Great Houses of New York, 1880-1930 (Urban Domestic Architecture) - Hardcover

Michael C. Kathrens

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0926494341 ISBN 13: 9780926494343

Publisher: Acanthus Press, 2015

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Acanthus Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0926494341
• ISBN 13: 9780926494343
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 336