260 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS July, 1909 
with slabs of white marble; the andirons are wrought-iron. 
The floor is of oak, as are all the other floors of this story, 
on which are laid handsome Oriental rugs. 
The living-room opens on the right. It is a long, low 
apartment, lighted by windows on three sides. The walls 
are paneled throughout to the ceiling in a double series of 
panels, small below, large above, all painted French gray. 
The ceiling is white and without ornamentation. The man- 
tel is of polished mottled gray marble, with black marble 
facings and black and gray marble hearth; the andirons 
are brass and the screen is wrought-iron. The window cur- 
tains are of thin white Swiss, with shades in two tones of 
buff, a treatment that prevails elsewhere on this floor. 
Bronze candle lights are applied to the walls, and the furni- 
ture coverings are green and red velour and tapestry. 
On the left of the hall a small room on the entrance front 
serves as a library and writing-room. It has a low paneled 
wainscot of wood painted white, above which the walls are 
covered with a beautiful tapestry paper in tones of green. 
There is a molded plaster cornice and a plain white ceiling 
The whole of one side is completely shelved in wood painted 
white. Behind this room is a corridor that leads to the 
service wing. Before these 
important parts are 
reached space is found for 
the stairs to the second 
story, and a “dust” room, 
fitted with built-in lockers, 
where there may be a pre- 
liminary cleaning up after 
a game of tennis. 
Directly in face, beyond 
the hall as one enters it, is 
a passage which fulfils the 
function of a conservatory, 
and which obviously leads 
to the third wing of the 
house. It is presently dis- 
closed to be the approach 
to the dining-room. It is 
a space that has the dis- 
tinct quality of a gallery. 
Three great windows on 
the right practically oc- 
cupy all of that wall. 
There is a low wainscot of 
wood painted white, and 
the upper walls are 
covered with a paper, light gray in tone, of an old-time 
type, presenting Roman warriors in chariots, framed in 
small oblongs. This paper, by the way, is used for the halls 
and corridors everywhere, and is highly effective. ‘The floor 
is paved with marble, in squares of black and white, with 
a border of plain white marble. The furniture is of the 
conservatory type, and is of iron, painted pea-green. In the 
midst of summer this corridor is, of course, barren of plants; 
and, hence, a welcome and brilliant color note is furnished 
by the gorgeous Japanese lantern of embroidered red and 
blue silk that depends from the ceiling. 
The dining-room at the end is the final apartment in this 
wing. It is a square room, paneled to the ceiling in wood 
in two series of panels, disposed between thin pilasters that 
support the molded cornice. The ceiling is enriched with 
a central ornamentation. It is a white room, the chief note 
of color in which is given by the handsome mantelpiece of 
black and white marble which is built against a large panel 
in the center of the furthest wall. There are windows on 
three sides, which approach quite near the floor and are pro- 
vided with wide sills. There is a central bronze chandelier 
The passage to the dining-room the 
and side lights, and the furniture is antique, with seat covers 
of two-toned red velvet. 
The windows at the far end open on to the breakfast-room, 
which is actually an open porch, with square piers of stone, 
without enclosing parapets at the further end, with but low 
stone enclosures on the sides with a free opening in the 
center. It is floored with Welsh tile. All around it are 
high slim trees, and just beyond is a wall of old stone 
that separates Mr. Carrére’s property from the open fields 
adjoining. 
From the breakfast-room one may conveniently enter the 
sunken garden that has been developed in the angle formed 
by the living-room and dining-room wings. In the center 
is a great square of grass, with rounded box trees planted at 
intervals and a sun-dial at one end. All around this is a 
narrow path, then a wide border of flowers, mostly of the 
old-fashioned type, and brilliantly gay at all seasons, and 
then a wider path. Another gay border completes the floral 
embellishment. The paths are lined with narrow pieces of 
flagstones set upright, and the whole is enclosed within a 
stone wall, capped with flagstone. At the head of the gar- 
den—opposite the house—is the magnificent oak tree that 
gives its name to the place, 
and which is one of its 
choicest possessions. 
While all the parts in 
the first story are very 
convenient and direct, it is 
only on the second floor 
that the really great size 
of the house is readily ap- 
parent. This is due chiefly 
to the fact that the lower 
rooms are articulated with 
the hall, while in the sec- 
ond floor they open on to 
lengthy corridors, the 
chief of which are ar- 
ranged at right angles to 
each other. There is a 
longer, freer vista above 
than there is below, and 
the house that seemed 
modest enough in size be- 
low develops into a man- 
sion of the first rank in 
second story. The 
triple division that ob- 
tained below is preserved above. One wing serves as a 
guest wing; another is for the use of the family; and the 
third is for the servants. The bedrooms are everywhere 
charming, with their ample exposures and pretty wall papers, 
most of which have an old-time suggestiveness, but which 
are everywhere decorative in a very delightful way. 
“Red Oaks” is so new a property that the ultimate de- 
velopment of the landscape is yet to be done. Even after 
three short years of growth there are many evidences of 
permanent improvements. ‘The house has, as it were, so 
settled down that one who did not know the land before its 
walls were raised, can not picture to his mind the site without 
it. The planting near and around the house is ample and 
well grown. The old apple orchard has been recovered 
from the damage that time brings to apple orchards every- 
where, and is surely as good as new, if not better; for the 
trees are of lusty growth, and the evidences of disease and 
decay have been carefully removed. The grass here, be- 
yond the house, is beautifully kept, with a rock or two jutting 
up above its surface that the under world may be better kept 
in touch with the miracles the modern architect can create. 
