The Charles M. Schwab Mansion, Riverside Drive, New York City, NY.

Click, HERE to read & learn about the now demolished Schwab mansions. Not as well known as the many other great homes that denominated Fifth Avenue for the Vanderbilts, Astors & other families of the Gilded Age. For numerous books about the Gilded Age Mansions & Society please click, HERE.

Playhouses and Privilege

A wonderful new book covering the cottages of the children of the Gilded Age families. Authored by, Abigail A. Van Slyck Dayton Professor Emerita of Art History and Architectural Studies Connecticut College. New London, CT. Published by the University of Minnesota Press. Color Photos: Abigail Van Slyck Examining playhouses of the super-rich to understand how architecture contributed to the construction of elite identity and modern childhood Playhouses and Privilege explores children’s playhouses built on British and American estates between the 1850s and the mid-1930s. Different from the prefabricated buildings that later populated suburban backyards, these playhouses were often fully functional cottages designed by well-known architects for British royalty, American industrialists, and Hollywood stars. As Abigail A. Van Slyck shows, these buildings were more than extravagant spaces to cultivate children’s imaginations and fantasy lives. Reviewing a rich archive that includes extant buildings, site plans, family photographs, baby books, and intimate household correspondence, Van Slyck demonstrates that these structures were tools of social reproduction shaped by elite parents’ attitudes toward child-rearing, education, and class privilege. Recognizing playhouses as stages for the purposeful performance of upper-class identity, she illuminates their importance in influencing children to internalize gendered codes of conduct as they enacted rituals of hospitality and learned how to supervise servants. From Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s Swiss Cottage, built on their Osborne estate in 1853, to the children’s cottage constructed on the grounds of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Newport mansion in 1886, and from the miniature bungalow commissioned in 1926 for the Dodge Brothers Motor Company heiress to the corporate-sponsored glass-block playhouse given to Shirley Temple in 1936, Van Slyck surveys a variety of playhouses and their milieus to trace the evolution of elite childhood and the broader social practices of wealth. Playhouses and Privilege makes clear that, far from being frivolous, playhouses were carefully planned architectural manifestations of adult concerns, integral to the reproduction of class privilege. Available at Amazon HERE. Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases".

Aerial Photos of Gilded Age Estates

Aerial View of the John S. Phipps estate, "Old Westbury Gardens". Follow the link HERE for many more originally created by Aiglon Photographs from the Olmsted Archives. 

Gilded Age Maps & Atlases

Old maps & atlases are very important to research a Gilded Age Estate & Mansion. I will be adding more for many areas that were popular Gilded Age locations. Please look for them below and click on the years for the various locations. NOTE: It takes patience to navigate all the pages and time to look for the area you may want, but always go to the index page to find the map number you want to see.

New York, Long Island's Gold Coast

1914 Please wait for the correct map to load.

New York, NYC

NYPL Old New York City

New York, Westchester County

1910 Volume 1

1911 Volume 2

Rhode Island, Newport

1921 You will need to scroll through the pages with the arrows or bar. Also for best resolution and to zoom in please use the Mirador Viewer listed under views.

Mansions of the Gilded Age 35mm Slide Digitation Project

Remember 35mm Slides & Projectors? I have 100’s of Gilded Age mansion slides from almost 50 yrs ago. I am making it a project to get them scanned & have created a Go Fund Me for those that would like to assist with associated costs. Please visit the link HERE.

Pembroke, The Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar Estate, Glen Cove, Long Island, New York PART 2

We will now explore one of the most fantastical winter gardens ever built for a private estate on Long Island at Pembroke. Make sure to also see PT 1 for the beginning of the Pembroke story.  More is being added to PT 2 

For Reference here below is the full floor plan of the Pembroke mansion & attached winter garden.

Entering the winter garden at Pembroke one would be overwhelmed with all the abundance & flora money could buy. Looking more like a public botanical garden, the winter garden was one man’s private paradise. 

In the previous posts I mentioned the long corridor from the Pembroke mansion into the winter garden. Here is a view looking up the long flight of stairs that one descended from the house.

The winter garden at Pembroke was a magical place filled with all sorts of rooms & special corners. Here in an area called the grotto Mr. De Lamar had a beloved sculpture placed with a mirror behind it so as not to miss any of its sculptural details.

Photo below of Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar in his winter garden at Pembroke. 

The Winter Garden at Pembroke had many wings and sections. In the center was this space devoted to a mosaic lined pool. The pool also had a gazebo structure accessed by a iron bridge & glass roof with vines cascading down from a second floor balcony. Then the pool was surrounded by lamp posts and probably colored lighting to create the drama of an exotic painting such as Alphonse Mucha or Maxfield Parrish.

When Pembroke was built it was hailed as one of the most splendid & spectacular estates of the era. From the front gates, artwork, Tiffany glass, Aeolian Organs and the incredible winter garden, many architectural journals/society magazines & newspapers covered Pembroke. This close up view of the pool & gazebo was proudly featured for its mosaic work.

At the northern end of the winter garden at Pembroke there was a basement floor devoted to other activities. A movie theater & tennis/squash courts & other spaces to keep guests entertained. Notice in the view the height and even larger footprint from the winter garden above.

Pembroke, The Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar Estate, Glen Cove, Long Island, New York PART 1

Pembroke, The Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar Estate, Glen Cove, Long Island, NY. One of Long Island's Illustrious Gold Coast Estates & Mansions.

