"LITTLE IPSWICH" - RUBY ROSS WOOD - IN HER OWN WORDS

 "WHY did you build it on one floor?" "Is it adapted from Jefferson's "Monticello"?" "Was it suggested by the Petit Trianon?" "Was it inspired by a Greek temple?" "Did those Palladian houses on the Brenta Canal influence you?" "Why did you build it on one floor?" Those are the repeated questions we have to answer.

It is pleasant to have a house that suggests so many origins, but it really was inspired by none of them—American, French, Greek, or Italian. Its real inspiration was the gate-house of Kimbolton Castle, built by Robert Adam. True, the gate-house was not of white painted brick, but of grey stone. It was a long, low structure with no wings but from its lovely facade, I began. I love houses built around large courtyards, and I love high ceilings, and there you have the reason for a one-storey house. You can have neither large courts nor high ceilings in small houses of more than one story. To get the same low, gracious effect, you will have to build a house four times as large.

"LITTLE IPSWICH"
 by RUBY ROSS WOOD

When I had drawn my ideal plan, after months of changes I took it to Mr. Delano, and be made a house of it. He stood it on its end and gave it form and substance and sense and dignity, and, we confess, we think great beauty, as well. He placed it on the west side of our pond, to that it might look across a vista between two great oaks whose trunks were just fifty-two feet apart, and so we made our courtyard fifty-two square. The afternoon sun is consequently on the front of the house, and the paved court is in the shadow in the afternoon. I say the paved court, because there is a greater white-walled court one hundred feet square in the front of the house.

You enter a round hall with a domed ceiling, painted from Isabella d'Este's lovely ceiling with the hearts, in the palazzo del Te, in Mantua. We went all the way to Italy to see that ceiling, and it was worth it. The original ceiling was in many colors with brown-red hearts, but ours is painted in tones of terra-cotta and white and black-brown, because the hall floor is of cream and black-brown terrazzo. The only furnishings are four English terra-cotta figures of the seasons, signed "Coade, Lambeth,  1791."

Before you enter the house, you are aware of our hobbies—horses, swans, and sphinxes. Two small stone sphinxes from Italy sit on the wall of the entrance court and another pair is on the high retaining wall on the south side of the court. On the dome, a gilded swan is the weather-vane. The house is full of swans and sphinxes and horses and there are real horses in the stables and real swans in the pond, but, so far, we haven't found a real sphinx.

THE ROUND HALL IN MR. AND MRS. CHALMERS WOODS HOUSE

As you enter the round hall, you look straight across the pond through the two great oaks to the riding-field beyond. 

On the left as you enter is the dining-room. In front of you is the loggia projecting into the paved court. On the right is the library, through which you must pass to reach the long hall of the south wing.

A LONG ISLAND LIBRARY
The book-shelves reach to the ceiling of the library of "Little Ipswich", the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers Wood, at Syosset, Long Island. The room is built of pine, and the Adams overmantel came from an old London house.

The library began from an Adam overmantel that Isabella Barclay found in an old London house, a mysterious affair, because some of its detail is undoubtedly English, and other detail is French. It is a circle of mirror upheld by two sphinxes and garlanded with two wreaths of flowers, a la Grinling Gibbons, standing free from the mirror. An urn surmounts the mirror. The other great treasure of the room is a Directoire Aubusson rug, with four great swans. I really suffered in having to put it on the floor of this room, which is necessarily a passage by day, but there it belongs. Over the windows, classic paintings of white figures on black are inset. The books go all the way to the ceiling, on all four walls. The room is built of pine stained to match the tone of the lime-wood of the Adam overmantel as nearly as possible.

From the library, you enter a long corridor with French windows opening onto the paved court on the north ride, and on the south side are the doors that lead into my bedroom and my husband's bedroom. A small writing-room and bath open from bedroom, and a bath lies between my room and my husbands. At the extreme end of this corridor, you enter the living-room, which has a French window the north opening into the court, another to the south opening into a sunken flower-garden, and a great flower-filled bay-window that looks out over the pond. There is another door that opens onto a long south terrace, outside our bedrooms. From this terrace, you go up a flight of steps to the swimming pool, which is completely enclosed by a high hedge of spruce with tall cedars back of it

Going back to the entrance-hall, you enter the dining-room.  You are faced by the mantel wall, which has two doors, one leading to a guest-room and bath, and the second to the pantry. This wall has a long, curved alcove in which the mantel is set. Again, there is a long corridor, leading to the servants hall, kitchen, and servants bedrooms. At the extreme end of this wing, there are two guest-rooms and a bath, which occupy the relative space as the living-room in the south wing. So you have the geography of the house.

