Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-09-09
EX-GOv. SPRAGUE'S VILLA.
The Curious Mansion Overlooking
the Sea Opposite Newport.

WIZ CCN oRPOSh.N
Canonchet is woman's fancy, pic.
tured by gables, turrets, angles, veran-
das, finals, blue, brown and gilt. Canon
chet was the name of chief of the
Narragansett tribe of Indians. It was
adopted by Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague
for the famous villa that overlooks the
sea opposite Newport.
When Kate Chase became Mrs.
Sprague she made the old house her
summer home one year, and then con-
ceived the plan of making it into villa.
Her husband stipulated that the old
building should be kept as to its roof
and walls for historic associations, but
gave his wife permission to go ahead
with her other plans. She built one
tower, and then, to better the proper
tions, she built another. She put on
piazzas and extensions. Two more
towers were found necessary to improve
the outline. Work that did not please
her was torn down, and repeated some
where else. The roof became curiosity
of angles, resembling mathematician's
idea of mountainous country. Various
entrances we're made, but no grand en-
trance was among them, so that visi-
tor does not know which is the front
door. The interior was rearranged.
Halls were made to cross-cut each other
like galleries in mine. Sixty rooms
were provided for, and after the work
was done an architect was hired to make
a plan of each floor. The plans were
framed and hung in conspicuous places
as indices to the labyrinth. When the
carpenters and plasterers moved off the
grounds, colony of italian fresco paint
ers moved on. A Boston artist, at a
large salary, was engaged to superintend
the designs, A blue room, in imitation
of one in the White House, was made at
great expense. There was one room
made for Chief Justice Chase, most
elaborately decorated. The library on
the second floor cost $4,000. A library
on the third floor was constructed for
Mrs. Sprague's own use. The frescoers
were put aside for the wood carvers.
Money was spent without stint. The
mistress of the mansion came back from
Europe full of ideas about wood carving.
She brought back an old carved wood
mantel that once filled the room in the
Tuileries occupied by Marie Antoinette.
Black oak carved pictures formed its
facade. Smaller carved mantels were
taken from European castles for the
Rhode Island villa.
A grand staircase Was projected. It
leads from within the porte cochere to
the top of the tower-its ending bein }
as odd as its beginning. 1t cost $30,- :
0N0 k,,k ~ IAac mot afford tho 9orcf
convenient means Of reaching the upper
stories. A running, unbroken line of
carving extends from the top to the bot
tom. The newell is a marvel of carving
and polishing. Two polishers were kept
at work two years TO give the staircase
the polish that it still retains. Nothing
in New York resembles it in beauty. It
is doubtful whether it can be matched
in this country. The steps are rs smooth
as glass. The stairs wind upward with
such unbroken grandeur that the natural
expectation that they lead to some grand
salon gives way to disappointment at
their abrupt termination i'll the tower.
On the landing at the second floor there
is wall hole surrounded with carved
oak balustrade. There is a windov at
each landing, and III the deliberately
engraved plate glass there are exquisite
little circular paintings representing
Indian scenes, Rhenish landscapes,
ocean views and other designs. The
staircase is uniform in beauty and rich
ness until it ends.
Carved mermaids of polished oak hold
up the shelf of mantel in the dining
room with graceful, plump arms. There
is sophisticated expression in their
faces, resembling that of Washington
belle, while Bacchus, with his wreath
of grape leaves over his brow, seems to
lear at them from the top of the carved
sideboard opposite. The dining table
is also elaborately carved with reminis-
cences of grand feasts, rich in the pro-
ducts of the field and the vintage. At
each end of the dining hall is an elevated
annex, lined and pillared with oak. One
was almost made of finely engraved
plate glass, through which the stretch
of the ocean could be seen.
Surprises await the visitor in the
house. Up in one tower where nothing
is expected is beautiful little room in
Pompeiian red, spangled with gold,
MuGEc IucdiS IOE TWO were SCIbCO. Ou
the first floor is the room for page,
whose duty it was to attend at the door,
to keep the cards of visitors neatly ar
ranged, and keep up a book of addresses
of Mrs. Sprague's friends. Next to this
was the telegraph Office, where an opera
tor was kept in summer months. Where
one would expect TO find the parlors is
a kitchen, with stove that cost S400,
and sink made of red marble. A dish
room next to it looked like such an
apartment in n club house. 1t contained
the most delicate and transparent china,
fine Venetian glass carafes, the choicest
glassware of every description, and WINE
glasses of the frailest sort. Further on,
i'll an odder place, is laundry. Every
where, however, there is scarcity Of
closets, which, had typical New Eng
land housewife been the architect,
would have preponderated. The par
lors were never finished. They are not
large, and are not well placed. The
fresco paintings were elaborate, and the
walls were hung with white satin that
cost Sl2 yard.
A sudden turn brings into view 6
gorgeous apartment, foored with pol
ished marble, with a dismantled foun.
tain. The design was Moorish. If {
guide had said, "Here the odalisques
used to sport and bathe," it would no
| have scanned strange for Inv this finn.