Gotham’s Gilded Age

08/10/2026

Cooper Union was founded in 1859 by American industrialist Peter Cooper, who was a prolific inventor, entrepreneur, and one of the richest businessmen in the U.S (despite having only 1yr of formal education). In order to give back, he designated the majority of his wealth, primarily in the form of real estate holdings, to the creation and funding of Cooper Union, a tuition-free school with courses made freely available to any applicant. Located in the Lower East Side at Astor Place (original site of the Astor Opera House), its main Italianate brownstone building was designed by Fred A. Petersen, one of the founders of the American Institute of Architects. It was the 1st building in the world with an elevator shaft because Cooper, in 1853, was confident an elevator would soon be invented (the 1st one wouldn’t be installed until 1874!) Cooper Union’s tuition remained free until 2014 when it claimed it was in a financial crisis. After much protest it was recently announced that there is a plan to return to free tuition by 2029. We shall see. -1899, Byron Company MCNY Digital Collection.
- 1864, “Admissions ticket” for Lawrence Van Wyck to study Philosophy, MCNY Digital Collection.
- 1908, Wurts Bros
- color pics are from google

06/19/2026

This was the house that Vincent Astor’s wife had demolished 🙄. Known as Ferncliff, the home was built by William B. Astor in 1853 to serve as his summer residence. You may find this next bit shocking, but THE Mrs. Astor wasn’t a fan! I know right?! I couldn’t believe it either 😆😆. These photos are by Byron Company ca. 1896.

06/19/2026

George B. Post’s incredible architectural renderings for Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s 5th Avenue palace. Look at those details (1/4 inch = 1 foot)! He even showed “the Help” doing housework 😆.

06/19/2026

“A large, stout woman came out of the Plaza and rounded the circle to the corner where Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt's mansion stands on 57th St. ‘‘She must be an archduchess at least,” observed a girl who happened to see her. “Nobody else would dare parade this neighborhood looking like that.” She proved to be one of the most distinguished leaders of New York society. One would never dare accompany her name with a description of her appearance, and the description for the purposes of this thesis is more important than the name. She looked like the bakery woman who kept the little shop around the corner. The surprising thing about The 400 is that it permits itself to be represented by a number of women not unlike her in general style. In a community where the arts and graces are practiced to the exclusion of more utilitarian ends, the marvel is that so many representatives of it are without art and grace. Why can’t The 400 take an hour and a half of the 24 in which they do nothing and devote it to dressing with taste?”
ℹ️ Dowdy Leaders of the 400; Birmingham Age Herald (Nov 10, 1912)

06/10/2026

After artist Maxfield Parrish’s wife became tired of posing for his enchanted fairytale paintings, he found himself in need of a new muse. His 16yr old nanny, Sue Lewin, fit the bill. Here we see her in 1909, posing for Parrish’s next work, Griselda, which he completed in 1910. Parrish would eventually move out of his mansion and into his art studio so he could “work” more closely with Lewin. Oh did I mention he was 33, married and had kids? 🙄 This arrangement lasted for over 50yrs. When his wife kicked the bucket, people were sure he’d marry Lewin buuuuut at 90yrs old I guess he didn’t feel like it 😆. A spinster now in her 70s, Lewin wound up getting married to an old boyfriend. What a buzz kill! National Museum of American Illustration, Newport RI.

05/29/2026

a simple staircase for a simple girl lol

Grand staircase of the Astor Mansion on 5th Avenue, New York City, this mansion was demolished around 1926. Photo from Library of Congress

05/08/2026

The Ansonia, at 73rd Street & Broadway, was built in 1897 by William Earle Dodge Stokes, the Phelps-Dodge copper heir and shareholder in the Ansonia Clock Company. Stokes commissioned French architect Paul Emile Duboy to design the grandest hotel in Manhattan. The Ansonia was a residential hotel, and residents lived in luxurious apartments with multiple bedrooms, parlors, libraries, and formal dining rooms that were often round or oval. Apartments featured views north and south along Broadway, high ceilings, elegant moldings, and bay windows. There was a central kitchen and serving kitchens on every floor, so that the residents could enjoy the services of professional chefs while dining in their own apartments. Erected between 1899 and 1904, it was the largest residential hotel of its day and the first air-conditioned hotel in New York and became a condo in 1992.

📸 BnW: Detroit Publishing Co. ca.1905 / Color from Ansonia Realty

05/07/2026

“I wish to provide for an extensive library to be well furnished in every department of knowledge; which is to be maintained for the free use of all persons who may desire to consult it”—George Peabody

He was a merchant/banker/financier and the father of modern philanthropy. The George Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins University (originally called The Peabody Institute) is a spectacular testament to his generosity wouldn’t you say? [BTW am I the only one who didn’t know that Johns Hopkins was a person? I always thought it was two last names 🙃] Hopkins was an entrepreneur and abolitionist who, upon his death in 1873, bequeathed $7M [approx $150M million today] to fund a hospital and university in Baltimore, Maryland—at the time it was the largest philanthropic gift in U.S. history. While they were friends back in the day, Johns’ university and George’s library weren’t affiliated until the early 1980s when the university acquired the Peabody Institute building, which was completed in 1866 and designed by architect Edmund G. Lind. The library was part of an expansion plan and was completed in 1878. Lind had envisioned a “cathedral of books” and the glorious reading room features 5 stories of ornamental cast-iron balconies surrounding a 61-foot-high atrium.
📷 Pinterest/Traditional Building Magazine