September, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



149 



Notable American Homes 



The Formal Garden from the Terrace 



STATELY house, built so close to a public 

 road that there is only space for a garden 

 development before it, offers difficulties in 

 the planning and arrangement of grounds 

 that do not obtain where the house is built 

 further within the inclosing boundary, or 

 when, as it frequently does, it occupies a more central position 

 — an inland site, rather than one directly on the coast. 



Ambassador Meyer's house is directly on the coast line of 

 his domain, although the sea itself is nowhere within sight 

 except from the top of the hill. But it is placed at the borders 

 of the estate, just within the outer boundary, although the 

 broad lands of the property roll out on either side most 

 spaciously and climb the slopes behind the house as far as 

 the eye can see. A wise arrangement this, for the hill behind 

 the house keeps off the strong winds which disport themselves 

 upon this country in the cold season, and form, moreover, a 

 beautiful backing of green to the gray and white house, 

 which, if it does not literally dominate the estate, is clearly 

 the most important structure upon it. 



The situation of the house, however, was not one of pure 

 choice so far as Mr. Meyer was concerned. The present 

 building is partly new and partly old, for it is an expansion of 

 an old house that long stood here, an expansion that, so far 

 as the house itself is concerned offers no new note, so care- 

 fully have the older lines been followed in the newer parts; 

 but it has been so surrounded with beautiful gardens that the 

 changes in the adjacent lands have been as radical as they are 

 beautiful. 



It is no evidence of good planning to devise the shortest 



possible roadway between the entrance to a house and the 

 nearest public road. Such a method smacks too keenly of 

 commerce to be warranted in a gentleman's country place, 

 even though his house happens to be directly on the public 

 road and the latter an agreeably constructed thoroughfare, 

 chiefly frequented by his friends and neighbors. The pleas- 

 ure-grounds that properly surround any country estate are 

 intended for enjoyment; they are meant to be seen and en- 

 joyed by the owner's visitors quite as much as by himself. 

 The longer the drive through such grounds to the house, the 

 more agreeable the sensations enjoyed by the visitor, and the 

 greater the pleasure given to the owner by the knowledge that 

 his visitors are delighting in a handsome park. 



One enters Mr. Meyer's grounds, therefore, at some dis- 

 tance from the house, almost before the house is visible, in 

 fact, and at the corner of his land which is nearest the rail- 

 road station. A distance that might perhaps have been 

 covered in a few rods had the most direct path been chosen, 

 is now wisely expanded by a private road that approximates 

 the direction of the public highway. Just inside the entrance 

 is a fine old Venetian well-head, and beyond, to the left, a 

 spacious lawn, shaded here and there with grand old trees. 

 The driveway brings one to a modest porch and doorway on 

 one end of the house, for the greater length is parallel with 

 the road. 



The house is of a fine old type, built of wood and painted 

 gray with white trimmings and green shutters. Its orna- 

 mental front directly overlooks the public road. In the cen- 

 ter is a large bay-window, two stories in height. The ad- 

 joining walls are treated in an identical manner, although the 



