Mansions, parties, and fine dining: Vintage photos show how America's wealthiest business tycoons lived it up during the Gilded Age
It was called the "Buckingham Palace of Fifth Avenue" and was made of red brick and limestone.The mansion originally had about 50 rooms, but the couple bought neighboring townhouses, tore them down, and expanded the mansion until it had about 91 rooms. It was later replaced by the Bergdorf Goodman department store.Source: Wall Street Journal
Brady would have morning tea, afternoon tea, six or seven servings of dinner, and dessert, but there were varying accounts about how much he really ate.In 2008, The New York Times found reports stating that doctors had said his stomach had become six times larger than normal. Regardless of the exact amount he ate, it is undisputed that he ate a whole lot. Source: New York Times
It was also the exact amount of people she could fit in her ballroom.Vogue society writer Frank Crowninshield described Astor's taste as "always for old families, old ways, old servants, old operas, old lace, and old friends.""She tried always to keep society in bounds, to see that it was decorous, elegant, and select," Crowninshield wrote.Astor's parties were in her ballroom that was topped with a dome made of stained-glass and its walls were hung with about 100 paintings. Sources: Vogue, New York Times, Wall Street Journal
In 1883, Alva Vanderbilt, daughter-in-law of Cornelius Vanderbilt, threw a masked ball which cost about $250,000, or about $8 million today.She invited 1,200 guests, but purposefully didn't invite Caroline Astor's daughter unless she came with her mother, according to the Museum of the City of New York.Caroline Astor did attend as she'd hoped, strengthening Alva Vanderbilt's place in society.The ball was a huge success. Dinner wasn't served until 2 a.m. and the dancing continued until dawn.
It would take a few more years before the Gilded Age fully ended, but the days of ostentatious eating, spending, and partying were over.Sources: Town and Country, History.com
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