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 



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