Floorplans for Gilded Age Mansions.

[ardecila]

Yes and no. Rural dwellers (and at this time most Americans lived in rural areas) could simply chop wood as winter fuel, but city dwellers were reliant on coal and later gas. Both of these urban fuels were managed and distributed by private companies, often with monopoly power and deep-rooted corruption. It was definitely a challenge for poor families to afford winter fuel; today utilities have assistance for low-income customers but that was unheard-of 100 years ago.

[Tyler Xyroadia]

Originally Posted by LeeWilson

Does anyone have any examples of this kind of floor plan for comparison?

There are more than a few I can dig up from a now defunct mansion blog... One in particular my friend challenged me to try and improve upon. He picked a 17,000 square foot monster that I had earlier said was simply horrific, and challenge me to try and turn it into something more resembling an older estate, though I did add a few modern features. I'll have to dig that up somewhere.

Originally Posted by Hayward

You couldn't technically "save heat" back then. Houses were always losing energy. They were just always burning coal, wood, whatever. These sources were always readily available regardless of level of wealth.

"Saving heat" is perhaps the wrong choice of words. Blocking off the rest of the house simply means that there is less house to heat, likewise it is easier (and quicker) to heat the few rooms in use.
At least that was the impression I got from the article.

In the mean time, here are some more floor plans!
Here is the floorplans for the sumptuous Clark Mansion in New York at the turn of the century.


The next is yet another Vanderbilt Mansion, this is a "Modest" three story row house built in 1906

[Matthew]

The reason so many houses from this time don't have closets is due to taxes. Homes were taxed by how many rooms they had and closets counted as a room.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Matthew

The reason so many houses from this time don't have closets is due to taxes. Homes were taxed by how many rooms they had and closets counted as a room.

This is a common misconception. People didn't have closets because they didn't need them; typically they owned only a few outfits which could be stored in furniture pieces like chests or armoires. Clothes were highly expensive and the time/labor to wash them was minimal, since servants or slaves did the work.

There's also no evidence to support the existence of a tax on closets.

source: Colonial Williamsburg

[Matthew]

It's from a PBS educational film. I found a link to it on their website. Fast-forward to 57:10 and you'll hear about room taxes and closets in the video. I've never heard of this tax until I watched this educational film on Georgia houses earlier this year. If you love old houses and the old south, you may want to watch the entire film. I don't care for the background noises added, but it's worth seeing.

http://bcove.me/ri0l3w9n

[Tyler Xyroadia]

Decided to upload my collection of photos both from around and inside Bishops Palace.
Most of these come from Public websites I have collected over the years.

There a few rare photos of the interior back during the 1800's when it was being used as a residence, and a few very VERY rare photos of the basement,
which is supposedly off limits to tourists and visitors.







The Interior circa 1900

The Grand Staircase looking from first floor.

Looking upstairs to the second floor landing

The Dinner Room

The Music Room

The Palor

Modern pics

The Grand Staircase

Grand Staircase looking toward the Dinning room.


The dinning Room

The Music Room

The Library

Inside the Solarium

Upstairs bedroom.

The Basement
not much to see in these, but it is worth noting just because, as far as I know, there are no other pics of the basement to the house.

[arkitekte]

Tyler, is it alright for others to jump in and post photos and plans? I don't want to hijack your thread. Anyways, I have some photos from some mansions around Memphis from the mid 1800's that would be worth posting here; I can probably find the floor plans and some elevations too, but if I can't I'll probably won't post since this a thread focused around the drawings.

They're nothing like what Hunt was designing, or what you would see in some more prominent areas, but some are pretty big being that they were former plantation homes and that their owners were extremely rich.

[Tyler Xyroadia]

By all means good sir post away!
The more acticity the better for a thread like this.

ANd that reminds me, could a kindly Mod change the title to Historical Floor plans And Gilded Age Mansions?

[arkitekte]

Some Memphis action. As I mentioned before, these houses aren't near the size nor do they have the prominence of some of the previously posted homes, but while we're here, why not post these. Many of the Memphis homes that I will post have been demolished, and many were abandoned for quite a few years prior to being demolished.


