February, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



51 



monds containing mulberry flowers. The bed-hangings are 

 white; the curtains and furniture coverings cretonne. As 

 in all the bedrooms, most of the furniture is antique. 



The house is approached on the side, there being no 

 driveway to the portico of the main front. Here is the 

 carriage porch, an arcaded structure that leads out of a 

 deep porch furnished as an outdoor dining-room. It is 

 glazed in front, and connects with the dining-room and a 

 passage that leads to the service rooms. Almost in face 

 of this, but with an entrance not symmetrical with it, is the 

 garden. It lies below the house on the hillside, and is 

 enclosed with a wall of rough stone laid up without cement, 

 affording a fine clambering place for vines and roses. This 

 enclosure is not that of the garden itself of this great area, 

 and has its own garden enclosure of hemlock. Entering 

 the walled space, which is bordered without by evergreens, 

 one descends by stone steps to a lower path of old brick, 

 box-bordered, and thence to the hemlock hedge that bounds 

 the garden. 



In the midst is set a summer house, with sides partly open 

 and partly trellised. The main lines of the frame are 

 painted white, the trellis is green. All around are beds of 

 old-fashioned flowers, growing with the brilliant luxuriance 

 of plants that spare nothing in their bloom, and which are 

 planted in great masses. It is a charming place, and one 

 of great simplicity. It scarce deserves the name of formal 

 garden, for while the beds follow somewhat the shape and 

 form of the great irregular octagon of the enclosure, it is 

 rather that they may have definite form than a pattern of 

 definite design. 



In one corner of the outer enclosure is a short flight of 

 stone steps beneath a pergola covered with grape vines. 

 Above, and without, is the conservatory, the path beside it 

 being dahlia-bordered on the right and left, splendid lines 

 of the most brilliant colors, blooming with quite audacious 

 loveliness, and offering, apparently, an endless variety of 

 shapes and colors. 



Both from this point and from the house the stable yard 

 may be reached. The buildings here are new, the original 

 stables having been destroyed by fire in the spring of 1908. 

 They constitute a somewhat irregular group, most exten- 

 sively developed on the rear. In face, as has been stated, 



they adjoin and connect with the house. The garage is of 

 stone, with wood gables, and forms a portion of the group 

 to which the conservatory is attached. 



The summit of the hill on which the house is built was 

 originally bare of trees. Some fine old monarchs of the 

 forest now stand about the house and seemingly have al- 

 ways done so. As a matter of fact, while the trees are 

 necessarily old, their present position is quite as recent as 

 that of the house, since they were all transported here by 

 Mr. Pope when his house was built, and are now as sturdy 

 and as flourishing as if they had never known another home. 



The house stands literally on a hill or knoll that slopes 

 down grandly on all sides, but the house area is so broad 

 and spacious that the dwelling is quite without that sense 

 of aloofness that characterizes most hill-top buildings. 

 There is a majestic outlook from the front porch. The 

 green lawn dips down suddenly below the stone wall built 

 exactly at the crown of the rise. Beyond are the tree tops 

 of the lower valley, and far off the land rises again, with 

 trees and fields so remote that the few houses are the 

 merest dots in the distant landscape. Beyond are great 

 broad hills, stretching away as far as the eye can see, from 

 one side of the horizon to the other; rising up and off in 

 ridge after ridge, until, literally, there is no more to see 

 save the remotest outline against the sky. 



The outbuildings of this fine estate contribute a really 

 notable group of structures. But their interest lies rather in 

 their adaptation to ends, their convenience and accessibility, 

 their sturdy walls and their simplicity than to architectural 

 design. The buildings, as has been intimated, are close to 

 the dwelling house, yet while no attempt has been made to 

 conceal them, they are not visible from the front, and one 

 hardly realizes their existence at any point of approach. 

 This is an achievement of no mean order, for an extensive 

 group of outbuildings is apt tc occupy a distinct place in any 

 general view of a country place, or else they are located at 

 such a distance from the dwelling as to seem to be deprived 

 of the convenience that comes with closeness of proximity. 

 The outbuildings of Hill Stead are entirely modest, simply 

 designed, direct and sturdy as those of an ancient farm- 

 house; yet they are very modern, very compact, very com- 

 plete and ample in every respect. 



The old-time garden below the house 



