serene quality of such a hall is very valuable in the city. If you
introduced a lot of furniture the whole thing would be spoiled.

I used an old porcelain stove, creamy and iridescent in glaze, in such a
hall in an uptown house very similar to my own. The stove is very
beautiful in itself, but it was used for use as well as beauty. It
really holds a fire and furnishes an even heat. The stove was flanked by
two pedestals surmounted with baskets spilling over with fruits, carved
from wood and gilded and painted in polychrome. Everything in this hall
is arranged with precision of balance. The stove is flanked by two
pedestals. The niche that holds the stove and the corresponding niche on
the other wall, which holds a statue, are flanked by narrow panels
holding lighting-fixtures. The street wall is broken by doors and its
two flanking windows. The opposite wall has a large central panel
flanked by two glass doors, one leading to the stairway and the other to
a closet, beneath it. Everything is "paired," with resulting effect of
great formality and restraint. Very little furniture is required: A
table to hold cards and notes, two low benches, and a wrought iron stand
for umbrellas. The windows have curtains of Italian linen, coarse
homespun stuff that is very lovely with white walls and woodwork. There
are no pictures on the wall, but there are specially designed
lighting-fixtures in the small panels that frame the niches.

In several of the finer houses that have been built recently, notably
that of Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont, the staircase is enclosed, and is in no way
an architectural feature, merely a possible means of communication when
needed. This solution of the staircase problem has no doubt brought
about our modern luxury of elevators. In another fine private house
recently built the grand staircase only goes so far as the formal rooms
of the second floor, and a small iron staircase enclosed in the wall