Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-01-22
Gb 9aig SPY aaloraer. sfonOap omng, ganunp 90 1872

somehow it looks smaller than other buildings
close by. The site is not one favorable for fine
structure. 1t is half way up the side of hill,
which. even now that it has been considerably
cut down, rises sharply to the north and east.
Il YOU care to inquire, you learn that ten years
ago on this spot stood building which was then
the show-house among the private residences of
New York. This house was built by man who
made a fortune by the sale of sarsapara, and
lost it in speculation. Mr.. Stewart bought the
place, pulled down the house, and upon the site
erected the present structure. The hillside had
TO be leyeed in two directions to form plat
form. think the highest point on the north
east is about eigut feet above the lowest on the
southwest This platform is surrounded by
wall and ballustrade of marble, so chaste and
simple in design as almost to do away with the
Prettiness of the building which occupies its
centre. | have often wondered whether the
man who planned THIS grand ballustrade could
be the one who designed the building.
This building is generally known as Stewards
residence. This is a misnomer. Mr.. Stewart, a
childless man of well nigh three score years and
ten, lives on the opposite corner, in a brown
stone building, in no way distinguished from
others in its neighborhood. Within a rife-shot
Of if, on either side, are score much more impos
ing. The marble palace is practically unoccupied.
The stairway at the main entrance is shut off by
a common wooden pang. You may watch
from morning TO evening and see no one enter
or leave. At night no lights CLEAN from the
lofty windows; only faint glimmer from a
i :.
there is any living being within. For what puI-
pose was this costly pile erected? Mr.. Stewart
does not occupy it, He has no children or near
kinsman for whom it could be built. There are
not a halfscore of men in the country whose
income would warrant them in occupying it for
a home. Yet Mr.. Stewart is by far too wise
man TO idly throw away the money which it has
cost
Up to within a couple of years person, prop
erly introduced, could obtain a permit to go
through the building Since then it has been
closed to the public. | thnk was among the
| last persons, not employed therein, who have
entered the building l was told thai Mr.. Stew
art had, the day before, directed that no more
permits should be given. However, mine was
good for that day, and so was passed through
from basement to roof. My cicelone would not
most likely could not-tell me anything more
than could see with my own eyes. One room,
which l most wished to VISIT seemed inaccess-
bic. This was the picture gallery. 1t was fast
| locked and the key was in the hands of person
| who was not IN. But my permit was a special
one, as valid as though signed by Mr.. Stewart
himself; so after a while The man who bad the
key was found, and was ushered in. What
| saw was large room, lighted from the ceiling.
A few fine pictures-l think less than dozen
hung upon the walls. Piled around were more,
but all in their cases so that they could not be
seen | was told that among them were price
less gems OF art. But l saw them not; and
am assured that no mere visitor has since seen
them.
then went through the whole building. All
that saw convinced me that it was meant for a
temple, not for a dwelling. Broad stairways led
from story To story. Suits Of rooms opened
into each other by wide passages. Every thing
was massive and substantial, yet simple almost
| to baroness. 1t was clear that whatever of orna-
ment was to be added was TO consist not in the
rooms themselves, but in what was to be placed
in them. could not conceive that any human
beings should find a home in those great halls
whose ceilings were fully twenty feet high.
then made up my mind, and so wrote, that this
structure was built for public use. There is but
one such purpose for which it lis adapted and
| for that ii is most admirably planned. That
purpose is a great temple of art. l am conf
dent that the day is not far distant when the
| doors nf this etructurp nou ca ciloyt mill lo
thrown open, and it, with all within, will be
gift to the public, worthy of the great merchant
prince of New York.
Leaving the Stewart palace, we pass up the
| avenue, which may be fifty styled the Via Sucrd
of New York. for upon it, or in plain view from
| it, are most of the finest houses of worship on
the continent. There is the great Catholic
cathedral, whose white walls are slowly rising,
and hard by is the beautiful Hebrew temple of
lmmauuel the finest adaptation of Saracenc
| architecture on the continent, and many others
of which may some day write. We pass the
| lever boundary of the Central park, skirt its
| eastern side for a space, until we reach Seven
tieth street. where we see rising the walls of
structure, which even now we are sure must be
among the noblest of which we can hope to
| boast. 1t covers nearly the whole of a block.
| The walls are of light granite, certainly the
finest building material for our severe climate
| 1t is worth ones while to 20 over the
structure it is rising, so as to note its massive
solidlty. Every beam is Of iron, every dividing
wall of brick; every winding star OF solid stone
One can see no reason why it should not stand
as long as the Pyramids. | cat conceive
| quake which can mar it for a hundred gen.
erations.
This building, we are told, is the future Len
noX library. OF the ultimate plan Of its founder,
James LennoX, another of our great merchant
princes, little has been made public; for lie is
| one Of the most reticent OF men. OF him we
know but little, save from the numerous bene-
factions which he has made in many ways, but
most particularly in connection with the Pres
| byterian church, of which he is u member.
This much, however, we do know: Mr.. Lennox
erecrs the building at his own absolute cos;
will amply endow the institution; and, besides
| furnishing il with whatsoever books can now be
bought, will deposit IN it his rare collection, the
like of which no money could purchase and
which men who ought to know saw is not sur.
passed by that of any private individual in the
| world. An G.
From the State House.