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Amid the tall pines of Lakewood, N.J., stands
Georgian Court, the palatial Winter home of George
J. Gould. Here is a house nearly 200 feet long and
of an average width of 50 feet, its height varying
from three to four stories. It is the central
feature of a beautiful estate embracing about 100
acres of land and including every modern appliance
for personal comfort that wealth can procure.
It was Mr. Gould's intention to build a house that
would cost about $70,000. So tempting were the
opportunities of elaboration and decoration,
however, that the first estimate of cost, exclusive
of the grounds, was considerably more than trebled.
It is well within bounds to say that Georgian Court,
with its grounds and appurtenances, represents an
outlay of $500,000.
The house faces the lake drive, and the glimmering
waters of Carasaljo Lake are about 300 feet distant.
Visitors to Lakewood frequently comment on the
picturesque Indian name of this lake and make
inquiries about its origin. Whenever such inquiring
visitors chance to meet one of the "old residents"
of Lakewood they learn that a one-time owner of all
this property named the lake, abbreviatively, after
his three daughters; Caroline, Sarah, and Josephine.
This is one of the Lakewood legends.
A fine grassy terrace slopes from the Gould mansion
down to the lake drive, and where a little arm of
the lake reaches up into Mr. Gould's grounds an
artistic bridge has been built. Opposite the north
side of the house is a great circular flower bed,
beyond which are the stables and a large recreation
building, containing tennis court, bowling alleys
&C. Off to one side on the main road are the cozy
lodge and entrance gate, and near by is the
substantial machinery building, in which there is a
complete electrical plant.
Georgian Court, although it has been described as of
the Italian villa style of residence, takes its name
from the English Georgian period. It is in the main
of the style of architecture that prevailed in
England at the time that the old colonial mansions
were being built in this country. Mr. Bruce Price of
this city is the architect, and in speaking of
Georgian Corut in a recent number of the
Architectural Record he said: "I look upon it as a
consistent design throughout, yet it contains
several features of widely separated origin. It was
in fact, an attempt to put a French chateau roof on
an English Georgian house. In English and American
houses the first floor is the fine floor; it is not
so in French houses. On the other hand, there are no
English roofs, except the Elizabethan, which are
mostly thin and poor, and not habitable. In France
the roof has been superbly developed, with big
dormers, forming, in fact, the best part of the
design. I took these two things and placed them
together. I do not think there is a diversity in
actuality, for there is no chateau detail, and the
style throughout has been made consistent."
Mr. Price explains that the theory of the inside had
been to carry out the idea of an English house.
White and gold are the colors chiefly used. The
entrance hall is of white, qualified by crimson
walls and rich colors in the Canterbury frieze. The
dining room is white with green walls and green
tints. "In the library," continues Mr. Price, "you
have the rich bindings of the books as the chief
element in the color scheme, and there the wood is
dark. The billiard room is also dark. In the music
room the wood is gilded in keeping with its style,
and in harmony with the painted panels of the walls.
The morning room has more gilt on its wood with
panels of white silk embroidered in colors."
There are about thirty rooms for family use, and the
principal ones took out on the lake. Prentice
Treadwell, who has an intimate knowledge of Mr.
Price's methods, says; "The color study of the
interior of Georgian Court was made first as a
whole, each room being a chord in the general
harmony, and considered in its relation to all the
others, while each room is a complete harmony in
itself in every detail, both fixed and movable. In
this house was presented a very fascinating and
difficult problem that of creating in a pine forest
a home for a gentleman of large means who desired
his Winter residence to be commodious and
attractive, but without a touch of grandeur or
display."
Georgian Court was completed on Christmas Eve, 1898,
and has been occupied by Mr. Gould and his family
nearly all of the time since then. Its builder was
George A. L'Hommedieu, and the materials used in its
construction were brick, terra cotta, and stucco.
Its interior finish is in marble and hard woods. The
main hallway, with its golden staircase, constitutes
a magnificent feature of the structure. This
spacious hall rises through two stories, a marble
balcony letting into the rooms on the second floor.
The stairway is wide and ciliptical, with broad
marble treads and an ornamental gold railing.
From each end of the main hall, to the right and
left, runs a corridor that connects every part of
the building. As Architect Price says, "the moment
you enter the house you have the whole of it before
you. You not only know where you are, but you see
the entire house as soon as you have come into it.
This seems to me an immense advantage. Not only is
it a perfectly logical utilitarian plan, but you are
at home the moment you are inside the door. There is
no need to find your way around." There is a
chandelier in the great hall composed of 150,000
separate pieces of glass. It is pendent from the
ceiling and its style is a luster of French form
done in classic detail.
