Author(s): Wayne Craven

Architecture

The Gilded Age of America (1865-1918) saw the sudden rise of the country's first High Society, including such prominent families as the Astors, Whitneys and Vanderbilts. As an aristocracy based on fortunes recently acquired, these families endeavoured to live like Europe's nobility, shedding Puritan restraint as they joyously flaunted their new wealth-especially where their homes were concerned. They erected French chateaux and Italian palazzi on New York's Fifth Avenue, at Newport and elsewhere. They rejected more modest American styles just as they rejected middle-class society, and for interior decoration they turned to such artisans as Tiffany, Herter Brothers and Allard's of Paris.This immensely readable, lavishly illustrated history of the opulent art and architecture of the Gilded Age presents the fascinating story of America's first millionaire society, the way they lived and partied, and the lush artistic and cultural legacy they established.