" Hello, Suzanne."

" Welcome, Bob."

" Now, this wonderful house belongs to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, right?"

" That's right. The National Trust owns 18 properties, but this is the jewel in the crown."

" I agree with you. It's stupendous. Now, look at all the marble in this front hall."

" Well, it's not really marble. It's faux painting just to look like marble."

" What?"

" And some plaster. "

" It's a great job. So realistic. And who's the gent in the picture here?"

" Well, this is Jay Gould. He's the third owner of the house."

" -Uh-hmm."

" And like the other two owners, he came here to escape from Wall Street, and this was their country retreat."

" He made millions and millions with railroad, etc., long before they had an income tax."

" That's right."

" How many rooms in this house?"

" There are over 40 rooms in the house."

" Clearly, we don't have time to look at all of them. Which ones would you show us?"

" Well, I'm gonna show you my favorites. On the way to the dining room, which is not to be missed, we'll pass the music room."

" And then at the end of this long hallway is probably the best Gothic Revival dining room in America."

" Wonderful."

" No place cards?"

" Your seat is at the head of the table."

" What a room. Tell us about it."

" Well, the architect did beautiful gothic detailing in the ribs of the ceiling, which looked like oak but are actually plaster painted in graining to look like oak."

" Fantastic. The trace, they're in everything. And then the proportions of the room itself are pretty spectacular. It's about a 30-foot dining roomer."

" Yeah, we got that and the architect designed all the appointments for the room including the hexagonal table and the chairs that go around it."

" All made of walnut, it would seem."

" Uh-hmm."

" Yeah, spectacular. Now, do you always have the table set like this?"

" We re-set it 3 times a year from our collections of crystal and plateware and wonderful ceramics."

" Now, tell me about this fireplace. This is pretty unusual."

" Well, the fireplace is made of contrasting marbles including onyx here in the center."

" And the back."

" And the back."

" This looks like travertine for the mantel shelf."

" And I believe [unk] for the colonnettes on each side."

" Ah, they're spectacular. And this of course is all throughout the room?"

" Well, it seems so but like in the other rooms that we've seen, the colonnettes above the fireplace are wood and marbleized again."

" Fantastic. Now, has this room been restored or is it really in its original condition?"

" It's in its original 1868 condition. The walls still have this stenciling on it and this is the original painting."

" Marvelous. Which room next?"

" well, we're gonna go up to the picture gallery and up there, you're gonna see Jay Gould's picture collections,"

" Wonderful."

" something that he collected when he bought the house."

" Sounds gothic."

" And if we continue, Bob, 3 more flights, we'll be at the top of the tower."

" Wonderful. Which way is the----"

" Down here."

" Studio?"

" Bob, this is the picture gallery."

" Wow. What an unbelievable room!"

" And in the 1830s, this was originally the library."

" What an incredible floor though."

" This goes back to 1837."

" Yeah, this is an original flooring. We're still fortunate. It's one of the few we have left in the house."

" It's a combination of walnut and maple, I think."

" That's right."

" That's so pretty. And what a bunch of pictures everywhere, huh?"

" This is Jay Gould's picture collection and he collected it when he bought the house in the 1800s, and it's typical of the period and they were stack in this form, and that's how they used to display their pictures."

" Victorian art collectors would hang them all kind of [unk] block like this."

" That's right."

" Tell me about the stained glass window. I've never seen anything like it."

" This was added also during the Gould's period about 1880s. Tiffany was a neighbor of theirs and----"

" So it's Tiffany glass?"

" It's Tiffany glass from Tiffany Studios and this is called the Angel of the Arts."

" Magnificent. I see the palette and the brushes and the triangle and the square. Yeah, it's just wonderful. What about the big picture on the far wall here?"

" This is by a French painter named Bouguereau and this is the picture of a young Italian lady with her baby and it's sort of a secular Madonna."

" It is."

" And it's very much in the taste of the 1800s and other collectors of the period who liked the European academic painters and pictures that told the story."

" Great."

" And were somewhat sympathetic."

" Yeah. Which one next?"

" Oh, we're gonna go to one of the guest rooms."

" Okay. Oh."

" Bob, this is the guest room and what we call the Duchess's Room of the house."

" I love the ceiling in here but why is the called the Duchess's Room?"

" Well, the Duchess was the youngest daughter of Jay Gould. The name is Anna and she married the Duke of Talleyrand. When she came back, she redecorated this whole wing of the house with French antiques."

" Things that she brought back. So this gothic bed would be a French gothic?"

" Most likely a French gothic piece made up of French panelling."

" Exquisite. And what about something like this rather impressive desk?"

" This is a bureau clock and beautiful French desk and has, however, American decorations on it with this desk set by Tiffany."

" Wow."

" And also a beautiful lamp by Tiffany."

" Oops, yeah gorgeous stuff."

" And also we see orchids which are very symbolic of the Gould Family. They had a wonderful collection of orchids and the greenhouse on the property."

" Really?"

" Uh-hmm."

" So they were orchid fans here?"