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 



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