Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1888 — The Finest Country House in America. [ARTICLE]

The Finest Country House in America.

San Francisco Letter. Almost every American has heard of J. C. Flood, the California millionaire, but very few are aware of the fact that Mr. Flood is the owner of. the most magnificent country house and ground in North America. This estate isat Menlo Park, near San Francisco, and during Mr. Flood’s illness is closed to tourists. The Gossiper was a privileged visitor,and therefore, can picture the scenes denied to others this season. The estate covers 1,000 acres, and is under the charge of a landscape gardener and 120 assistants. The drives are several miles in length, End are made of white gravel kept spotlessly clean. The foliage, shrubbery and flowers are beyond description. Everything is a “symphony of white and gold,” The porter’s lodge is a beautiful cottage near the only entrance to the grounds, and, the great gates re white and gold. The grounds are lighted by hundreds of gss lamps with ground glass shades, the gas being made on the place. Statuary of the most chaste and eloquent design and of exquisite workmanship gives a finish to the velvet-like lawns and closely-trimmed hedges. But the house is the main attraction. It is built in a style of architecture that might be termed French, although not decidedly of that school. It is dazzling white, the roofs sre of black elate in patterns, and the decorations are all in gold. Even the inside blinds and the furnishings are a bice and gold, and this effect has been preserved in the finishings of the servants’ quarters, the superb stable and all the buildings on the premises. The house stands on an eminence and overlooks one of the most beautiful lawns that ait could produce. .Fountains plash on every side; a terrace ofivy and flowers hems in the* eastern view, wnile a bank of violets and a wall of roses temper the force of the ceean breezes and perfume them. The perfect creation of an artistic mind, withall the necessary funds to maintain it in its perfection, Flood’s palace stands unrivaled in America, a typical home of a self-made millionaire.