The Washington herald., 1911-02-18
Secretary and Mrs. MacVeagh Open Their Nep
Home by Giving Elaborate Ball.

! President and Mrs. Taft, accompanied
oy Col and Mrs. Goethals, attended the
National Theater last evening, the Presi-
dent going later to the MacVeagh ball,
given for his daughter.
| The elaborate entertaining for Miss
| Taft reached a climax last evening In
the ball given for her by the Secretary
of the Treasury and Mrs. MacVeaSh in
their new mansion in Sixteenth street.
This is one of the most superb residences
of modern Washington, and stands on
the east side of Sixteenth street, just
above their present house. Its plain ex-
terror, built on straight lines. gives no
indication of the spaciousness and state
illness of the interior, and the whole has
been planned by Mrs. MacVeagh, who has
personally superintended the construc-
! tion, the decorations. and the furnish
| ings. The latter, as matter or tact'
have been brought from their home in
Chicago, which has been turned over to
their son. Mr.. Eames MacVeagh.
Mrs. MacVeagh received the $50 guests
| in the drawing-room, assisted by her
sister Mrs. J. ]. Eames, of Chicago and
DR.. Yamai Kin, of China. The guests
were asked for 10 o'clock, and during
their reception a programme of exquisite
music was played on the superb pipe
organ in the music room adjoining, Mr..
| Taft, an organist from New York, COM
| ing down to dedicate the organ on this
occasion. When the dancing began. the
Marine Band took up the music, and ac-
cording to instructions given the leader,
the popular Grizzly Bear and Turkey
Trot" were played every few numbers.
The magnificent dining-room was used
| for dancing, the supper being served in
the conservatory. which is not yet ar
ranged with plants, but which was set
with small tables. The dining-room opens
from the opposite side of the drawing
room, and is an apartment forty or fifty
feet square, with lofty windows on the
south side and a large arch separating
it from the conservatory. In this room
hang some rare Gobelin tapestries, trans
planted from the Chicago mansion, the
windows having Italian lace curtains of
the rarest sort.
During the supper the organist played
a second programme of music, the chimes
connected with the organ making a spe
cial feature of the organ playing. The
organ echo is arranged on the top floor
of the house. two floors above the music
room, which extends entirely across the
front of the mansion on the second floor.
This top floor is arranged only for guests
in the house, with a beautiful Venetian
morning room extending across the front
of the house as a general meeting place
for the guests. Each bedroom on this
floor has its private bath, and the wood
work is all of white enamel. as it is in
all the sleeping rooms in the house.
The President arrived after the theater.
where he had been with Mrs. Taft, and
watchd the dancing with great interest.
a special table was arranged for him
in the library, an apartment Immediately
over the music room, and he had supper
there surrounded by the ambassadors and
their wives
The walls Of the library are covered
with rare old Flemish tapestries, the
woodwork and furniture are all OF ma
hogany, and the chairs are copies of
Diane de POicueres." and there is a real
old Rembrandt chair, upholstered in
black velvet, with gold figures on the
black wood. In this library. which is a
reproduction of the library in Mr. Mac
Veaghs Chicago home, with all the
furnishings, books, and ornaments re-
among them a lamp of lotus design
copied from one in the Mikado's palace
in Japan; another is a genuine antique
bronze lamp from a Japanese temple
The mantel and double fireplace is a
reproduction from the Chateau Blois,
and a spinet of the seventeenth century
has been transformed into a desk TO
harmonize with the surroundings. Four
tall Roman imperial standards. which
were used at the doors of the drawing
room in the Chicago house, are placed
in this room. Here also, on the north
side, is one of the splendid Stained-glasS
windows, of which there are many in the
house, designed by Frederick Bartlett,
of Chicago. A very large window in the
hall is of special beauty, and the light
ing of these windows is one of the fea-
lures of the house. The stained-glass
windows are all backed by plain glass
windows, as a protection to the stained
glass. Electric lights are placed be-
tween the two windows, which shows
the beautiful designs on the inside. Over
the pipe organ in the music room the de-
sign in the stained glass is of Pan and
His Pipes" which is worked out effec-
lively in the colors of the furniture of
the music room. This room is a repro
duction of the Sale des Gardes, OF Fon-
tainebleu The last of the panels was
being placed in position at a late hour
yesterday afternoon.
The mantelpiece and fireplace are
copied from Anne de Bretagne, and the
fire dogs are fra angels, the andironS, of
Wrought iron, being topped with CupidS.
The mantels and the columns at the arch
between the conservatory and the din
ing-room are of onyx The mantel in
the drawing-room is of blue marble, and
the andirons of huge bronze lions. This
is designed after one in the Chateau
Compigne. The walls of this room are
of dazzling gold. after those in their
Chicago home, and the furniture, of pale
green and gold, was all brought from
there as was the red and gold furniture
5or the music room.
In the dining-room, where the dancing
took place, the ancient Portuguese min
iature case of dull gold attracted much
attention. The lighting of the state
apartments is of the most modern and
unique, the rows of electric lights
being placed in the coping about a foot
below the ceiling, around the walls of
the music room and the drawing-room
In the dining-room the lights are placed
about the large panel in the center of
the ceiling. Nowhere on this are the
lights visible, only the glow from the
lights. The woodwork of the staircase
both black and brown, heavily carved
on the stairway, and made in solid
panels not open.
of offices on the first floor opening from
the loggia on the ground floor, with re-
ception room, private office, and clerks
Ill Il T,-& -s--L..