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IMAGES COURTESY OF TH E LENOX LI BRARY
o discussion about American architecture and interior design is complete without a nod to the American Gilded Age (1865 – 1917). With their desire for city palaces and country cottages, the Gilded Age elite created an unprecedented demand for American architects. From Plymouth Rock to the Civil War, there was no real American aesthetic, no set of guiding principles in artistic creation. The phrases “American art” and “American literature” were considered oxymorons. Americans agreed with the rest of the world that great art, great literature, and great architecture were European. For training in art and architecture, Americans studied abroad. By the mid-19th century, however, the proud young country wanted a voice of its own. Over the next 50 years, it produced one. Painters created an American vision. Writers created an American voice. Schools of architecture were established at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1865 and Harvard in 1874. By 1893, at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (also known as the Chicago World’s Fair), America was prepared to strut its stuff—its distinctly American stuff. On the pages of books, on canvases, in bricks and mortar, this country’s style was articulated. American architecture styles were refined between the two great expositions: Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 and the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Philadelphia Exposition, the first of its kind in the United States, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the showcase for the Colonial Revival architectural style, which incorporated common features of early English, Dutch, and German buildings. In the Berkshires, this is reflected in Elm Court (New England shingle style), Kemble Inn (Federal) and Highlawn (Georgian). In Chicago, at the Columbian Exposition, the architecture of Greece was revived. Neoclassic style was used in American government buildings, banks, and some exceptional residences. In the Berkshires, the facade of Bellefontaine
with its proud, tall front and pillars is an example, as is the Town Hall in Stockbridge. Fifth Avenue in New York, Commonwealth Avenue and Louisburg Square in Boston, Nob Hill in San Francisco, and Bellevue Avenue in Newport showcased the emerging American architects. The Berkshires brought it all together: American letters, art, and architecture. Inside the Berkshire Cottages were books by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Catharine Sedgwick, Herman Melville, Henry Ward Beecher, his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edith Wharton, and Henry James. On the walls were the works of George Innes, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, and other Hudson River painters. All enclosed in the walls designed by the emerging American architects. (A word about interior decorating: today we may consider elements permanently affixed to the walls and the walls themselves architecture, and the movable objects to be the province of the interior decorator. That was an idea late in arriving. In the Gilded Age, the architect did it all.)
Fifth Avenue in New York, Commonwealth Avenue and Louisburg Square in Boston, Nob Hill in San Francisco, and Bellevue Avenue in Newport showcased the emerging American architects. The Berkshires brought it all together: American letters, art, and architecture.
Bellefontaine, 1897. French Renaissance as imaged by John Carrere and Thomas Hastings. They were outstanding Beaux Arts architects, leaders of the City Beautiful movement, and shaped the architecture of official buildings (the New York City Library) and country houses for decades to come. Bellefontaine is often cited as an excellent example of their work.
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