October, 1905 



AM ERIC AN * HO M ES AND GARDENS 



223 



Notable American Homes 



By Barr Ferree 



'Drumthwacket," Princeton, New Jersey: The House and the Estate 



EITHER the real estate speculator nor the 

 land boomer has yet seized upon the beauti- 

 ful- town of Princeton as a scene for his 

 operations. This is a fortunate circum- 

 stance, for Princeton has grown and thriven 

 under the most delightful of auspices and 

 in a most delightful way. Rarely has academic culture had 

 a more beautiful site for its physical development, and 

 rarely has it developed in a more charming manner. 



The charm of Princeton is so penetrating that it may be 

 felt by the most casual visitor and appreciated by the most 



Stewardson, the Philadelphia architects, and masterworks 

 of collegiate Gothic in America; a group of buildings that 

 speak, in every stone, of true Gothic feeling and penetrating 

 modernity, the new interpretation of Gothic which must do 

 so much to revive this fine old art that, in its Victorian re- 

 vival, was so ill used and so little understood. 



It is in these and in other new buildings, similar in style 

 and in feeling, that Princeton University proclaims her new 

 architectural supremacy, and which give both the University 

 and the town an interest and a beauty that they have never 

 had before. For, architecturally, old Princeton — the Uni- 



" Drumthwacket " — The Fountain 



indifferent observer. The most ignorant of travelers would 

 know it was a university town, for on the instant of his ar- 

 rival he is confronted with the massive bulk of the great 

 tower of Blair Hall, a beautiful, stately structure that forms 

 one of a great group of dormitories that stretch along the 

 outer border of the University campus until they fetch up 

 against the gymnasium. A splendid group of buildings these, 

 a unit in design, whether they be called Blair Hall, Stafford 

 Little Hall or Gymnasium; an irregular group, ascending 

 and descending, twisting and turning, as the conformation of 

 the land determined; masterworks of Messrs. Cope & 



versity — had few buildings of interest, however great may 

 be the affection with which they were and are regarded by 

 the older graduates. If the old buildings no longer seem 

 to have interest it is apparent that the new will long maintain 

 theirs — and add to it as decade passes decade. 



The University, that meets one at the gate, permeates the 

 whole town. Whether, to the real Princetonian, there be a 

 difference between the University and the town I do not 

 know; but to the chance visitor there is no distinction between 

 the two. It is the University which has made the town, 

 and the town, on its part, gathers around the University as 



