Great Homes of the Gilded Age

Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, Breakers Mansion is a Renaissance Revival home in Newport, Rhode Island.
Photo by Ben Newton
The Gilded Age. The name, popularized by American author Mark Twain, conjures images of gold and jewels, lavish palaces, and wealth beyond imagination. And indeed, during the period we know as the Gilded Age (the late 1800s to the 1920s)

American business leaders amassed huge fortunes, becoming a suddenly-rich baron class with a fondness for ostentatious displays of their newfound wealth. Millionaires built palatial and often gaudy homes in New York City. Before long, even refined families like the Astors, who had been wealthy for generations, joined in the whirlwind of architectural excesses.