American Country Houses of the Gilded Age (Sheldon's "Artistic Country-Seats")

The stories are nice, the floor plans (what there are of them) are great. What lacks are the floor plans for the upper floors. When one is looking for how people live, how private rooms are situated, look elsewhere.

The author of this book refers to country homes of the Gilded Age as "Country Seats" (or "country cottages"). By the author's definition, these were homes of, "grandiose size and scale with imposing facades complemented by manicured gardens and with large and impressive reception rooms, halls, parlors, dining rooms, and other public spaces."

George Sheldon published a book around 1887 documenting this surge in architectural creativity (expressed via country seats) and called his book :"ARTISTIC COUNTRY SEATS".

Therefore, this book in review, called, AMERICAN COUNTRY HOUSES OF THE GILDEN AGE, (by Arnold Lewis) was written to show the homes photographed in the Sheldon book, and to update the information provided by Sheldon, so that we can better understand what the Architects and structures' owners were trying to express.

For a long time, I have been interested in seeing what the opulent homes of the Gilded Age must have looked like, especialy those that were avaialable before they were all torn down or destroyed by vandals, fire, etc.

Since I was not too familiar with "country seats" I wanted to find a good book on this specific topic. Well, by buying this book by Arnold Lewis I think I was able to get a better feel for these "country seats" of the wealthy (aka: "country cottages" of the rich).


The "country cottages" owned by the wealthy class shown in this Lewis book, are mostly from 1880 to around 1889. Also included in this book are a few selected Casinos from the same period. Reason for the Casinos being included in the Lewis book is probably because the same famous Architects that designed some of the opulent private cottages also designed Casinos located in vacations spots visited by the wealthy class. In addition, some of the Casinos bear a striking resemblance to the styles of the country seats shown in this Lewis book.

Anyhow, when reading this book, I would advise that the reader reads the INTRODUCTION throughly because it explains the role that Sheldon had, in describing each structure. In other words, before jumping right in (as many of us often do) and looking at all the photos, I would recommend reading the entire INTRODUCTION, because it puts the photos in complete perspective.

For instance: The author of this book has researched the Sheldon photos (and reviews) and then re-vamped the descriptions so that they are more understandable to a reader from our Era.

The photos are large and the reader can see all the details so clearly. In fact, it's amazing that photos taken in the 1880's can be so clear!

The black and white photos, have an almost sepia tone to them, making them even more enjoyable to admire. Each structure's photo has a clear explanation of the Architect of the structure, and also a brief description of the date of production and a background of the actual owners, and also, when the structure was finalized.

The photos include a reproduction (in black and white) of the "blueprint" of the first floor of each structure.

As other commentators have pointed out, the book does not show "blueprints" of the second or third floors, however, the author does attempt to describe the upper floors within the photos' description.

Each Architectural style is described in detail in the INTRODUCTION. However, if you are a novice as to specific Architectural styles of the past, then I would recommend becoming briefly acquainted with Architectural styles (and the elementary Architectural vocabulary) before attempting to fully understand the structures` actual styles. For example, to a novice, a structure that looks like a "snow white castle" may be misunderstood, unless the reader has a brief knowledge & understanding of why the early Victorian and/or Queen Anne homes were designed with so many gables and filligrees and turrets.

I should also mention that this book's INTRODUCTION mentions the COST of each home, specifically at the time of the home's finish. So, I think that the readers will find this fact also very interesting, especially when comparing each home to each other (eg: why did some homes cost $6,000, while others cost $200,000.00?).

Also included in the INTRODUCTION are descriptions of where each home was once located (by State), and also which Architectural firm designed each home.

This book is richly illustrated with black & white photos of historic houses in the United States. For the person interested in houses from the gilded age, this book provides clear photographs with a minimum of text that can be studied in detail. The photos, more often than not, set the house in its surroundings, however photos of gardens and landscape architecture is minimal. This book is ideal for someone looking for ideas to incorporate into their own plans for home-building, as well as for students and professionals seeking a good photographic reference to the gilded age that covers houses in many regions of the country.

The homes shown and described in this book are wonders of a world gone by, and sadly many of them have fallen to the wreakers ball. Thankfully, this book has saved the images, basic floor plans and stories of these magnificent homes. This book is a nice addition to any Victorian lovers library.

"American Country Houses of the Gilded Age" reprints 100 photographs from "Artistic Country-Seats," a book originally published in 1886-87 with commentary by George William Sheldon. This new version of the collection replaces Sheldon's original comments with those of Arnold Lewis. But the real "stars" of the book are the 93 houses and four casinos portrayed in the excellent black-and white photos.

These houses represent some of the most stunning mansions of the late 19th century. Most of these buildings were built in the northeastern United States. Each plate is accompanied by both Lewis' comments and by a first floor plan.

The houses themselves represent many of the popular styles of the era: Tudor, "Shingle," Queen Anne, Chateauesque, Richardsonian Romanesque, Colonial Revival, and Exotic Revival. The crisp photography captures a wealth of beautiful details: covered verandas, stone arches, classical pillars, towers, pinnacles, parapets, half-timbering, castellations, fanciful dormers, and intricate decorative flourishes.

The only disappointing aspect to the book is the fact that only the first floor plans are included. Plans for the other floors would have increased the book's value as a record of social history. Nevertheless, the detailed first floor plans do offer fascinating insights into the lives of the wealthy families of the "Gilded Age." You can imagine yourself wandering through the billiard room or music room of your favorite mansion! If you are fascinated by American home architecture, or if you simply want a taste of this opulent era, you will love this book.