AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS 



tables and chairs com])lete its furnishings. A beautiful rug is laid on the center of the 

 dark -stained floor. 



To the right is the drawing-room, paneled in wood like the hall ; but the design is dis- 

 tincth- richer, and the upper panels above a moulding, form a frieze of small squares, each 

 beautifully carved. The ceiling is beamed, with plain white panels. The fireplace is a simple 

 Tudor arch cut in the stone facing; the arch is surmounted by a slender shelf carried on car\-ed 

 supports, and with panels formed below it. Immediately opposite the entrance door is a large 

 bay window, almost completely glazed and opening on to the end porch, by which it is com- 

 pletely surrounded. On either side of this opening, and on either side of the doorway, are fine 

 old lantern standards. The draperies are rich red velvet; the furniture is old gold covered 

 with tapestry; and on one side is a superb open cabinet, elaborately carved. 



Directly opposite the main doorway, in the hall, is a door that leads to an enclosed porch 

 or sun-parlor. The door by which it is entered opens on to a balcony or gallery, for the main 

 floor is some steps lower down and is paved with brick. Fine palms and other plants are 

 placed here, and in one corner is a fountain. Farther on, in the hall, the corner forms a passage, 

 by which the dining-room and farther parts of the house are entered. The plan changes its 

 direction here, affording charming vistas of farther rooms so devised that only small parts 

 can be seen— an arrangement that is delightfully suggestive of mystery and extent. From this 

 corner the service quarters branch off to the left, while t,he other main rooms are continued 

 on the right. The service quarters are quite extensive, with pantries, kitchen, and .servants' 

 - dining-room on the main floor, laundry below, and sleeping-room above. 



The dining-room is distinctly gallery -like in plan, with two sides brilliantly lighted by 

 wide groups of muUioned windows. The walls, almost white in color, are plastered, with slender, 

 strip-like wood pilasters m the comers, angles, and other points of emphasis. The pilasters 

 carry a narrow strip of wood, which serves as the cornice. The white ceiling is di^•ided into 

 great oblong panels by heavy beams, covered with a richly plastered decoration. The gen- 

 erous fireplace has a rare old frontispiece, richly car^'ed in stone. The floor is laid in large 

 blocks of black and white marble, and the curtains, which are partly spread upon the floor, 

 are in beautiful dark mauve damask. The same material is used in the chair coverings, the 

 heavily carved chairs and dining table being of quite unusual beauty. The sideboard, oppo- 

 site the fireplace, is also beautifully carved. The doors on the two ends of the room are glazed 

 m small squares. The radiators are placed within a wainscoted screen beneath the windows. 



Beyond the dining-room is the superb library, which is of truly magnificent dimen- 

 sions. It is the largest, the sunniest, the most cheerful room in the house, and the most inter- 

 esting both in its decorations and in its situation. The doors from the dining-room open on 

 to a balcony, below which is the library. The room is so very large that, without the increased 

 height given by this unusual arrangement, it would have been too low. But the balcony is 

 at once its most important and ornamental feature. It is a broad passage, enclosed within piers 

 and arches, with a pierced balustrade of intricate design. On the outer face the piers are 



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