145-632: Rockwood Hall was a Gilded Age mansion in Mount Pleasant, New York , on the Hudson River . It was best known as the home of William Rockefeller , brother of John D. Rockefeller . Both brothers were co-founders of the Standard Oil Company . Other owners of the house or property included Alexander Slidell MacKenzie , William Henry Aspinwall , and Lloyd Aspinwall . The property was once up to 1,000 acres (400 ha) in size;
290-837: A country house in Harrison, New York . Carrère was most active in the firm's large civic and commercial projects, including the House and Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill, the Manhattan Bridge and its approaches, and the New York Public Library Main Branch . He was interested in civic affairs in New York, where, with the help of Elihu Root , he helped establish the Art Commission of New York City . Later his public service extended to
435-510: A designated period in American history. The term was adopted by literary and cultural critics as well as historians, including Van Wyck Brooks , Lewis Mumford , Charles Austin Beard , Mary Ritter Beard , Vernon Louis Parrington , and Matthew Josephson . For them, Gilded Age was a pejorative term for a time of materialistic excesses and widespread political corruption. The early half of
580-463: A gain of 48%. Economic historian Clarence D. Long estimates that (in terms of constant 1914 dollars), the average annual incomes of all American non-farm employees rose from $ 375 in 1870 to $ 395 in 1880, $ 519 in 1890 and $ 573 in 1900, a gain of 53% in 30 years. Australian historian Peter Shergold found that the standard of living for industrial workers was higher than in Europe. He compared wages and
725-564: A great communications network. Elisha Otis developed the elevator, allowing the construction of skyscrapers and the concentration of ever greater populations in urban centers. Thomas Edison , in addition to inventing hundreds of devices, established the first electrical lighting utility, basing it on direct current and an efficient incandescent lamp . Electric power delivery spread rapidly across Gilded Age cities. The streets were lit at night, and electric streetcars allowed for faster commuting to work and easier shopping. Petroleum launched
870-415: A lifetime career for young men; women were rarely hired. A typical career path would see a young man hired at age 18 as a shop laborer and promoted to skilled mechanic at age 24, brakeman at 25, freight conductor at 27, and passenger conductor at age 57. White-collar career paths likewise were delineated. Educated young men started in clerical or statistical work and moved up to station agents or bureaucrats at
1015-628: A long-distance outlet for wheat, cattle and hogs that reached all the way to Europe. Rural America became one giant market, as wholesalers bought the consumer products produced by the factories in the East and shipped them to local merchants in small stores nationwide. Shipping live animals was slow and expensive. It was more efficient to slaughter them in major packing centers such as Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati, and then ship dressed meat out in refrigerated freight cars. The cars were cooled by slabs of ice that had been harvested from
1160-493: A modern American architecture out of centuries-old traditions. One of the largest contributions of the firm was in the realm of urban design, a result of Carrère's abiding interest in the Beaux-Arts " City Beautiful " movement. An early advocate of comprehensive planning, he designed downtown plans for Baltimore, Hartford, Cleveland and Atlantic City. In collaboration with Hastings, he was largely responsible for carrying out
1305-485: A mortgage with the Equitable Trust Company of New York, which was acquired by Chase Bank in 1930. Its 18-hole golf course was designed by Emmet & Tull in 1929. Rockwood Hall Country Club hired noted Australian golfer Joe Kirkwood Sr. to be the club's first golf professional. In 1927, Rockefeller's nephew John D. Rockefeller Jr. purchased 450 acres (180 ha) across Route 9 from Rockwood. In
1450-582: A nature center, and no camping or sporting facilities. The project manager proposed a landscaped platform above the Hudson Line tracks, to allow residents direct access to the Hudson River. In 1998, Rockefeller gave the 88-acre (36 ha) property to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund, with half of the fund's interest donated to New York State and half to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center . At
1595-485: A new industry beginning with the Pennsylvania oil fields in the 1860s. The United States dominated the global industry into the 1950s. Kerosene replaced whale oil and candles for lighting homes. John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil Company and monopolized the oil industry. It mostly produced kerosene before the automobile created a demand for gasoline in the 20th century. According to historian Henry Adams
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#17327810416891740-508: A new middle class was rapidly growing, especially in northern cities. The nation became a world leader in applied technology. From 1860 to 1890, 500,000 patents were issued for new inventions—over ten times the number granted in the previous seventy years. George Westinghouse invented air brakes for trains (making them both safer and faster). Theodore Vail established the American Telephone & Telegraph Company and built
