368 



HOUSES. AMERICAN COUNTRY-SEATS. 



hall, and a circle-headed window into the bill- 

 iard-room, with ornamental panels in glass and 

 lead-work. The piazza, forty feet by twenty, 

 extends diagonally from the parlor, on a piece 

 of land that overhangs the water. There are 

 four towers, nil of the same height, and three 

 of them of stone. (The tower treatment is 

 conspicuous also in Mr. Joseph H. Choate's 

 house, designed by the same architects, at 

 Stockbridge, Mass.; see illustration, p. 367.) 



The hall mantel-piece, two stories high, has 

 an enormous fire-opening, and a wind-gauge 

 connected with the weather-vane. The case- 

 ment windows, above wide seats, overlook 

 the Sound. The paneled wainscoting of Eng- 

 lish oak is elaborately carved in the moldings, 

 while mahogany has been used in finishing the 

 parlor, and Santo Domingo mahogany in fin- 

 ishing the dining-room. The reception-room 

 is of pine, painted white and gilded. The part 

 of the building at the right of the covered 

 driveway is separate in design, and intended 

 as a winter-quarters, with hall, billiard-room, 

 smoking-room, dining-room, and bedrooms of 

 its own. A gallery extends around three sides 

 of the main hall in the larger part of the 

 structure. Mr. G. N. Black's house at Man- 

 chester-by-the-Sea(see illustration, p. 366) also 

 shows a large driveway through the entire 

 depth of the building. 



In the beautiful villa of William Simp- 

 son, Jr., at Overbrook, near Philadelphia, the 

 architect, Theophilus P. Chandler, Jr., has 

 adopted some features of the old French style. 

 The material is local granite, trimmed with 

 buff Ohio sandstone ; the length is one hun- 

 dred and five feet, and the depth fifty-six feet. 

 As seen in our illustration (p. 369), the north side 

 presents a group of five stained-glass windows, 

 another group of stained-glass windows defin- 

 ing the course of the principal stairs, and a 

 third group lighting the servants' stairs. The 

 oaken hall, twenty-four feet by twenty, has a 

 wainscoting five feet high, a ceiling of open- 

 timber work, and a mantel of carved quarter- 

 oak, with fire-facing of carved English red 

 sandstone. In the reception-room and parlor 

 the trimming is of mahogany ; in the library 

 and dining - room, of walnut. Four stained- 

 glass windows on the landing of the principal 

 staircase give aocess to a balcony with an 

 elaborate wought-iron railing. The heating is 

 by low-pressure steam indirectly radiated, and 

 each toilet-room is connected with the kitchen 

 flue by a two-inch spiral ventilating pipe of 

 galvanized iron. 



Certain French and English features appear 

 in the roof and windows of Travis C. Van Bu- 

 ren's house at Tuxedo Park (see illustration, p. 

 370), but taken altogether it is as original a piece 

 of work as this country has produced. The 

 architect is Mr. Bruce Price, and attention will 

 be directed, first, to the large central shingled 

 portal, bending inward in a great curve, and 

 strong in contrasts of light and shade ; second- 

 ly, to the absence of cornices and trimmings, 



the shingles running up to the stiles, and the 

 casements hanging directly upon them ; third- 

 ly, to the convex, flexible lines of the gables, 

 which, being neither straight nor stiff, give an 

 impression of lightness and of life ; and fourth- 

 ly, to the mechanical excellence of the shing- 

 ling itself, all the courses correctly meeting one 

 another, and not tolerating defects that might 

 have been hidden by a molding. The interior 

 finish is unostentatious, and the entire cost did 

 not exceed ten thousand dollars. 



Chinese and Japanese houses have recently 

 been constructed in California, several of them 

 at great expense. In Florida are five or six 

 important Moorish houses, the most notable 

 of which is that of Franklin W. Smith, 

 called the Villa Zorayda, at St. Augustine, 

 designed by the owner after sketches made in 

 Spain and northern Africa. The material is 

 the French leton, or concrete, of a pearly gray 

 tint. Two porches, jutting from the upper 

 stories, show light lattice-work. Over the 

 front entrance of the house is an Arabic in- 

 scription in heavy relief, to the effect that 

 " There is no conqueror but God." The court 

 is surrounded by horse-shoe arches, orna- 

 mented with an abundance of delicate tracery 

 and supported on slender gray pillars. Many 

 fac similes of Arabic inscriptions appear in va- 

 rious places. The staircase is a copy of a pulpit 

 staircase in a Cairo mosque. Divans are placed 

 around the smoking-room, and fcgee-cups and 

 a nargileh await the convenience* of guests. 

 The fire-place of the dining-room has the shape 

 of an arch well known in Constantinople. In 

 short, this house is thoroughly Moorish with- 

 out and within. 



The feature of the interior of Mr. Robert 

 Goelet's house at Newport is the magnitude 

 and beauty of the two-story hall, its length 

 being forty-four feet, its width thirty feet, and 

 its height twenty-four feet. A gallery sup- 

 ported on columns and arches extends around 

 the second story, its balustrade being of turned 

 spindles of oak. The walls are heavily pan- 

 eled with the same wood, and hung with im- 

 mense pieces of old tapestry. Much carving 

 appears in the decoration, especially in the rich 

 leaf- work of the large brackets that support 

 the shelves of the chimney-piece. The orna- 

 mental massive brackets of brass are in the 

 form of candelabra, and a curious piece of 

 furniture is an antique carved and canopied 

 bedstead, which serves the purpose of a divan. 



One of the largest houses in the suburbs of 

 Philadelphia, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 

 is divided by the architects, Messrs. G. W. 

 and W. D. Hewitt, into six parts: First, the 

 large porte-cochere, with its circular bartizan 

 tower, ten feet in diameter and seventy-two 

 feet high ; second, the house proper ; third, 

 the servants' hall, kitchen, and laundries ; 

 fourth, the carriage-house connected therewith 

 by a covered way ; fifth, the covered shed ; 

 and, sixth, the stable. The advantages sought 

 by this method of construction are, first, mag- 



