AMERICAN ESTATES AND GARDENS 



whole. The stairway rises immediately under the central archway, projecting somewhat into 

 the main hall, with splendid light standards on either side. The arch supporting the stairs 

 rises in graceful curves to the second story in the stair hall, with overhanging decorated vaults 

 for the gallery above it, while the upper walls are marked off with columns and pilasters or 

 covered with tapestries. The architectural features of the main hall are extraordinarily rich, 

 the channeling of the pilasters being filled in with ornament below; there are cartouches and 

 festoons and panels of onyx above the arches, and a festooned frieze at the base of the elabo- 

 rately molded cornice which encloses a painting in the center of the ceiling. 



Splendid as the hall is, it is far surpassed by the dining-room in gorgeousness. Again 

 there are white marble and onyx, but the prevailing tone of the room is gold. The coved ceil- 

 ing, which is richly painted and decorated, is upheld by columns standing before plain pilasters, 

 between which are arched panels and doorways, elaborately framed and heavily carved. The 

 room is lighted by side windows and by oval windows in the ceiling arches. The latter is com- 

 pleted with a painting. Two great crystal chandeliers depend from the ceiling, and crystal 

 side lights are attached to the columns. 



The drawing-room is in the Louis XV. style. The pilasters are decorated throughout 

 with arabesques, the corners and the mantel being emphasized with free columns standing on 

 paneled bases. The walls are paneled and decorated, with additional enrichments over the 

 doorways and other openings. The colors are drab and gold; the richly coffered ceiling has 

 a central painting. The library is finished in oak. It is a quiet and dignified apartment, with 

 built-in bookcases surmounted with elliptical arches, above which are rectangular panels and 

 a coffered ceiling. The mantel of carved stone, with a richly decorated overmantel, was brought 

 from Italy. The billiard-room is another notable apartment, with a deeply coved ceiling, 

 with a painted center, from which a great crown -like chandelier of bronze is hung by heavy 

 chains. The walls are simply treated, but have arches below the curved segments of the ceil- 

 ing. Special mention should be made of the loggias and porches, which are treated as out- 

 door rooms. Their ceilings are vaulted, either in whole or in part, and are quite splendid in 

 their decorative embellishments. 



"Ochre Court," the House of Mrs. Ogden Goelet. 



"Ochre Court," like "The Breakers," was a late work of the same architect, the late 

 Richard M. Hunt. No two buildings could, however, be more different in style. The archi- 

 tectural motifs of "Ochre Court" are derived from the simple models of the French chateau 

 epoch, when the Gothic feeling had not wholly disappeared nor the later Renaissance taken on 

 the full splendor of its subsequent enrichment. It is three stories in height, the uppermost 

 story being formed by the sloping roof, whose dormer windows, partly plain and partly orna- 

 mental, form a leading feature in the architectural enrichment of the exterior. A small stone 

 porch is prefixed to the main entrance, above which is a large mullioned window, and above 



[69] 



