October, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



223 



marble inlaid with colored marble; over it is a large square 

 mirror in a gilt frame. The floor is of hardwood and has 

 no central rug. The light-fixtures, which are applied to 

 the walls, are of silver. On the opposite side of a connect- 

 ing corridor is a small breakfast-room, and beyond are the 

 service-rooms and the servants' quarters, both very com- 

 pletely developed, as befits a mansion of this size. 



The living-room or library is on the right of the hall. 

 The walls are white and are paneled in wood throughout, 

 with pilasters and a frieze. The mantel is of mottled green 

 and white marble and has no mirror above it. Bookcases 

 are built into the walls on two sides. The color is given by 

 the curtains and furniture, which are of olive damask. The 

 rug is in light tones in harmony with the general colors of 

 the room. The light-fixtures are silver. 



Mr. Coolidge's den, which adjoins the staircase-hall, is a 

 pleasant little room with a wood mantel in one corner. The 

 walls are papered with crimson stripes and are almost com- 

 pletely covered with framed etchings. The furniture is red 

 and the curtains white. Beyond the staircase-hall is a vesti- 

 bule which connects with the portico. 



The upper floors are given over to bedrooms and their 

 connecting bathrooms. Colors of delicate shades have been 

 chosen for these rooms, each of which has a distinctive 

 color-scheme of its own, as well as being furnished in an 

 individual manner. Mrs. Coolidge's room is immediately 

 above the hall, and is hence an apartment of unusual size, 

 with a great rounded end at the further extremity. The 

 walls have a paneled wainscot of wood, painted white, and 

 are of a very light gray. The same delicate tone is used for 

 the bed-hangings. A vast rug, in which red is the pre- 

 dominating tone, lies upon the hardwood floor. It is a 

 charming room, beautifully placed in a beautiful house, a 

 house which not only gives ample evidence of painstaking 

 care in its building and its equipment, but a house filled with 

 notable treasures of art, and erected, as has been stated, 

 upon as fair a site as could be desired for suburban living. 

 It is easily one of the most notable houses built by its archi- 

 tects, and is as fine a type of the modern Georgian house as 

 has yet been built in America. Nor should it be forgotten 

 that it is beautifully situated and surrounded. Every natural 

 and other charm adds to its interest and beauty. 



The Ornamental Value of Public Waters 





O natural feature is at once so beautiful and 

 so useful to a town as water. And this is 

 true whether the town be built directly on 

 the water's edge or whether it include lakes, 

 streams or ponds within its municipal limits. 

 In whatever form the water is present, it 

 should be sacredly preserved as one of the city's most precious 

 possessions. The ponds and lakes will need cleaning, the 

 sluggish water must be made to flow rapidly, sanitary require- 

 ments must be met at all costs, but the water must be pre- 

 served as one of the most decorative features and as one of 

 nature's finest gifts to man. 



The latter, of course, is precisely the view of water that 

 is not taken by the average American community. If a city 

 happens to be built on a river or directly facing a harbor, it 

 will be because the water-approach has been the most obvious 

 one and is, perhaps, the city's chief source of commercial 

 strength. Witness, on this point, the wonderful harbor in 

 the midst of which the city of New York rears its proud head. 

 One of the most superb water-views in the world is that of 

 New York, with its crown oi lofty buildings, rising directly 

 from the waters that wash its shores on both sides. The 

 great city would be fine to look at anywhere from without, 

 but its water-approach gives it the most superb of all settings. 

 But New York has almost completely ignored its water- 

 front for ornamental uses. The grime and dust of commerce, 

 in their most offensive forms, have taken to themselves the 

 whole of the lower water-front, save the one jewel of Battery, 

 Park. Further up the parks on the west side have preserved 

 the water-front for the delight of every beholder; but save 

 for these two exceptions — and they are brief enough — the 

 whole of this matchless front is given up to commerce. Over 

 in Brooklyn, where the river-bank is high, a restricted resi- 

 dential section overlooks the commerce across the water, but 

 this, too, is but slight in extent compared to the vast extent 

 of the city's water-area. 



Perhaps commerce needed all this; it is too late to dispute 

 the point, but it surely does not need it in the horrid, ugly, 

 flaunting way it has absorbed all this beauty. They do things 

 better abroad, and many a great European port is fine to look 

 at from its water-entrance, which, even though given up to 

 commerce, has been developed and treated in an artistic way. 

 Much must be done and vast sums spent before New York's 

 water-front can be redeemed and made even respectable when 



seen close at hand. It is a reformation that has more than 

 art necessity behind it, for present conditions are unspeakable 

 and cry aloud for remedy. 



Few communities are so fortunately situated with regard 

 to water as New York, and few, therefore, have thrown away 

 so much. The river and the harbor may be demanded by 

 commerce, but the inland waters are seldom required for such 

 purposes. The lakes and ponds, therefore, if not unsanitary 

 in condition and effect, should be eagerly availed of as decora- 

 tive properties of the utmost importance. They give a note 

 of personal beauty and character to any landscape, and afford 

 opportunities for landscape results of a very striking and 

 beautiful character. 



Water is, in fact, one of the most decorative of natural 

 characteristics. Its surface is rarely still, for even the most 

 sluggish of streams and the most torpid of lakes portrays a 

 constantly changing view of everything reflected in it. And 

 the very ugliest things have a charm and an unreality when 

 seen in the water reflection; the more reason, truly, for sur- 

 rounding it with beautiful buildings, for making the approach 

 to it a thing of beauty, for setting it off as best may be, and 

 utilizing its natural advantages to the fullest. 



A body of water of any size is a valuable artistic asset if 

 its use but be understood and its value appreciated. No other 

 natural feature gives so much in return for so small an out- 

 lay. If the water has a utilitarian value its artistic aspects 

 need not be neglected, but in utilizing it commercially some 

 regard should be given to its art side. The waters of a town 

 belong to the whole people. Every one can not make use ol 

 them in a commercial way, but at least every one can enjoy 

 seeing them, enjoy the beauty with which they may be sur- 

 rounded, enjoy the pleasure they must give to every right- 

 minded soul. 



More and more American communities are awakening to 

 the value of this public enjoyment, this public appreciation 

 of parts that belong to the common whole. The civic awak- 

 ening of which we hear so much to-day is due to exactly this 

 fact. We are beginning to realize, as we never have realized, 

 that there is a real value in beauty. Hence our parks and 

 public places; hence the agitation for a more ornamental pub- 

 lic life. Not all of the results of this agitation have been 

 admirable, but the spirit behind them is worthy of the warm- 

 est praise. The problems of ornamental water are not easy 

 of solution in commercial localities. 



