The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-11-24
THE VANDERBILT PALACES.
Aansiens Covered by Costly Cary.
ingL in Fsnciful Dssigns-A
Stable Fitted with Carpets.
New York SUM-

The palaces that are building for the
Vanderbilts along Fifth avenue, between
Fifty-iirst and Fisty-eighth streets, do
not appear to be much nearer compile
ton than they were a year ago, but that
is because so much work has been re-
Quired upon them that twelve months OF
steady application by the workmen has
altered their external appearance but
little. Cornelius Vanderbilt's magnifi-
cent stable in Fifty-eighth street, near
Madison avenue, is finished and in use.
1t breaks long block of handsome res
licences. Although the interior is like
a gorgeous temple in which the CALLER
les are used as hay lofts, and the stalls
are where the best pews might have
been, the front is the front of stable
Soft, ffinged curtains and stained glass
panes darken the stablemen's apart
ments on the second story, and above
are huge terra Gotta figures by Kcmys,
the Partisan sculptor. The huge head
of the Siberian bloodhound is i'm the
centre, and the mastiff and bulldog eye
it from the sides. Five magnificent
horses were brought to the stable yes
terday morning, and the workmen paw
ing the street iu front of the building
informed the Suns reporter that they
reached their stalls upon strips of car
floor.
On the corner of Fifth avenue and
Fifty seventh street is Cornelius Van
derbilt's mansion of carved marble. A
dozen sculptors are yet at work carving
the floral ornaments and figures that al
most cover the exterior walls AS soon
as the little conservatory of iron and
glass in the rear is finished, the sub
stantial marble railing around the house
is in its place, the windows and doors
are put in, and the carvers have done
what little remains of their work, the
exterior will be completed. In the
great rooms that can be seen from the
street are piles of bricks, tiers of barrels
and stacks of lumber. The fire-prooi
ceilings and floors are nearly completed.
Yesterday the workmen were slowly
setting flagstone twenty-five feet long
and fifteen and half feet vile in front
OF the main entrance on Fifty-seventh
street. No such f1agstone, except the
one in front of William Fl. Wander
bilt's mansion, was ever quarried in
this country.
William II. Vanderbilt's enormous
dwelling on the corner of Fifty-second
street and Fifth avenue is equally far
advanced. The fact that its architec-
ture is Sin the form that marked the
transition between Gothic and Renais-
sance" but feebly characterizes its ap-
pearance. 1t is an immense, tall, yet
Well-prOportioned structure, bristling
with gargoyles, turrets and gables, and
Uttered over with grOtesque figures and
lanciful pictures in stone. Cats with
bowed backs, dogs with obtrusiVe YER
tebr8, dimpled babes, sleepy owls and |
hi ieous satyrs perched on tiny pima |
cles, protrude from cornice joints or
jut from chimney sides. High above |
all the life-size figure OF sculptor, NAL |
let in hand and wearing his white |
apron, sits in dizzy solitude looking |
down upon this triumph of his art. The |
most enjoyable of all the bits OF carving, |
perhaps because it is nearest to the spec |
tator from the street, is the panel piece |
called "The Enjoyment of Life" in |
which the chubby urchins portray the |
delights OF food and drink and music |
under the semi-circular bay window on |
the side street. Some of the windows |
are In place; the marble railing, carved |
like the house, is going up, and a heap |
OF great boxes marked "Fragile" and |
"FrOm Paris" lying in the street sug-
gest what is to come, but the same |
heaps of bricks and stacks of barrels,
and the scaffolds of masons that are seen |
tha. there is yet all confusion.
In the Siamese joint that mbines |
the brown stone mansions that are
building for William III. Vanderbilt AMI |
his married daughters, the rear and side |
walls OF the corridor that forms the en-
trance to both houses present 4 coating |
of neutral cOlors with a touch of gold |
above them that NAV be formed of tiles |
or may be done with paint. Il is i'm
possible to see it well from the street, |
and it is impossible to approach it, be-
cause "No admittance" is painted up |
everywhere and men are there to en- |
force the rule. These houses are further |
advanced than the others. The win
dow lights are in, big bronze lamps OF
ornate design stand in front of the cor |
ridor, brass screens of great strength |
and beauty protect the ground floor
windows, green grass is growing be-
tween the railing and the buildings,
and q blaze OF gold and tile work in one
OF the side doorways gives a hint OF
how the interior may look.