" Belief ontaine" 



The Estate of Giraud Foster, Esq., Lenox, Massachusetts 



R. Giraud Foster's house, at Lenox, Massachusetts, is a wonderful house in a wonderful 

 place. The landscape of the Berkshire Hills is so very lovely that the art of man 

 is hardly needed to add to its beauty ; but Mr. Foster has, in his splendid house and 

 beautiful gardens, added a new note of loveliness to Lenox, and created a fresh spot 

 of interest that is almost without parallel in the extraordinary care and exquisite art that have 

 been lavished upon it. 



The house and grounds constitute the component parts of a single creation, in which 

 each bears a definite relationship to the other. The house is so large and so sumptuous in its 

 materials and its design as to be rightly described as palatial. It consists of a vast central build- 

 ing with two wings, that form an open court on one side. The south front has for its chief motif 

 a great portico, supported by Corinthian columns, rising to the full height of two stories and 

 embracing the three central windows. The adjoining walls contain each two windows, separated 

 by so wide a space that room is found for an ornamental slab between those of the upper story. 

 The house is built of brick and marble, but the brick is quite subordinated, the whole of the 

 central part of the south front being marble. A high balustrade is carried around the top of 

 the building, partly concealing the attic, which forms the third story of the center. The building 

 is finished with a loggia at each end. 



;. The north front is less grandiose in design, but very full of interest. Two low wings 



project from the main structure, that on the east being a palm-room and entrance, that on the 

 west the kitchen and servants' quarters. In their inner corners are square towers, integral 

 parts of the house, which is here three stories in height. The leading motif is the round arch, 

 which appears in every part in the loggias on the ends, in the ends of the wings, on the two 

 exposed faces of the towers, and the three arches of the center. With the exception of the side 

 walls of the wings, all of the first story is of marble; the upper walls are of brick, with marble 

 trimmings, and the third story of the towers is again of marble. 



Obviously, the south front is the front of state and of honor, and the north front is the 

 home front ; yet neither contains an entrance doorway. The chief entrance is through the palm- 

 room, and is indicated by a marquise of wrought iron, very original and striking in design, 

 which is placed before a round arched opening, which otherwise gives no indication of its 

 importance. The palm-room is lined with brick, and has an open beamed roof of wood. It 

 is lighted with great round arched windows, in the spandrels of which are superbly mounted 

 heads of wild animals. It contains some grand ferns and other decorative plants. A flat arched 

 door, closed with magnificent gates of wrought iron, and on either side of which stands a column 



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