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When Garson had made an end of the telegraphing, there came a brief answer in like Morse, to which he returned a short direction. For a final safeguard, Garson searched for and found the telephone bell-box on the surbase below the octagonal window. It was the work of only a few seconds to unscrew the bells, which he placed on the desk.
At the foot of the flight, on the landing and at the head of the stairs, the ramped surbase with its dark wood cap, corresponding to the handrail opposite, is supported by slender fluted pilasters which materially enrich the effect. The space under the lower run of the staircase is entirely paneled up with a small diagonal topped door opening into the little closet thus afforded.
A molded surbase and skirting, with a broad expanse of plastered wall between, provides an effective dado all around the hall. Where it follows up the stairs, it corresponds to the handrail of the balustrade opposite. The molding is the same; there is the same upward sweep of the ramped rail, and it is also capped with dark wood.
Severely plain square newels support an exceptionally broad and heavy handrail capped with dark wood, while attractive turned balusters of distinctive pattern complete a balustrade of more than ordinarily substantial character. A nicely paneled dado with dark-capped surbase along the opposite wall greatly enriches the effect.
The accompanying photograph shows well the dado effect secured by a surbase and skirting, and one notes with interest the cornice with its prominent modillions and the heavy plinth blocks on which the architrave casings of the doors stand.
On the landing dainty little fluted pilasters support the surbase, their fine scale lending much grace and refinement. One notices there also the beautiful beveled paneling of the window embrasures, the paneled soffit of the Palladian window and its built-in seat. The balustrade is of sturdy conventional type characteristic of the period.
In a room so treated the dado becomes virtually a continuous pedestal with a base or skirting and a surbase above the die or plane face of the pedestal. Usually this surbase is molded to resemble the upper fascia or the complete architrave of the various orders.
About this time, however, hand-blocked wall paper began to be brought to America, and a favorite treatment of Colonial interiors, including halls, parlors, dining rooms and even the principal bedrooms of large houses, combined a cornice, or often a cornice and frieze, and sometimes a complete entablature, with a paneled wainscot or a flat dado with surbase and skirting, the wall between being papered.
Unlike the plain dado of the main hall, however, elaborated only by a molded surbase and skirting, a handsome paneled wainscot runs around the staircase hall and up the stairs. The spacing and workmanship displayed in this heavily beveled and molded paneling could hardly be better.
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