Bellefontaine, at Lenox , Massachusetts 
BELLEFONTAINE 
AT LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS. 
Designed by Carr ere & Hastings , Architects. 
II. 
T HAI' part of Bellefontaine dealt with in 
the January number of House and Gar¬ 
den was the southern side of the building and 
the avenues and terraces there facing the 
open country. We entered the grounds by 
one of the poplar avenues that extend laterally 
from each end of the house. The southern 
outlook of the place is not, however, usually 
seen by the visitor, for the entrance most fre¬ 
quently used is a drive which leaves the road 
from the village, before one comes to the 
house itself, and leads into the woods. At the 
road is no mark or suggestion of the monu¬ 
mental place beyond, and the drive enters the 
shady gloom of a seeming wilderness. A 
grotesque figure of marble grinning here and 
there from behind a dark hemlock, a statue or 
pergola before ahemicycle of pines are the only 
traces of a designed effect which, in a moment, 
comes completely into view. A turn of the 
drive suddenly discloses the house. Two 
rough stone posts, half-covered with vines, are 
passed, and then before one is spread a large 
forecourt—the house across its distant end. 
This great opening of sunken lawn, bound¬ 
ed first by drives and then by dense forest 
trees, is the most impressive feature of Belle¬ 
fontaine. Without it, with what poor effect 
the mansion would have been huddled against 
the wood, where now the brick and marble 
walls cast their shadows over a smooth turf 
and are reflected in the waters of a pool. A 
A DRIVE 
BELLEFONTAINE 
64 
