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St. Andrews Beacon, Sept. 18, 1902Old Tipperary and New Tipperary
Old Fort Tipperary, around which so many fond and stirring memories cluster, is gone and a new and more imposing Tipperary has sprung up in its stead. The new Tipperary is to be the summer home of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Four months ago the ground within the old ramparts was broken for the new building. Now it is completed in every detail.
By degrees, as the new work expanded, it became necessary to remove the old buildings which stood upon the site. First, the barrack building proper, with its immense pine timbers, port-holed for resisting invaders, was razed. then the officers' quarters were swept out of existence; afterwards the guard-house and sergeant-cottage. The last of the old buildings—which has been used as an ice-house by the Algonquin hotel—was torn down on Saturday.
In the architectural design of the new building medievalism and modernism have booth been drawn upon, but the first consideration has been comfort. As one visitor expressed it, "it is a common sense house." Its broad, covered verandahs, encircling almost the entire building, suggest comfort at first glance. This suggestion becomes a fixed reality when the interior arrangements are examined. The visitor enters upon the verandah from beneath an ample porte-cochere on the western side. Three or four steps, 17 feet in length, lead to the verandah. Entering the oaken doorway, one finds himself in a large living room, the entire size of the front of the house, its width being 18 feet. At the upper end of this room is a large stone fireplace, with high-backed seats built into the wall on either side. This is the ingle-nook and a comfortable nook it ought to prove.
Next the living room on the lower side of the central hallway is the library, with circular seats at the windows. On the south-east corner is the guest chamber, a comfortable room, with a doorway opening on to the verandah. Attached to this room is a well arranged bathroom, with mirrored door. A large clothes press is also in connection. In the rear of the house, with doors opening on to the verandah, it's the dining room, a magnificent apartment, with side board at one end. the verandah at this point is semi-circular in form, extending out 20 feet, so that it may be used for dining purposes or evening parties during warm weather. Being in the rear, the fullest privacy is ensured.
Alongside the diningroom, with an air space between, is the kitchen, fitted up with a large prowse range, and supplied with shelves and cupboard, and other necessaries. The pantry adjoins this. It is also furnished with shelves and closets. On this floor, beneath the stairway, there is a cloakroom and nearby is a conveniently arranged lavatory. The floors on the first flat are all polished hardwood. The walls are plaster, in white, and the sideboards and closets are also painted in white. an easy stairway, with birchen balustrade leads to the second floor, which contains the sleeping apartments. There are seven bedrooms, all with beautiful outlooks, for the family, and four comfortable sleeping rooms for the servants. there are three bathrooms on this floor, one of which will be used by the servants. The mirrored doors of these rooms are a distinctive feature of the house appointments. the basement contains laundry appliances, refrigerator store-house, fuel room and water closet. it can be entered from the first floor or from the outside.
The servants' entrance is on the northern side of the house. there is also a soft water tank on the same side. the outer walls of the building, also the pillars of the verandah, are shingled in rough shingles.
At the upper end of the verandah the shingles used are the old ones taken from the fort buildings. They are supposed to be 80 or more years old, yet they are in a splendid state of preservation. They are 22 inches long. One peculiarity about them is that where the chalk line struck them a ridge had been produced, showing that whatever was used for marking (some suggest that burnt alder was employed) it had served as a complete preservative against the weather.
The exterior of the house is painted in green on the first floor and a dark shade of yellow above. The house will be lighted by acetylene gas, the generator occupying a small building apart from the main house.
The grounds have been so arranged as to preserve the formation of the old ramparts. In the front of the house with nozzle pointed towards Uncle Sam's territory, one of the old fort guns has been placed. A tennis court is being laid out on the southern side.
The architects of Tipperary were Messrs. Hutchinson and Wood, of Montreal. Mr. John P. O'Leary was the contractor. that he has done his work well is generally conceded. Mr. Harry J. Pratt, of Saint John, was foreman for Mr. O'Leary. The plumbing was the work of Mr. W. H. Donovan, SS, and it is very creditable to him. In the construction of the building and in the carrying out of the landscape effects, Mr. O'Leary has employed local men as far as possible. he has also had a number of men from Saint John and Montreal.