Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-06-26
VANDEEBILT'S HOUSE.

VANDEEBILT'S HOUSE.
How tho Owner of $500. 600. 900 Enjoy.
Home Iifs-Doors Of Solid Bronze that
Cost Fortunes in Themselves-The Mag.
mates Private Rooms.
The public has been pretty well in
torTed regard NC the interior of Mr..
Wl1iam H. Vanderbilt's house. Still
TRre is much that has been overlooked
ny those who have written about it that
would be of quite as much interest to
the general public, and particularly the
feminine part, which always reioices in
details of all the dainty little odds and
ends that men do not notice. The ex-
terror OF this almost palace is compar-.
lively plain, and gives but lit:lc ir ,,ic,
ton OF what is to be seen insidc, where
boundless wealth has been r.scd with ,
profusion almost too lawn, The main
entrance to this house IS one Ct the most
pleasant things about it, and it consists
OF large square room covered with
Scanned glass and with glass walls and
tiled floor. 1t is called ..ves:ibule. ~
but is large enough for an ordinary
house, and it would make a pleasant
room were it not what it is. There is no
furniture save one or two seats. From
TINS open doors leading into Mr.. Van
derblit's house on the south side and n
ME- Sloane's honse on the north.
The door opening into Mr.. Wander
bllts house from the vestibule is of
bronze and is the counterpart of the
famous doors of the Lutheran Cburc,
In Rome, though it does not seem to
me as large. 1t opens in the center
and each panel contains scenes from
Dlple history. Once inside this door
Inc visitor y in a tiny waiting-room.
with pohSned floor and two enormous
vast. vases for company. From this opens
.ht> grand open hallway, or whatever
1t may be called. This immense room
Is square and receives its light from the
stained-glass roof, as the arrangement
OF the upper floors leaves this space
clear up to the roof. The staircases
are ut the western side of the room,
and, though wide and commodious,
they looked dwarfed in comparison
with the other parts of the house.
Above on each floor there is gallery
which encircles each open space, Civ
ing access to the rooms and light be-
low. This great salte has polished
floor inlaid with different colored woods
and covered for the greater part with =
large Turkish carpet, and with large
turkish and Persian rugs before every
door and before the enormous fire
place, which occupies nearly one-half
the south wall of the room. Pillars
support the gallery all around the
square, and beside two of them in front
OF the hall door stand two bronze
statues. l forget who they represent.
The prevailing tints in this sale are
dark maroon, copper, bronze and gold,
and dark neutral tints in the carpeting.
without the light from above it would
DE gloomy and somber. The chimney
is marvel of art, and is decorated
with large bronze statues in half-relief.
and the fireplace is large enough to
hold several logs four or five feet long.
When the fire is burning the effect must
be very handsome, us it would light up
with briuiancy all the polished metal
to be seen in every direction, and would
call to mind some of the ancient homes
In foreign lands.
Standing in the center of this room a
new view presents itself at every turn.
On the north side are the staircase and
the door le&aing into Mr.. Vanderbilt's
private library and sitting-rooms; on
the east the large door gives glimpse
into the grand salon, the south into the
dining-room, and the west into the
picture gallery and through that to the
conservatory, which adds grace which
only flowers can give to any home.
In this great hall hang two portraits,
life-size both-one of the late Commo-
dore Vanderbilt and the other of the
owner of the house, William II. Wander
bit. Both are said TO be excellent like
nesses, but it must he admitted that the
father was handsomer than the son is.
The wide entrance to the grand par
lor is hung with Gobelin tapestry repre-
senting an Arcadian scene. and the floor
is covered with rich carpet of neutral
tlnts, though rather light than dark.
The only window which is in this room
is large and hung with lace curtains
with heavy drapery drawn back toward
the sides. The walls are paneled off,
each panel being filled with a priceless
piece of ancient velvet embroidery,
some of it done in gold and sore in
cOlors now mellowed to one harmonious
tint. The ceiling is frescoed to present
the four seasons. in figures which | con-
slider too large for the room, large as it
is, especially when the eye falls from
them to the exceeding delicacy and
beauty of the hangings and OF the OBJ
jects of art and even the furnishing of
the room.
In each corner of the front of the
parlor is mirror, tall and narrow,
which is framed in frame made up of
glass cut in facets, which must throw
out light like diamonds when the rooms
are Illuminated at night. On the west
kide Of the parlor wall on each side of
the door stands cabinet of mother-of-
pearl and gilt, each of them four feet
high and nearly six feet long. They
are shaped like halves of circle, the
nat side towards the wall The furni-
ture is of satin brocade, approaching
copper in color, and of the most elegant
modern-ancient style.
In the center of the parlor stand two
glass cases, one containing a figure of
the goddess OF fortune on her Wheel
diva ain kav ~..ll.x mil