The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-16

houses; and second, It's people ar
making more money than any othe
people; and, therefore, can afford t,
spend more money in house buildin,
than any other people can.
The method of house building her
that is, fine house building-ha
changed completely within a com
paratively short time. Until few
years ago, even the most expensiv,
houses, most of them, were designe,
and put up simply as houses. Ate,
the architect and builder got through
with the job, the decorator, first, anl
the f;1rniSher, second, took hand at i
before the family moved in. TIL.
owner and various members of thu
family took part in producing thu
completely furnished and decorated
house, and, since the efforts and labor:
of all concerned were guided anc
overlooked by no one competent per
son, the ensemble was sometime.
truly terrifying.
Often when the house itself was
good, half the effect was spoiled by
bad decoration. Sometimes when the
decorations in themselves were ad-
mirable they fitted the house SO bad
ly as to throw everything out of bal
ance. Occasionally, when both the
house and main decorations were
good and in complete fitness, the pic
tures and statuary chosen, though
possibly, themselves of merit, were
utterly without enlightened and taste
full regard for their surroundings.
All this has been changed since the
building of the Stewart mansion on
Fifth avenue, which for years was
pointed out as the most costly house
in New York, and also, by the know
ing, as displaying the greatest lack of
taste.
Nowadays when an American OF
wealth wishes to have a palace erected
and some of the private houses now
being built in America are really
palatial in size and splendor-he goes
about it exactly as the kings and
princes, the dukes and other big wigs
of the Old World always have attack
ed such an undertaking. He engages
an architect of the highest grade, in
structs him as to how much money
may be expended, and then tells him
to produce the very best thing in the
way of a residence that can possibly
be had for the price.
He also gives over to his architect
the personal supervision of the gen
era1 scheme of decoration, including
all the wall paintings and statuary, the
main color scheme of the interior as
the details of the furnishing, even
down to the designing of the chairs,
tables and other articles of furniture.
The owner and his family express
Their preferences, of course. They out
line a broad general notion of what
they want, but the methods adopted
to bring the desired result about are
left to the architect.
When he receives a commission of
this sort the modern architect imme-
diately organizes a corps of artists
not artisans, but painters, scu1ptors
and other designers of repute. As
the plans for the house take form
there are numerous conferences be-
tween them and the contracting build
er, to which the taste and Judgment
Of all contribute When, through the
efforts and labors of all, the house is
turned over to those who are to live in
II, it is not only monument to the
wealth of its owner, but a veritable
creation, a crystaliZation of hewn and
polished stone, in cleaning marble and
shining glass and metal, in painted
and tapestried walls, of the combined
taste of all the trained specialists
who have been employed upon the
structure
Almost incredible amounts of labor
and time and money are thus expend-
ed upon the creation of the houses put
up by the multi-nillionaire class.
whose very existence dates only few
decades back. The best artists that
money can secure are kept busy upon
these houses, and they work out
staircases, balconies, porches, foun-
tains, mantels and painted decora-
tons with all the enthusiasm that was
devoted to the creation of artistic
structures in the middle ages. Otter
from $4,000 to 100000 will be spent
upon the artistic decoration of &
single room, and this in house moi
nowadays considered anything re.
markable either.
The pictures which are given upor
this page show the various stage:
through which a pair of mantels fol
a private house in process of erection
at Pelham Manor, near New York
are going. Compared with such
houses as Cornelius Vanderbilt's, o.
John Jacob Astor's, or Charles NJ
Schwab's, or Andrew Carnegie's, o,
William A. Clark's, this Pelham
Manor house will be modest struc
ture, but the drawingtoom for which
these mantels are being made will cos
in the neighborhood of $500
They were designed by Fernando
Miranda, the sculptor, who came her
from Spain when only young man
and has won his spurs by series o
real achievements in the plastic art, o
which the tympani of the Machiner.
Building at the St. Louis World
Fair furnish an excellent example
When the designing of the mantel
was suggested to Mr.. Miranda he il
turn suggested that each be supportet
by two female figures, draped, of lif
size, the figures supporting one man
tel to symbolic 'Modesty" and "Sin
cerity," those supporting the othe
Love" and Harmony" These, MI
Miranda says, are the cardinal viz
tues of the home" The suggestio
being accepted, he made small penct
sketch which later he embodied i
a plaster sketch, about a foot square
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