June, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
The entrance driveway is the focal point in the whole estate 
Notable American Homes 
By Barr Ferree 
‘Braemar,’ the House of Mrs. M. Rumsey Miller, Tarrytown-on-Hudson, New York 
\ 
i America than that great street known as 
Broadway, which, with one end, on begin- 
ning, at the Battery in New York City, 
continues with scarce an interruption to the 
capital of the State at Albany. It is a road 
of tremendous interest, the heart and cen- 
ter of the metropolis at its beginning. It passes, in its upper 
stages, through some of the most delightful and charming 
scenery in New York. A multitude of towns hang upon 
its edges as it pursues its majestic career and thrive by asso- 
ciation with it. Of no place is this more true than of Tarry- 
town-on-Hudson, and in all its great length is it nowhere 
more beautiful than there. Lined with splendid trees, that 
seem to have grown there for ages, and with a wide and 
superb roadbed, there is nothing that can enhance its value as 
a road nor add to its beauty or utility. And here, as in 
many another a handsome mile, it is bordered, on either 
side, with magnificent country places, which include some of 
the most famous private houses in America, places of quite 
uneven merit in their buildings, but all alike in the beauty of 
the home grounds, in the fine taste shown in the planting and 
in the exquisite care with which they are maintained and 
kept up. 
Many of the houses are almost invisible from the road, 
being set far back within spacious grounds. ‘The site se- 
lected for “Braemar” is of this situation. Built on a hill- 
side it is located at such an elevation and so far from the 
road as to ensure absolute privacy. The house faces the side 
road that bounds one border of the estate, and, being set 
back far from that, has the advantage of a sequestrated situ- 
ation while being, as a matter of fact, almost in the heart 
of the town. 
It is built of Harvard brick, with stone trimmings, and 
was designed by Messrs. Peabody and Stearns, architects, of 
Boston, Mass. It is a building of comparatively moderate 
size, and is designed in a style that combines real elegance 
with sobriety and moderateness. ‘These qualities are some- 
what rare in building, but are here developed in a very in- 
teresting and satisfactory manner. 
The entrance-front is the principal portion of the exterior; 
that is to say, it is the most ornate. It discloses a center 
slightly recessed between two end. wings, each of which is 
flanked with an open porch or loggia. ‘The building is two 
stories in height, with a sloping roof, which contains two 
dormer windows in the center. The projecting ends are not 
actually pavilions, but are portions of the main structure 
slightly brought forward. ‘They are, however, treated as 
pavilions, with rusticated angles of brick, and each contains 
a single window, a large rectangular opening, repeated in the 
upper floor, the two being separated by a narrow band of 
stone which is carried completely around the house. The 
loggias beyond are graceful little structures, with end piers 
of brick, and a pair of intervening columns front and back. 
The outermost of the triple opening thus formed is enclosed 
below with a balustrade; the central one serves as an en- 
trance, and is reached, from without, by a flight of steps. 
On the outer ends is a single rectangular opening, walled 
with brick below. The westerly loggia has, beyond it at the 
back, a little open garden, walled on the two open sides, and 
planted in a formal manner. The ground behind the house 
slopes steeply and rapidly, so that the outer angle of this 