1885-761: A peak membership in 1919. This period saw several financial crises and economic recessions—called "panics", notably the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893 . They lasted several years, with high urban unemployment, low incomes for farmers, low profits for business, slow overall growth, and reduced immigration. They generated political unrest. Gilded Age politics, called the Third Party System, featured intense competition between two major parties, with minor parties coming and going, especially on issues of concern to prohibitionists, to labor unions and to farmers. The Democrats and Republicans (the latter nicknamed
2030-448: A smoking room, while the square tower contained a sewing room. The house was heated by hot air through floorboard vents. Electric buttons in the rooms were used to ring electric bells, to call servants. Two Otis elevators ran from the cellar to the attic: one for servants and freight and one elegant elevator for the family and guests. The house was fireproof, such that a fire within a room, with all doors closed, would not spread. As well,
2175-555: A year, which kept them mired in poverty. Workers had to put in roughly 60 hours a week to earn this much. Wage labor was widely condemned as 'wage slavery' in the working class press, and labor leaders almost always used the phrase in their speeches. As the shift towards wage labor gained momentum, working class organizations became more militant in their efforts to "strike down the whole system of wages for labor." In 1886, economist and New York Mayoral candidate Henry George , author of Progress and Poverty , stated "Chattel slavery
2320-512: Is dead, but industrial slavery remains." The unequal distribution of wealth remained high during this period. From 1860 to 1900, the wealthiest 2% of American households owned more than a third of the nation's wealth, while the top 10% owned roughly three-quarters of it. The bottom 40% had no wealth at all. In terms of property, the wealthiest 1% owned 51%, while the bottom 44% claimed 1.1%. Historian Howard Zinn argues that this disparity along with precarious working and living conditions for
2465-605: Is generally given as the beginning of the Progressive Era in the 1890s (sometimes the United States presidential election of 1896 ). The Gilded Age was a period of economic growth as the United States jumped to the lead in industrialization ahead of Britain. The nation was rapidly expanding its economy into new areas, especially heavy industry like factories, railroads , and coal mining . In 1869,
2610-631: The American Renaissance . Renewing his friendship with Carrère, who was also in the office, he remained there for two years. A referral through his father to Henry Morrison Flagler resulted in the commission first for a library extension to Flagler's Mamaroneck estate and then for the Ponce de Leon and later Alcazar hotels in St. Augustine, Florida. Further ties to wealthy patrons, who were also members of his father's mid-town congregation, propelled
2755-530: The Group Plan for Cleveland , Ohio (1903), and again with Brunner on a plan for Grand Rapids, Michigan (1909). Then, in 1910, he worked with Brunner and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. on a plan for a Baltimore civic center (1910). In 1908, Carrère was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1910. Later, Carrère and Hastings produced a plan for
2900-631: The Reconstruction Era and the Progressive Era . It was named by 1920s historians after an 1873 Mark Twain novel . Historians saw late 19th-century economic expansion as a time of materialistic excesses marked by widespread political corruption. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Western United States. As American wages grew much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, and industrialization demanded an increasingly skilled labor force,
3045-467: The Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture , a nearby non-profit farm, tended sheep and goats in this park. The effort was described as an experiment in land management to improve landscape health and ecosystem function, as well as possibly to increase access to land for beginning farmers by allowing them access to parks and other public lands. During the project, a shepherd would rotate
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#17327810416893190-728: The Tarrytown railroad station . The resulting 204-room house was 174 by 104 feet (53 m × 32 m) and was the second-largest private house in the U.S. at the time, only behind the Biltmore mansion in Asheville, North Carolina . It was estimated at the time as second only to the Biltmore in cost as well, and as second to Kykuit in its extent of land and value, within Westchester County. Rockefeller moved into
3335-534: The Union Theological Seminary . His grandfather, Thomas Samuel Hastings (1784–1872), was one of America's leading church musicians of the 19th century: he composed hymns, including ' Rock of Ages ,' and published the first musical treatise by a native-born composer in 1822. Hastings was educated in private schools in New York, and began his architectural apprenticeship at Herter Brothers , the premier New York furnishers and decorators. He attended
3480-611: The economic depression of the 1870s and became known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 , which was, according to historian Jack Beatty , "the largest strike anywhere in the world in the 19th century." This strike did not involve labor unions, but rather uncoordinated outbursts in numerous cities. The strike and associated riots lasted 45 days and resulted in the deaths of several hundred participants (no police or soldiers were killed), several hundred more injuries, and millions in damages to railroad property. The unrest
3625-472: The eight-hour working day , and the abolition of child labor ; middle-class reformers demanded civil service reform, prohibition of liquor and beer, and women's suffrage . Local governments across the North and West built public schools chiefly at the elementary level; public high schools started to emerge. The numerous religious denominations were growing in membership and wealth, with Catholicism becoming