All of the following photos, floor plans, and elevations are from here ( http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:14:./temp/~ammem_k77D::) unless stated otherwise.

Robertson Topp House, 565 Beale Avenue, Memphis 1841-Demolished

[arkitekte]

Next up is the Goyer-Lee House, located in the Victorian Village. Its been vacant for quite a few years, but a small development group has been approved to restore the property and open a bed and breakfast there. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:26:./temp/~ammem_k77D::

Goyer-Lee House, 690 East Adams Street, Memphis 1848

















Some of my own photos from last spring for comparison.

[Tyler Xyroadia]

HA!

FANTASTIC Photos arkitekte!
There are countless wonderful mansions, some destroyer, some still standing, that by and large have been forgotten by history. The first one you posted is wonderful, a real Neo-Classical wonder that I am sure must have been stunning in its prime.
The second is a wonderful Victorian house. As "rundown" as it looks you can see how much effort and care went into it. The BONES of the house are still stunning.

The plaster modeling, the carved wood details, the huge floor to ceiling windows, and those gilded mirrors! As old and battered as it is, you can still see it for the Gem that it is. Very good to hear someone will be restoring it!

[arkitekte]

Originally Posted by Tyler Xyroadia

HA!

FANTASTIC Photos arkitekte!
There are countless wonderful mansions, some destroyer, some still standing, that by and large have been forgotten by history. The first one you posted is wonderful, a real Neo-Classical wonder that I am sure must have been stunning in its prime.
The second is a wonderful Victorian house. As "rundown" as it looks you can see how much effort and care went into it. The BONES of the house are still stunning.

The plaster modeling, the carved wood details, the huge floor to ceiling windows, and those gilded mirrors! As old and battered as it is, you can still see it for the Gem that it is. Very good to hear someone will be restoring it!

For sure! The majority of the ornate details were also saved as they fell off of the exterior of the house. The majority of those will be placed back onto the home, the ones that won't will be put on other historic buildings here in Memphis that are being restored. I really wanted to get my hands on a piece of it, but they were selling the pieces that couldn't be reused at a pretty high price.

I'll try to find the floor plans for Annesdale Mansion. It puts these others to shame. Its currently being restored and I was able to check it out last summer. The brick for the original house were fired in Europe and transported to Memphis. The other brick on the property was fired on site by the slaves. I don't want to post it without the floor plans, so I'll do my best to find them. Unfortunately, the owners at the time didn't allow HABS to survey the mansion.

[arkitekte]

Driver-Hunt-Phelan House, 533 Beale Street, Memphis 1830

Like the other two homes I posted, these were all once plantation homes.












http://www.memphisflyer.com/backissues/issue577/images/cvr577c.jpg

You can buy this beauty for 2.85 million.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jul/11/historic-memphis-home-hits-the-market/

[Tyler Xyroadia]

RISE FROM THE DEAD

Found a new cache of Gilded Age Floor plans recently, First up, One of, if not perhaps THEE first of the great "Newport Mansion

The incredibly stately Chateau sur Mer
Built in 1852 The mansion ushered in a new era of huge palatial "mega mansions" of the later 18th century.

[MolsonExport]

Floorplans for art-deco and beaux-arts skyscraper masterpieces: This I wish to see.

thesouloftheplot

[Stuart2000]

I hope this forum is still active. I just found it. Floor plans of true masterpieces are a passion for me.

[nathanc1039]

love the breakers mansion. i am obsessed with period homes my 2 favourites are lynwood hall and whitemarsh although whitemarsh is the sister house of lynwood I have to say its right up there as my all time favourite the symmetry is spot on the features and the landscaping was all down to a T just a shame that it had to be abandoned and demolished and sad to see that could be the future for lynwood as well which I may add is up for sale for renovation. if you like old homes I suggest you look up callendar house Falkirk scotland. its an old country house in my hometown which was left empty for a number of years but had been refurbished and turned into a museum if you love detail on exterior structure it is definitely worth a look and has good history too calendar being where the battle of falkirk took place with william wallace

[nathanc1039]

[MolsonExport]

My Grandmother grew up here (Burwalls, Bristol, UK):



nashpartnership, dailymail

Alas, the money (tobacco empire) was all gone by the time I came around.