The dining-room is painted a very pale grey, and has curtains of superb Directoire satin in very dark blue patterned with enormous white swans and conventional Directoire wreaths and borders. I have tried to keep this room as cold as possible, with mahogany furniture, black leather chairs, a set of black-and-white engravings by Canova, gilt mirrors, and an old black lacquer high-boy. Four ivory figures of the seasons are on the grey-and-white marble mantel, and a great white Greek vase, with projecting figures of horses is on the top of the high-boy. The room gives the impression of black and white, in spite of its mahogany and dark blue curtains.

MRS. WOOD'S BEDROOM IS BOTH FRENCH AND ENGLISH

In this short space, I can only mention briefly the things that brought the various rooms into being. My own room has the most beautiful old French floor, the squares made up of stars and compasses in black and white wood inlaid in oak. Kathleen Tysen found this floor for me in France, as she knew my old collection of stars. I was fortunate in finding a very small four-poster Adam bed painted in very dark green and a painted wardrobe of the same period.  This Adam furniture quite at home with the dark brown marble mantel and carved wood overmantel, which are French. The room is a mixture of French and English furniture of about the same period.

My husband's room has one of our greatest treasures on the mantel wall, an old hunting-frieze discovered in a house in Roanoke. Virginia, which is supposed to be the earliest known American painting of this sort. The curtains in his room are of old flowered serge. The rug is embroidered Persian felt made from the lining of a tent, which, strangely enough  is the most durable rug in the house. There are a Chippendale mahogany secretary, a walnut cheat of drawers, two leather chairs and a painted bed, which does not seem to mind its masculine surroundings.

OLD LEATHER SPORTING PANELS FROM ENGLAND

In the living-room are our leather panels of which we are very proud. They came from Longnor Hall, in Shropshire, and are dated 1723. There are three of them, depicting racing, one wrestling, and the  third stags hunting. They are of the most luminous quality, the leather having been first covered with silver, then gold, and then painted. We hope they are by Thomas Wooten, but we can not prove it. The living-room has a very large rug, which is also debatable, because while it looks English, its border is undoubtedly Persian. It has an olive-green ground with garlands of pink flowers and circles of enormous white acanthus-leaves. The ground of this rug it olive-green, and from this I painted the walls of the room. The curtains are of a little darker olive-green damask. There is a fine Japanese screen, very early, on each panel of which there is a horse in a stall. I found a pair of these screens in London, and, not having a place to use two, had them mounted back to back as one screen. so that both sides can be enjoyed.

The long corridor leading from the library to the living-room is papered with a Chinese paper of the Queen Anne period. The corridor was so  narrow that there was no room for furniture, and to hang pictures would mean too many, so I used this old paper, which fills the hall with decoration. The curtains are of taffeta made up of checks in every color of the rainbow, which looked very modernistic when I found it in London, but, as all of the colors are repeated in the wall-paper, seems quite conventional in this hall.

PRIMROSE PATH

From the south terrace, there is a long green garden, which opens a cedar vista. You look down the green garden to an enormous oak-tree in the woods, a most extraordinary Italian effect. The green garden is made up entirely of grass and ivy, like a French garden. As we live here all the year round, we have tried to use material that will be green in winter, as well as in summer.

VIEW FROM REAR COURT ACROSS POND

REAR, POND SIDE

Together we have planned this house

With love have sought, brick and stone

To model here a perfect home

So fashioned that the shadows fall

In pleasant patterns wall,

And so disposed that rooms have sun,

With space and air i every one.

It's finished . . . Only time can

Whether we've done it ill or

For me, who love both you and it

The time has come to write "exit."

Before I leave one thing I do:

Pray God that peace may be you.

North Shore Long Island: Country Houses, 1890-1950 by Paul J. Mateyunas

Completed in 1928, for Chalmers Wood Jr. (1883-1952) and his second wife, the interior designer Ruby Ross Wood (1881-1950). The Woods named the house for Chalmers' childhood home in Massachusetts where his mother's family (the Appletons) had lived since 1637.

Chalmers survived his wife by two years. After his death in 1952, the house became the summer home of Count Giorgio Uzielli (1903-1984), a New York stockbroker from a notable Florentine banking family related by marriage to the Rothschilds. He renamed it "The Lakehouse" though locally it was still referred to as Little Ipswich. After the Count died in 1984 the house stood empty, gradually falling into disrepair and becoming victim to vandalism. In 1995, Little Ipswich was demolished and its 28-acres were sold for development. Today, 21 houses known as the Pironi Estates stand on the grounds.

Architect Delano liked the house so much he chose it as the backdrop for his official portrait. https://americanaristocracy.com/houses/little-ipswich

Location at wikimapia. 

Follow THIS LINK for all past posts on "Little Ipswich".