3770-468: The first transcontinental railroad opened up the far-west mining and ranching regions. Travel from New York to San Francisco then took six days instead of six months. Railroad track mileage tripled from 1860 to 1880, and then doubled again by 1920. The new track linked formerly isolated areas with larger markets and allowed for the rise of commercial farming, ranching, and mining, creating a truly national marketplace. American steel production rose to surpass
3915-492: The "Grand Old Party", GOP) fought over control of offices, which were the rewards for party activists, as well as over major economic issues. Very high voter turnout typically exceeded 80% or even 90% in some Northern states as the parties ran strong campaigns. Turnout in the South was lower. Average presidential turnout 1872 to 1900 was 83% in the North and 62% in the South. Competition was intense and elections were very close. In
4060-535: The City of Hartford, Connecticut , which was completed in 1911, just prior to his death, which occurred when a streetcar collided with the taxi in which he was riding. He suffered a brain concussion and never regained consciousness. Thomas S. Hastings was born in New York City on March 11, 1860. His father, also Thomas S. Hastings (1827–1911), was a noted Presbyterian minister, homiletics professor, and dean of
4205-521: The Democrats and Republicans. Gilded age politicians are somewhat infamous among historians for having few actual policies and doing very little of importance in office. Gilded age presidents are frequently called the "forgotten presidents" because of their mediocre presidencies where they did very little. The major metropolitan centers underwent rapid population growth and as a result had many lucrative contracts and jobs to award. To take advantage of
4350-744: The Gilded Age roughly coincided with the middle portion of the Victorian Era in Britain and the Belle Époque in France. With respect to eras of American history, historical views vary as to when the Gilded Age began, ranging from starting right after the Civil War ended in 1865, or 1873, or as the Reconstruction Era ended in 1877. The date marking the end of the Gilded Age also varies. The ending
4495-503: The Knights claimed 700,000 members. By 1890, membership had plummeted to fewer than 100,000, then faded away. Strikes organized by labor unions became routine events by the 1880s as the gap between the rich and the poor widened. There were 37,000 strikes from 1881 to 1905. By far the largest number were in the building trades, followed far behind by coal miners. The main goal was control of working conditions and settling which rival union
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4640-481: The Treasury Department, resigned. Carrère was offered the job, an offer he very publicly considered but ultimately declined, writing, "the system, not the man, should be changed." Carrère was engaged in the development of city planning in the United States. He wrote pamphlets and lectured at universities and to civic groups on the subject. He collaborated with Daniel H. Burnham and Arnold Brunner on
4785-410: The United States led the world. Kennedy reports that "U.S. national income, in absolute figures in per capita, was so far above everybody else's by 1914." Per capita income in the United States was $ 377 in 1914 compared to Britain in second place at $ 244, Germany at $ 184, France at $ 153, and Italy at $ 108, while Russia and Japan trailed far behind at $ 41 and $ 36. London remained the financial center of
4930-664: The West based on farming, ranching, and mining. Labor unions became increasingly important in the rapidly growing industrial cities. Two major nationwide depressions—the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893 —interrupted growth and caused social and political upheavals. The South remained economically devastated after the American Civil War ; the region's economy became increasingly tied to commodities like food and building materials, cotton for thread and fabrics, and tobacco production, all of which suffered from low prices. With
5075-554: The agricultural and technical ("Ag & Tech") fields. Railroads, which had previously invented railroad time to standardize time zones, production, and lifestyles, created modern management, with clear chains of command, statistical reporting, and complex bureaucratic systems. They systematized the roles of middle managers and set up explicit career tracks for both skilled blue-collar jobs and for white-collar managers. These advances spread from railroads into finance, manufacturing, and trade. Together with rapid growth of small business,
5220-514: The book, whereby an increasingly complex set of rules dictated to everyone exactly what should be done in every circumstance, and exactly what their rank and pay would be. By the 1880s the career railroaders were retiring, and pension systems were invented to provide for them. America developed a love-hate relationship with railroads. Boosters in every city worked feverishly to make sure the railroad came through, knowing their urban dreams depended upon it. The mechanical size, scope, and efficiency of
5365-505: The castle, nearly doubling its size. Some sources, including Rockefeller himself, claim he entirely rebuilt the house, and used the old stone to construct a new barn or stables. Including Rockefeller's purchase of the property, he spent about $ 3 million ($ 102 million in 2023) on the house. He spared no expense in making it fit his characteristics and lifestyle, and even had little idea how much he would spend on it during its construction. Rockefeller hired Ebenezer L. Roberts to oversee
