378 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1910 



front, in which the single doorway and the windows are 

 designed in the simplest possible way and without other 

 thought than their necessary and desirable relationship to 

 the spaces within. As an example of house design of a 

 somewhat unusual type, this one, therefore, merits at- 

 tentive study. 



The general plan is simple and direct. Admission is 

 obtained by means of an entrance hall; on the left is a 

 ladies' dressing-room; on the right is the staircase hall. 

 These passages lead to the gallery, which connects the 

 dining-room and the drawing-room. It opens into a loggia, 

 which is the conspicuous feature of the sea front. The 

 right wing of the entrance front contains the billiard-room 

 and the den; the left wing is devoted to the service. The 

 guest and family rooms occupy the second and the third floor. 



The gallery is a magnificent room of very unusual quali- 

 ties. It is a lofty 

 and spacious apart- 

 ment, richly decor- 

 ated in every part, 

 the walls having a 

 low dado, above 

 which they are pan- 

 eled to the ceiling; 

 those on the ends 

 rising in tiers of 

 three. The ceiling 

 is elaborately dec- 

 orated with three 

 great square panels, 

 and two pairs of 

 lesser ones, which 

 are broken by inter- 

 vening circles. The 

 fireplace is in the 

 center of the inner 

 wall, and is framed 

 in with mottled pol- 

 ished marble. There 

 is no mantel shelf, 

 but the upper space 

 is treated as a large 

 panel with foliated 

 moldings and a fes- 

 tooned decoration 

 below the cornice. 

 The latter is en- 

 riched with foliage 

 and other conven- 

 tional designs in 

 harmony with the 

 general decorative 

 scheme of the room. 



At each end is a 

 monumental door- 

 way, with a lofty frame and a broken curved pediment, 

 the center of which is filled with a very decorative car- 

 touche with foliage. The splendid doors are of mahogany, 

 and the frames are handsomely molded. One of these 

 doors, as has already been made clear, leads to the din- 

 ing-, the other to the drawing-room. The floor is laid 

 in a geometrical design, and partly covered with magnifi- 

 cent Oriental rugs. The room is handsomely furnished 

 in a very ample manner, and fills, in the economy of the 

 house, the functions of a living-hall, or general assem- 

 bly-room. 



On the sea front it is lighted by three great round arched 

 windows, vast openings of quite superb proportions, which 

 open into the loggia. The appointments and elaborate en- 

 richment that characterized the gallery are here repeated 

 in a very different way and in a completely different style. 



The loggia 



The loggia is a Pompeian hall, with a vaulted ceiling, both 

 walls and ceiling being decorated in oil colors with Pom- 

 peian designs. These decorations have been carried out 

 in a very spirited manner, and with a keen appreciation of 

 the possibilities of the style from which they have been 

 borrowed. The room is paved with slabs of marble and 

 with brick, laid in geometrical patterns, yet in a quiet and 

 an unobtrusive way that gives interest without concentrat- 

 ing attention upon it. Wicker furniture is, for the most 

 part, employed here, and the room abounds with chairs 

 and couches of the most comfortable description. 



Mr. Spaulding's loggia, in its surpassing comforts and 

 unusual decorations would be notable anywhere; but it 

 actually happens that neither of these things constitutes 

 its greatest merit. This consists in its location and its 

 magnificent outlook, which is directly over the waters of 



the North Shore 

 and the sea. The 

 very slightest ac- 

 quaintance with this 

 coast is sufficient to 

 satisfy one as to 

 the advantages of 

 this situation. In- 

 deed, the problem 

 all along here is not 

 so much the obtain- 

 ing of a view, 

 since of that there 

 is an abundance and 

 to spare — but to 

 devise and obtain 

 the best possible 

 way of enjoying the 

 lovely outlooks na- 

 ture has been so 

 lavish of. 



The basic condi- 

 tions of the prob- 

 lem are of the sim- 

 plest and most ele- 

 mentary d e s c rip- 

 tion. Given a sea 

 coast on which trees 

 and grass, flowers 

 and shrubs grow al- 

 most literally to the 

 water's edge; given 

 a bank that rises 

 somewhat above the 

 water with all this 

 wealth of nature's 

 growing; the prob- 

 lem then becomes 

 one of mere utiliza- 

 tion in the best and most delightful manner possible. For 

 of course people live on the North Shore for the delights 

 that accrue from doing so, and if there be any rivalry be- 

 tween the owners of the many fine places that now throng 

 this region, be assured it is chiefly a rivalry of delight, a 

 good hearted effort to see who can possess himself of the 

 best possible way of enjoying to the utmost all this glory 

 of nature's giving. 



It doubtless would be unfair to proclaim Mr. Spaulding's 

 method of obtaining this enjoyment as the most successful 

 of the many ways and means that may be noted here; but 

 certainly in itself it is most successful and most delightful. 

 There must be, I think, a special joy in enjoying delightful 

 conditions under delightful circumsi:ances, and surely there 

 can be no more exquisite way of realizing the pleasures 

 of the views from the North Shore than are afforded by 



