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

The “Gilded Age,” the three decades following the Civil War, were years of astounding economic growth. Vast empires in oil, shipping, mining, banking, lumber, transportation, and related industries were formed. It was an era in which fortunes were made and lost quickly, almost easily; a period that encouraged - nearly demanded - the public display of this newly acquired wealth, power, and prestige.

It was during these heady, turbulent years that a new type of domestic architecture fir…