"STONOVER" RESIDENCE OF THE MISSES PARSONS, LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS

      
     "Stonover", was developed by John Edward Parsons, counselor of the American Sugar Refining Company. The house was built, divided, moved, and rebuilt as death made changes in the family.

The house of the first minister for The Church of Lenox Hill-Top, the Rev. Samuel Munson, stood on the site of "Stonover".

  In 1885, the Valley Gleaner reported, "Mr. John E. Parsons' additions to his already sizable mansion are approaching completion with its adjuncts of stable, lodge house, forest, field, and beautiful outlooks over lake and mountain."

  

"Stonover" Residence of Mr. John E. Parsons, LENOX, Mass

    
     By 1921 Architects Delano & Aldrich had transformed the grand Victorian landmark into a sophisticated French country house. 

     Architecture critic Augusta Owen Patterson described the new "Stonover" as one of "those smart smaller houses which are becoming, in our almost servant-less country, more popular every day."  Describing the interior, Patterson wrote, "The core of the present house was a very old homestead, of which the architects took what they wanted and then proceeded to build rooms around it to produce the engaging results.

        The clients were two conservation-minded sisters, Mary and Gertrude Parsons, who had inherited the stately old family house in Lenox from their father. They had long lived under stern paternal control.  Now in their early 50's, the sisters began to enjoy their money. While still in mourning, they took off for China, motoring to distant exotic places in their chauffeur-driven car shipped from home. Back in Lenox, they began to plan a new country house with Delano & Aldrich.  

    Six years after the house was finished, her younger sister, Gertrude, died of pneumonia in Florence on a winter trip. Not long afterward, Mary's brother, Herbert Parsons, died in a freak accident while demonstrating a motorbike to his son at "Stonover Farm".

"STONOVER" RESIDENCE OF THE MISSES PARSONS, LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS
DELANO & ALDRICH, ARCHITECTS

   The L-shaped configuration of the service wing and garage had the rambling informality of a grouping of French agricultural buildings.    

Moving the old "Stonover" deeper into the property, the architects set it amid a grove of majestic elms. 

      The square wooden house originally situated at the top of the hill was removed to the slope, where the site was determined by the natural placing of trees. The building was pulled apart and added to and rebuilt around old rooms for sentimental rather than structural reasons.

The new "Stonover" would be one of the last of the graciously appointed places built in the Berkshires before the Depression.

    One approached the house along an extended driveway past the crown of the hill where the old house had stood and descended into a sheltering courtyard.

Another view of the residence of Miss Mary and Miss Gertrude Parsons at Lenox shows how pleasantly it is set and how well it is embraced with trees.

   

CONNECTING WALL TO ICE-HOUSE, GARAGES, ETC.

    The house is of yellowish stucco and the woodwork is blue.   The walls are of the same material as the building, with coping of variegated green and purple slates like the roof of the house.

The yellowish gray stucco of the house was trimmed a vivid blue around casement windows, French doors, dormers, and eaves. Flanked by a pair of box planters, the arched front door was trimmed with rough faced stone. 

     One stepped from the graveled courtyard directly through the arch and recessed door into a small, square vestibule.

Summertime parties spilled out onto the wide grass terrace, which wrapped around three sides of the house. A low stucco wall surrounded the terrace, forming a natural seat for extra guests. Two splendid stone urns graced the corners. Rambling roses tumbled over the wall and around the terrace doorways. 

   Surrounded by old Berkshire elms, it is the oldest place in the Lenox country, commanding a beautiful view from the south side.

GARDEN TERRACE

DETAIL OF SOUTH FRONT.

THE WHOLE SOUTH SIDE ON THE GROUND FLOOR IS OCCUPIED BY THE LIBRARY, FINISHED IN PANELLED BUTTERNUT.

VIEW FROM TERRACE.

    The most important room was a large paneled library centered on the south side with two bay windows and French doors opening onto the terrace.

TERRACE ON THE SOUTH SIDE. 

VIEW OF HOUSE FROM SOUTH.

  

"STONOVER FARM"

   "Stonover Farm" was built in 1890 by John Parsons as the farm house for the Parsons' estate. At the turn of the century the farmhouse became the home of his son Herbert Parsons, a New York Congressman and his wife Elsie Crews (who was one of the first female anthropologists). 

FARMHOUSE

"STONOVER FARM" BED & BREAKFAST

    Although it was one of the most recently constructed, best-appointed, and well-maintained Lenox country houses, "Stonover" was not destined to long outlive its mistress. After Mary Parsons died in 1940, the next-door neighbors purchased the property to protect their own view and demolished the house. 

    wikimapia.org location.

