April, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



125 



Notable American Homes 



By Barr Ferree 



The Country Seat of M. P. Slade, Esq., at Mount Kisco, New York 



T IS a good deal of a drive from the station 

 to Mr. Slade's beautiful house at Mt. Kisco, 

 a circumstance that seems to be quite char- 

 acteristic of most of the estates in this vicinity. 

 There are no long open stretches of land 

 here, but so many hills and vales, with ap- 

 parently as much up-going as down, that I am 

 sure the landscape, viewed from above, must present some- 

 what the appearance of a vast bowl dotted over with number- 

 less protuberances. The newer houses affect the hilltops; 

 the older ones nestle against the warm shelters of the hill- 

 sides. There is constant change in this beautifully varied 

 scenery, and there is calm and quiet in the air, save when a 

 hideous discharge of powder tells the inhabitants that a 

 fresh blast has been set off in the mighty works the City of 

 New York is carrying on for its water supply not far away. 

 One does not, therefore, find the somewhat longish drive 

 tiresome, for there is much to see and enjoy, and an inex- 

 haustible stock of the purest air to give zest to the journey. 



The interest is obviously heightened when so interesting a 

 house as Mr. Slade's is the goal, an interest that is presently 

 realized when the carriage passes into the courtyard before 

 the house and the journey is ended. 



The arrangement of the house grounds, especially at the 

 entrance, is quite unusual. Standing, as the house does, in 

 a somewhat remote location, it was rightly deemed advisable 

 to differentiate the entrance grounds from those of the im- 

 mediate vicinity; and there could have been no better way to 

 accomplish this than by doing so boldly and directly, and 

 inclosing a certain area within a solid wall. The advantages 

 of this plan are obvious. In giving an ample area to this 

 inclosure there is an apparent expansion of all dimensions. 

 Being sufficiently large in itself to form a thoroughly ade- 

 quate approach to the house, one has but to pass beyond it to 

 the larger spaces without to realize the considerable size of 

 the whole estate. It emphasizes the entrance front by provid- 

 ing a feature that is at once a part of it and an integral por- 

 tion of the house. And it gives a privacy to the entrance that 



The Walled Court of the Entrance Front 



