AN AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE'S STABLES.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 997, 14 February 1883, Page 3

AN AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE'S STABLES.

The New York Tribune says -As the dwellings of modern- Americans of wealth have developed into palaces, so the stables of rich owners of horses have become buildings fitted up in a manner that surpasses in costliness and elegance the houses of a majority of the popple. Pressed brick, brown stone arid marble, costly woods and plate glass combine to make the millionaire’s stable a place of

luxury and even splendour. Maud S. and the other trotting wonders in which William IT. Vanderbilt takes pride are housed in a manner befitting the pets of the richest man in America. A Tribune reporter visited Mr Vanderbilt's stable at Fifty-second street and Madison Avenue recently, and was shown through the building. Entering from: the office the visitor found himself in a spacious room It was just after dark, and numerous gas-jets wore burning round the walls, the light streaming through the porcelain globes, each ornamented with a broad band, in the centre of which was a horse’s head. Walls, floor and ceiling were all of polished wood, cherry, ash and black walnut being arranged in strips and panels in a way that brought out the beauties of each to the best advantage. In,one place a long mirror reflected the line of sombre and stately coaches opposite, and in another a.case of nickelplated bits, on a background of black velvet, lirihg glittering on the wall. A set of Fox’S English hunting scenes and oil portraits of Maud S. and Fullerton* in heavy gilt "frames, relieved the bare-; ness of the ash walls. In .the corner, on n platform of cement, a stableman was washing a light waggon which had been whirled over the road that, afternoon behind Aldino and Early Rose.

The stable implements which lay around him flashed in the gaslight with their heavy mountings of polished brass, and the pail in which he dipped his sponge was decorated with a big brass monoThere was no scent of the stable in the air. The noises of the horses in the stalls a few feet away could scarcely be hoard through the thick walls and the heavy doors of black walnut and plateglass. Only the man at work on the wagon in the corner and the long line of coaches against the wall gave the large, well-proportioned, and really elegant apartment any appearance of connection with a stable. There is np lend noise, no confusion, and no dirt in this big hall at any time. Even wheii some famous trotter comes into the stable, fresh from some new exploit oil the road, or the stout coach horses come in champing their bits and rattling their harness heavy with silver, the wheels of the light waggon or the heavy coach roll on n broad strip of carpet stretched diagonally across the floor, there is np din or tnmult. Looking into the harness-room large cases, with fronts of plate glass extending on all sides, wer| seen. The walls of the room above thh cases were of plate glass, and the lighf from the courtyard streamed through in a flood upon the shining black and the gleaming silver of tbe harness. Here were all sorts of harness, from the plaip affair whose only ornament was (he monogram of Mr Vanderbilt, to those in which the leather was almost hidden by a profusion of heavy silver decorations; At the command of Mr Phelps, the superintendent of the stables, two grooms rolled back two immense sliding doors, and a dim lit apartment, roofed by a dome of glass, was entered. Up and down the centre, on the hard cement floor,! were; ranged |a/r6w Mf ]ig]i| .vehicles, and arbVihd them' extended 'a ’ tan-bark track. This ;is called t lhe “walking track,” and here the horses are exercised,. The red- pressed brick, walls oftlns- place were hung with pictures of hunting scenes and celebrated horses/whiclq

with, their bits of colour showing in the semi-obscurity, produced a pleasant and i.effeQt.’ The most interesting part of the stable, however, was devoted to the horses. Here the light from the numerous gas jets showed long lines of box-stalls oflight and polished ' wood, trimmed with black walnut. Beyond was a line of open stalls, where stood the powerful carriage , horses. Even here there was no unpleasant odour, nothing but the smell of the clean straw with which the horses had been bedded down for the night. Near the door leading' into the courtyard was what appeared to be a box stall,, bnt.which, upon (he door being opened was seen to be a bedroom. Here, every night, sleeps oho of the hostlers, in order to. be on hand if anything goes wrong with the horses. In the partition dividing the room from (he main apartment burned u bright light encased 1 in glassi It was half in the sleeping-room and half ontside, the light filtering into the sleeping-room through a green baize curtain drawn over the glass on that side. At night, when all the other lights are turned out, this one is kept burning. Mr Vanderbilt’s stable was beoW-in 1879 and finished in October on°tbe following year. It cost GO.OOO dols without the land, which is said to be worth at least as much more. The materials of which it is constructed are pressed brick and Milestone, It has a frontage of 75ft. in Fifty-second street and 100 ft. in Madison Avenue. All the rooms are spacious and the appointments of the finest. Ihe box stall occupied by Maud S. is 20ft, by 24ft,. and the others, though not [large, [are still’of good size.