File:American homes and gardens (1909) (17531467014).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar61909newy (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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(ELLIAN COURT" occupies the compara- tively modest area of about twenty acres among the hills of Tarrytown-on-the-Hud- son, a beautiful village so close to the city of New York as to be almost literally a metropolitan suburb. It is a place of rare charm, a site beautiful in itself, treated and developed in a highly interesting manner. Much of the original growth of trees has been cleared away and the land newly planted with fruit trees and many plants and shrubs. Here and there a few fine old trees still remain, chiefly elms and chestnuts, while the remoter parts are heavily wooded with the mixed growth which is characteristic of the high- lands of the Hudson. The grounds are inclosed within a high wall, near one end of which is the entrance to the serpentine drive by which the house is reached. The mansion is close to the southern edge of the property, scarce more than two hundred feet from the roadway. The site on which it stands is by no means the highest within the estate, but it is sufficiently high to permit of good drainage in every direction. The entrance driveway passes beneath the porte cochere and is thence continued to the stable beyond the house. The mansion is built of local granite from an old quarry, and is a stone that easily lends itself to the Italian style in which this building was d e - signed by its archi- tects, Messrs. Janes & Leo, of N e w York. The roofs of Spanish tiles consti- tute an integral part in the color scheme of the exterior. Entering the house from beneath the porte cochere admission is gained to the entrance hall through a vestibule. This hall is a stately and dignified apart- ment, octagonal in plan and s u r - mounted with a domed ceiling. The mosaic floor has a patterned border and the walls are in imitation Caen stone. The architec- tural treatment is simple but expressive. A somewhat severe cornice is upheld by Roman Doric columns that are engaged in the corners of the octagon. A marble bench stands before the domed niche, and a Roman table, likewise of marble, occupies the center of the room. The electric lights are hidden behind the cornice at the base of the dome and form a highly effective method of lighting. To the left is the living-hall, one end of which is filled with the main staircase. The lower part of the walls, to about the height of seven feet, have a paneled wainscoting painted with white enamel, with which all of the woodwork of this room is treated. Above the wainscot the walls are covered with yellow brocaded silk. The ceiling is beamed, and, like the woodwork, is white. The fireplace has facings and hearth of buff brick and an overmantel of Caen stone. The stairway, which is completely open to the hall, is built with broad landings and has white enameled balusters and treads and a mahogany rail. The floor is of hard wood, on the center of which is laid a great rug. The color scheme is extraordinarily bright and cheerful, as necessarily follows from the combination of white and yellow, the prevailing colors cf the apartment.

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