I spent a few years of junior high and early high school building this
modeling clay/plastic/wood representation of a mansion that might have
been built circa 1890s (kinda like Biltmore,
though not nearly as grandiose). It’s a pretty interesting little
thing and kept me busy and out of trouble. Anyway, it still sits
in my room, taking up an entire desktop and several shelves below, and
I thought it was about time I got some digital images and a general guide
put together.
So, without further ado, the Provine Corporation (making unnecessary
but nifty things since 1984) presents…
The Mansion
Here we see an outer view of the mansion from the front. There
is a nice circular drive leading up to the main entrance to the mansion.
As one comes to the mansion, he passes the coach house (A) on the left
and the elevator house (B) on the right. The coach house consists
of two stories, the lower one being for the care of carriages and horses
and the upper one as a place to house stable boys. The elevator house
is a building, which holds an enormous elevator, which carries automobiles
and large deliveries of stock to the basement below the mansion.
Another thing to note from the outside is the clock tower (C), which
sits atop the water storage tanks for the mansion and features three massive
bells. There are also numerous statutes and fountains, a large swimming
pool featuring three fountains (D), a bowling green (E), a small vineyard
(F), and a sundial outside (G). Coming out of the second floor are
two small sun porches filled with greenery and comfortable seating (H).
Above them on the third floor are three sections of the roof (I) which are
simply flat and surrounded by white fencing, making ease for going out onto
the roof for a game of golf or just to relax. Please note the large
doors made of very heavy glass that lead from the interior of the mansion
to the out of doors. Also note the three chimneys, one on either side
of the third floor and the large primary chimney behind the marble entryway.
Now one can enter through the pillared front door and come into the entry
hall. Featured in the entry hall is the massive main staircase (which
conveniently acts as part of a flue leading the smoke from the machinery
in the basement up to the main chimney). Also one can see the owner’s
coat of arms on the floor and portraits of the owners of the mansion along
the walls.
A quick aside about the lighting in the mansion. Most of the lights
are gas, while some are gas and electric. Apparently the owners of
this mansion have not yet come to trust Edison’s magic electrical light
bulb just yet.
From here, most formal guests would be taken to the right to one of the
more extravagant sections of the mansion.
In the center of this section is the cavernous ballroom (A), which features
a central piano and other musical instruments. The main dining room
(B) (where some guests can be seen sitting at the long table) contains
another piano, fireplace, and plenty of conversation pieces, including
a massive tapestry on the left wall. The mansion’s massive library
(C) sits next to the dining room, filled with thousands of books.
The curtains in the library are very heavy and the library’s fireplace is
quite large, making the massive room a comfortable place to stay during
cold winter nights. The librarian’s quarters (D) are next to the library.
Small sitting rooms (E and F) off of the ballroom serve as quiet places
to speak during the massive galas. The gentlemen’s smoking room (G)
is a manly place to spend time with guests and features a central bearskin
rug. Next to it, the women’s sewing room (H) is a place for more feminine
guests. The general parlor (I) serves as a good place for long chats
with members of both genders.
Now, crossing back through the entry hall, one can see the less formal
entertaining section of the mansion.
This part of the mansion features a conservatory (A) (if you don’t know
what that is, look it up on the board game Clue) and wide hallways for indoor
walks and musings. The indoor tennis court (B), through the changing
room (C), allows for year-round exercise. Off of the changing room
is the mansion’s map room (D), a small room completely dedicated to geography
and cartography (fun stuff!). This section of the mansion also contains
the first floor’s main bathroom (E), which is enormous and contains two
showers (while still allowing for decency). There is another large
sitting room (F) here, a good place to chat away from the noisy ballroom.
A larder filled with goods (G) offers supplies for any occasion. Just
down the hall from the larder is a suite of guest rooms (H) containing two
bedrooms and a bath. The mansion’s twenty-five seat theater (I) is
across the hall and holds a large screen and magic lantern for viewing projected
images. Still, the theater can be used for more traditional viewings
and holds a nicely sized stage (J) behind the curtains. A ready-room
(K) for the actors is tucked behind the stage and holds surplus scenery
as well as comfortable furniture for the performers. The whole corner
of this wing of this floor holds the mansion’s water system (L). The
enormous pumps keep the water (stored in one of the four indoor tanks or
the massive outdoor tank connected via piping) under enough pressure to be
used throughout the mansion. Heating and cooling systems allow for
the production of hot and cold water as well as the generally used tepid
water (note: each faucet in the mansion either features one knob for tepid
water or three knobs for hot, cold, or tepid).
One can then proceed up the main stairway in the entry all to the second
floor.
On the right side of the second floor is a place for recreation with
friends and relations.
This section holds a single hallway in a rather bizarre architectural
style that will be explained later. Directly off of the main hallway
are the music room (A), a smaller sewing room (B), and a sitting room (C)
where one can sit and listen to the music from the music room. Note
the doors leading from the sitting room to the sun porch mentioned before.
