Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-19
VISTAS.
Conservatives of To-day Arranged
for Decorative Purposes and
ARE NOT SIMPLY FOR FLOWERS.
A Talk, With Florist Who Rents Flowers
to Rich Men.
FASHIONS IN FLOWERS NEW AND OLD
rwErrrzN FOB THE D1sPATcH.1

rwRITTxN FOR THE pIsPATcH.1
In that very entertaining play, "Captain
Swift" at the Madison Square Theater, ap-
plause inevitably greets the rise of the cur
tain on the third act as it follows the
touching scene between Mrs. Booth and Mr..
Barrymore at the curtains fall. This popu-
lar favor is deserved. The stage setting is q
conservatory. and is not only an instance Of
fine stage effect, but it exemplifes for our
purposes the conservatory in its latest aspect,
which is as decorative feature of an inter-
ior, and not place to cultivate flowers even
as an elegant accomplishment.
The conservatory in "Captain Swift" is
composed of indepted arches, arranged in q
semi-circle making small alcoves In the
center is one still more recessed, where
stands diminutive goddess, before whom a
yelled light burns as before shrine. There
are no flowers, but the scene painter has sd-
mirably simulated in each of the small al
coves palms, India rubber plants and other
tropical foliage. The tiled center is left
free. Here are wicker chairs, lounge and
table, 1t is a place for quiet companion
ships, cigars, coffee and comfort, and in the
purposes of the play serves exactly the same
mission as in private life.
Another example in kind has been too
prominently exploited in the newspapers to
have escaped notice. 1t is the conservatory
in a recent novel, Hernia Suydam." The
description will bear retelling. "The green
trees Of the floor were painted with rank
growth of grasses and ferns. Through the
palms and tropical shrubs that crowded the
conservatory glared the wild beasts of far
off jungles marvelously stuffed and poised.
The walls were forgotten behind tapestry
of reeds and birds of the Orient. In one
corner was a fountain Stimulating pool, and
on its surface foated the pink, fragrant
lilies that lie on Eastern lakes"
SCENIC EFFECTS.
The prominence which has been given to
this conservatory was due to its supposed
exaggeration, and was intended to indicate
the writer's unbridled imagination; but the
illustration was badly chosen. As a whole
it is exaggerated, but the details barring the
stuffed beasts and painted floor, can be
found in one or another of the different con-
servatories in town.
The conservatory as a detail in city
house is always an attempt to render GER
tain decorative effect, not, to be sure, in
every case SO fierce and tropical as that
described, but having some relation to the
rest of the house. 1t belongs to the en-
semble and is ordered with reference to the
rooms with which it is in relation.
The most artistic purpose of the conserva-
tory is the perfection and elimination of a
vista. To counterfeit, to simulate space in
a city house is the desire of every architect
and every owner. To do this has taxed their
resources and their ingenuity. Nothing so
we'll serves this purpose as the conservatory,
for the eve loses in the foliage massed at the
back, which NAV extend, the mind lending
to the illusion, to unknown depths. 10 this
some such scenic effect as the drop curtain
Of the Madison Square Theater may even be
called in.
In Mr.. Vanderbilt's home the conserva-
tory is Immediately back of the main gal
lery and is entered at the SIDE from the sec
ond gallery. The main gallery connects
through the open passage that serves for
water colors, with the square central hall.
This in turn connects with the drawing
room. Here, from drawing room to the
conservatory, is a vista of 200 feet, propor-
tions in New York house which are truly
magnificent, and which are enriched by
supurb draperies, columns of marble, carv-
ings, color and works Of art The conserva-
tory is semi-circular, The floor is MOSAIC,
and the walls paneled in cream enameled
tiles. There are no shelves for there is no
floral cultivation.
TROPICAL FLORA.
Gigantic palms, ferns, all manner Of
broad leaved, curious, bizarre, grotesque
plants with impossible names stand round in
pots and jars that are grouped to perfect the
view from the vantage point of the distant
drawing room. These pots and jars are in
themselves works of art; majolica, Spanish
iustra, Japanese bronzes, old terra Gotta,
museum spoils, all are none too good for the
beautiful scene. Here and there hang
orchids, and before the sheet of plate glass
that makes the sliding door into the art
gallery, hangs an orchid like tassel. This
delicatsly guards the unbroken sheet, which
gives. so little evidence of being barrier
that otherwise it would be in constant dan
ger.
The conservatory in Mr.. Marquand's
house terminates another superb vista of at
least ITS feet through dining room, jap
anese room and the Louis XVI. drawing
room, and connecting on the Madison ave-
nue. side with the Moorish room. Mr.. Mar
quand's conservatory has an eastern ex-
posure filling the angle at the southwest
corner of the house, where Mr.. Vanderbilt's
has only the western sum- The curious and
inexplicable stained glass has puzzled many
a passer by, From within it resolves itself
into Vatican scene-rustic arbors, distant
sky, figures disporting in French fashions.
This glass is from Oudinot of Paris, and
is intended to carry out in landscape the
effect of the conservatory within. Accord
ing to the same idea but in different way,
and with different results than did the
tapestried background of reeds completing
Hernia Suydam's jungle. Mr.. Marquand's
conservatory has a very pretty feature
copied from the Alhambra. This IS gutter
cut in the marble floor and along the sides
of the conservatory, with here and there
openings through which jets of water play.
These are not only charming detail, but
keeps the atmosphere of the conservatory
desirably moist.
THE MARBLE CONSERVATORY.
Where the vista is impossible, the next
desirable position of the conservatory is at
tached to, and part of, the dining room.
Sometimes both OF these ends are accom-
plished as in Mr. A. j. Whites house on
upper Fifth avenue. This house is the
splendid monument of an enterprise that, it
is said, began in wash bowl and Is so Curl
ous, interesting and typical that it tempts
depression. Mr.. White is the proprietor of
the Shaker liniment which has proven as
potent as Aladdin's lamp in creating
splendor and dazzling wealth.
The drawing room is Japanese and opens
into a Renaissance music room, which is
the expansion OF the hall and receives the
magnificent stairway. This leads into the
dining room, beautiful with carved wains-
oottin0 and marhleq and oDenino into tha