For example, the walls are three bricks thick. Even on the warm morning I visited, the house is comfortably cool. Transoms over wide, tall doors allow air to circulate in the rooms when the doors are closed. All rooms and hallways have ornate and plentiful woodwork, intricately carved and detailed. Oak trees on the property provided all the wood for the house.
Every room has a fireplace with a carved wooden mantel and beveled mirrors.
Surrounding the fireplaces are colorful tiles. In the tower rooms I count eight walls. The first floor tower room was originally a library, a work of art in itself with its eight sides doubling as a canvas for a dramatic mural painted by an Italian artist. Across the foyer is the parlor, whose walls once held panels of bird prints, now covered with wall paint. The central staircase has carved railings and banisters, but its breathtaking beauty is in its carved underside that is exposed to the hallway.