AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS 



height, the upper part of the paneling being treated with small open arches supported on free 

 columns. Above is a rich damask brocade of deep red. A narrow painted frieze of grotesques 

 runs around the room, and the ceiling is beamed and painted in small squares. The doors, 

 which are elaborately framed, as are the windows, have rounded tops, with open carved 

 woodwork in the panels. It is, therefore, a room rich in color, and with a structural decoration 

 of quite unusual extent, very interesting in itself, very interestingly applied, and thoroughly 

 successful in its effect. At the far end is a monumental chimneypiece, with fluted columns, 

 the treasure trove of a Florentine palace, as are most of the chimneypieces in the house. 

 Electric lights are hidden behind the top of the wall panels, and produce a startlingly beautiful 

 effect when illuminated. 



To the right is the Gold Salon. Here, again, is more splendor, yet thoroughly harmo- 

 nized and quite subdued in effect. The walls are hung with old green silk, arranged in gilt panels. 

 The rich door frame is also gilt, the color scheme being gold and green. The doorway is Spanish 

 Renaissance. The mantel is plain, but beautifully wrought; over it is a portrait of the Duchess 

 of Parma, by Suttermans, in a rich old monumental frame. The center of the ceiling is filled 

 with a large painting of the School of Tiepolo, and the room is illumined by crystal lights hanging 

 from the walls. Three rooms on the end of the house open from the hall and adjoin the Salon. 

 The central one is a billiard -room ; at one end is a conservatory, at the other a smoking-room. 



The dining-room adjoins the hall, and is nearly of the same size. It is a large apart, 

 ment, brilliantly lighted by the spacious windows by day, and at night by great electric 

 standards placed in each corner. It is sumptuously furnished, and that many fine works of 

 art enter into its adornment is thoroughly in keeping with the splendid manner in which the 

 whole house has been planned and arranged. The floor is marble mosaic. The door frames 

 are of marble, carved and ornamented with rich panels and friezes. Marble pilasters mark 

 off the division of the walls, which are covered with green velvet brocade. There is a 

 dado of green and black marble, and the same material appears in the serving tables or 

 sideboards, each of which is supported by white marble pedestals. The ceiling, in green and 

 gold, is decorated with small squares; in the center is a large square painting by Domenichino, 

 the "Youth of Bacchus"; each of the four corners has round allegorical panels, painted 

 by Claudio Francesco Beaumont. On one wall is a painting of the "Rape of the Sabines," 

 by Vasari, and a number of old Italian portraits are hung in the adjoining spaces. A small 

 breakfast-room opens out of the dining-room; and then, beyond it, are the apartments 

 devoted to the service, pantries, a dumb-waiter to the kitchen, which is placed below, where 

 there are more pantries, storerooms, ice chests, servants' dining-room, and other offices, all 

 so needful to the inhabiting of the house, and here down below, but with their own opening 

 to the outer world, which the location of the house on a hill permits most conveniently. 



To the left of the entrance hall is the library. It is prefaced by a small recess. The 

 walls are lined with bookcases, above which are deep dark oak panels; the plastered ceiling 

 is decorated with geometrical designs. The conspicuous feature of this room is the superb 



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