5510-560: The church decorations, and White's son was a page. Hastings is credited with many of the firm's designs and, in part because he survived Carrère by eighteen years, he is the often cited as the leader of the firm. He lectured widely and wrote a number of influential articles, later collected by David Gray in his brief biography of the architect. He and his wife enjoyed riding, and they built a country house in Old Westbury, Long Island . Following Carrère's death in 1911, Hastings maintained
5655-568: The combined totals of Britain, Germany, and France. Investors in London and Paris poured money into the railroads through the American financial market centered in Wall Street . By 1900, the process of economic concentration had extended into most branches of industry—a few large corporations, called " trusts ", dominated in steel, oil, sugar, meat, and farm machinery. Through vertical integration these trusts were able to control each aspect of
5800-437: The competitive sectors. Increased mechanization of industry is a major mark of the Gilded Age's search for cheaper ways to create more product. Frederick Winslow Taylor observed that worker efficiency in steel could be improved through the use of very close observations with a stop watch to eliminate wasted effort. Mechanization made some factories an assemblage of unskilled laborers performing simple and repetitive tasks under
5945-508: The construction, though Roberts died in 1890, during the house's renovation. He also hired noted architectural firm Carrère and Hastings to create plans for interior renovation of the house. Rockefeller also spent $ 6,000 to repave a 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of road with macadam from the Vanderbilt Shepard home Woodlea to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery . Rockefeller paid for the paving in order to travel easily from Rockwood Hall to
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6090-883: The country house and garden movement of the early 1900s, where they introduced both stylistic and compositional ideas that shaped domestic architecture for decades to come. Their garden designs were extensively published, and they created a comprehensive staff to handle interior design in large houses, one of the first offices to offer these services. Their largest and most notable country houses included Blairsden (1898) in Peapack, New Jersey , Bellefontaine (1897, altered) in Lenox, Massachusetts, Arden (1905–09) in Harriman, New York , and Nemours (1910) in Wilmington, Delaware. The office's significant skyscrapers were not designed until
6235-486: The direction of skilled foremen and engineers. Machine shops grew rapidly, and they comprised highly skilled workers and engineers. Both the number of unskilled and skilled workers increased, as their wage rates grew. Engineering colleges were established to feed the enormous demand for expertise, many through the Federal government sponsored Morrill Land-Grant Acts passed to stimulate public education, particularly in
6380-404: The divisional or central headquarters. At each level they had more and more knowledge, experience, and human capital . They were very hard to replace and were virtually guaranteed permanent jobs and provided with insurance and medical care. Hiring, firing, and wage rates were set not by foremen, but by central administrators, to minimize favoritism and personality conflicts. Everything was done by
6525-414: The early 1970s until 1998, Laurance Rockefeller leased the estate to New York for use as a public park, at a cost of $ 1 a year, and he covered the maintenance costs of the property. In 1972, he announced he would donate the land to the state. Plans for the public park were to possibly include a center for studying the Hudson River environment. In the meantime, the state commissioned a study of the river around
6670-482: The end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the rise of Jim Crow laws , African American (more generally termed Black, referring to darker skin color) people in the South were stripped of political power and voting rights, and were left severely economically disadvantaged. The political landscape was notable in that despite rampant corruption, election turnout was comparatively high among all classes (though
6815-463: The entrance hall, a drawing room, library, music room, dining room, breakfast room, billiard room, conservatory, guest dressing room, and study. Two of the house's entrances laid at the western and eastern ends of a hall transversing the house; another hall ran from the north end to the south end. These halls had mosaic floors, walls wainscoted in American oak, and papier-mâché ceilings with a series of domes, each fitted with five electric chandeliers. At
6960-424: The era by 1920s historians who took the term from one of Mark Twain 's lesser-known novels, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873). The book (co-written with Charles Dudley Warner ) satirized the promised " golden age " after the Civil War, portrayed as an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding of economic expansion. In the 1920s, and 1930s, the metaphor "Gilded Age" began to be applied to
7105-463: The era, the bottom 25% owned 0.32% of the wealth while the top 0.1% owned 9.4%, which would mean the period had the lowest wealth gap in recorded history. He attributes this to the lack of government interference. There was a significant human cost attached to this period of economic growth, as American industry had the highest rate of accidents in the world. In 1889, railroads employed 704,000 men, of whom 20,000 were injured and 1,972 were killed on
