St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-03

mouse" The north hoase, which is a
trifie smaller than the south house, will
be occupied by the mother of John
Jacob Astor, and the other by MIR.
Astor, his beautiful wife and family.
When completed. the structure will
have cost more than 81, 100000,
The grand central hall is 64X55 feet in
size. Through the center runs par
titi0n, on each side of which there Is
grand staircase, leading to the second
story. This staircase, and, in fact, the
entire finishing of the hall, is built Of
Caen stone, Il beautiful material of
creamy tint, brought from Caen. France,
which has been used in nearly every
one of the recently built houses of
American millionaires. Both staircase
and hall, when completed, will bG eXQuis-
itely decorated with artistic carvings
and with full-siZed female figures in
half length, modelled from life by Carl
Bitter. Their graceful lines show to
excellent advantage in the spacious
hall. Opening from the hall are doors
leading to the reception rooms, salons
OF drawing rooms and dining rooms of
both the north and south houses. At the
rear other doors lead to the picture
gallery from both houses.
The ceiling of the hall reaches to the
roof, and by day it will be Illuminated by
6kylights. Some idea of the amount of
carved aud cut stone work placed and to
be placed in the hall and other parts of
the building may be obtained from the
statement made at the establishment Of
BarkersOn. See d Elsele, where the
hoe l,ut
cutters. 100 pOliSherS, 70 helpers and
many machines have been employed al
most constantly upon it for three
months, and the end is not yet.
AInddin's Picture Gallery.
The picture gallery, which is truly a
I0bie apartment. is much nearer COM
pletion than any other part of the
house 1t is 50X60 feet in size. and the
rotunda is forty feet above the floor. 1t
will be one OF the handSOmeSt rooms In
ills or any other country. Here, as in
the grand hall. the commanding genius
and exquisite taste of Carl Bitter has
been called upon in the modelling Of
figure pieces. Perhaps the most notable
pieces OF figure work that Will adOru
this apartment are eight caryatideS
Of heroic size modelled direct from San
dow the strong man. These figures
stand upon the cornice twenty feet
from the floor, and support the TO-
lunda. No two figures are alike, but
all are in stopping posture, as if actually
bearing great weight. SandOW's
massive figure, With its swelling mus
rles and tendons, has lent itself adj
mlrably to tie purpose, and there is no
doubt that these caryatides will long be
considered among the most striking
decorative figures in the world.
But these are not the only figure dec
orations in the gallery by any means.
Upon the western wall and between
the entrances there arc two heroic fig
ures, half human. half brute, taken
from some old-time mythology. Higher
up, between The Sandow figures in tie
"C0vu" which supports the rotunda,
male and female, half length and full!
length figures, some human and some
of faun5. flank ovoid panels. Over each
panel is a head, and each is inscribed
with some name famous in the history of
art. Those are in order. beginning at
the southwest corner of the gallery. are {:
Andrea del Sarto, Rembrandt, Michael
Angelo, a. Correggio, Murillo. Velas-