Click HERE to read a great article from the July 22, 1946 issue of Life magazine. See cover of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney and then go to page 73 for story.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Mrs. Drexel Dahlgren Residence Champ Soleil, Newport, RI
Champ Soleil, located on Bellevue Avenue, Newport's most fashionable street was built in 1929 for Lucy Drexel Dahlgren and is one of the last great houses to be erected towards the end of Newport's golden age. Lucy Drexel Dahlgren was the granddaughter of Joseph W. Drexel, of Drexel & Company, Philadelphia. The 1929 home was designed by the prominent architectural firm of Polhemus & Coffin and was inspired by the hunting lodge at Versailles called La Lanterne.
The second owner was Roberta & Robert Goelet, who had the house enlarged and decorated by the famed french decorating firm Maison Jansen. The estate was later owned by Russell B. Aitken and his wife Annie Laurie Aitken. Mrs. Aitken was the mother of Martha "Sunny" Von Bulow , who had a home down the avenue named Clarendon Court. Clarendon Court unfortunately received much attention during the 1980s when Sunny fell into a coma at the house, which lead to a sensational court case evolving around her husband, Claus Von Bulow.
Click HERE and go to page 145 to read and see more photographs of the house during the Goelet ownership in "Jansen", by James Archer Abbott, Acanthus Press 2006
Links to more on Champ Soleil
Things That Inspire
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Gilded Age Society
Here are a few of my favorite books about high society. The mansions of the gilded age weren't just built to be lived in, but to be used as vehicles for social impression and standing. When Alva Vanderbilt wanted to break into the 400 of New York Society, she constructed her chateau at 660 Fifth Avenue. All of society was abuzz about it and legend has it, that Caroline Astor's daughter Carrie was practicing a dance to be preformed at the housewarming party when Alva Vanderbilt, informed her that she wouldn't be able to attend, since her mother, The Mrs. Astor had never called upon Mrs. Vanderbilt. Carrie supposedly went home and cried to her mother that she couldn't miss the event of the season. Mrs.Astor, who still felt the Vanderbilt's were nouveau riche, decided that maybe the time had come for the Vanderbilts to enter the "400". Story has it that she got in her carriage and drove up Fifth Avenue and left her calling card for Mrs. Vanderbilt. One hour after , the last of the invitations to Alva's ball arrived at Mrs. Astors townhouse.This and many other of the great stories of the Gilded Age are told in these wonderful books.
Click HERE to read the chapter on 66o Fifth Avenue from Great houses of New York 
Click HERE to read online. 
Society As I Have Found It
Click HERE to read online.Peacocks On Parade
Click HERE to read on Google books.
Who Killed Society?
Links to more Harry & Elizabeth Lehr
Harry Lehr
Elizabeth Lehr
Portrait of Lady Decies by Giovanni Boldini & Biography
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Behind The Hedgerow
Caumsett at Lloyd Neck, NY Estate of Marshall Field III
The Marshall Fields: The Evolution of an American Business Dynasty
The Marshall Field III estate at Lloyd Harbor New York was built in 1922 by the heir of the great Chicago Department store, Marshall Fields. Situated on 1,700 acres along the Long Island Sound, the house, modeled on the great Georgian houses of England was designed by John Russell Pope along with many of the outbuildings. The entire estate today is now owned by New York State and is preserved as a parkland to be enjoyed by the public. Below are some aerial views of the estate taken during its heyday.
Please click the following links for more on Caumsett and the Marshall Fields
Caumsett Foundation
Caumsett on Wikipedia
Historic American Building Survey
Marshall Field III on Wikipedia
New York State Parks
Old Long Island
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