STARLIGHT SKATING PARTY AT "LITTLE IPSWICH"

  

STARLIGHT SKATING PARTY AT "LITTLE IPSWICH"

  "Party dresses for country house fetes"

  Decorating the outside of houses for parties and fetes has long been a custom on the Continent. In some sections Americans venture to garland their doorways and windows at Christmas. Aside from this, all our party decorations are kept indoors. Why not start the custom of decorating the outside of the house? It lends an air of gaiety to your place. Your guests will catch the party fever as soon as they approach the house. To see just how this Continental idea could be adapted here, we haven chosen.....

 For a winter night skating party we chose "Little Ipswich", the country place of Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers Wood, at Syosset. Long Island. The house, as designed Delano & Aldrich, is a classical one-story structure consisting of the main body facing the entrance court, and two wings that extend from this to enclose a wide paved terrace that looks across a stretch of gently sloping lawn to a wide pond. Since the house is formal, the decorations for this party would be consciously stylized. The entrance of the court is marked by facing sphinxes. Behind these, would be placed semi-circular fans of wire thickly covered with dark evergreen boughs and sprays of Rowan berries. The same kinds of fans could be used as lunettes over the windows, and the front of the chimneys marked in the same manner. Because of the charm of its silhouette, the house would be entirely outlined by a thick rope of evergreens. Mrs. Wood, having a penchant for swans, has used them as a decorative motif throughout the house.

   One stands as a terminal to the entrance cupola, and is thrown into relief by the evergreen rope. At each side the entrance portico could stand others, made life size out of wire covered with white Chrysanthemums backed by a fan of evergreen and colorful berries. Since this is to be an evening party, both the entrance court and the pond would be made bright with floodlights.

  "Little Ipswich" was demolished in 1995. Click HERE to see its location at wikimapia. HERE for a winter aerial from 1966. 

RUBY ROSS AND CHALMERS WOOD WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR - "LITTLE ISPWICH", SYOSSET, LONG ISLAND

"LITTLE IPSWICH", SYOSSET, LONG ISLAND
CHRISTMAS CARD 1925
DELANO & ALDRICH, ARCHITECTS

   "Little Ipswich" was demolished in 1995. Click HERE to see where it stood at wikimapia. HERE for a winter aerial from 1966. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ross_Wood

STUDIO FOR DELANO & ALDRICH, NEW YORK

OFFICE OF MESSRS. DELANO & ALDRICH, NEW YORK
 MESSRS. DELANO & ALDRICH, ARCHITECTS

 Studio for Delano & Aldrich 126 East 38th Street, New York City

  THIS building, occupying the site of a former garage***stable and milk depot***, was designed by and now serves as a private studio for Messrs. Delano and Aldrich.***1916***

  The facade is of stucco***refaced during renovations*** and Kingwood stone***from Kingwood, VA.*** with a wrought iron railing of unusual design. The character of the building, unique among its neighbors in Murray Hill, makes it possible to dispense with a sign.

ENTRANCE HALL

  One enters from a vestibule into a vaulted hall paved with stone and furnished with old English benches and wrought iron lanterns which, like all the other fixtures in the building, were designed by the architects. On one side are two reception rooms and the library. 

RECEPTION ROOM 1

  The first of these reception rooms has its walls painted a deep orange color, touched up with gold. The fixtures are of wrought iron and crystal and the furniture is Spanish, dating from the early nineteenth century. 
  

RECEPTION ROOM 2

  The other reception room is paneled in butternut and the walls hung with old engravings of architects. The mantels in both these rooms are of Kingwood stone. 

LIBRARY

    The library, whose walls are paneled with old Dutch paintings, leads into a small garden at one side with paved walks. Beyond the library is the general office for contractors, where the samples are kept, and beyond this a room for modeling and a locker room.

  On the floor above are the private offices of the firm and the business offices, stenographers' and bookkeeper's rooms.

  The entire third floor is devoted to a large draughting room, lighted and ventilated by three northerly skylights and by windows on three sides.

***Bing Streetside***

Country House of Character - The COUNTRY HOUSE of MR . BERTRAM G. WORK at Oyster Bay, L. I. By DELANO and ALDRICH Architects

What constitutes the perfect country house? Country Life asked this question of several of the leading architects in New York, and asked them to indicate some country houses which they had designed and which, in their opinion, made them distinctive from other houses. ***Below is the response from Architects Delano & Aldrich - 1919***

The COUNTRY HOUSE of MR . BERTRAM G. WORK at Oyster Bay, L. I. By DELANO and ALDRICH Architects

 IT FREQUENTLY happens that the natural difficulties encountered in perfecting the plans for a country place add largely to the architectural interests of the finished product. Certainly this is true of the house and grounds which we recently finished for Bertram G. Work, Esq., at Oyster Bay. 

