The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-03-05
THEIR NEW HOME
Clevelands Move Into Their
House at Princeton.
Everything Was Made Cheerful
and HOmelike.
WEEKS WERE SPENT
In Getting the New Residence
All Ready.
Description of the Elk Presi-
dents House in Detail.
WEEKS WERE SPENT

woman on moving day. Mrs Cleveland
has changed her residence often during
her married life.
The White House, Red Top the New
York house, Gray Gables and Woodley
have been her homes, but not once has
she come face to face with the hideous
reality moving may become without the
magic aid of wealth and power. On the
afternoon of yesterday the Clevelands
entered the house which the president
recently purchased here and they found
1t perfectly appointed for their recep-
ton.
The house has been in the hands of
painters and paper hangers and carpen-
terS and plaStererS and plumbers for
weeks. A great deal of work has been
done, and although Mrs. Cleveland ON
her visit to Princeton last Tuesday was
very well pleased with the progress
made, there is still much to be done
before the house is ready for occupancy.
The grounds have been put in perfect
order without sacrificing any of the fine
old trees which are such a charming
feature.
The exterior has been left almost
exactly as it was. A window or two has
been added, and a veranda has been
covered with glass to form a conserva-
tory, for Mrs. Cleveland loves flowers.
1t is inside the house that most of the
work has been done. The mansion has
been redecorated and the walls rehung
from cellar to garnet under the direction
The keynote of the whole house is the
simplicity which has always charac-
terized Mrs. Cleveland's taste. The
building, though not strictly speaking,
colonial, is of the colonial order, and the
interior is strictly in the style of that
period.
Light and cheerful tints prevail. The
woodwork has not been changed. 1t is
all in the colonial fashion and of good
design, marked by a happy simplicity of
detail. The old fashioned high ceilings
are relieved by heavy and especially eff
fective holdings, which were put in
when the house was built. The wood
work of the entire house is painted CO.
lOnia1 white.
down the middle of it, with rooms on
either side The hall has a paneled
wainscottfng five feet high. Above this
the tinting of the walls, an unusual
have a walnut rail, supported by white
rods. The landing half way UP is in a
colonial style too admirably proportion
ed ever to grow tireSome, and on 1t is
to stand a real grandfather's clock.
To the right of the hall is the recep-
ton room. The room has a southeast
effect by the walls, which are soft,
warm tone of golden yellow, with pan
els of paper in a colonial design, sur
rounded by plain yellow tint.
The mantel is of wood, very simple
and painted white. All of the nantels in
the house, with two exceptions, are of
wood. The two exceptions are of mar
BILE one white and one dark. They are
old fashioned, but so thoroughly in har-
mony with the house scheme that Mrs
Cleveland ordered them not to be dis
turbed.
Every room in the house has its fire
place, and they are fire places meant
for use too, for while the house is
heated by a furnace the ceilings are SO
high and the rooms SO large that open
| fires will be welcome. Mrs. Cleveland.
| moreover, is fond of the sight of a blaz-
ing, open fire.
The dining room is back of the recep-
ton room. The walls are papered in
imitation of tapestry, in rich but dull
tones of brown, blue and green. They
are dark, but by no means somber, and
| form an admira bic background for the
white and exquisitely appointed table,
which should be the focal point of a
! dining room on feast day.
The great library, which will be the
| sitting room of the family, is opposite
| the drawing room on the west side of
| the hall. Low book shelves, painted
| white, extend about three sides of the
| room. The windows are hung with cur
tains of Pompeiian red silk, color
which is repeated, or rather suggested,
| in the paper on the walls, on which an
olive green and a pale yellow combine
| with the red. Pompeiian red is a, IA
vorite color with Mrs. Cleveland. OF a
decided and strong personality, she pre-
| fers strong and simple cOlorS. She has
| no liking for lifeleSS, neutral tintS, the
| negatiOns of color, in either dress or fur
| nishings.
The bed rooms of the house are on the
second and third floors. Mrs. Cleve-
lands own room is in the delft colors,
with blue and white paper, blue and
white tiles about the CRATE, and a blue
! and white bath room with a tiled floor
| and a porcelain tub opens off it.
| This bed room has a genuine old four
| poster bed, canopy and all, in a nlahog-
any. Another bed room looks like a
fairy bower, brimfull of June. Pink
oil lie
themselves under the pinks and greens
| of the frieze- A green and white bath
! room belongs equally to this dainty
| room and to another chamber on whose
walls yellow roses with green leaves
| riot.
On the third floor is the largest room
| in the house. 1t is the nursery and is
| papered in the jolliest nursery paper
| that the eyes of even such fortunate
babies as the little Cleveland girls ever
beheld.
| All the favorite heroes and heroines
from nursery rhymes and fairy tales
| hold carnival on the walls. The room
| for the nurses is on the third floor, neal
the nursery.
The four poster bed in the blue ant
white bed room is by no means the only
piece of old mahogany in the house
In fact, all the furniture is antique
J Mrs. Cleveland is q good judge of ma
| hogany, and she has been collecting fol
years. She has picked up" desirable
pieces in Massachusetts during hel
| Gray Ca leS summers ana mas maOt
many purchases in the antique shops O.
New York.
Some of her furniture has beer
bought by her direction at the auction
sales by means of which the old White
House furniture is disposed of, so tina
she will have with her several souvenir;
of her occupancy of the executive man
sion.
Friends all over the country have act
ed as her agents in buying interesting
| pieces of old mahogany for her, till sh'