224 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1905 



" Drumthwacket " — The Entrance Front 



children to their mother. And this is the first great fact that 

 the visitor learns. Here is a university town completely 

 isolated between the two great cities of New York and 

 Philadelphia, placed just off the modern main highway — the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad — so remote from its greater neighbors 

 that life within its scholarly precincts must be isolated, 

 whether one will or no — a town nurtured by the University 

 and existing for no other purpose. 



But there is no medieval isolation here. Its streets are 

 lined with fine old houses; its roads stretch out amid beautiful 

 country estates; it is an active modern life that is lived here; 

 and over all is the spirit of culture, the guardian of the place, 

 the dominating influence, the force that has made the town 

 and given the University the world-wide distinction it has 

 long possessed. That the town is beautiful, beautifully 

 placed in country gently hilly and much of it deeply wooded, 

 is evident at a glance; but the cultured atmosphere of the 

 University dominates the whole place and gives it a supreme 

 charm. As a mere site, as a beautiful piece of land, Prince- 

 ton would be delightful to live in; but as the seat of a great 

 university, as one of the most potent culture forces in Amer- 

 ica, it is ideal. 



The University perhaps excites the greater amount of in- 

 terest among visitors to Princeton, but its historical associa- 

 tions are very large. The battle of Princeton, fought January 

 3' I 777' P ut fresh heart into the harassed American forces, 

 added new luster to the military genius of Washington, and 

 gave Princeton and its near-by fields imperishable fame. 



This hallowed ground forms part of the estate of " Drum- 

 thwacket." It is a beautiful as well as an historic place, 

 comprising about 300 acres. It is, therefore, a property 

 of the first rank in size. 



The name " Drumthwacket " comes from two Scotch 

 words, " drum," a hill, and " thwacket," a wood or forest, 

 akin to the English thicket. " Drumthwacket " means, 

 therefore, " the wooded hill." The name was given to the 

 place about 1835. 



It is approached through handsome gateways, fine drive- 

 ways from north and south leading to the house through 

 beautiful stretches of lawn and trees, bordered, for the most 

 part, with flowering shrubs, so planted that some part of 

 these drives will always be enlivened during the season with 

 brilliant blooming. 



The house is a stately and beautiful structure, in describ- 

 ing which the word " elegant " naturally comes to the mind. 

 And such it really is, for the central part, with its two-storied 

 colonnade, was built in 1832 by Governor Charles Smith 

 Olden, and has been retained, outwardly untouched, as the 

 center of the present stately mansion of the estate. Gov- 

 ernor Olden's house, although generous in size and dignified 

 in proportions, was much too small to meet the requirements 

 of the dwelling house of a large estate planned and ar- 

 ranged in the closing years of the nineteenth century. The 

 problem before the owner and his architect was, therefore, 

 to devise a house large enough for modern needs which 

 would at once include the old mansion and not destroy its 

 integrity. 



This was a matter of no small difficulty. There are few 

 things more hazardous than to add onto an old house any 

 considerable addition; it is much more serious when these 

 additions cover twice as much ground site as the original 

 structure, which can in no way be disturbed, and which must 

 not lose its importance nor its individuality. Mr. Raleigh 

 C. Gildersleeve, the architect of the new portions of the 

 house, accomplished his task with extraordinary sagacity and 

 success. At the very beginning of the work it was deter- 

 mined that the original mansion must remain absolutely in- 

 tact. This having been decided upon, the single remaining 

 problem was to design wings on either side in strict harmony 

 with the design of the original structure. There was per- 

 haps little call for originality in this process, but there was 

 ample need for careful study of the older building, and a very 

 urgent necessity for a study of its style and character, its 

 feeling, its detail. Mr. Gildersleeve's position, as I under- 

 stand it, was not so much what he would do in extending the 



