And just as the woman who dreams of many lovers finds one
dream a little dearer than all the rest, so one of my houses has been
dearer to me than all the others.
[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON IRVING HOUSE WAS DELIGHTFULLY RAMBLING]
This favorite love of mine is the old Washington Irving house in New
York, the quaint mansion that gave historic Irving Place its name. For
twenty years my friend, Elizabeth Marbury, and I made this old house our
home. Two years ago we reluctantly gave up the old house and moved into
a more modern one--also transformed from old into new--on East
Fifty-fifth Street. We have also a delightful old house in France, the
Villa Trianon, at Versailles, where we spend our summers. So you see we
have had the rare experience of transforming three mistreated old houses
into very delightful homes.
When we found this old house, so many years ago, we were very young, and
it is amusing now to think of its evolution. We had so many dreams, so
many theories, and we tried them all out on the old house. And like a
patient, well-bred maiden aunt, the old house always accepted our
changes most placidly. There never was such a house!
You could do anything to it, because, fundamentally, it was good. Its
wall spaces were inviting, its windows were made for framing pleasant
things.
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