The Night a Gilded Age Mansion Lit the Road to Its Own Party

The housewarming party given by Mr. and Mrs. Horace C. Henry at their handsome residence overlooking Lake Union, at the corner of Hallum and McGraw streets, Wednesday evening, was one of those affairs whose quiet elegance and perfection of detail bespoke the breeding and culture of both host and hostess, and will be an event long and pleasantly remembered in the bright social world of the city. The preparations had been quiet and unostentatious; every possible want of the guests had been anticipated, and the clockwork precision with which the small army of servants carried out every detail of the programme during the evening showed the good generalship that directed the whole and permitted the nearly 200 guests present to enjoy the occasion without the slightest friction in any one of the many features of the evening's entertainment. Every room in the three floors had been placed at the disposal of the guests, and a pleasant time was enjoyed in going from floor to floor, admiring the aggregation of beautiful things, the delicate carvings, dainty decorations, rich laces, choice tapestries and bric-a-brac, together with a rare selection of oil paintings that adorned the walls on all sides. Everything the eye rested on showed refined taste. Flowers of many hues, beauties and scents added Nature's gifts to the scene of artificial beauty, being arranged in graceful groups throughout the three floors. A string orchestra discoursed melodious sounds in choice selections in the early part of the evening. Later the orchestra furnished the music for the merry dancers in the ball room on the top floor, whose smooth floor left not a trace of dust on the most delicate toilette. The arrangements for the supper showed the same forethought for the comfort of the guests that characterized every other feature of the evening. And every one of the 200 guests was well and with plenty, and with a quiet dexterity on the part of the servants that showed their efficient training. Not only had the hosts considered the presence of their guests, but their homegoing as well, for they had chartered a number of special cars which were kept in waiting to take away the last of them between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning. Nothing had been omitted to insure the complete success of the affair, even to a special line of electric lighting the way from the residence to the railway station. Card rooms were supplied for the comfort of those who did not enjoy dancing, and the porches on the three floors and the large grounds afforded ample room for those overheated in the house. Mrs. Henry was assisted in receiving by Mrs. E. H. Langdon, of Minneapolis; Miss Balch, of Minneapolis, and Miss Nisbet, of England. Mrs. Henry's new residence is without doubt the handsomest in the city, not only in size, solidity and beauty of location, but above all in the perfect taste of its architecture, interior decorations and furnishings. The harmony of coloring and arrangement is such that a glance around any of the rooms presents nothing which would be offensive to the most critical eye. The building is three stories high and is built of gray Puget Sound sandstone and wood, in the mixed Spanish and French styles of architecture. It stands on an almost level spot on the summit of the ridge traversed by Broadway, close to the edge of the bluff overlooking Lake Union, toward which it fronts, and commands a view of that body of water, Ballard, Fremont and Queen Anne hill on one side, and of the main part of the city, the harbor, the Sound and the Olympic mountains in the distance further southward. It fronts to the west and on that side has a wide semi-circular stone porch on each of the two lower stories, with tile floors and a colonnade of white stone pillars having richly carved capitals. On the south side, which is approached by a wide carriage drive, is another porch with a stone arch extending clear across the drive, so that guests can alight under shelter, stone steps leading up each of the three sides to the doorway. If one enters through this doorway a wide hall is seen, benches on each side, the whole house finished in polished oak and having wainscoting of that wood reaching far up the walls. Instead of being confronted immediately on entering by the main stairway, as one is in too many residences, one has a glimpse of it towards the rear. On the left are two drawing rooms, made practically one by a wide arch supported by pillars of sycamore with carved capitals. These are both finished in polished sycamore with wainscoting far up the walls, and, like the hall and all the other rooms on the ground floor, have the side walls and ceiling beautifully and artistically frescoed in subdued tints. A library, studiously finished in mahogany, with a high shelved mantel, is seen. To the right of the hall is the reception room, which is a gem of daintiness. It is finished in white and gold, those with pale green being the prevailing tints of the frescoing on the walls and ceiling, while the carved white wood is delicately tinted. At the rear of the hall is the dining room, finished in oak with a wainscoting of the same. It has two windows looking to the north, one on each side of the mantel, and a mantel with shelves on which are contained a large clock and ornaments. A handsome sideboard, also of oak, stands at the east end. At the rear of the dining room a minor hall leads to the kitchen, servants' quarters and rear entrance, in which all the doors and other woodwork are of Washington maple. A broad stairway to the second floor leads to a large chamber finished in oak, another in mahogany, and Miss Florence's room all in white and gold, with furniture to harmonize with it. On this floor are two tiled bath rooms with a shower bath, one at each end of the hall. At the rear on this floor is a cozy card room. Another stair leads to a dancing hall on the third floor admirably adapted for the entertainment of large parties. It is about forty feet square, with an open ceiling roof, all the woodwork being of polished oak like that on the lower floors. At one end is a platform for the musicians, while a billiard room finished in prime specimens of white mahogany brought from Central America opens out from the other end. One can go even higher and climb to the roof and feast the eyes on such an extended view over a beautiful landscape as only Seattle affords. A rear hall and stairway, finished in Washington maple, run from roof to basement of the house. All the carving was done by Seattle men, and speaks well for the talent the city has drawn to it. The basement is high and roomy, with a cement floor, and is given up to the servants, the store rooms, a hot water apparatus which heats the whole house, and the laundry, and also contains a bath room and several rooms for the servants. In the rear of the house is a stable and barn large enough for all ordinary needs of the family. With such a house, surrounded by well laid out grounds amply large enough to set it off, in which choice flowers abound and the more useful vegetables are not neglected, Mr. and Mrs. Henry have established for themselves a home which offers about all that man and woman can wish to minister to their comfort and the refined taste to which they have so well displayed.