7250-405: The estate was purchased that same year by a group of investors, who formed Rockwood Hall, Inc. Their company purchased the property (with 210 acres (85 ha) west of Route 9 and 600 acres (240 ha) east) for around $ 1 million. The group converted the estate into a country club with a golf course, a swimming pool, and other facilities. The company formed Rockwood Hall Country Club and took out
7395-489: The estate were closed and guarded by policemen during the affair. Rockefeller's heirs put the property up for sale, however no individual buyer could be found. At this point, the mansion was closed, its furnishings were removed, and about 20 caretakers were tending to the property. The first breakup of his property was a sale to Frank Vanderlip . In 1924, Vanderlip purchased 57 acres (23 ha) of Rockwood Hall's riverfront property to add to his estate, Beechwood . The bulk of
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#17327810416897540-880: The expense of the working class, by chicanery and a betrayal of democracy. Their admirers argued that they were "Captains of Industry" who built the core America industrial economy and also the non-profit sector through acts of philanthropy. For instance, Andrew Carnegie donated over 90% of his wealth and said that philanthropy was their duty—the " Gospel of Wealth ". Private money endowed thousands of colleges, hospitals, museums, academies, schools, opera houses, public libraries, and charities. John D. Rockefeller donated over $ 500 million to various charities, slightly over half his entire net worth. Reflecting this, many business leaders were influenced by Herbert Spencer 's theory of social Darwinism , which justified laissez-faire capitalism, competition and social stratification . This emerging industrial economy quickly expanded to meet
7685-486: The extent of the franchise was generally limited to men), and national elections featured two similarly sized parties. The dominant issues were cultural (especially regarding prohibition , education, and ethnic or racial groups) and economic (tariffs and money supply). Urban politics were tied to rapidly growing industrial cities, which increasingly fell under control of political machines . In business, powerful nationwide trusts formed in some industries. Unions crusaded for
7830-418: The families of the stable employees. The stone boathouse had numerous boats and a steam-based launch. The farm barn had 32 stalls for cows and stables for farm horses and sheep. Rockefeller kept Jersey cattle and Southdown sheep (used to trim the lawns). The poultry plant was used to house chickens, ducks, pheasants, and pigeons. The boathouse was reached by a 150-foot steel bridge over the railroad tracks. It
7975-526: The family's seat. Laurance and Nelson, along with their brothers David and John, were all willing to give up their estates to make the site location possible. John Jr. expressed that the nature of the countryside in Westchester would be irrevocably changed. He instructed Nelson to inquire further about another proposed site near White Plains, New York , and to see about additional available land near Rockwood. Another reason given for John Jr.'s disapproval of
8120-480: The farm tended 50 sheep and 7 goats in the pastures of Rockwood Hall. In 2015, 10 Boer goats, 30 Tunis sheep, and 50 Finn Dorset sheep were moved to Rockwood Hall to graze. During Rockefeller's ownership, about 100 Southdown sheep would roam the grounds. Gilded Age In United States history , the Gilded Age is described as the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between
8265-443: The farmhouse, and built Rockwood, an English Gothic castle of locally quarried stone. Bartlett hired Gervase Wheeler to design the house, which was built in 1849. Bartlett sold the house to his business partner William Henry Aspinwall in 1860; Aspinwall made it his summer home and improved the property and house, and purchased enough land to make his estate 200 acres (81 ha). Aspinwall would often travel from New York City to
8410-848: The firm's major public commissions: the New York Public Library (1897–1912), the House and Senate Office Buildings in Washington (1908–09), the planning of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901), the McKinnley Memorial in Buffalo, Richmond Borough Hall on Staten Island (1904–06), and the Paterson (New Jersey) City Hall (1896). The architects were also noted for their contributions to
8555-460: The firm's name and continued his role as principal in the firm, but shared responsibility in large commissions with trusted associates such as Richmond Shreve , Theodore Blake and others. Owen Brainard, an engineer, was a junior partner in the firm during Carrère's lifetime and continued to consult with the firm thereafter. Eventually this collaborative arrangement would result in the formation of Shreve, Lamb and Blake (later Shreve, Lamb and Harmon),
8700-424: The flock every few days through a series of paddocks, coaxing the animals to graze invasive plants like akebia and porcelain berry . The project gave the center additional land and forage for sheep, and helped control invasive plants and improve soil health. Local supporters of the project included New York Life , which supplied water, and the nearby retirement community Kendal on Hudson. From July to November 2014,
8845-489: The following year, the Rockwood Hall club sold 166.5 acres (67.4 ha) of its own land east of Route 9 to John Jr., in order to settle or reduce two of its mortgages. By 1928, the club was profitable enough to plan to expand its property; the club planned for a second golf course on an adjacent property, as well as adjustments to most of its existing course and construction of four tennis courts and an outdoor pool. In