Nearly every piece of furniture was made from
special designs which conform to the architectural
detail and color scheme of each particular room. In
the dining room, the prevailing color of which is
green, the chairs are of mahogany, covered with
embroidered velvet, and executed in the style of the
Georgian period. The carvings and tables are in the
same wood and are finished with ormolu gold
mountings. The dining table, which is oval in shape,
is massive and rich in design. The library table and
chairs are of bog oak and are covered with blue
velvet. They are richly carved and in design fellow
the old Italian school. In the great hall the
furniture is of the period of Louis XIV. Each piece
is gilded with powder gold and covered with crimson
silk velour, ornamented with gold galloons. There is
a superb Louis XIV, writing desk which Mr. Gould
purchased in France at a figure approximating
$20,000.
In the music room there is a grand piano richly
decorated in a style to harmonize with the wall
decorations. The furniture in this room is
handsomely carved, and gilded with powder gold. It
is covered with Auburson tapestry from designs made
and executed especially for this purpose. All of the
drawing room furniture is in gold, the gilding being
done on Circassian walnut. Tapestry is liberally
used for covering. In the main suite of rooms up
stairs there is a beautiful bedstead with a canopy,
in the style of Marie Antoinette. The wood-work is
gilded, and the head and foot boards are tufted with
silk broche. There is a reproduction of early
Colonial furniture in mahogany in the principal
guest chamber. In all of the original work on the
furniture in the Georgian Court perfection was the
object sought. In the choice of woods, in the
carving, and in all details of mounting no expense
or effort was spared to obtain the best material and
talent possible.
In the building and furnishing Mr. Gould has secured
to himself and his family an inviting home, as well
as a magnificent house. A writer in The
Architectural Record says: "The furnishing is on a
scale seldom before attempted in this country, yet a
the same time it has been done with such good taste
that it gives no sense of repulsion on account of
its magnificence. On the contrary, it imparts a
feeling of hospitality and warmth from the moment
one enters the great hall. The bedrooms though
perfect in every detail, are striking in their
simplicity. There has been skillfully avoided in
them that sense of heaviness which seems so often
inseparable from rich furnishings.
At the same time they are faithfully correct in all
cases where they have been reproductions of
historical models. Each room at Georgian Court has
an individuality of its own that gives a feeling of
being in a private room of a dwelling rather than in
the showroom of a store. This has not been the
result of chance, but hard study on the part of
experienced artists and designers. Tapestries and
silks, brocades and velours have been especially
woven and tried until there was nothing left to be
desired."
A variety of marbles were used in the interior work
of this house, including Green Vermont, Pavanazza,
Royal Irish Green, Black Egyptian, and Gray Billear
Roman. The woods chiefly used are quartered white
oak, Zambesi, East Indian mahogany, San Domingo
mahogany, white pine, and poplar. The main walls of
the interior of the building are finished in grayish
white stucco, made of Atlas Portland cement and
white beach sand, the surface being finished with
Brussels carpet floats. The floors of the porches,
piazzas, and terraces are laid with red Tierra cotta
from Welsh quarries, imported especially for this
work. The system of lighting is characterized by the
subordination of the fixtures to the decorative
treatment of each room.
Simplicity marks the design of the stable as well as
of the house. In order to suitably accommodate the
large number of horses and carriages used by Mr.
Gould's family, the stable was made very capacious.
Under its roof there is a laundry for the house and
sleeping and dining rooms for the men employed in
the stables. A water tower was needed for the
distribution of water over the estate, and instead
of erecting a detached and gaunt scaffolding, the
water tower was made the central feature of the
stable.
The grounds surrounding this commodious country home
are laid out and beautified in a most artistic
manner. The approach to the house has been fittingly
described as being quiet and restful. The central
garden between the house and the stable is an
imposing yet harmonious mass of color. At the west
end of the house is a large and well-stocked
conservatory. In this conservatory some entirely new
features in furnishing have been introduced, among
these being portieres of specially woven linen and
mohair. The lighting brackets in the conservatory
are in classic design, finished in Verde antique,
and are of an uncommon and interesting form.
Mr. Gould is very fond of his Lakewood home, as is
each member of his family. Since he has become an
avowed citizen of New Jersey he has manifested much
interest in the welfare of Lakewood and its
institutions. He has contributed generously toward
the building up of the place. Usually he leaves his
office, in the Western Union Building, New York,
each afternoon in time to catch a 4 o'clock train
for Lakewood, in order that he may reach home in
time for a romp or a pony drive with his children
before dinner. Each child has its own pony and
little vehicle, and in addition is supplied with
every desirable means of outdoor exercise. Mr. Gould
has been fond of athletics since his boyhood, and he
enters heartily into all of the healthful sports and
games which a country life affords. He is an expert
at polo, tennis, and golf, and is a liberal patron
of the Lakewood Country Club.
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