December, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



359 



sary trimmings, but is de- 

 signed in an extremely simple 

 and straightforward manner 

 that is exactly the way in 

 which a house of this size, 

 and so conspicuously situated, 

 should be built. It is, in 

 short, a large house designed 

 in a large way. 



It has three main fronts. 

 The entrance front is at right 

 angles to the river, and is 

 directly approached by the 

 south drive which comes in 

 at the south entrance, situ- 

 ated near the southern bor- 

 ders of the grounds. The 

 river front overlooks the 

 river, and here the part of 

 the house devoted to the fam- 

 ily is completely enclosed 

 within a vast terrace, upheld 

 by stone walls. In a sense 

 this is a side of the house, and 

 the somewhat lower structure 

 that adjoins it — itself larger 

 than most houses — is the 



servants' wing. The third front I call the inner front, since 

 it is parallel with the river front. Here is the porte cochere 

 and a minor entrance, and further on an enclosed yard con- 

 taining the service entrance, a veritable front of entrances, 



Vs. Elliott F. Shepard's Hillside Garden 



A Pool and Fountain and Great Beds of Shrubs and Flowers Occupy the Center of the Garden 



each of its own kind and grade, individually treated. 

 The main entrance front is an extremely dignified and 

 stately composition; the middle brought forward the space 

 of one window, with a small square porch in the center, 

 reached by broad flights of steps. The material and 

 composition of this front dominates the whole 

 house. The walls are of buff brick with sandstone 

 trimmings; the columns and cornice of the porch 

 are sandstone; the windows are enclosed within 

 broad carved sandstone frames; with pointed pedi- 

 ments below and flat hoods above. The wall cor- 

 ners are sandstone, and the third story is treated as 

 an attic with a narrow string course at its base. A 

 simple cornice crowns the whole. 



The river front is the most ornate of the three; 

 for the house consists of a great family residence to 

 the fourth side of which the servants' wing is ap- 

 plied in so simple a manner as to eloquently pro- 

 claim its purpose. The front of the mansion proper 

 overlooking the river has two pedimented ends, con- 

 taining groups of windows — columns below, with 

 an entablature carrying a balustrade, then simple 

 groups of windows above. The curtain wall be- 

 tween them contains a semicircular portico, built 

 wholly of stone, the entablature upheld by Ionic 

 columns, and supporting a balustrade. A flight of 

 semi-circular steps descends to the terrace and adds 

 greatly to the monumental effect of this structure, 

 which is designed in a palatial scale and carried out 

 in the most sumptuous manner. It is covered by a 

 low circular drum that emits a truly marvelous echo, 

 an echo that responds to the stamp of the foot upon 

 the brick pavement as readily as to the sound of 

 the human voice. 



Of the inner front it is sufficient to point out that 

 the wings that project on the river front but slightly 

 are here developed as considerable structures. The 

 part nearer the entrance front is more amply de- 

 veloped than the other and has its own crowning 

 pediment. The other wing is without the crowning 

 feature, but has a central entrance of its own, with 

 a pedimented porch. 



Vast as the house appears from without its truly 



