Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1892-02-25
AN ARTISTIC CLUB HOUSE.


The U.Isws SD LsxsSis~s Hs.s Of One
Of New York's Nest Yuusous Gibbs.
The new house Of tho Century is built
q mile and a half farther uptown than
It's old one, occupying space 100 feet
SQUARE on the north side Of Forty-third
street, little distance from its junction
with Fifth avenue, at the point where
the process of degrading that royal rood
into shopping street seems for tho
moment to have paused. Ito style is
that Italian Renaissance brought into
such vogue of late years for both pub
lie and private buildineA The material
is n pnle brick, in color little warmer
than gray, rather colder than yellow,
somewhat raw as yet, but promising
mellowness with time, and relieved over
much of Its surface with terra Gotta or
nanneutation Of har,nonizing tint.
1t rises to the height of three stories,
the lowest one finished in dressed gray
stone crossed by narrow horizontal
bands OF terra Gotta, forming such an
elevation as to serve for massive base
to the whole structure, and each Of the
upper ones gaining in height upon the
one below it. The entrance Is through
a graceful and stately arch of gray
stone, piercing the two lower stories,
and supporting at the base of the third
a broad cntablature crowned with IN
exquisite recessed loggia, which, after
the FIorentine manner, Is open to the
air, and with which the dining room
connects. Low pilasters, parting the
window bays, two on each side, relieve
the flatness of the front and inclose
spaces enriched but not crowded with
wreaths and other decorative forms in
terra Gotta. Tho effect yielded by the
simple contour pure lines and large
treatment of surface of the building,
aided by its color, is that Of blended
dignity and delicacy.
The interior arrangement preserves
throughout that scheme of large conf
mnnicating spaces which made so
agreeable feature in the old building.
At the rear of the ground floor, given
to offices and strangers rooms, broad
stairway mounts on each side to plat
form, midway of the height of this
story, giving access to the gallery, de-
tachcd from the main structure, built
nearly across tho width of the ground,
and lighted from above and on three
sides. The billiard room is below tho
gallery.
Turning again toward the front, the
double stairway rises to tho second
floor, divided into spacious halls for
meetings and conversation, and, gain
ing the third floor, leads to the library
and the dining room and smoking
rooms. Following the plan of all mod
crn clubs which civilization is strangely
slow in adapting to private houses, the
processes and o<lors of cooking arc con-
fined to the region just below tho roof.
1t is curious that the ridgcpole and tho
hearth both nf which were once syno-
nyms for the home, should at length
have met in one place.
An mir Of severe simplicity reig,as in
these marble lined halls md oak wniri-
scoted apartments, relieved by color OF
onyx panels, by graceful curves of elias
sic chimney pieces, by columns of dark
wood and veined marble, and by the
gliding of capital and balustradc. So
free are the spaces that from almost
any point there opens n striking per
spective of arch and pillar and stair
way. The many members who have
surveyed the world Of clubdom from
Calcutta to San Francisco pronounce
the Century's new homo to be. among
buildings SO occupied, unique and COM
pletc. "A. r. Marlborough in Century.