HOUSE AND GARDEN 
12 
July, 1915 
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In the living-room the paneled wainscot rises two-thirds of the way to the beamed ceiling, making an excellent background for the heavy old Italian furniture and 
the plethora of antiques which have been assembled here 
The music room is Italian Renaissance in design and furnishings; the walls finished 
in white and gold panels surmounted by a shallow vaulted ceiling 
coupled with the inherent elegance and dignity of the Italian 
style. 
Bostonians are fortunate in their North Shore, and Mr. Ran- 
toul was fortunate in having so fair a frame for his picture. 
The way from Beverly to Magnolia is a delightful panorama 
of shady woodland, sunny meadows, a rolling hinterland, rugged 
headlands, sandy beaches, and the eternal beauty of the sparkling 
sea. In this delectable combination of shore and country there 
has grown up a colony of attractive homes, varying from the 
simple cottage to the stately mansion, surrounded everywhere 
by the green beauty of trees. It was amid the natural beauties 
of the North Shore that Mr. Lee, a well-known Boston banker, 
chose to erect his summer home, on the crossroads a third of a 
mile from the Beverly Farms railroad station. 
It was sixty years ago that Col. Flenry C. Lee, Mr. George 
Lee's father, one of the four pioneer summer residents of the 
North Shore, built a home not far from where Villa-al-Mare 
now stands. The section in the immediate vicinity developed 
slowly, and when the son purchased the land on which his 
house now stands it was a rough, forlorn-looking spot enough. 
In fact, it was largely a sand pit. But Mr. Lee and his architect 
saw the possibilities of the site, and the transformation is now 
complete. 
Villa-al-Mare stands somewhat back from the main road on 
a slight eminence, commanding a superb view of the sail-dotted 
