GildedAge

The Classicist: Mrs. Astor's Beechwood

Beechwood, the Mrs. Astor's 39-room Italianate mansion in Newport, Rhode Island and one of the last great relics of the Gilded Age, is now being offered for sale for $14.9 million. The 19,000-sq.-ft., 15-bedroom house on Newport's famous Bellevue Avenue, was listed at $16 million last year (as my colleague Deidre Woollard reported) and has since served as a "living history museum" showing what life was like for the Gilded Age idle rich before they were forced to sell off their mansions.

The museum is a bit cheesy, with events like "An Evening With the Astors", but Beechwood does have a very rich history. In fact, with the $1.1 million discount it might even be something of a bargain. Cole Porter was said to have written Night and Day, one of his most famous songs, while visiting Beechwood, and the house also made an appearance in the 1956 Bing Crosby / Frank Sinatra / Grace Kelly movie High Society. Originally constructed in 1851 by Calvert Vaux - co-designer of Central Park - and Andrew Jackson Downing for drygoods magnate Daniel Parish, it was on the market when well-bred debutante Caroline Schermerhorn married billionaire merchant William Backhouse Astor Jr., giving the Astors some much needed social cachet.

Gallery: Mrs. Astor's Beechwood

Mr. Astor owned the Ambassadress, the largest private yacht in the world at the time, and a beautiful Hudson River mansion called Ferncliff. "The Mrs. Astor" as she soon insisted upon being referred to, intended to entertain in grand style with her husband's money and needed a Newport mansion in which to do it during the summer season, which lasted for eight precious weeks. The Astors bought the place in 1881 and spent $2 million on improvements, including the addition of a mirrored waterfront ballroom by architect Richard Morris Hunt (who designed the Fifth Avenue facade of Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art) complete with bas reliefs depicting Poseidon and Aphrodite.

Mrs. Astor soon became the reigning queen of New York society, and her Summer Ball at Beechwood was the highlight of the season. She and social arbiter Ward McAllister then founded the famous "Four Hundred", referring to the strictly limited number of socially acceptable families (i.e. not nouveau riche) in New York - which some people are still trying to get into. Her son, John Jacob Astor IV, who inherited Beechwood, later went down on the Titanic, the ship's wealthiest passenger.

Tags: Astor family, AstorFamily, Beechwood, Calvert Vaux, CalvertVaux, Gilded Age, GildedAge, Historic houses, HistoricHouses, Mrs. Astor, Mrs.Astor, New York society, Newport, NewYorkSociety, Rhode Island, RhodeIsland, Richard Morris Hunt, RichardMorrisHunt, William Backhouse Astor Jr., WilliamBackhouseAstorJr.

The Uihlein Mansion, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's estate comes to us with a great tip from a reader. This home in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. The home is the Uihlein mansion, a limestone Italian Renaissance home that dates back to the early 1900s and the beer barons behind Schlitz Brewing. The nine-bedroom home is currently owned by entrepreneur and philanthropist Kailas Rao and his wife, Becky. The couple have restored the home. The home is listed in the state and national registers of historic places.

The home is a real Gilded Age beauty. Each room is meant to resemble an international landmark, the drawing room for example is patterned after Versailles with gold leaf moldings and silk damask draperies. There is an elaborate living room, gourmet kitchen and a truly cinematic home theater. The home is listed at $11.9 million. After the jump, the house that beer built.

Related: Check out another beer palace: The Pabst Mansion.

[Thanks, Don!]

Source

Tags: estate of the day, gilded age, GildedAge, luxury real estate, schlitz, Uihlein, wisconsin, wisconsin real estate, WisconsinRealEstate

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