House and Garden 
certain appropriate spot and adding to it, as 
occasion demands, other rooms of the same 
width and varying lengths—like dominoes. 
There are now six divisions thus connected: 
an old parlor, in which is a huge fireplace, 
by some accident not removed in a frenzied 
crusade which substituted numerous mere¬ 
tricious mantels for real old fireplaces; an 
old hall; and the living-room (which were 
all included in the original building), and 
three other rooms added at a later date. 
The original plan was of the shape of the 
letter T—the old parlor occupying the right 
half of the cross-bar, the living-room the left 
half and the hall being the upright, but run¬ 
ning through to the other side of the house 
—thus dividing the parlor from the living- 
room,—and being the only break now in 
the absolute rectangle of the house. The 
hallway is not only an example of the most 
refined and discreet Colonial architecture, 
but possesses as well, in its good proportions 
and delightful detail, a charm of individ¬ 
uality and feeling which it is 
pleasant to consider has not 
been effected by the usual 
bizarre Colonial methods. 
1 he Ionic pilasters are in 
classic proportion and have 
caps that are exquisite bits of 
carving. The view looking up 
the stairs is charming. The 
simple round-arched window 
delightful in its proportions 
and general appropriateness- 
makes one feel the uselessness 
of the modern tendency to 
force a Palladian window (of 
which there are very few ex¬ 
amples in old Colonial work) 
upon every defenceless stair- 
landing. The balusters of the 
stair are clumsy, but their lack 
of grace is not obtrusive, and 
the general effect is extremely 
interesting. The hall under 
the landing, lighted by two 
quaint little windows, drops 
down a step for head-room, 
and immediately under the 
stair-window is the old back 
door, now never used. The 
whole hall has the atmosphere 
of the real Georgian. 
Outside it is not so purely in the style 
but is most entertaining. The brick facings 
(which were brought over—every brick of 
them—from England), in combination with 
the grey stone walls and the Colonial muntin 
bars, are wholly picturesque. In the gable 
of the hall wing, which is to be seen in one 
of the illustrations, is the bull’s-eye. Captain 
Coultas took it from one of the ships he owned 
and put it there, but, unfortunately, it is too 
high up from the floor to see out of, so it is 
of no great value, except as a relic of George 
II.’s merchant marine. 
Viewing the house from the front, one gets 
a glimpse of a quaint little doorway under 
the terrace, which is the outlet of a tunnel 
that communicates with the wine cellar, 
where Captain Coultas and George Grey 
were wont to have the casks rolled in. The 
cellar itself was in the early days an elaborate 
affair, subdivided in the English fashion into 
meat cellar, provision cellar, wine cellar and 
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