April, 1906 
through open land require borders of trees for shade; the 
lake borders need terracing, the water courses require widen- 
ing; the smaller ponds must be brought into the system, and 
special points of natural beauty emphasized and adorned. 
All this is being done and much of this work has already 
been accomplished. Splendid driveways have been laid out 
through the estate, 
so that one may 
take an extended 
drive within its 
area and never lack 
for points of inter- 
est. The utmost 
advantage has 
been taken of the 
very beautiful nat- 
ural landscape to 
create a park, nat- 
ural indeed in its 
main features; but 
suficiently adorned 
with vases, foun- 
tains, plantings of 
shrubs and flowers 
—to emphasize 
special points. 
While it is the 
general landscape 
beauty that makes 
“Deepdale” so at- 
tractive certain ma- 
terial aspects should not be overlooked. ‘The property is so 
large that the various rural industries, as they may be called, 
are well distributed over it. Thus the carriage stable is in 
one part; a large chicken house, with capacious runs, in an- 
other; a deer park, fenced in behind wire, takes up another 
part of the grounds; the sheep, the cows, the horses have each 
their own enclo- 
sures which are 
sufficiently — separ- 
ated from_ each 
other to have indi- 
vidual separation. 
The conservatories 
—two great crys- 
tal palaces — con- 
stitute a special 
center of interest. 
Here are grown 
and kept the many 
house plants need- 
ed on large estates 
like this. An old 
farmhouse — and 
there are several 
such within the 
property — has 
before it a lovely 
circular lake, from 
the center of which 
A Balustrade Incloses the South Court at the Top of the Hill 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 23 
new dwellings on the estate, a pleasant little stucco house 
from the porch of which the whole of this garden may be 
watched and studied. 
The striking characteristics of this great place are easily 
comprehended and summed up. Briefly, they are two, the 
surpassing natural beauties and the manifest care with which 
natural ad- 
these 
vantages are being 
utilized in the de- 
velopment of a 
park. Na 
ture needs here but 
great 
to be assisted to ap: 
pear at her best, 
and the work being 
done shows this is 
being accomplished 
in the best possible 
way with the keen- 
est appreciation of 
what can be done, 
and with a mas- 
terly command of 
resource that in the 
end will give the 
utmost satisfaction. 
Already the work 
is so far advanced 
as to have no sug- 
gestion of incom- 
pleteness, for one 
need have added nothing to this beautiful land to give it 
interest, since of that it has an abundance and to spare. 
Yet these splendid grounds call for exactly the sort of 
ornamentation that has been given them. ‘The estate is of 
considerable size, not vast of course, but large enough to 
rank among the largest places on Long Island. Its surface 
is, therefore, of 
great variety, and 
that it is on Long 
Island is itself evi- 
dence that it con- 
tains much of nat- 
ural beauty. 
The deve | O p- 
ment of such an es- 
tate, 
calls for more or 
less individual} 
treatment of the 
various parts. Va- 
riety in treatment 
is natural here be 
cause the natural 
landscape is itself 
varied. So Mr. 
Vanderbilt has at- 
tacked his land in 
a joyous — spirit, 
seeking to improve 
there fore, 
rises a_ beautiful ; : ; . : ; its natural charac- 
f : A Circular Pool with a Fountain, Shaded by Stately Trees, is a Special Point as ae al charac 
ountain. Across a bene : teristics rather 
h d f h of Interest near the Conservatories 
the road from the than to better 
conservatories is a them. This, in- 
great enclosed vegetable garden, surrounded with a high 
brick wall. That a multitude of goodly things are grown 
here goes without saying. Its inner space is laid out in great 
rectangles, and the care lavished upon it is hardly excelled by 
that given to the garden of the court beyond the house. At 
the further extremity is a gardener’s cottage, one of the few 
deed, he could hardly do, for his hills and vales, his woods 
and clearings are as charming and delightful as nature, at 
her best, could make them. But he has called in his land- 
scape architect to put the note of emphasis upon these spots 
of beauty, emphasis which they did not need, but which has 
heightened every element of natural beauty. 