As one goes down the hallway, he passes by many windows and plenty of paintings
and sculpture. Several of the higher servants, such as the master
cook (H), top butler (L), and the lady’s servant (N) have rooms in this
section of the mansion with access to the bathroom (M). The trophies
of a dozen expeditions are shown in the trophy room (I). Next to it
is the stairway room (J) leading up to the eastern half of the third floor.
And farther down the hallways is the card room (K) where many games are
enjoyed. An art room (O) allows for recreation and productions in
clay and paint. A good game of pool can be played in the billiards
room (G). A gentlemen’s drink bar (E) is across from the billiards
room. The large exercise room (F) serves as the reason for the long
winding hallway, as the master of the mansion would like to be in shape
even before reaching his weights and boxing equipment. A small room
(D) not much bigger than a closet is off of the exercise room and serves
as a place for secret dealings.
Across the entry hall is the left half of the second floor, which is
mainly for bedrooms.
However, the mansion’s kitchen (A) is strangely placed here (it is said
the master of the house enjoys the smells of breakfast when waking).
The master’s bedroom (B) and his dressing room (C) are just down the hallway.
The lady of the house has a bedroom (D) to herself just across the hall
and her own dressing room (E). This floor has plenty of sitting rooms
(F, I, H, J, L) for late-night chats or just being by oneself. Another
stairway room (G) leads to the left half of the third floor. Another
larder (K) supplies the needs of the suite of children’s rooms (M).
This suite holds a central sitting room and a bathroom between the four
bedrooms.
Now up to the left part of the third floor, where one would come up in
the entry room (A). The large sitting room (B) leads off of this
room, to a smaller room (C), and out into the main hallway (D). This
large hallway features an automaton bird and a collection of miniatures
of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Four more sitting rooms
(E, F, G, H) serve as places to show off furniture that the lady of the house
has collected but cannot place anywhere else. The good servant’s room
(I) is a bedroom given to a servant who has shown extraordinary skill in
service as a reward from the family. A small room (J) nearby holds
nothing more than a table, which is where the master of the house sometimes
works toward writing his memoirs. A small conference room (K) is nearby,
next to bathroom (L) servicing this portion of the mansion. Note the two
pairs of doors leading onto the flat roof from rooms C and H.
Across the flat roof over the second story, one soon comes to the
right half of the third floor, which is primarily dedicated to the housing
of many of the house servants. The sitting room (A) is at the top
of the stairway leading from the second floor. It holds plenty of
instruments and games to occupy the servants in their times of idleness.
The younger female servants sleep in a large bedroom (B), while the male
house servants sleep in a separate one (D). The head maid has her
own bedroom (D) and keeps track of the doings of the younger servants.
The servant’s bathroom (E) serves both genders, though at different times
and a schedule keeps decency among the servants. The mansion is rigged
with dozens of telephones capable of calling from one room to another to
well outside the walls of the mansion. All of these telephones are
connected via an operator in the telephone control room (F). The massive
storeroom (G) keeps many of the mansion’s items in crates, as well as an
interesting six-foot sculpture of a dinosaur. Although there is not
an entrance onto the middle portion of the roof from this half of the mansion,
there is an exit leading onto the front roof from the hallway.
Down far below the mansion is the massive basement.
We first see the bottom of the elevator (B) leading down from the elevator
house. From there, one would notice the fleet of automobiles (C),
including three normal automobiles, a large carriage, two motorized bicycles,
and a 1921 Formula-1 Racing Car, and one of the trucks filled with gas (A)
to heat and light the mansion. The rest of the basement is filled
with machinery, such as the electrical generator (D), ice crane (E), furnace
(F), automatic washing machine and dryer (G). There are also large
stores of the needed materials to run the mansion, including the ice chamber
(E), the coal chamber and gas tank (I), and the wine storage (H).
A spiral staircase in the center of the basement (J) leads up to the mansion
as well as farther down.
The spiral staircase leads down to the deepest part of the mansion: the
crypt. Guests to this seldom-seen part of the house first come to the
lobby (A), which almost never admits people except for funerals. Inside
the lobby is the large family chapel (B), with a piano and organ as music.
Doors on either side of the chapel lead to the crypts (C), which are filled
with the remains of the mansion family. Finally, leading off of one
of the crypts is the mansion’s enormous vault, where priceless treasures
are stored, though they have no value to the dead…
Thus concludes the tour of the mansion. Pretty crazy, ain’t it?
Well, I hope it’s been fun. Just to answer a probable question, no,
I don’t think that I would live here. I’d much rather have a cutting-edge
technology mansion (all computerized and everything) that has all kinds
of nifty gadgets in it. Any more questions? Yes, you in the
back…
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