The COUNTRY HOUSE of MR . BERTRAM G. WORK at Oyster Bay, L. I. By DELANO and ALDRICH Architects

 The physical difficulties to be overcome, together with the sympathy and imagination of our clients, enabled us to produce something out of the ordinary. When the plans were being studied, the property consisted of approximately thirteen and one-half acres, in which we had to wind a road rising about fifty feet. The only possible site for the house was a ridge which sloped off sharply in three directions so that literally there was not one square foot of level ground. As assets there were a very beautiful view over Oyster Bay and the Sound and a remarkable oak tree - one of the finest on Long Island. If one cares to take the trouble to study the plan and the photographs together, it will become evident how much charm has been added to the place by the difficulties of the original contours.

The COUNTRY HOUSE of MR . BERTRAM G. WORK at Oyster Bay, L. I. By DELANO and ALDRICH Architects

 The house itself is built of masonry - stucco trimmed with limestone - very simple in all its details. A feature was made of the wrought iron work, which was admirably executed by Mr. Yellin of Philadelphia. The house is as nearly fireproof as possible. Inside, the rooms are few but of ample proportions; and we had the satisfaction, which every competent architect should have, of designing the interiors, even to such small details as electric light fixtures and hardware.

The COUNTRY HOUSE of MR . BERTRAM G. WORK at Oyster Bay, L. I. By DELANO and ALDRICH Architects

 The grounds are not fully finished but already the house and surroundings have assumed an air of age, which promises well for the future of the whole.

The COUNTRY HOUSE of MR . BERTRAM G. WORK at Oyster Bay, L. I. By DELANO and ALDRICH Architects

Click HERE to see at wikimapia with all the appropriate links. Color illustration by John Vincent. 

A CONSPICUOUS EXAMPLE OF GOOD DECORATION - The Wiliard Straight Residence, New York City - MESSRS. DELANO & AlDRICH, Architects

The Willard Straight Residence, New York City MESSRS. DELANO & ALDRICH, Architects

THE great Michael Angelo is said to have been asked how he conceived the design for the colossal structure of St. Peter's. His reply was that his design for the great Roman cathedral was an endeavor to put the Byzantine dome of Santa Sophia on the Roman arches of the Basilica of Constantine. Three hundred and fifty years later the celebrated American architect and interior decorator, Stanford White, was asked how he designed such wonderful interiors without apparently confining his inspiration to any one historical period. His answer is said to have been: "By knowing how."

The most progressive interior decorators today realize that the best work in their profession is produced, not by a slavish adherence to the socalled historical periods, but by a wise application of the wonderful art heritage of the past to the requirements and taste of the present. They realize that color harmony and scale in an interior are of far greater importance than the unintelligent reproduction of decorative motives of any historical period. The decorator who knows how is not confined by one-period methods of decoration in his work. The decorator who is so confined in his work is generally not very successful, because, while he may be able to obtain authentic motives to copy or reproduce, of the period in which he has chosen to work, he may be unable to make a wise selection of motives within that period, and, by making a poor selection, he may obtain poor color harmony and make serious errors in scale.

Some decorators of today think that the problems they are called upon to work out are essentially different from those of previous periods. If these men and women will study the great decorative successes of all times - from the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome to the more modern Renaissance and Classic Revival of later Europe - they will discover that the decorators of those periods were confronted with problems no less difficult and no less far-reaching than those to be faced today. Good decoration has always consisted in the ability of the decorator to solve the problems of his day, in the light of past experience and precedent. Every age and every country has produced conspicuous successes in decoration, and it has invariably been the genius who has not been afraid to plan boldly, who has planned with a thorough knowledge of what the past has produced and who has adapted this knowledge to his own purposes, who has been most successful.

THE DECORATOR'S DUTY TO HIS PROFESSION

INTERIOR decoration today is enjoying a popularity and has acquired a breadth of meaning which it has never enjoyed before. While the employment of a professional interior decorator will always be confined to those who have ample means to pay for such services, still the broad principles of interior decoration are gradually being spread broadcast over the land and applied, at least in a general sense, to the homes of millions of people of moderate incomes. It is the obligation of the interior decorator and the architect, who have exceptional talents, to be leaders in taste and provide the right kind of examples for the eager masses to follow. The influence of the interior decorator should no longer be confined within the small circle of his immediate clients. The interior decorator who today trys to keep his work secret, is pursuing a course which is not only unpatriotic but unwise, as far as his own personal success and the standing of his entire profession are concerned. The interior decorator who views his profession in the right light, will see that it is advantageous for him***or her*** to get as much publicity for his work as he can. The country and his own immediate locality are full of people who have the means to employ his services but who have not yet been sufficiently aroused to do so. To give publicity to his work and thereby show his broadmindedness to help in raising the standard of taste in home making, the decorator will realize that he is building a larger clientele for his profession in which he will naturally share.

