The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-06-21
THE CARNEGIE'S HOME.
A Block Of New York Apartment
Buildings Demolished to
Make Room.

A Block Of New York Apartment
Buildings Demolished to
Make Room.
A huge block Of apartment houses is
being demolished and cleared away to-
give additional area to the grounds sur
rounding the new mansion of Andrew
Carnegie, at Ninetieth street and Fifth
avenue, says the New York Tribune
Already one block has been sacrificed and
others are to follow. In order to make
landscape gardening possible, the solid
rock has been excavated to a depth of
ten feet, the huge basin thus made has
been drained and filled in with loan, and
in this bed thirty maple trees have been
planted. The landscape gardeners work
will come later.
There are eighty rooms in the Carnegie
house, and of these easily half are in the
quarters below ground, that is, in the
basement. cellar and sub-cellar. Here
months, laying the foundation of per-
sonal comfort as it will be later enjoyed
by the residents above stairs. With
$l1O.0N worth Of heating apparatus and
$4,000 worth of plumbing in it's relation
to water and the sewage system there
is reason to credit the statement that
this Carnegie mansion will have the most
perfect system of plumbing in the world.
At present: Of course, everything is
rough, but the boilers, cylinders, brass
pipes. the zinc air boxes. the thermostatS,
the thousand and one details that no one
but an engineer can understand. vii.
represent the fortune invested there.
In ,sub-cellar two flights below
ground is the great furnace, and the coal
bin that holds POO tons Of coal. Over a
miniature railroad track runs a small car
between the bin and the furnace. direct
ed automatically. so that from the coal
supply. one-1uarter of ton is emptied
car makes its way to the furnace, and
deposits it's load into the fire. On this
same floor are three huge water filters.
There are also improvements in the d.
rctinn of sewage that preclude, the pos
sibility Of sewer gas. The walls, floors
and ceiling are tiled. A master engi-
neer with three assistants. each having
corps of three hands, will constitute
the force employed to run the mech
anism below ground.
Below Stairs.
In the cellar proper is the connecting
link between the furnace and the regis
ters and radiators above. Only the me
wherefores Of the network of machinery
that here abounds in every direction. On
this floor everything in sight is tiled.
The VINE cellar has its terra Gotta walls
honrycombetl with small openings, each
large enough to hold one bottle. The
laundry and ironing room are situated in
corner of the cellar. and the drying
room is also there. These rooms are ali
small.
Another flight up leads to the basement
proper. Here is the kitchen. the pastry
Kitchen. the housekeeper's private apart
ment and office, linen closet, boot room.
i:rlsh room, servants dining room AMI
the stewards office with it's window look
ing out upon the servants entrance, 50
that he may know Of the comngs and
gonss Of the world below stairs. Again
the walls. ceilings and floors are tiled
On this floor also is the telephone Cen
tral' of the Carnegie mansion. There
are twenty telephones in the house in
place of speaking tubes. All electric
wires in the house are inclosed in iron
ent time reveal the mechanism employed,
IN this particular. Everything in the
building is freproof as far as it is con-
structed up to the present time. TIL.
kitchen. it is said. will he the most per
feet in every detail Of any that has ever
been built.
An Immense Organ.
One flight up from the basement brings
one on Il level with the carriage drive.
ined and unwritten. Mr.. Carnegie has
given orders that the wood carving shall
De the most ornate that is proc,lrable
At the. right of the front door is the
room where the people who call on official
business arc to be received. At the left
is the place where the organ will stand
1t is said in regard to this organ tina.
the manufacturers have proved them
selves Sc sraSping as to space that the
architects recommend that in future
when house is to be supplied with 4
church organ, the organ be built first AMI
the house built around it. The organ is
to cost $4,000.
On this floor are the usual rooms
the drawing ROOM the library. Mr.. Car
negie's private library and den, and the
grand picture gallery; which is also the
billiard room, and which is two storie,
high. with Il skylight overhead. There is.
the dining room. the breakfast room and
the hall ITSELF which is the music room.
Only the experienced and imaginative can
picture the appearance of these apart
mentS when supplied with all that art can
devise. But this IS all 4 secret at pres
ent.
From the arrangement of the rooms on
the second floor it is evident that the
house has been designed to meet the re-
quirements Of the family of the owner. for
three persons. The windows Of Mr.. and
Mrs. Carnegie's private apartments over
look Central park. the drive and the res
ervoir lake. This is like a view into a
private park. In the southwest corner is
an enormous double roonl-the BEDROOM
and from it toward the north opens Mr.
Carnegie's dressing room, and opening
from that his private bathroom. From
the other side Of the double bedroom is
Mrs. Carnegie's dressing room. and from
that opens her private bathroom. The
other rooms on the floor are the day nur-
sery for little Miss Carnegie. large.
sunshiny room overlooking the private
grounds: the night nursery. the private
bathroom. the nurses private sitting
room, and, last. the private pantry,
where the chld's food may be prepared
in case of emergency. There is passen-
ger elevator which runs from the parlor
floor to the third floor only. and the
servants elevator. which runs from the
cellar to the top floor. where are the
servants quarters. The third floor con-
tains the guest room and is arranged to
accommodate large house party when
occasion requires. The apartments OF
Mrs. Carnegie's sister. who is member
of the family. are on the third floor.
Mr.. Carnegie has given instructions