Beliefontaine, at Lenox , Massachusetts 
the walls of a terrace, where vines fall loosely 
over white stonework. Above are walks and 
masses of flowers and small grass plats, carry¬ 
ing the green of the foreground to the base 
of balustrades and a white two-story colon¬ 
nade. Attached to these are the walls of the 
house itself whose delicate colors dissolve 
above into a light sun-filled sky. From low 
arcaded porticos 
rows of Lom¬ 
bardy poplars 
extend upon 
each side like 
outstretched 
arms. Above 
their sharp 
young tops wave 
forest trees in 
one dark back¬ 
ground. Archi¬ 
tecture is here 
surrounded by 
conditions which 
give the highest 
effect. H ow the 
scene would 
have pleased an 
observer like 
Mr. H amerton! 
Quite uncon¬ 
sciously of his 
dictum his three 
requirements for 
the setting of a 
house have been 
fulfilled. The 
“pedestal,” he 
desired, is the 
rising lawn; the 
“ margin ” is the 
sweep of land 
bounded by the 
avenues; and the 
adossement is the 
forest. Viewed from a greater distance all 
the hills of Lenox would increase the value 
of the last. Thus Bellefontaine appears from 
the Stockbridge Road. It is a formal type of 
country home, to be sure, and its beauty is 
not one of loose picturesqueness. But we 
shall see in approaching the house, in walking 
the lawns and terraces, that formality of form 
ceases where walls and columns meet the 
ground. From that point Nature’s call for 
freedom has been heeded and the problem 
of setting a dignified structure with unyield¬ 
ing Renaissance lines in the midst of rolling, 
almost mountainous, country has been ideally 
solved. 
Natural and artificial objects replace each 
other at successive stages from the soft 
meadowbelowto 
the focus of Art 
in the house it¬ 
self. Had a 
poorer judgment 
led the design 
the whole prop¬ 
erty would have 
been stiffly sur¬ 
rounded and 
marked off by 
walls of cut 
stone and cold 
gray concrete 
walks, where 
walks were not 
needed. But 
these false acces¬ 
sories do not fol¬ 
low the traveler 
along the Stock- 
bridge Road 
crying “ Within 
us is Bellefon¬ 
taine!” One 
lofty and impres¬ 
sive gateway 
marks the main 
entrance from 
the road. At this 
point the avenue 
commences and 
one approaches 
the house be¬ 
tween two paral¬ 
lel lines of slen¬ 
der trees. When the sun is low the thin trunks 
make bars of shadow across the path and the 
fancy sees a long low flight of steps leading 
to the distant house instead of the smooth 
Macadam avenue. After passing the super¬ 
intendent’s house on the left, just inside the 
gate, a spot of light across the road is the 
only interruption in the long perspective. 
It is the entrance to the stable which stands 
THE PLAN OF BELLEFONTAINE 
4 