The story of Pembroke starts at the magnificent entrance gates. The Pembroke estate was one of the jewels on Long Island's Gold Coast & when later owned by the Loew's movie theater founder Marcus Loew, the scene of dazzling parties that made the 1920's roar. Broadway & Silent films Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Ziegfeld chorus girls & old money society mixed creating a cocktail party that F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalized in his great American novel, "The Great Gatsby".

The mansion at Pembroke. Designed circa 1916 by architect C.P.H. Gilbert for Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar it was the fantastical dream of a poor boy who made a massive fortune. The towering French Neoclassical edifice also included a pastiche of other styles & elements, typical of many American mansions of the Gilded Age. 

Many estates of the Gilded Age always liked to give an illusion that you were traveling a greater distance than needed to approach the mansion. At Pembroke a long winding drive from the entrance gates lined with manicured shrubbery, huge potted trees & colorful hydrangeas gave a hint of the magnificent splendor to be revealed.

The Pembroke estate was an exotic paradise with numerous buildings scattered around the property. When one looked east from the main house pass a colorful fragrant  gardens a path led to a pavilion. The pavilion with curved trellises appendances overlooked a fountain with statuary spouting glistening sprays of water. In the center a red tiled roof tea house provided a tranquil retreat.

Sitting in the tea house as mentioned in the previous thread, this would have been the view looking back at the mansion through the colorful garden. The following passage from the novel, “The Great Gatsby” could have be inspired by this garden at Pembroke. “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars."
-The Great Gatsby

Pembroke was entered through a columned entrance. Notice that main facade of the stone mansion is three stories high, but then topped with a roof pergola structure so that guests could enjoy views of the water and catch cooling breezes. Many times these rooftop pavilions frustrated the architects that felt they ruined the purity of their designs, but the wishes of the clients prevailed. 

Passing through bronze doors, to the grand hall is the first hint of the sumptuous interiors within the great mansion. Velvet portieres with gold embroidered motifs, a wrap around marble staircase with a pipe organ on the mezzanine level in front of a Tiffany glass window and latticework covering the organ pipes. Potted palms, a gilded chandelier & antique hand made rugs all contributed to the awe of entering a rich man’s home. 

As we continue the tour of Pembroke, this first floor plan will be helpful. In the previous two posts we looked at the front entrance & main hall which the red arrow here highlights. 

View of the main hall looking back towards to the front door. The front door led to a small vestibule then passing under the portieres the grand staircase wound its way up to the second floor. Personally for such a grand house I might expect a more impressive space.

Directly in front of the entrance hall was the Living Room. The floor plan two posts back shows it to be a very large space. Classical in design, but furnished eclectically. Other rooms are off of it as also seen on the plan. What makes this room so special is the wall out of view would have been windows & doors that led to a terrace where one could sit and enjoy the view of the estate & the Long Island Sound. 

Another view of the Living Room at Pembroke. The opening to the left catches a glimpse of the Dining Room. The Living Room was the largest room in the mansion and decorated with an assortment of furniture styles & art. 

The Dining Room at Pembroke was decorated in the Chippendale style. You can see the Living Room beyond the draped doorway. 

While there are more interiors of the Pembroke mansion scattered about & I hope to put more together at a future date, let’s go out through the doors of the Living Room seen in recent previous posts. Country houses located on bodies of water provided cool spots for hot summer months before central A/C. This is one of the many cool porches at Pembroke to relax and enjoy the view of the Long Island Sound. 

In the previous photo of the west side at Pembroke I mentioned the view of the estate & how the mansion overlooked the Long Island Sound as this view clearly shows. In the distance is the edge of the winter garden which will be explored next.

Not a view of the Pembroke mansion under demolition which it would face 50 years later than this early construction view of the house. Some say it reminds them of another famous Gilded Age mansion that many visit. What mansion is that?

Pembroke completed. Please see previous post for construction view from similar angle & other previous posts going back to the entry gates for the complete story up to here.

Soon after the mansion was completed Mr. De Lamar desired a winter garden/ conservatory to hold his collection of exotic plants and to create a tropical paradise. The low wing to the left here is the beginning of a long corridor. Please see previous posts for more.

It is hard to believe the addition of the winter garden to the mansion with the connecting corridor was almost 3 times the length of the house. Mr. De Lamar had money to burn and enjoyed making his architectural dreams come true.

This larger aerial of the Pembroke estate shows the water tower and stables/garage complex at the upper right. It was in this area that his colorful gardens, fountains and tea house were situated.

This is the east side of the connecting corridor to the winter garden at Pembroke. The Winter garden will be next and posted separately. Click HERE for Part 2

Newport Villas: The Revival Styles 1885-1915 by Michael Kathrens

One of the best newer books about the splendid mansions of Newport, Rhode Island.  The book also has a chapter on Seaview Terrace, aka Collinwood. Buy at Amazon "As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases",  More  Gilded Age related books, HERE  

Houses of Los Angeles: Volume II by Sam Waters

 A two volume look at the great mansions of LA, some gone, some still existing. Volume II has a good chapter on the Greystone mansion at Beverly Hills.  Buy at Amazon "As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases",  More  Gilded Age related books, HERE  NOTE: The link is only for Volume II, but there is link below that if you are interested in Volume I also. 
 

Ghosts of Greystone Beverly Hills by Clete Keith

 

A in-depth look at the tragic events that took place at Greystone, shortly after it was built and the ghostly  sightings & odd occurrences that linger on.   Buy at Amazon "As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases",  More  Gilded Age related books, HERE