Vintage photos show Gilded Age mansions on 'Millionaires' Row' that have since been demolished

Business Insider

2 days ago

During the Gilded Age, wealthy families built extravagant mansions in New York City.
Fifth Avenue was known as "Millionaires' Row" with homes belonging to the Astors and Vanderbilts.
Most Gilded Age mansions in New York City were torn down to make way for new developments.
Business tycoons in the Gilded Age lived in style, but it came at a cost.
New York City's Fifth Avenue was once home to "Millionaires' Row," where the wealthiest magnates of the Gilded Age built palatial homes as symbols of their success.
At the same time, the Gilded Age was a period marked by staggering income inequality. A 2021 article in The Journal of Economic Inequality found that in 1913, the richest 0.01% of Americans held 9% of the country's wealth. The article also estimated that the modern imbalance is even higher than the Gilded Age, with 10% of US wealth controlled by the top 0.01%.
As the lopsided extravagance of the Gilded Age began to give way to the social and political reforms of the Progressive Era, the gargantuan mansions began to fall out of fashion. Not to mention, the cost of employing enough staff to manage them made the homes difficult to maintain.
Most of the Gilded Age mansions in New York City were demolished to make way for commercial or apartment buildings, but many still stand in Newport, Rhode Island, where families like the Vanderbilts and the Astors spent their summers in similar luxury.
Take a look at just some of the houses that once lined "Millionaires' Row."
William H. Vanderbilt's Gilded Age residence on Fifth Avenue in New York City was known as the Triple Palace.
William H. Vanderbilt was heir to Cornelius Vanderbilt 's railroad and steamship fortune as his oldest son.
Built in 1882, the Triple Palace housed the Vanderbilts and two of their daughters in separate but connected sections.
Located at 640 and 642 Fifth Avenue, the Triple Palace was torn down by 1949 and replaced with office buildings.
Designed by architects John B. Snook and Charles B. Atwood, the Triple Palace featured stained-glass windows, a shared courtyard, and an art gallery spanning three stories with 207 paintings sourced from Europe, Untapped New York reported.
William H. Vanderbilt's son, William K. Vanderbilt, built a mansion nearby at 660 Fifth Avenue.
William K. Vanderbilt and his wife, Alva Vanderbilt, enlisted architect Richard Morris Hunt to build them a French chateau-inspired home out of white limestone in order to cement their place in high society. They spent $3 million to construct the mansion in 1882, which would cost around $98 million today, Vogue reported.
Since the Vanderbilts' fortune consisted of "new money," their "Petit Chateau" was considered tasteless by elite "old money" families like the Astors.
The 60-room, three-story mansion was demolished in 1926.
William K. Vanderbilt's brother, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, built a French chateau-style mansion so large it took up an entire New York City block.
Located on Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets, architect George B. Post designed the original mansion in 1883, and Richard Morris Hunt designed an expansion in 1893.
At the time, it was thought to be the largest single-family home in New York City, Untapped New York reported.
In 1928, it was replaced with a Bergdorf-Goodman department store.
Braisted Realty Corporation purchased the Vanderbilt home in 1926, and it was demolished soon after. Bergdorf-Goodman's flagship store, which is still open today, was erected on the site in 1928.
The mansion's gilded Louis XVI-style parlor didn't last, but other parts of the Vanderbilts' mansion remain in New York City.
Its grand wrought-iron gates were installed outside Central Park's Conservatory Garden. Sculptural reliefs from its covered entrance now decorate the lobby of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel. The marble and mosaic mantlepiece from the entrance hall is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Copper magnate William S. Clark built a 121-room mansion so excessive that it earned the nickname "Clark's Folly" before it was torn down in 1927.
The mansion took 14 years to build and included four art galleries, a swimming pool, and its own private rail line to transport the coal needed to heat the enormous home, according to the Museum of the City of New York. It cost around $6 million to build when it was finished in 1911, or around $203 million today.
It was demolished in 1927 and replaced by a luxury co-op building.
Richard Morris Hunt designed a double mansion for the Astor family at 840 and 841 Fifth Avenue in 1896.
After her husband, William B. Astor, died, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor lived in one section of the mansion, and her son, John Jacob Astor IV, lived in the other.
Caroline Schermerhorn Astor was known for curating "the Four Hundred," a list of high-society families who came from "old money" and shunned those with newer fortunes. She hosted many high-profile events in her Fifth Avenue mansion, where the ballroom could hold 1,200 people, DuJour reported.
John Jacob Astor IV,
The mansion was demolished in 1926.
In 1926, the American Art Association auctioned off the contents of the Astor mansion before its demolition, including its paintings, furniture, and architectural elements like decorative ceilings.
The Temple Emanu-El synagogue now stands in its place on Fifth Avenue.
Brokaw House at 1 East 79th Street belonged to Isaac Vail Brokaw, who made his millions as a clothing manufacturer.
It took three years to build Brokaw House, which was completed in 1890 by the architectural firm Rose and Stone, according to the New York Preservation Archive Project.
Modeled after a French chateau, the four-story mansion featured an Italian marble entrance hall, stained-glass windows, ornate wood carvings, and a full staff.
After Brokaw's death, the mansion was used as office space before it was torn down in 1965.
Completed in 1905, steel magnate Charles M. Schwab's house measured 50,000 square feet.
Schwab opted to build his mansion further west, on Riverside Drive, where it covered an entire city block between 73rd and 74th Streets. The mansion included a pool and bowling alley, The New York Times reported.
In 1936, Schwab offered to sell the home to the city of New York to serve as its mayoral residence, but the city declined.