Through the front carved-walnut doors is a walnut-paneled vestibule which is tiled with multi-colored mosaics of the period. The second walnut door of the front vestibule opens into an ell-shaped reception hall, whose focal point is a brass-lined fireplace surrounded by bronze-colored ceramic tile with an ornately carved and mirrored walnut mantle extending to the ceiling. The fireplace is positioned to direct the eye to the dramatic main staircase, highlighted by a window of stained and painted glass on the landing, displaying a panorama of leaves and roundels of birds. Behind the staircase is a butler’s sink.

Leather wainscoting and walnut dado line the walls throughout the first floor reception area and continues along the left wall of the staircase and throughout the second-floor hall. The ceiling is delicately stenciled in pastels and gold with a design which combines geometric and floral patterns and repeats the blue and bronze of the fireplace hearth. The flooring is hardwood parquet with different inlaid perimeter patterns in each room.

Three formal rooms with 13-foot ceilings adjoin the reception hall. To the right, on entering, through sliding walnut doors, was the parlor. A floor-to-ceiling, panel-shuttered window looks out onto West North Avenue and emphasizes the spaciousness of the 21- by 15-foot room. The ceiling, its center medallion of plaster still intact, is joined to the walls by plaster cornice molding.

To the left of the reception hall is what was once the library. This 15- by-16-foot room repeats the floor-to-ceiling, panel-shuttered window of the parlor and the ceiling molding.

The formal dining room is accessible through both the reception hall and a rear hall leading to the kitchen. Here the walnut fireplace mantel is crowned with the original ornately framed mirror (to reflect, no doubt, flickering candles lighting the banquet table).

The kitchen is adjoined to a small pantry that was once twice as large before being partitioned to create a first-floor powder room just off the front reception hall.

A back staircase provides secondary access to the second floor and is the only way of getting to the third floor, suggesting that the third floor was designated for the servants’ quarters.

On the second floor is a master suite consisting of a bedroom and sitting room joined by an arched passageway. Two additional bedrooms and a bath complete the second level. In the bath are the original claw-foot tub and a marble sink accented by brass legs. The central hallway repeats the leather wainscoting, walnut dado, and stenciled ceiling of the first floor foyer. Ceilings here are 11 feet high, and original plaster medallions remain in the central hall and one bedroom. Floors are hardwood throughout. Second-floor fireplaces (two of them with Eastlake mantles) are less dramatic than those on the first floor but feature the same dark carved walnut accented with colorful ceramic tile. The windows, like those on the first floor, are shuttered.

The modest third floor has five rooms surrounding a skylighted central hall. The ceilings here are only 9-foot and the floors are of soft pine. Two rooms are without fireplaces. In the others, two have relatively simple oak mantles, and the third is of gray and red slate with simple, decorative carving.

::Origins::

::Jacob Reymer::

::Architectural Description::