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#17327810416898990-444: The hall. The third floor had six large bedrooms with attached bathrooms, and one bedroom with a separate bath. The third floor shared the same layout of fireplaces. Each bedroom had walls of different kinds of wood, with different designs and frescoes throughout. The attic above the third floor was finished in plain white woodwork, and had about 12 rooms for servants. The servant's wing also contained 15 bedrooms. The round tower contained
9135-461: The homes, gathering more police and leading the effort to suppress the rioters and drive them away from the homes. Rockefeller intended the house to be his summer retreat, yet in his later years it became his year-round home. In 1922, Rockefeller died within Rockwood Hall, leaving the property empty. His funeral took place in Rockwood Hall, with a service by the rector of Saint Mary's Episcopal Church , which Rockefeller regularly attended. The gates of
9280-600: The house and property into Rockwood Hall Country Club. The club became bankrupt in 1936, after which it became the Washington Irving Country Club. By 1940, the property lay empty again, so its owner John D. Rockefeller Jr. had most of the property's buildings razed, including the mansion. In late 1946, the Rockwood Hall property was proposed for the location of the United Nations headquarters . John Jr.'s son Laurance Rockefeller sold some of
9425-469: The house had dimensions of 174 by 104 feet. Its exterior walls were of massive blocks of rough grey gneiss from quarries in Hastings-on-Hudson , and its interior walls were brick. Its exterior walls were 3.5 feet (1.1 m) thick by the foundation and 2 feet (0.61 m) thick at the upper floors, and were all built on bedrock. The interior walls ran from the cellar to the roof. The building
9570-410: The house were the two stable buildings, mostly hidden from view by dense shrubbery. The buildings were built using granite taken from the mansion during Rockefeller's renovations. Together the stables contained housing for the estate superintendent, about 50 stalls for horses, space for carriages, a gallery, riding court, and a large court with a wood floor for indoor sports. The farmland on the property
9715-404: The house, along with a 2-acre (0.81 ha) flower garden, a 3.25 acres (1.32 ha) vegetable garden, 17 greenhouses, and a gardener's cottage. Two streams and several artificial ponds existed on the property, which had swans and ducks in the summertime. The landscape included a network of winding carriage roads through the woods. The roads were 16 feet (4.9 m) wide with an 8-inch crown in
9860-453: The house, by the porte-cochère. This led into a vestibule decorated with mosaics and walled in polished marble, with carved onyx. Past this was the main hall, with American oak walls, a papier mache ceiling, and a carved oak bench between two large carved pillars. It also had a large fireplace of bright orange and white mosaic tiles, with designs of Italian eagles and foliage, and a circular hearthstone 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter. Sunk into
10005-411: The intersection of the two halls was the main staircase to the top floor, making three turns between each floor. The balustrade was made of American oak. Immediately above the staircase was a dome of cathedral glass , while at each half-flight of stairs was a loggia made entirely of tile, separated from the main house by glass, and opening upward to the air. The main entrance was at the north side of
10150-741: The job. The U.S. was also the only industrial power to have no workman's compensation program in place to support injured workers. Craft-oriented labor unions, such as carpenters, printers, shoemakers and cigar makers, grew steadily in the industrial cities after 1870. These unions used frequent short strikes as a method to attain control over the labor market and fight off competing unions. They generally blocked women, blacks, and Chinese from union membership, but welcomed most European immigrants. The railroads had their own separate unions. An especially large episode of unrest (estimated at eighty thousand railroad workers and several hundred thousand other Americans, both employed and unemployed) broke out during
10295-399: The largest. They all expanded their missionary activity to the world arena. Catholics, Lutherans , and Episcopalians set up religious schools, and the largest of those schools set up numerous colleges, hospitals, and charities. Many of the problems faced by society, especially the poor, gave rise to attempted reforms in the subsequent Progressive Era . The term Gilded Age was applied to
10440-599: The late 1910s and early 1920s when, in association with other architects, Hastings' office worked on the Cunard Building (1917–21) and the Standard Oil Building (1920–28), which stand across the street from each other on Broadway at Bowling Green. Hastings was a critic of tall buildings in cities, warning that buildings over six stories (the height of Parisian hôtels particuliers ) produced alienation by removing references to human scale, and destroyed
10585-689: The local factory owner who could patrol every part of his own factory in a matter of hours. Civil engineers became the senior management of railroads. The leading innovators were the Western Railroad of Massachusetts and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the 1840s, the Erie in the 1850s, and the Pennsylvania in the 1860s. The railroads invented the career path in the private sector for both blue- and white-collar workers. Railroading became
10730-554: The location of the United Nations headquarters . It was one of a few proposals for the site, and was given by Laurance and Nelson Rockefeller for free. Officials of Westchester County had previously proposed the same site. Their father, John Jr., was cautious about the proposal, believing that the site's occupancy would prompt the UN's expansion onto other Rockefeller properties nearby in Pocantico Hills , and possibly even Kykuit ,
