February, 1911 
type, and is actually a water garden. It lies imme- 
diately below the west porch to which, in a sense, it 
is a pendant. The balustrade makes way, here, for steps, 
which descend in two separate flights on the right and the 
left. The pedestals at the top are surmounted by great 
cement vases, while a larger, flatter one in the middle is 
filled with water. The design is extremely fine and effec- 
tive, the walls that support the upper path being faced with 
blocks against which is the double stairway. There are 
boxed hydrangeas on the intermediate platforms, and small 
white marble vases on the lowest pedestals. In the center 
is the pool, a majestic body of water, filling the whole of 
the garden space save for the paths. Water lilies bloom 
peacefully on its stilled surface, and at the far end is a full 
sized reproduction in cement of the Victory of Samathrace, 
on either side of which, and before it, are great palms and 
elephant’s ears growing in pots, a novel use of this familiar 
plant, and a highly effective one. As in the other gardens 
there is an enclosing balustrade, overgrown and overhung 
with the usual ampelopsis. All of this fine arrangement is 
built out on a high retaining wall, that carries the garden 
well out over the sloping hillside. 
The steps on the right, as you descend, lead to a pergola 
which is built along the west wall of the north garden It 
‘is constructed of wood, with square piers and rafters <A 
wild border of Japanese barberry grows between the piers, 
and in the center of each bay is a large cement vase. The 
pergola supports grape and hop vines, and on the retaining 
wall of the north garden a substantial beginning has been 
made with English ivy. The path beyond leads out in the 
open grounds of the estate and into the beautiful woods 
with which much of it is covered. 
The north garden offers a still different form from the 
other two, and is rectangular in shape with a vast semicir- 
cular ending. It is distinctly an old-fashioned garden, the 
space being pathed and bedded in a simple manner and 
alive with the beautiful old flowers that are always so glad 
to grow when given an opportunity, and which never seem 
so happy as when giving pleasure to those who crave them. 
A rose garden is arranged in the beds in the half circle in 
the center of which are steps to the lower grounds. The 
house front here has a low vestibule in the middle, with 
steps that rise to the garden level; they are guarded by 
sphinxes with female heads. All of this side of the house 
is enclosed with evergreens, mostly specimen plants of low 
growth. 
The house gardens of ‘‘Filston’” are completed with the 
north garden, but neither the floral beauties of the estate 
nor its general interest is exhausted by them. The grounds 
immediately beyond and below the gardens are maintained 
in the most careful manner. The grass is cultivated right 
up to the trees, and is mowed and cultivated as a lawn. 
The tree growth everywhere is attractive, with many fine 
and impressive examples of forest growth, and much newer 
) 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 49 
planting that has been so well done that any sense of new- 
ness has been quickly lost. In short, the outer grounds are 
so beautifully kept that the formal gardens are not simply 
spots of beauty at the house; but rather the crown of a 
superbly maintained estate. 
An estate of this size contains, of course, many other 
buildings than the great house. The disposition of these 
minor structures has been so widely spaced as to give each 
an individuality and an environment of its own. ‘The tele- 
phone and electric service obviates any necessity for the 
proximity that was once universal. 
The stable is the most considerable edifice other than the 
house. It is one of the axioms of architecture that a build- 
ing should express what it is, and yet the most striking 
characteristic of the ‘‘Filston’’ stable, and perhaps its 
greatest charm is its absolute unresemblance to a stable. 
A slight examination will instantly disclose the purpose of 
this very successful building, but it surely marks an individ- 
ual type in structures of this sort. It is a large rectangular 
building of white stucco, covered with a high pyramidal 
shingled roof, stained green. The two octagonal domed 
louvres on the ridge immediately disclose its function, as 
does also the carriage entrance in the center. But this is 
beneath a small covered porch that might be that of a priy- 
ate dwelling. ‘There are many signs to point that this can- 
not be the purpose of this building, but it surely offers a 
most agreeable change from the type almost universally 
recognized as appertaining to the stable, and it is, in many 
ways, a most agreeable and interesting structure. 
Not far from it is the garage, a small square building, 
quite identical in type with the other outbuildings, save 
that its roof is enclosed with a wood parapet of classic form. 
There are some fine trees in immediate proximity to both 
these buildings, and some effective planting of evergreens. 
Far off from the stable, and in an environment completely 
its own, is the gardener’s cottage, a tastefully designed white 
house with green shutters partly embedded with an over- 
growing of vines. Beyond it is the conservatory and green- 
houses, a great group of glass buildings chiefly used for 
forcing and the care of plants during the winter season. An 
immense vegetable garden has been developed between these 
buildings and the house, but displayed on such low ground 
as to be quite out of sight from the last. That the floral 
resources of “‘Filston” are not exhausted by the house gar- 
dens is amply established by the brilliant border of the 
market garden. 
This is, indeed, a complete and useful garden in itself, 
a rustic arbor in the center, and many beds of the most 
brilliantly blooming flowers stretching away on either side. 
Here are grown the flowers used for decorative purposes 
within the house, but so rich and splendid is the blooming 
that it would seem as though the most generous depletion 
would never exhaust the supply or even so much as hint at 
any possible diminution. 
