AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1907 



and chairs and other furniture there are chiefly old, for the 

 modern reproductions are very few, the photographs at once 

 display, but they also make clear that the selection of ex- 

 amples that approach the more modern comfort of newer 

 furniture has not been avoided — to the greater utility of the 

 rooms and their great comfort. 



The hall is entered immediately from the entrance door, 

 for this is a summer home — not occupied during the winter 

 months. The walls are papered and painted a leaf green in 

 water color. The beamed ceiling is of the same color, save 

 for the white beams. There are green velvet curtains at the 

 windows. Green also is the color used for the coverings of 

 the furniture. Oriental rugs are laid on the hardwood floor. 

 The mantel, of 

 wood, has brick, fac- 

 ings with a fireplace 

 whitewashed, like 

 all the others in the 

 house. The t r i m 

 of the wood is 

 painted white. Such 

 is the setting pro- 

 vided for many fine 

 old pieces of furni- 

 ture and old bric-a- 

 brac with which the 

 room is filled. An 

 extended catalogue 

 would be necessary 

 to describe them 

 even in the briefest 

 way. There are 

 Chippendale chairs, 

 old tables, a fine 

 Chippendale secre- 

 tary in one corner, 

 an old mirror with 

 painted top, and old 

 paintings on glass of 

 the seasons on one 

 wall; on another 

 wall is an embroid- 

 ered portrait of Gen. 

 George Washington 

 from the Dr. Grim 

 collection ; on the 

 mantel hangs an old 

 flint-lock; there is a 

 grandfather's clock, 

 old-time mantel or- 

 naments, antique 

 andirons, and a mul- 

 titude of curious old 

 things of the most 

 varied sort, each of 

 which makes its own contribution to the effect of the room. 

 A doorway in the far corner admits to the library or living- 

 room. It is a recent addition and much the largest room in 

 the house, and is an apartment of quite generous dimensions. 

 It is paneled throughout in cypress stained a dark brown, and 

 has a white plaster ceiling in a geometrical pattern of curves 

 and rectangles. The hard wood floor is covered with large 

 Oriental rugs. On the left is a vast bay window with leaded 

 panes — the only window in the room — filling almost the 

 whole of the west side — the window which is such a con- 

 spicuous feature of the exterior at this point. It has a great 

 built-in seat below the casement. The wood mantel, which 

 is applied to the entrance wall, has facings of brick, 

 like all the other fireplaces. Covering the opposite wall is a 

 superb piece of Flanders tapestry. The furniture has brown 



A Glimpse of the Rose-embowered Pergola 



coverings, and includes, as elsewhere in the house, many in- 

 teresting old pieces. There are a number of old ladderback 

 chairs, a secretary brought from England one hundred and 

 fifty years ago, a table with an inlaid portrait of Lafayette 

 in the center. Among the many old ornaments in the room 

 special mention should be made of two exceedingly rare en- 

 graved glass storm shades for candles, beautifully shaped 

 swelled cylinders of glass delicately engraved. A small 

 office or den opens from this room at its farthest end. 



The dining-room is on the right of the hall. It is paneled 

 in wood painted white. It has a hardwood floor with Ori- 

 ental rugs. The furnishings throughout are old mahogany. 

 The mantel, of black and gray marble, is old, and is com- 



p 1 e t e 1 y furnished 

 with old-time fix- 

 tures, including a 

 metal plate warmer 

 and other fire con- 

 veniences that have 

 long since passed 

 out of use. There 

 is a triple painted 

 mirror above it, and 

 among the shelf or- 

 naments are two 

 great porcelain wine 

 coolers in gold and 

 white. The dining- 

 room table came 

 from a famous 

 mansion of old Phil- 

 adelphia. The Chip- 

 pendale chairs have 

 brown coverings. 

 There is an immense 

 mahogany s i d e - 

 board, several china 

 closets, old cabinets, 

 a wine cellarette — 

 near the mantel — a 

 banjo clock, and 

 much old dining- 

 room bric-a-brac and 

 old Canton and 

 Nankeen china. At 

 the further end is a 

 rectangular bay win- 

 dow overlooking the 

 rose garden. It has 

 white Swiss curtains 

 hanging over green 

 Venetian blinds — a 

 combination applied 

 to the other win- 

 dows. A breakfast 

 table stands here, with curious caned chairs over a century 

 old. The window directly overlooks the gardens on this 

 side of the house. 



The bedrooms of the second floor are furnished with the 

 same delightful wealth of antique furniture; only one room, 

 however, has an old bed, a low four-poster; the other rooms 

 have modern metal beds, a concession to modern advances 

 entirely excusable. But the other furnishings, including the 

 wooden mantels, are genuinely and delightfully old, of a 

 numerousness and beauty that is positively heart-breaking. 



And the gardens ! There are four : the sunken garden, 

 which one looks down upon from the porch; the rose garden, 

 with its sun-dial, seen from the dining-room window; the trel- 

 lis garden, with its three terraces, and the dahlia garden, with 

 the tennis court, representing several years' additions. Every 



