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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1906 



The Dining-room Is Mahogany with a Tapestry Frieze and Curtains 



great size is only thoroughly 

 apparent within. The rooms 

 are everywhere large, many of 

 them are immense; the ceilings 

 are lofty, the windows spacious, 

 the dimensions generous in 

 every way. One may not real- 

 ize this at once — certainly not 

 in its completeness — but after 

 one has passed through huge 

 room after huge room, the fact 

 becomes apparent that immen- 

 sity is one of the chief charac- 

 teristics of this great house. 

 Yet it is a beautiful immensity. 

 There is charm in these huge 

 halls and vast corridors, in these 

 enormous rooms and seemingly 

 endless suites of apartments. 

 Each has its own use; every- 

 where advantage has been taken 

 of the great size for stateliness 

 of effect; it is not grandiose nor 

 showy, it is simply grandly 

 large, and large everywhere. 



The main door opens into a 

 square vaulted vestibule, walled 

 throughout with yellow marble, 

 highly polished. This leads 

 directly into the main hall, 

 which is an immense apartment, 

 extending to the right and left. 



Immediately in face are the stairs, occupying the larger part a beautifully carved cornice, hand carved, like all the wood- 

 of the opposite wall, and lighted by a great triple window work everywhere, and the ceiling is magnificently coffered 

 half way up their height. The hall is paneled to the ceiling and white like the walls. On the left is an immense fireplace 

 in wood, painted white, the corners and angles accentuated and mantel of carved white marble, very beautiful in tex- 

 by pilasters, and the rich mahogany doors encased within ture; the chimney breast is supported by pilasters that en- 

 monumental frames. All around the summit of the walls is close a carved slab above the mantel. There are some richly 



carved chairs and a great 

 table here, and an enormous 

 red rug covers most of the 

 floor. On the left of the 

 entrance door, with a single 

 window opening onto the 

 entrance front, is a small 

 reception room in pink and 

 white. 



Adjoining the stairs is a 

 great bay where hangs an 

 immense curtain. Beyond it 

 stretches a corridor, that 

 reaches down the side of the 

 house; the principal rooms 

 open from one side of it, 

 while the opposite side con- 

 tains windows that open 

 onto the inner front. These 

 windows are contained 

 within alcoves or recesses, 

 dividing the corridor into 

 bays. Here again are the 

 pilasters of the main hall, 

 and its coffered ceiling. The 

 openings of the alcoves are 

 hung with heavy velvet cur- 

 tains, while the windows 

 themselves have curtains of 

 salmon silk, very delicate 

 and beautiful both in color 

 Mrs. Shepard's Room Is the Largest Bedroom in the House an d material. 



