The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-10-28
GORGEOUS PALACES.
The Homes of the VanderbiIts i'm
New York.
rI7r,,,, 4l,a No. vi. O.,

New York.
From the New York star.l
Three brown-stone houses In the block
on the west side of Fifth avenue. between
Fifty-frst and Fifty. second streets, at
tract much attention. The largest is
Mr. w. FL. Yanderbilt's, and the others
are for two married daughters of Mr..
Vanderbilt-Mrs Elliott Shepard and
Mrs. Henry T. Sloane. Brown stone is
used throughout, and the style is nom
descrpt blending of Renaissance with
cabinet work In details. A band four feet
Wide, ct grape leaves, is cut into the
stone, and rims around the two houses.
There are two of thsss bands at differ
ent heights.
The three houses referred to above are
three stories high, surmounted by %
fourth, the windows of which are hidden
by an open fketwork of stone. The only
material except brown stone which is
used IN the facadeS is bronze, of which
an elaborate Hresting is used at different
points. The main staircase, thirteen
feet wide, is of oak, oiled. The stair
we'll of the house rises to the roof and
floods the inside of the house with light,
coming through some good specimens of
glass work. On the second floor is Mrs.
Vanderbilt's room, finished in white
marble, rosewood and ebony, the walls
being hung with silk. The ceiling is to
be covered with a painting by the
French artist, Lefsbre, representing the
dawn of day. Through all she rooms of
the second floor, much use is made of
tapestries, silver, marble and different
costly woods polished to a mirrOr-hke
surface. The height of the ceiling is
fifteen feet. The gas fixtures are from
the firm of Darbedienne & Co., of Paris.
Much Of the woodwork of the second
story-the carpets, tapestries, leather,
silk hangings and decorative paintings
also cotHB from there. A series Of eighty
small panel paintings, done in Paris at
a cost of 800 each, viii aloFn the rise
of each step in the chief staircase, two
panels finding niche in every rise, OR
each side of the strip of carpet, or tapes
try. or gold cloth upon which persons
are expected to walk up and down stairs.
The window sashes throughout the
house are finished in mahogany and
BRASS
The houses of Mrs. Shepard and Mrs.
Sloane are extraFagantly rich in decOFa-
ton. One of the best bits of work is
mantelpiece of oak, -lnlaid With red mar
BILE, in the hall of Mrs. Shepards house,
and o mantel of blue stone in the libra
ry. These two houses are more superb
Iy finished, so far as expense goes, than
any house in this city. Mr.. Wander
bits house is six times as large as q
"full-sized" house of % feet wide and
60 feet deep. The house of Mr.. W. III.
Vanderbilt is connected with the others
by covered portico, the steps leading
to which are about As feet BACK from
the avenue. The entrance to this pOrti-
co is at the middle of the block, the side
walk at that point consisting of one
enormous slab of blue stone, Is feet
wide and % long, which weighs forty
tons and cost $1,000. The other flag
stones which surround the house ale
each Is feet wide and Is feet long. The
inside of the portico is a room 40 feet
square, the walls being paneled in
Scotch granite, highly polished.
Mr.. Vandetbilt's and Mrs. SlOane's
houses are entered from the portico, the
entrance to Mrs. Shepard's house being
gn Fifty-second street. The doors of
Mr.. Vanderbilt's house are to be Of
bronze, and are said to cost $40, 600.
The entrance to the house is narrow con-
sidering its immense size--74 feet wide
by lis feet deep. The ceiling is II feet
high. Facing the visitor who crosses
the threshold is a monumental fireplace
as wide as it is high, ascending to the
ceiling, one mass of carved wood and
marble. The walls are frescOed in red
and gold, very solid and bright. To the
left, on the Fifth avenue front, are three
E9 fSg parlor in eheEgSs h IL ma
hogany. On the Fifty-first street
front is situated the dining-rooms
28 feet wide by Sc feet long, containing
a mantelpiece of oak almost as large as
that in the hall, and Bullets of oak and
porcelain. There are sixteen panels
around the walls in which paintings of
sporting scenes, fish and game are to be
placed. The buffers pantry, adjoining
the dining-room, is paneled in oak, cell
ing and all, in style which would be
considered extravaganza for most draw
ing-rooms. The western half of Mr.. w.
Fl. Vanderbilt's house is given up to a
picture gallery 48 feet long, 30 feet wide
and SO feet high. There is smaller
room adjoining to be used for water col
ors. 4 balcony in the picture gallery
will be used by the orchestra at balls.
Mr.. Vanderbilt went to Europe with
Hester to order all the glasswork, chan
deliers, carpets, hangings, marble work
and most of the furniture. The Onl y are
done in this country for the house are
the bronze ratings around the house and
the bronze cresting around the roof.
This work was done in nine months by a
Philadelphia firm for $40, 900. The chan
deliers, including one of solid silver
weighing half ton, for the ballroom or
the picture gallery, were made by Dar-
bedienne, of Paris. From careful esti-
mates it is thought that the three houses
in that one plot of ground will have cost,
when ready for house-warming, about
S4.500.O00.