The interior decorator who imagines that his profession is so exclusive that his clients do not desire him to give publicity to the work which he does for them is taking too narrow a view of his usefulness to the world. On the other hand, the wealthy client, in permitting the publication of views in his home, has, of recent years, taken a very much more liberal attitude towards this matter. As a rule, people who have splendid homes, beautifully decorated, are now anxious to let other people see how beautiful their homes are, rather than to keep all this beauty secret. Many of them, in fact, are so proud of their homes that they, themselves, seek the widest publicity for them. This tendency may be especially observed in those illustrated journals which devote attention to the doings of the socially prominent.

RESTRICTIONS OF CITY RESIDENCES

IT HAS been previously stated that every age and land produces its own peculiar problems for the interior decorator. In this respect, the present is no different from the past and a number of problems which the interior decorator of today is called upon to solve may profitably be discussed. The trend of population towards the cities from the country, during the past decade or two, has been marked. The congestion of population produced by this cityward movement has created problems of great moment to the architect and interior decorator. Especially important among these is the problem of restricted building sites for city dwellings. Every architect and interior decorator knows that the problems involved in designing and decorating a modern city residence in our large centers today is a very different problem from that which was presented to him by a similar residence built a generation ago. City residences today are of necessity built on comparatively narrow lots, with little or no chance of obtaining daylight from the sides. Formerly such residences occupied ample frontages on the street and had facades with many rooms and windows abreast.

The effect which these narrow building lots for city residences have had on their architectural arrangement and their decorative treatment is more marked than the casual observer is inclined to think. The question of lighting has already been mentioned. This presents a double problem, for it is quite as necessary to consider artificial lighting as daylighting. While the question of daylighting has its greatest influence on the architectural planning and arrangement of the residence, the problem of artificial lighting effects particularly the decorative treatment of the interior of the house. Every decorator, of course, understands what an important part artificial illumination plays in a decorative scheme and he can understand that where the conditions of lighting are severe, as in the hemmed-in city residence of today, the effect which artificial illumination and the fixtures through which the light comes, have on the decorative handling of every room, is a problem he cannot afford to neglect. This accounts for the importance attached to artificial illumination during recent years.

EFFECT OF CLIENT COOPERATION

Figure 1. Bottom of Main Stair Hall seen through Vestibule.

ONE of the most successful examples of decorative handling, of recent years, in a city residence, which has come to our attention, is that of which we reproduce a number of views with this discussion, the New York house of Willard Straight. The architects of this residence are Messrs. Delano & Aldrich, who are responsible also for the interior decorative treatment and the designing of many of the decorative fitments. It is plain to be seen from the views shown, that the client and the architect cooperated closely to produce the excellent results which have been obtained. A study of the illustrations will reveal interesting solutions of decorative problems to which allusion has already been made in this discussion. No doubt, some of the credit for the success attained is due to intelligent cooperation on the part of the client. Such cooperation is not usual in the cases of wealthy clients who often complicate issues rather than cooperate with their architects and decorators. That is why the most competent interior decorator will sometimes fail in producing a good piece of work. Every interior decorator will recall houses where be knows plenty money has been spent but in which the effects obtained are in no sense commensurate with the expenditure. On the other hand, he also knows of other pieces of interior decoration in which the expenditure has been comparatively modest and the effect exceptionally fine. In the Straight residence ample means were available but the effects obtained have not suffered by unwise expenditure. To study in detail just what decorative problems were met in this residence and how they have been solved, it will be advisable to pursue the various rooms and their decorative treatment, with the aid of the illustrations.

IMPORTANCE OF LIGHTING FIXTURES

Figure 2.Upper Stair Hall from Second Story..

IT IS becoming increasingly important for decorators to invent practical, ornamental effects that will "light up" easily, as modern city homes are dark compared to the open residences of other days. In this respect the architects of the Straight residence were prompt to meet the requirements of the situation by designing fitting lighting fixtures for each room.

Figure 3. Central Hall on Second story looking towards Stair Hall. The chandelier has been made light in design so as not to interrupt the vista across the room nor mask the potrait panels at either end. A ponerous chandelier would have this.

Figure 4. Central Hall on Second Story looking towards Drawing Room. A variety of clever lighting fixtures are seen both in this room and in the Drawing Room beyond. The color contrast of gay furniture and floor coverings with the quiet walls, is to be remarked.

