July, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



13 



Notable American Homes 



By Barr Ferree 



"Sunnyside," the House of Harleston Deacon, Esq., Tuxedo Park, New York 



RITICISM is easily silenced and dissolved 

 at Tuxedo, the place is so beautiful in itself 

 and has been so beautifully developed; yet 

 its charms naturally fall into two classes; 

 natural and artificial. This division is 

 really more literal than it may seem, for 

 the land development of the Park, has been on rather 

 strictly natural lines, with a tine emphasization of the natural 

 beauties, and with as little possible assistance in the way of 

 artificial landscaping. This fortunate circumstance was en- 

 tirely due to the natural qualities of the place. Tuxedo 

 Park, as is well known, possesses many of the natural qual- 

 ities of a park. Its gentle slopes, its gracious woods, its 

 natural water, embedded and surrounded with higher hills — 

 mountains, perhaps they call them — afford a fine foundation 

 on which, by comparatively little effort, a superb site for 

 country houses could be erected. It was the easiest thing 

 to make this place beautiful, for no effort was required other 

 than the making of good roads which would open the place 

 to civilization and render it at once convenient and accessible. 

 Into the details of this development it is needless to enter. 

 Tuxedo Park has for many years, been regarded, and rightly 



regarded, as one of the most desirable residence sites on the 

 border lands of New York. But it is well to note that while 

 the natural advantages of the place are of quite overwhelm- 

 ing charm, its continued popularity as a place of residence 

 and its inherent advantages as such, have been promoted, 

 increased and rendered permanent by the very admirable 

 manner in which it has been developed from this point of 

 view. It would be a mistake to say that every house in 

 Tuxedo Park is of interest or worthy of situation within 

 such splendid natural environment, but the general quality 

 of taste is very good, and the Park enjoys a well merited 

 reputation as a delightful site for delightful homes. And 

 more merit than this it would be hard to note of any place 

 of residence. 



Surely it would be difficult not to build an interesting 

 house in a locality so filled with interesting sites as this. 

 The basic idea of the whole place being that of a park, no 

 individual owner has been called upon to surround his dwell- 

 ing with vast areas of land, to build up great gardens of his 

 own, to create an individual estate within the greater estate 

 on which he lives ; the vast tract is a continuous park and the 

 beauty of one portion of the space is a part of the 



The Spacious Hall is a Beautiful and Cheerful Room 



