The Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural Aspirations, 1879-1901

From the Introduction by Louis Achincloss: "The role the Vanderbilts played in the social life of New York City and of all the rural resorts and watering places to which the wealthy of that metropolis regularly retreated was at least comparable to that of the Medici in Florence. As patrons of the arts, the Vanderbilts certainly had their lapses, but what family, including their Tuscan counterpart, would not, in amassing so gargantuan a pile? Edith Wharton, their severest critic, wrote that they were entrenched 'in a sort of Thermopylae of bad taste, from which apparently no force on earth can dislodge them', but today art critics are becoming more aware of how many fine things were included in the Vanderbilt treasures. Perhaps their greatest fault in taste lay in their seeming inability to dispense with any of their artifacts, even in their largest houses. Beauty can be lost even in a clutter of beauty. The whole is not necessarily greater than its parts." Includes a geneological chart and many black and white photos and illustrations throughout. A fascinating look at the Vanderbilts of the Gilded Age.