10875-638: The mansion and servants. Frederick Law Olmsted designed the landscaped property for William Rockefeller, consisting of hills, dales , woodlands , and meadows. Olmsted had young trees planted and old trees transplanted. He planted rare trees including Golden Oak, Weeping Beech, Purple Beech, Cutleaf Beech, English Beech, American Beech, Ginkgo, Weeping Willow, White, Red and Scarlet Oak, Norway Spruce, Colorado Blue Spruce, Pink Horsechestnut, White and Pink Dogwood, and Dwarf Japanese Maple. These groves blocked view of Rockwood Hall from Route 9. A formal garden, 150 by 60 feet (46 m × 18 m), lay in front of
11020-644: The mansion at its height had 204 rooms, making it the second-largest private house in the U.S. at the time, only behind the Biltmore mansion in North Carolina. The estate is currently an 88-acre (36 ha) section of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve . Among the first people to live on the property was Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, who lived there from 1840 to 1848. Edwin Bartlett, a wealthy merchant, subsequently purchased
11165-445: The middle; a large drainage system was built in to control flooding. Two miles of the roads used Hastings block, a paving stone constructed in nearby Hastings-on-Hudson ; the remaining roads were made of compacted crushed stone. Outbuildings included a three-story stable, a carpenter's shop, paint shop, stone ice house, farm barn, hennery, 17 greenhouses, and a 4-acre (1.6 ha) outdoor nursery for 1,000 rare trees and shrubs. Also on
11310-559: The most hated railroad men in the country was Collis P. Huntington (1821–1900), the president of the Southern Pacific Railroad , who dominated California's economy and politics. One textbook argues: "Huntington came to symbolize the greed and corruption of late-nineteenth-century business. Business rivals and political reformers accused him of every conceivable evil. Journalists and cartoonists made their reputations by pillorying him.... Historians have cast Huntington as
11455-701: The national arena. In the 1890s he worked with other leaders of the American Institute of Architects to persuade the US Treasury Department to implement the Tarsney Act , which had been passed by Congress in 1893 to allow the federal government to award architectural commissions for its buildings through open design competitions. During the extended Tarsney controversy, Jeremiah O'Rourke , the Supervising Architect of
11600-502: The natural resources and virgin lands that were available in America acted as a safety valve for poorer workers, hence, employers had to pay higher wages to hire labor. According to Shergold the American advantage grew over time from 1890 to 1914, and the perceived higher American wage led to a heavy steady flow of skilled workers from Britain to industrial America. According to historian Steve Fraser, workers generally earned less than $ 800
11745-561: The new economic opportunity, both parties built so-called " political machines " to manage elections, to reward supporters and to pay off potential opponents. Financed by the " spoils system ", the winning party distributed most local, state and national government jobs, and many government contracts, to its loyal supporters. Carr%C3%A8re and Hastings Carrère and Hastings , the firm of John Merven Carrère ( / k ə ˈ r ɛər / kə- RAIR ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929),
11890-560: The new market demands. From 1869 to 1879, the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 6.8% for NNP (GDP minus capital depreciation) and 4.5% for NNP per capita. The economy repeated this period of growth in the 1880s, in which the wealth of the nation grew at an annual rate of 3.8%, while the GDP was also doubled. Libertarian economist Milton Friedman states that for the 1880s, "The highest decadal rate [of growth of real reproducible, tangible wealth per head from 1805 to 1950] for periods of about ten years
12035-617: The newly renovated house around May 1890. In 1895, Rockefeller's daughter Emma married David Hunter McAlpin Jr., son of David Hunter McAlpin in a ceremony at the house. Much of the house was decorated for the event. In 1914, during the Colorado Coalfield War , the Rockefeller brothers' properties of Rockwood Hall and Kykuit were the site of rioting and potential home invasion. Tarrytown village president Frank Pierson protected
12180-399: The northern lakes in wintertime and stored for summer and fall usage. Chicago, the main railroad center, benefited enormously, with Kansas City a distant second. Historian William Cronon concludes: During the 1870s and 1880s, the U.S. economy rose at the fastest rate in its history, with real wages, wealth, GDP, and capital formation all increasing rapidly. For example, from 1865 to 1898,
12325-561: The noted builders of skyscrapers. Hastings died of complications of an appendectomy on October 23, 1929. Some of his papers were given to the American Academy of Arts & Letters, where he was a member and treasurer for many years. He was survived by his wife but left no heirs. The firm's first major commission came from a parishioner of Rev. Hastings, Henry Morrison Flagler, the Florida developer and railway tycoon, for whom
12470-413: The output of wheat increased by 256%, corn by 222%, coal by 800%, and miles of railway track by 567%. Thick national networks for transportation and communication were created. The corporation became the dominant form of business organization, and a scientific management revolution transformed business operations. By the beginning of the 20th century, gross domestic product and industrial production in
