File:American homes and gardens (1905) (17965124699).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar11905newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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224 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS October, 1905
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" Drumthwacket"—The Entrance Front children to their mother. And this is the first great fact that the visitor learns. Here is a university town completely isolated between the two great cities of New York and Philadelphia, placed just off the modern main highway—the Pennsylvania Railroad—so remote from its greater neighbors that life within its scholarly precincts must be isolated, whether one will or no—a town nurtured by the University and existing for no other purpose. But there is no medieval isolation here. Its streets are lined with fine old houses; its roads stretch out amid beautiful country estates; it is an active modern life that is lived here; and over all is the spirit of culture, the guardian of the place, the dominating influence, the force that has made the town and given the University the world-wide distinction it has long possessed. That the town is beautiful, beautifully placed in country gently hilly and much of it deeply wooded, is evident at a glance; but the cultured atmosphere of the University dominates the whole place and gives it a supreme charm. As a mere site, as a beautiful piece of land, Prince- ton would be delightful to live in; but as the seat of a great university, as one of the most potent culture forces in Amer- ica, it is ideal. The University perhaps excites the greater amount of in- terest among visitors to Princeton, but its historical associa- tions are very large. The battle of Princeton, fought January 3' I777' Put fresh heart into the harassed American forces, added new luster to the military genius of Washington, and gave Princeton and its near-by fields imperishable fame. This hallowed ground forms part of the estate of " Drum- thwacket." It is a beautiful as well as an historic place, comprising about 300 acres. It is, therefore, a property of the first rank in size. The name " Drumthwacket" comes from two Scotch words, " drum," a hill, and " thwacket," a wood or forest, akin to the English thicket. " Drumthwacket " means, therefore, " the wooded hill." The name was given to the place about 1835. It is approached through handsome gateways, fine drive- ways from north and south leading to the house through beautiful stretches of lawn and trees, bordered, for the most part, with flowering shrubs, so planted that some part of these drives will always be enlivened during the season with brilliant blooming. The house is a stately and beautiful structure, in describ- ing which the word " elegant " naturally comes to the mind. And such it really is, for the central part, with its two-storied colonnade, was built in 1832 by Governor Charles Smith Olden, and has been retained, outwardly untouched, as the center of the present stately mansion of the estate. Gov- ernor Olden's house, although generous in size and dignified in proportions, was much too small to meet the requirements of the dwelling house of a large estate planned and ar- ranged in the closing years of the nineteenth century. The problem before the owner and his architect was, therefore, to devise a house large enough for modern needs which would at once include the old mansion and not destroy its integrity. This was a matter of no small difficulty. There are few things more hazardous than to add onto an old house any considerable addition; it is much more serious when these additions cover twice as much ground site as the original structure, which can in no way be disturbed, and which must not lose its importance nor its individuality. Mr. Raleigh C. Gildersleeve, the architect of the new portions of the house, accomplished his task with extraordinary sagacity and success. At the very beginning of the work it was deter- mined that the original mansion must remain absolutely in- tact. This having been decided upon, the single remaining problem was to design wings on either side in strict harmony with the design of the original structure. There was per- haps little call for originality in this process, but there was ample need for careful study of the older building, and a very urgent necessity for a study of its style and character, its feeling, its detail. Mr. Gildersleeve's position, as I under- stand it, was not so much what he would do in extending the

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