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] 



