THE TIFFANY HOUSE at OYSTER BAY L. I.

 

THE TIFFANY HOUSE at OYSTER BAY L. I.

   IN developing Laurelton Hall, his Oyster Bay home. Mr. Louis Tiffany kept clear of the temptation to reproduce a Roman villa or French chateau. Being an artist with an intense feeling and love for the leagues of his own country, Mr. Tiffany created what he considers a distinctively American house. Before planning his estate, even on paper, the artist had the site carefully surveyed and a clay model of it made to scale. The valley, meadows, hills and trees were made in miniature. With this model before him, he formed in wax, to the same scale, his conception of the house. The building is very long, and its main rooms face either the harbor or the wonderful flowered hills. 

THE TIFFANY HOUSE at OYSTER BAY L. I.

  The grounds are marvelously beautiful, perhaps because nature has been assisted, not interfered with. Laurelton, by the way, has lost practically all its locust and other deciduous trees, for the North Shore of Long Island is bleak in winter, and Mr. Tiffany has planted pine or hemlock wherever the former trees have faltered in their growth. 

   The interior of the house shows a rare feeling for color, for here the genius of the designer has had full play. 

THE TIFFANY HOUSE at OYSTER BAY L. I.

  The most striking feature of the whole house is the central court—this room, for such it really is. Is suggestive of the Persian. It is a perfect riot of color, not only architecturally, but because it was designed as a place for flowers. From early spring until midwinter this court is a symphony in color. The crystal fountain resembles a large bottle or vase of the clearest glass. The water, coming from the lily pond in the garden, enters the vase at the bottom and overflows the slender neck in a silent sheet of limpid spray that reflects all the brilliant colors of the flowers. 

THE TIFFANY HOUSE at OYSTER BAY L. I.

   The distinguishing features of the main rooms of the house are their size and color. The living-room cannot be labeled, it belongs to no period or style. Rectangular, with no breaks and no excrescences, green predominates in its decorations, and there is a pervading sense of restfulness within its wainscoted walls.