September, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



157 



exactly where it seemed best to place it, and the length of 

 the approaching driveway was determined quite without the 

 effect it might have on the visitor. 



Presently a row of thickly planted cedars comes into view, 

 and above them are the gables of the house. The logical 

 center of the property has now been reached. The ascent 

 has been so gradual that one does not realize one has attained 

 to a considerable elevation, an effect that is increased by the 

 fact that the house and stable — the main entrance of the 

 house stable directly facing the main entrance of the house, 

 although both buildings are widely separated by spacious 

 lawns — are built on a plateau, the land falling away only at 

 some distance from the buildings. 



The cedars, you presently discover, inclose the laundry 

 yard and entirely surround the kitchen wing of the house; 

 surround it so closely and so completely that scarce a hint of 

 the uses of this part of the house is apparent. The first drive- 

 wav leads to the kitchen door, a second to the main entrance, 



the center of the main wall, and is almost chapel-like in aspect, 

 with slightly curved arches, gable end and buttresses. 



Varied and interesting as this entrance front is, the archi- 

 tectural character of the house is best shown in the corre- 

 sponding front on the other side, called the terrace front, 

 although a terrace surrounds the house on every side except 

 at the entrance. The scheme here is quite different, for the 

 wings at either end are of stone in both stories, with half- 

 timbered gables, with richly carved cornices of very dark 

 wood. The central projection is of stone throughout, in- 

 cluding the gable, and has an ornamental centerpiece, a round 

 arched doorway below, with a carved band and lions below 

 the great upper window, which has a fine architectural frame 

 surmounted with a balustrade below the simpler windows in 

 the gable. The connecting wall between this center and the 

 wings is half-timber in the upper story, the larger windows 

 cutting the roof and capped with pointed gables with carved 

 wood hoods. Large and small dormers in the roof complete 



" Woodcrest " — The Smoking-Room 



and between the two, and on the side beyond, are many ever- 

 greens, beautiful little trees of every conceivable shape, size 

 and color, growing with a lustiness that foreshadows a 

 wonderful future. 



The screen of cedars follows the kitchen wall so closely, 

 around to the porte-cochere, that one wonders they keep their 

 form and color; it is an introductory hint to the great care 

 lavished on every tree and shrub of the estate that such re- 

 sults can be obtained in a situation which, if not unfavorable, 

 is certainly not calculated to produce the best results. Thus 

 through a forecourt of evergreens one reaches the house. 



The porte-cochere is in an open courtyard, surrounded by 

 the house on three sides. The main building is of stone, two 

 stories in height, with a third story in the deeply sloping roof. 

 The upper story of the wings is in half-timber work. In 

 each inner corner is a square stone tower, surmounted by a 

 low curved roof or dome. The porte-cochere is directly in 



the features of this front, which is at once varied and har- 

 monious, stately and dignified. 



And it is enlivened, beautified and completed by a most 

 remarkable and superb collection of evergreens planted close 

 around the terrace on all three sides. The terrace itself is 

 inclosed within low evergreens, and below, on the hillside, 

 is the splendid collection — numbering nearly one thousand 

 three hundred trees — which are at once the special pride and 

 delight of the owner and the chief plant distinction of the 

 place. A wonderful mass of color it is, of greens and yellows 

 of every possible shade, growing so closely together that 

 there scarce seems room for a single tree more, and yet each 

 growing finely, as though each had all the space in the world. 

 At the steps, top and bottom, are pairs of English golden 

 yews, a rare and unusual tree, growing luxuriantly and quite 

 adapted to its new habitat. On the terrace are many bay 

 trees, golden yews on each side of the main doorway, and 