In the central hall on the second story (Figures 3, 4), a novel, hanging lighting fixture gives brilliancy to what might otherwise have been a sombre interior. This chandelier, at the same time, is so graceful that it does not interrupt the vista across the room nor mask  unduly the two large paintings of Zuloaga, which form the central points of interest in this hall. The clever adaptation of the "Bull Fighter," from the brush of this great Spanish artist, in what might be termed a historically conceived room, illustrates again the great versatility of the architects and decorators. The ornamental wood carvings over the entrance and above the picture at the opposite end of this hall are excellent examples of how fine craftsmanship may be adapted to make agreeable surroundings for pictorial panels. The same success in giving sprightliness and charm to what might easily seem a dry period room is seen in the use of highly ornamental textiles for window hangings and upholstered furniture, which lends this interior a brilliant and splendid charm of color, contrasted with the dark wood paneling of the walls. The possibilities of modern mill craftsmanship are all too seldom appreciated by architects and decorators today.

From this central hall a variety of carefully designed lighting fixtures may be seen. These were executed under the architects' immediate supervision and after their designs. At the center of the hall, where spaciousness is required, the chandelier is made brilliant by strings of crystals and by gilded metal ornaments. The chandelier itself is, however, designed in an open pattern almost lace-like. On the side walls are lighting fixtures of glass, spherical in form, and that scintillate with a brilliant, transparent charm without appearing to encumber the wall surfaces.

Through the door, looking into the stairhall, in Figure 3, another type of fixture is seen. The uneven surfaces of the stairhall, with its many oblique lines, might easily have had a feeling of sliding surfaces. Well-balanced charm, however, has been obtained by hanging from the ceiling, by a substantial chain, a lantern of dignified and ponderous lines.

Again, from this central hall, as seen in Figure 4, looking through the open door into the drawing room, at the end of this rather extended vista, a chandelier appears with crystal ornaments, recalling the chandelier of the central hall. This chandelier in the drawing room, however, is designed to arrest the eye rather than as an open pattern through which vision is carried.

Another extremely useful as well as ornamental type of lighting fixture is discovered on the two wrought metal standards at the right and left of the fireplace in the central hall (Figure 3). These slender upright standards are wired and provided with powerful electric bulbs which throw a strong light through the upper portion of the room without a disturbing glare or undue brilliancy on the floor below.

EFFECT OF LIGHTING ON COLOR

AT THE opposite end of this same central hall, in Figure 4, the successful use is made of table lamps, where one may sit in comfort and read conveniently. At the same time these table lamps, with their richly-colored silken shades, serve as ornamental notes to accentuate the colorful charm of Zuloaga's paintings. The rich note of the Spanish artist's bull fighters, dressed in semi-Oriental colors, is amplified and rendered more harmonious by the well-chosen damasks, velvets and brocades that repeat, in friendly tones, the colors of the pictures.

Figure 5. From Drawing Room through Reception Hall. Showing Chinese Screens at the Drawing Room entrance.

Other richly-defined ornamental details are found in the ancient Chinese screens at the door of the reception room (Figure 5) and in their Oriental paintings which serve as decorative accents recalling the charm and beauty of Far Eastern handicraft of long ago. The oldest and the newest things in art have here been cleverly combined to meet the home furnishing demands of a cultured family, showing the decorative success that a gifted decorator may achieve for home makers who are able and wise enough to draw upon the whole world's artistic resources and combine the varied periods and styles in a harmonious whole.

Figure 6. Mantel in Sitting Room. The sconces, with painted parchment shades are as effective by day as by night. They also relieve the quiet paneling with a touch of color.

A standing lamp at the corner of the library is another example of ancient craftsmanship applied to modern requirements. Richly decorated with its parchment shade and brilliantly wrought ornamental metal work, it stands as a striking decorative feature of the room both in the day, with its handsome forms and colors, and at night, with its added beauty of artificial light. The wall space in the library (Figure 6) carry lighting fixtures in the form of large sconces, rendered brilliant through the use of small candle shades of delicately-designed painted materials.

PERIODS NOT ADHERED TO

THE decorative schemes of the various rooms are a forceful demonstration of the fact that harmony and beauty are not dependent on a strict following of precedent. Color harmony and fitness are the result of skilful planning and inventive genius rather than of slavish copying and stupid reproduction.

In the library, for example, are works of art from the remotest ages of Chinese history, associated with fine old furniture of two or three centuries ago, and supplemented by extremely modern productions of twentieth century handiworkers and mill craftsmanship. All  this wealth of art material has been combined in harmonious arrangements and fitted to the peculiar problems presented by the restricted New York City residence of today.

TOO much emphasis cannot be laid upon the surpassing value of a thorough understanding of scale and color harmony, not only by the architect and decorator, but also by the ambitious dealer in materials useful to interior decorators and house furnishers. An appreciation of color is valuable to salesmen in the drapery departments of house furnishing stores, far more so than a parrot-like knowledge of the historical styles. Scale and color alone make house furnishings appropriate for their surroundings. The most learned research in archaeology cannot produce real beauty in a home unless the decorator understands harmonizing and contrasting colors and the laws of scale in selecting ornamental patterns.

