AN AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE'S PALACE.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 23 December 1881, Page 2

AN AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE'S PALACE.

■ -A— -e^_ i If American accounts are to Be relied upon, the new * palace ' of Mr W..H. VanderbiH, in iNew York, will leave Claud Melnotte's • palace lifting to eoteraal summer ' and the fabled home of Monte Christo far in the shade, Apparently one building, the * palace ' contains two houses, one for Mr Vanderbilt himself, and the other for one of his daughters, Mrs Seloane. These is, we are told, an absence of bold and striking architectural ornament, but it is more tbaa compensated for by the elaboration of j carving in detail. The fourth storey j is so remarkable that it does not look like a storey at all, the windows being reticulated that the glass will not show from the street. The mosaic pavement of the entrance hall has cost £4,000. The floors are supported by iron columns, veneered with manycolored marbles. The walls of the hall and staircase are ieeorated in crimson and gold, very much after the fashion of on imitation of bricks and mortar. We can easily understand that at first sight, such a style of decoration * does not strike a beholder pleasantly. The largest apart meat in the house is the pieturcgallery, which is as high as two storeys. The dining room is in quite the American style of magnificence. It is pannelled in English oak, and in the pa-iels of the coved ciMlm^.s are piiyieruiaiMip, 'liberally gilded in curious design-!.' The whole of the house is in the same style of barbaric splendour. i-ven ;?)e sinks in the kitchen are o? the finest white marble. The drawingroom is elaborately carved any panelltd and opeu3 out. into a Jtpenese-room in a bri»ht-,«k>d ch^ery-wood. But it is Mrs Vanderbili's, room which is the wonder of the hou^e. All the cabinet* work, of amaranth, rose-rood ebony and other woods was made in France. The ceiling ba? beeen painted by Jules Lefebvre, and represents the departure of night and the coming of day. It is probably the only artistic thins; in the house. Mr Vanderb?;i;"s own. ruoia is fiui^heu in vos-c» wond Inhid -xkh mother* o r * pearl. , Thp cfvi. o p r.]l ir.is bn.rb.t'-uTi] is «.» .ma ■>■■■■■;; ;r hr- ■■&■-■, •:<. ■ :•,..> i; <--J ■hv" ■■r<\A\-.>\is do '! ■>;.-■• !.. :U i !. ; .