AMERICAN ESTATES AND C.ARDKXS 



splendid room, thirt\ iuaiv and two stories in height. It is completely built of 



Caen stone. The \v;ills are divided into l>;iys. with great pilasters supporting the i-orniee al 

 tin- ceiling; below arc round arched openings and doors; above are rectangular wind' 

 opening into a gallery that is carried around the hall, with riehl d bronze- railr 



The stairway rises immediately from the central arch of the fartl: , and is continued 



within to the upper story. A gigantic Chinese vase supportii idelabrum stands on each 



side of the 1 stc'ps. !!.!'( >re the mantelpiece are busts of Cosmo de' Meliei and his wife, by 

 Bernini. The hangings are of red velvet embroidered with gold, and in I of the- 



room is a large carved table supported on gilt figure-. The 'ven 



by the- hangings and nigs, arc' red. white-, and gold, and the decorative treatment i- 

 rich and sumptuous. 



The more' important rooms open directly from the hall. On the righ: 



in, billiard-room, and library, the latter rtment, fifty feet squan ' the left 



a smaller hall leads to the smoking-room and sitting-room, the dining-room and the 



breakfast room. All of these moms are beautifully furnished and d I. They are truly 



palatial, hospitable in size, lavish in 

 their appointments, and present ex- 

 cellent example's of prese-nt-day tend- 

 encies in costly dwellings. This is 

 particularly true of this house', for 

 Mr. \VideMier gave up a grand city 

 mansion that he had built for himself, 

 in order to live' in this givat new 

 house. It is located in a pleasant 

 suburb of Philadelphia, but near 

 enough to the city to be quite suffi- 

 ciently close for business and social 

 affairs. It stands just outside of 

 built-up Philadelphia, in a lovely 

 rural neighborhood, where the pleas- 

 tires of country life, when centered in 

 such a home, must be' almost unlimited. 

 The chief room on the second 

 floor is the' pie-ture gallery, entered 

 through an antechamber. He-re- is 

 housed one of the richest and finest 

 collections of paintings in the United 

 States. The collection has been 

 formed with unusual taste and dis- THK llotsi-. OF I'. A. B. WIDKNKR, ESQ. THE HAM.. 