LIGHTING FIXTURES AND DECORATION

THE central hall on the lower floor (Figures 3, 4) required a plan of lighting different from that on the floor above. The formal marble floor and the well-proportioned arches of the upper hall demanded a central lighting fixture corresponding in scale and general character to the architectural background. This need of the vigorous pendant metal frame carrying the electric bulbs fully supplies. There is no mistaking that this chandelier was planned to hang directly above the center of the patterned marble floor.

Figure 7. From Dining Room through hall to reception Room. The effectiveness of the pendent lantern in the Hall is to be noted.

The view from the dining room, looking through this lower hall into the reception room (Figure 7), shows how satisfactory this lighting fixture is. It does not require much imagination to appreciate the fitness, style and definite location of this fixture in the hall and to determine why it must necessarily be different from that in the less formal hall above, where a more airy chandelier was designed to harmonize with and complement the colorful paintings of the great modern Spanish artist, Zuloaga.

TWO CHARMING INTERIORS

Figure 10. Men's Dressing Room. Details of the mantel and the mouldings of the panels in this room differ slightly from their counterparts shown on the opposite page. Yet the decorator has created two very distinct and charming rooms, each befitting its use.

Figure 9. Ladies' dressing Room. This little oval room, and its companion shown ***above***, show how widely divergent effects may be obtained by the clever decorator working with different materials and color schemes, on practically identical backgrounds.

THE two small sitting rooms to the right and left of the main entrance hall, are worthy of praise for the skill with which they have been worked out from the standpoint of the architect, the decorator and the householder. The room used as the men's dressing room (Figure 10) is simple and dignified but well planned in the style of England's woodworkers of a century and more ago. The ladies' dressing room, on the other side of the street door (Figure 9), is extremely gay and brilliant, both in color and in design, effects obtained through the use of fanciful and romantic decorative paintings executed by the late Howard Gushing. Not only these ornamental wall panels but the woodwork as well radiate a light tone of greenish gold such as may be seen in some of the best of the great Turner's, renderings of fanciful sunsets at sea. The delightful brilliancy of this adroit arrangement of radiant tones makes this room a masterpiece of interior decoration.

If the producers and retailers of wall papers would study the color schemes evolved by great painters, they would find it easier to escape from the dull monotony of the commonplace and be able to lift their special lines beyond the reach of price and quantity competition. Instead of being followers of European styles they might become the leaders of the world.

Such able decorative designers as Delano & Aldrich and such enthusiastic home makers as the owners of the Straight residence lead the way to America's greater prosperity and happiness. The contrasting decorative qualities of the two dressing rooms in the Straight house indicate the wide range of ornamental effects that may be applied to practically the same rooms. Retailers of house furnishings and decorative materials may learn a much-needed lesson from these two interestingly decorated and furnished rooms.

If retailers of home furnishings desire to give lasting satisfaction to their customers they must learn to meet the personal wishes and requirements of different temperaments and of different types of people. The homes furnished with materials from their stores will be gay or solemn, colorful or drab, beautiful or ugly, accordingly as the merchandise they sell meets or fails to meet the requirements of its purchasers.

RECEPTION AND SITTING ROOMS

Figure 11. Reception Room Mantel. The Pictorial Panel over the mirror is a fragment of an old French wall paper, which has here been used as the decorative keynote of the room. In Color and Scale the treatment of walls and the selection of the movable furnishings have been determined by this insignificant though charming bit of decorative composition made originally simply as part of a wall decoration.

The drawing room as decorated by Syrie Maugham for Mona Williams, in a watercolor by Pierre Brissaud.

THE reception room, which adjoins these two small sitting rooms (Figure 11),is charming and gracious. Its fireplace and the overmantel are well planned and suggestive of well-bred beauty. Above is a piece of old French wall paper that is of so charming a pattern that it serves as a criterion for all the other decorative features of this splendid interior. Not many pieces of wall paper now being manufactured will be cherished for a hundred years and then be selected as precious artistic heirlooms about which a future generation can safely build up the color harmonics and ornamental details of a splendid room. On the other hand, some of the lighting fixtures now being produced in the United States may well lay claim to immortality, by virtue of their appropriateness and beauty.

In the sitting room (Figure 7) the colors of the marble mantel suggest an interior of quiet and substantial ease, well expressed by the electric wall brackets to the right and left of the fireplace and in all the ample fittings of the room. The rather somber wooden paneling serves as an excellent background for the brilliant glass and strongly ornamental metal of the lighting fixtures.

Figure 8. Dining Room towards Mantel. The pleasing contrast of light background and colorful furnishings and their masterful selection and placement mark this room as a distinctly successful piece of decorative work.

FIRST FLOOR PLANS

SECOND FLOOR PLANS

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Willard Dickerman Straight