Gilded Age Mansion No.1

I plan to do a series of brief posts on various mansions from the Gilded Age in America. This first entry is on the mansion of Payne Whitney, which is now home to the French Cultural Service Offices in New York City. The house, located on 972 Fifth Street, was completed in 1906 as a wedding gift from Whitney's uncle Colonel Oliver Payne. Stanford White began work on the Italian Renaissance palazzo-style house in 1903.



Before Whitney's wife Helen Hay died in 1944, she had her favorite room, the Venetian Room, removed and preserved. In 1987, the mansion was restored and a stained-glass window designed by John La Farge was uncovered. Today, the Payne Whitney House is designated as a New York historical landmark.



The Venetian Room, featured in the movie Rebecca.



The La Farge window.

Read the full story of the Payne Whitney House here.