P. left the yacht and
moved into his town house in East 73d Street. It was a large and
beautifully designed mansion, differing in three particulars from the
ordinary run of residences which have been built, furnished, and
decorated with the utmost good taste and without regard to expense.
The room in which J. P. usually took his meals was a small but
beautifully proportioned retreat so placed that it was completely
surrounded by other rooms and had no direct contact with the outside
world. It was in its ground plan an irregular octagon, and it drew its
light and air from a glass dome. The most striking element in the
decorations was a number of slender columns of pale-green Irish marble,
which rose from the floor to the dome.
Another unusual feature of the house was a superb church organ, which
was built into a large recess halfway up the main staircase. J. P. was
an enthusiastic lover of organ music, and heard as much of it as he
could during his brief visits to New York.
There are no doubt other houses which have an octagonal dining-room and
a church organ; but no other house, I am sure, has a bedroom like that
which Mr. Pulitzer occupied. Although it appeared to form part of the
house, it did not, in fact, do so. It stood upon its own foundations and
was connected with the main structure by some ingenious device which
isolated it from all vibrations originating there.
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