Product Description

AMERICA'S CASTLES takes a grand tour of the nation's most extraordinary homes. Lavish, sprawling, and sometimes whimsical, these one-of-a-kind landmarks astonish with their architectural inventiveness and exuberant decorative splendor. Built between the turn of the 20th century right up to present, these remarkable estates and mansions stand as the crown jewels of America's most rich and famous.

From the Rockefeller's spectacular country estate in the Hudson Valley to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, AMERICA'S CASTLES opens the doors to dozens of exclusive addresses. Guided by curators and directors, cameras glide over stunning interiors brimming with artistic masterpieces and hand-made furnishings of rare woods and marbles, while a fascinating blend of cultural and biographical details tells the full story behind these grand estates.

Available on DVD for the first time, AMERICA'S CASTLES features the following programs:

Grand Plantations
Florida's Grand Estates
Hudson River Valley Estates
Newport Mansions
Adirondack Camps
Gold Coast Estates

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27957 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2005-06-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 280 minutes

Customer Reviews

SURPRISINGLY ELEGANT AND WEIRDLY DECADENT



If you're involved in a re-fi to remodel or re-decorate, you owe it to yourself to get a bigger perspective of just what a fine home can be. AMERICA'S CASTLES THE GRAND TOUR (A&E/NewVideo) is a glorious look at a handful of the most extraordinary American homes; grand estates that reflect the life and times of the original owners.

This two disc set features dozens of unique landmarks that will astonish you with their exuberantly inventive splendor. Experience Rockefeller's fabled estate in the Hudson Valley, the breezy elegance of the Newport mansions, the wooded seclusion of the grand Adirondack "camps," Donald Trumps Mar-A-lago in Palm Beach and many more including the fabled Vanderbilt estate.

America's Castles is an open door invitation to the exclusive and spectacular addresses that not only reveal the exteriors and interiors but remarkable lives of the denizens who dwell, and dwelled within.

I was dazzled at the opulance and the indulgent decadence. This is a great documentary on the far end of material success America offers to the lucky and the blessed. And the criminality of the lords of industry.

Excellent series to motivate one towards wealth
This entire series is superb, from the dazzling videography to the great v/o work and historical bios. I started with this single 2-volume DVD set and was instantly captivated, buying almost all the other DVDs in the series.

If you're in sales, copywriting, marketing, an entrepreneur of any kind, this series provides great motivation for becoming successful. Learning the case studies of the successful industrial barons and business leaders, by seeing their private castles and mansions, is a priceless expeerience. Highly recommended for all business people.

In nlp-talk, we'd call these anchors, I'd call them "wealth motivating anchors", visual cues to help one continue one's path towards achieving success. Plus, they're terrific for home decorating tips too, if you're trying to figure out how to do marble baths etc. Any way you slice it, this is a wonderful series, and I wish I'd found out about it years ago.

Superb workmanship on this entire series - bravo!


Ken Calhoun

Wonderful Places in America
Our daughter and I have visited many of these houses and plan to visit more on future trips. The photography in the series is excellent as are the choices of what to show in the houses and on the grounds. This DVD adds to our photos and diary accounts of the places we have seen.