Castles of America: tours of opulent mansions reveal how the upper crust turned fantasies into reality

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2002 by Randy Mink

Crowning a wooded hilltop above the Hudson River in Tarrytown is one of the valley's most imposing homes--Lyndhurst, the Gothic Revival mansion of railroad magnate Jay Gould. Located 20 miles north of New York City, Lyndhurst was an escape hatch for the "robber baron" financier (1836-1892) who acquired control of Western Union Telegraph, Union Pacific Railroad, the New York World newspaper, and New York's elevated trains.

Away from the pressure cooker of his empire, Gould, once called "the most hated man in America," could spend quiet time with his wife and six children, and raise orchids, palm trees, and other exotic plants in his greenhouse. Gould's art collection is housed in a gallery with a timber-vaulted ceiling and a massive window of Tiffany stained glass.

High above the Hudson in Pocantico Hills, Kykuit is the six-story stone house built in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company, and his son, John D. Jr. The estate has terraced gardens, fountains, and Governor Nelson D. Rockefeller's extra-ordinary collection of 20th century sculpture, including works by Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, and Pablo Picasso. The Coach Barn houses vintage cars and carriages.

Also in this area on the east bank of the Hudson, called Sleepy Hollow Country, is Sunnyside, the 1835 home of Washington Irving, author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Nearby living history museums are Philipsburg Manor in North Tarrytown and Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson. To totally immerse yourself in the splendor of Sleepy Hollow Country, reserve a room at The Castle at Tarrytown, a luxury inn. The stone chateau dates from the early 1900s.

Newport was the undisputed capital of Gilded Age society, a summer playground complete with costume balls, garden parties, and yachting events. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby would have felt right at home in these mansions. In fact, the 1974 movie The Great Gatsby was filmed at Rosecliff, built in 1902 for Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs, whose Irish immigrant father discovered the Comstock Lode in Nevada.

It's hard to believe these well-feathered Newport nests--referred to as "summer cottages"--were lived in for only four to 12 weeks out of the year. The Breakers, built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, is the most opulent of Newport's high-class hangouts.

Resembling the 16th century Renaissance palaces of northern Italy, the 70room Breakers, perched above the blue Atlantic, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the same architect who conceived Biltmore for younger brother George Vanderbilt in North Carolina. Its magnificent dining room, rising two full stories, is embellished with crystal chandeliers and sconces, gold cornices, and rose alabaster pillars topped with gilded bronze Corinthian capitals.

Another jewel in Newport's crown of cottages is Marble House, the cool marble temple of William K. Vanderbilt, brother of Cornelius and George. Artisans, mostly from France and Italy, worked for four years on the home that Hunt modeled after the Petit Trianon palace at Versailles. In its use of gold leaf, bronze, and marble, the interior, according to one architecture critic, "erupts with unrestrained hedonism." The ballroom, or Gold Room, shimmers with mirrors and carved gilt walls.