ELI C. OHMART. 
North Manchester, Ind.

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ARTISTS’ HOMES.  NO. 12—­MR. WILLIAM EMERSON’S HOUSE AT LITTLE SUTTON, CHISWICK.

[Illustration]

Little Sutton was an old house, parts of which were in existence before the time of Cromwell.  It is situated in a picturesque old garden, surrounded by ivy-clad walls and fine trees, one of the cedars being extraordinarily large and perfect, its huge branches covering a space of over 90 ft. in diameter.  The greater part of the old house, being uninhabitable through decay, was pulled down; the old parts are shown in black on the plan, and the new hatched.  It is faced with red bricks, and red Corsehill stone dressings, and covered with tiles The plan was arranged so as to preserve the old kitchen, billiard-room, morning room, and conservatory.  The hall, entered from a veranda in connection with the entrance-porch, is surrounded by a dado, the height of doors; the lower panels are filled with tiles made to design by the School of Art at Bombay.  The woodwork is painted a mottled blue color, harmonizing with the general tone of the tiles, the whole being something the color of lapis lazuli.  The staircase is divided from the hall by three arches, through which is seen the staircase-window, representing, in stained glass, the Earth, Air, and Water.  Under the central arch is the fireplace, on the hood of which will eventually be a bronze figure of Orpheus, on a ground of mosaic.  The floor is of marble mosaic, and round the border are the various beasts listening to the music, the trees and river, etc.  Above the dado, and on the wooden panels of ceiling, will be the birds, etc.  The woodwork of dining-room is plain American walnut, the panels of dado being filled with dark Japanese leather-paper.  The panels and beams of ceiling are of stained and dull varnished fir.  The drawing room woodwork, and furniture throughout, is painted a mottled greenish blue, after the same manner as the hall.  The decorations of this room, when complete, are intended to illustrate Chaucer’s “House of Fame.”  The chimney-piece, of alabaster, is surmounted by a Caen-stone design, on a rock of glass, showing the entrance to the castle, with the various figures mentioned in the poem, carved in half-round relief, and the gateway itself also richly and quaintly carved; the rock of glass representing the ice on which the castle was supposed to be built, and on it are cut the various famous names of the world’s history.  In the frieze all round the room will be the figure of Fame and the various groups of suppliants, and the pillars with the groups upholding the renown of ancient cities and nations, etc., executed in very low relief, and painted on a ground of blue and gold.  The panels of ceilings will have conventional designs and the heavenly bodies on ground of gold and blue.  The morning and other rooms have no particular scheme of decoration prepared, and are simply painted and papered in quiet tones.