty or more 

 which are of stained glass. There are balconies from bedrooms and 

 balconies from halls, their floors canvas covered ; window seats boxed 

 full length for dresses, many windows columned, and with suitably 

 colored leaded light, specially designed stained glass transoms for 

 halls, dining room, library, parlor and bedrooms, and hard wood floors 

 throughout the house, some with parquetry borders, but avoiding 

 sharp color contrast which tends to curtail the size of a room. 



Twin Chimneys. 



The chimneys of Drachenfels are stone, and one of its chief 

 motifs is shown in the twin chimneys, one at either side of the amber- 

 hued 16x16 foot leaded north window. Indeed, Drachenfels fairly 

 teems with motifs. The first floor, each room of which has broad 

 sliding doors, converting the large area into one room at will ; the 

 twelve foot wide stairway, the stair hall alcove with its forty foot 

 height and striking leaded windows, and the mid-air balcony are all 

 well worth working out. 



