Product Description

GREAT HOUSES OF NEW YORK, 1880-1930 presents the stories of 43 most elegant houses built in New York. With over 300 archival photographs and floor plans and a decade of research, Michael Kathrens profiles New York houses known only for their magisterial presence on the city s most elegant boulevards, some of which still exist today. IN the book the lavish rooms are brought to life again polished black and white columns reflect in the marble floor of a grand entryway, Dutch master paintings line damask walls in the second floor reception room, a crystal chandelier softly lights a dining rooms whose boiserie glows with paintings by Boucher evoking the elegant private life that has become a trademark of the wealthy New Yorker.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122935 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-30
• Released on: 2005-04-30
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 383 pages

Review
"The American plutocrat may not have had a polish of the centuries old European aristocrat, but he did learn to live in equal splendor --Quest

"Thoroughly delightful, beautifully illustrated survey of the opulent private palaces built in Manhattan is absorbing. --Jared Paul Stern, The New York Post

Mr. Kathrens trump cards are the period photographs he has found that reveal the true splendour of both exteriors and interiors . --Appolo

From the Publisher
In 1869, when Edith Wharton's aunt Mary Mason Jones (immortalized as Mrs. Manson Mingot in "The Age of Innocence") finished her French classical house at the corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue - in a block for which her father paid $1500 forty years earlier - she was considered an adventuress for building so far uptown. By 1882, just down the avenue at 52nd Street, William K. Vanderbilt finished his limestone mansion, ushering in the era of the lavish New York Great House, modeled after the London houses of English aristocrats and their Parisian counterparts. "Great Houses of New York, 1880-1930" presents the stories of the most elegant houses built in New York. Michael Kathrens profiles New York houses known only for their magisterial presence on the city's most elegant boulevards, some of which still exist today, including the houses of Otto Kahn (Convent of the Sacred Heart), Andrew Carnegie (Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum), James B. Duke (NYU Institute of Fine Art), Morton F. Plant (Cartier), and William Starr Miller (Neue Gallery).

About the Author
Michael Kathrens has studied the history of American houses and their residents since his early teens. His unique perspective on the subject weaves a rich history of clients and architects, and the social milieu in which it all transpired. He previously wrote the first monograph on the houses of Horace Trumbauer (Acanthus Press, 2002) and is currently working on a book of the great houses of Newport, to be published by Acanthus Press in 2006.

Customer Reviews

Gilded Age New York
I have been waiting for a book like this for some time, and this one does not disappoint. It is well researched with wonderful historic black and white photos. The book is of the finest quality and the text is well put together. This is such an interesting subject and the authors are very thorough in their research, the book really feels complete. I highly recommend it to anyone with any interest in wonderful Gilded Age residental architecture or just an interest in the rich history of this great city. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed in this book and I commend the authors on doing such a fine job on a most worthy subject. Thank you.

Architectural Joy
A fascinating book, covering the now mostly demolished great homes of New York, during the extraordinary flowering of wealth and enterprise in the late C19th.
All the famous families appear together with Edith Wharton style stories of scandal and excess...
The book boasts beautiful photographs, attractively reproduced, and fascinating floor plans.
Great Houses is exceptionally well written and a joy to the eye. One for architecture enthusiasts everywhere!

superb book
Kathrens' book is simply superb and is the only one I know of that pretty much thoroughlly documents the now almost lost domestic architecture of the Gilded Age. Not only are the descriptions of the houses outstanding, but the history of families that built them and under which circumstances is also given, and to completely understand a work of architecture, be it a commercial building or house, this is necessary, though not always included but it is in this book! It's a pity that these great houses of New York are now, for the most part, gone, but at least one can get a wonderful, visual documentation from his wonderful, rare, archival photos of the houses, not just exterior, but interior as well. I reccommend this book to anyone interested in great houses or in New York. It's a book that one must have and will enjoy reading and looking through forever. Lee Govatos