File:American homes and gardens (1908) (17535380123).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar51908newy (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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August, 1908 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 303 front, the ample areas of the terrace; below is the beautiful new green grass; and beyond are the myriad delights, natural and human, that form so potent a part in the charm of Newport. Here, indeed, is a rare exterior, stately, ornate and splendid, a truly fitting background for the gayest sort of festivity and the most princely hospitality. But although the terrace is, in a sense, the culmination of the house, there is much within to see of interest before its supreme attractiveness will be learned. The main doorway leads directly into the grand hall without any vestibule save the glazed external porch. This is a superb and palatial apartment, whose superficial area is perhaps twenty-five by fifty feet. The ceiling, which is decorated with great bold- ness and vigor in relief, is upheld by four pairs of coupled columns of richly veined marble with Ionic capitals. These are arranged somewhat toward each end, leaving a free central space. Pilasters of similar design are applied to the adjoining walls opposite to them. The walls are of white plaster, with panels formed by narrow bands of verde an- tique marble, while the door frames are of the same rich material as the columns. The stairway is on the right, rising without the columns at that end. It is continued to a broad landing, and then turns to the right and left; the left arm alone rises to the second floor, but a somewhat symmetrical treatment is effected by continuing the right arm to the outer wall on that side. The lower part of the stair- way is supported on half arches, giving a free space below, which is available for an orchestra on occasions of entertain- ment. The stairs are of white Italian marble, and the hand- rail is a fine example of French wrought iron work. The living-room immediately adjoins the hall and occu- pies the other half of the center of the house. The walls are paneled throughout in quartered oak. The spaces over the door openings are arched, to correspond with the form of the windows, the main doorway, for its greater size, being necessarily surmounted with an eliptical arch. Four great windows in the opposite wall open to the floor and give upon the terrace. In the center is the chimney fireplace, ar- ranged in a structure that projects well into the room. The ceiling has the form of a low eliptical arch, and from it depend two rich bronze chandeliers. There are two rooms in the left wing: the library, which faces the entrance front, and the salon, which looks out upon the water. The library is paneled throughout in French walnut, with built-in bookcases. Both the shelves and the paneling form a part of a continuous design, the salient feature of which is the pilasters, erected on a plain dado, and arranged singly or in pairs as emphasis and situation re- quire. All around the room, and still a part of the in- terior woodwork, is a carved frieze of rich scroll design. The fireplace is of Caen stone, lined with brick. The panel over the mantel is cut away for the insertion of a portrait of Mrs. Bruguiere; a festooned decoration is arranged above and around it. The ceiling is plain white plaster. The salon is a beautiful apartment designed in the style of Louis XVI. The arches of the windows form the keynote of the design, for arches of less dimension are continued around the walls. Paneled piers support the frames and arches; the latter, however, are without molded frames, but are surrounded with garlands and bands of roses modeled in plaster. A similar floral treatment is given to the panels of the piers, which carry a cornice supported on small modillions. And everywhere, save where there are win- dows, are mirrors—mirrors in the arched openings on each side of the doorways; mirrors in similar openings on each side of the fireplace; a large mirror over the mantel shelf, and still smaller ones, rectangular in form, in the spaces between the larger panels. The ceiling is domed, with a mirror in the apex, from which descends a rich and beautiful crystal chandelier. It is a room brimful of light and gaiety, conceived in a very happy way and carried out in a thor- oughly successful and charmingly playful manner. The dining-room is on the opposite side of the house, and is larger than either the library or salon, but not so large as the two together; some space is needed here for the ample service requirements, which face the entrance front, the dining-room being on the sea front. The walls are paneled in solid mahogany in plain, simple, rectangular panels that rise to about the height of the doors. The door frames are of buff Siena marble and are quite monumental in character; the richness of their material offsetting, in a measure, the sobriety of their design. At one end is the fireplace, incased within a chimney-piece of Siena marble, a vast and elabor- ately designed structure that quite dominates the room. The family arms fill the central panel. The ceiling is supported by a double cove. The lower one rises immediately above the summit of the paneling, and against it are finished the crowns of the door frames and the chimney-piece. A band of foliage, behind which are concealed the electric lights which illuminate the room, separates the lower cove from the upper one, which is smaller and merges immediately into the flat surface of the central ceiling.
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