The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-16
HER CASTLE IN SWITZERLAND.
The Finest Chateau in Europe Is Pre- sided Over by St. Louis Woman.

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
 Upon the banks of Lake Lugano' in Switzerland, in the most beautiful part Of
 the Swiss lake region, is. situated the most elegant chateau in Europe, Chateau de
 Trevano, the home of MT. and Mrs. Louis
 Lombard. the charming lady of the manor
 being an American woman who spent her 1 girlhood days in St. Louis
 l Some forty odd years ago In a quiet I home in shady Lucas place, dark-haired ] little girl, Miss Maud Allen, went back I and forth with her nurse. playing with her i dolls, just like any of the other little girls l In the neighborhood, and little any of i them realized that the dark-haired child l was destined some day to preside in far ] away Swiss home.
 i The father of the little dark-haired girl l was MT. Thomas Allen, who became ] prominent railroad man, president of the
 Iron Mountain and Missouri Pacific, which ! have since been incorporated in the Gould i system. There were four sons in the fam- l fly, Messrs Thomas Allen who resides in i Boston: George w. and Russell Allen of i the Southern hotel and Bransford Allen, i whose daughter recently became the wife i of an Italian duke
 The two sisters of Mrs Lombard are , Mrs W. Rhind Donaldson, residing at 4600 ] Ldndell boulevard, and Mrs. Louis Chau- i venet of Chamberlain avenue.
 ] The girls of the family all went to Mary institute in their girlhood and many of the ;. society ladies of the city remember Mrs. Lombard as a classmate.
 i Mrs Lombard has, however, never lived i in St. Louis since her eighteenth year, and 1 was probably only 10 or Il years old when
 the family removed to Pittsheld, Mass. After that for a number of years she re- i turned for the winter with the family, re- siding at the Southern hotel, with the : management of which her father was &C.,
 lively connected Her later school days i were spent at a private school at North ampton, Mass, from which she graduated. ] It was her fathers wish that she should return to St. Louis and make her debut in l the style which he could so well afford, but circumstances conspired to prevent this happening.
 i During the year that MT. Allen was. con gressman at Washington his daughters were with him and enjoyed the pleasures
 of the capital assisting at the splendid en-
 tertainments which he gave.
 l Mrs Lombard had scarcely entered so- ciety before she became the wife of MT A
 c. Atwater of Pittsfeld and a very happy l married life was spent in this quaint little l town in Massachusetts, the greater part
 of her time being devoted to her house. hold duties and the four beautiful children
 that were born to them.
 l During her fathers life she had trayeled i abroad with him, meeting the most exclu-
 siye people in the capitals of Europe, but for many years she was not able to again visit the old world until just previous to her husbands death, and 1t was while she i was abroad that his death took place.
 III lSS9 She was married to Louis Iom- para. There have been two children born
 of this marriage, the eldest Thomas Allen
 Lombard, named in honor of his maternal
 grandfather, being the real lord of the
 stately home.
 Mrs. Lombard is very handsome and l well preserved matron, with an air of dis
 tinction about her that impresses al,
 who meet her. As she developed from
 g'rihood to womanhood she outgrew
 most of her companions and at the age
 Of Is was dark-haired, stately girl. giv- l ing promise of the handsome matron she
 has now become.
 The castle of Trevano, in which this
 beautiful American woman now resides
 was built about thirty years ago by the
 Russian multimil1ionaire Baron von de
 Weiss, and was called by him "yiIle de susse." It contains the finest Roman
 atrium in southern Europe, in which are
 sixty marble columns and hundreds of
 crystal colonnettes.
 In the park of the castle there are sey-
 enty-eight acres with every known tree,
 iant and shrub that can be acclimated
 growing in 1t. MT. Lombard is man of
 exquisite taste and has added much to the beauty of the grounds, no expense 1 having been spared, several hundred
 thousand dollars being spent in the first
 two years of his residence there. l Those who have met Mr. Lombard.
 and he has visited in St. Louis, say that
 he Is the ideal Frenchman, both in man.
 ner and speech, but stil he Is very much
 interested in American ideas and with
 his wife's assistance has incorporated the best American ideas into the plans
 of his house and grounds.
 An interesting feature of the house is the theater, which was opened to the | friends of the family a year ago Some
 of the finest musical artists Of Europe give entertainments there, the proceeds
 being given to charity the Italian hos-
 pital and schools especially proftfng.
 MT. Lombard is quite a versatile man,
 having studied law, besides being a pa-
 tron of music and splendid Iinguist.
 He has made money in Wall street and l is quite as much at home in the United 1 States as in his native country of France Tn fact, he Is a citizen of the 1 United States. and regards New York as
 his home He was In St. Louis about a l year ago, looking after the extensive in- | terests of his wife.