12615-708: The partners built the Ponce de León Hotel (1885–1888) in St. Augustine, Florida (now part of Flagler College ). This was followed by the Alcazar Hotel (1887–88 now the Lightner Museum ), as well as the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church (1887), both in St. Augustine, and a house for Henry Flagler nearby. In 1901 they designed a second house for Flagler, Whitehall , in the resort he developed, Palm Beach, Florida . Whitehall
12760-406: The period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants. The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 40% from 1860 to 1890 and spread across the increasing labor force. The average annual wage per industrial worker (including men, women, and children) rose from $ 380 in 1880 ($ 11,998 in 2023 dollars ) to $ 584 in 1890 ($ 19,126 in 2023 dollars ), a gain of 59%. The Gilded Age
12905-405: The policemen dispersing a meeting. Police then randomly fired into the crowd, killing and wounding a number of people, including other police, and arbitrarily rounded up anarchists, including leaders of the movement. Seven anarchists went on trial; four were hanged even though no evidence directly linked them to the bombing. One had in his possession a Knights of Labor membership card. At its peak,
13050-412: The porte-cochère lying between them. The house originally only had verandas around the major living spaces. The roof was tiled with fire-brick painted red, and had a gilded weather vane. The main entrance was on the north side, under a porte-cochère . The doors were massive and made of intricately carved oak. The interior had 204 rooms, altogether containing 21 fireplaces. The first floor consisted of
13195-427: The production of a specific good, ensuring that the profits made on the finished product were maximized and prices minimized, and by controlling access to the raw materials, prevented other companies from being able to compete in the marketplace. Several monopolies—most famously Standard Oil —came to dominate their markets by keeping prices low when competitors appeared; they grew at a rate four times faster than that of
13340-521: The property to IBM in 1970. IBM's property was later bought by New York Life , followed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals , the current owner. The remaining property was sold to New York State at a significantly reduced price to become parkland within Rockefeller State Park. One of the early owners of the property was Alexander Slidell Mackenzie , who lived in a farmhouse there from 1840 until his death in 1848. Commodore Matthew C. Perry
13485-549: The property via his yacht Firefly , which he could moor to his dock at Rockwood Hall. Upon his death in 1875, his son Lloyd Aspinwall lived there until his own death, in 1886. William Avery Rockefeller Jr. then purchased it for $ 150,000. His residence in Mount Pleasant persuaded his brother, John D. Rockefeller , to build his estate Kykuit in nearby Pocantico Hills . Rockefeller expanded his property to about 1,000 acres (400 ha) and either renovated or rebuilt
13630-491: The property was a boathouse, dock, a spring, and an electric lighting plant. Rockefeller also built a shed for his private train car, built next to and parallel to the New York Central tracks by his property. The stone ice house on the property used rock salt to preserve meats and vegetables. The main granite stable had 40 stalls, an indoor riding court, and a gallery. The coach house had housing on its second floor for
13775-468: The property, the Rockefellers granted walking tours for 540 residents, and gave them questionnaires to them to gauge reactions. Developers were commissioned to give opinions; the first developers proposed a swimming pool, skating rink, and tennis courts to allow for high-density use of the parkland. Residents indicated on the questionnaires that they preferred passive use of the park: walking trails and
13920-532: The property. During William Rockefeller's ownership, the property was within the tax district of Tarrytown; the current park property extends nearly the entire riverfront from Sleepy Hollow to Briarcliff Manor , and from the Hudson River to Route 9. The mansion's facades were decorated with large pots of tropical plants. To one side of the house, several acres were devoted to pastures for Southdown sheep , described as William Rockefeller's pets. Another pasture held Jersey cattle for production of milk and butter for
14065-467: The property. In 1938, John Jr. purchased Rockwood Hall Country Club and its 220 acres (89 ha) from Chase Bank for $ 244,374 in bankruptcy court. By 1941, John Jr. found no use for the site and its buildings were deteriorating severely, so he prepared to demolish the buildings. In late 1941 and early 1942, John Jr. ordered the demolition of the mansion, coachhouse, greenhouses, powerhouse, barn, chicken house, pigeonhouse, sheds, and boathouse; only excluding
14210-642: The railroad tycoon, Thomas Fortune Ryan , one of Wall Street's notorious capitalists, and several members of the Blair family of New Jersey. The early work of the firm was eclectic but always succinctly organized, an inheritance of their École des Beaux-Arts training. Following the World Columbian Exposition of 1893, and its influential classical themes, the firm's style began to exhibit modern French and Renaissance revival attributes. The attention to sculpture and surface embellishment in their work
14355-403: The railroads made a profound impression; people dressed in their Sunday best to go down to the terminal to watch the train come in. Travel became much easier, cheaper, and more common. Shoppers from small towns could make day trips to big city stores. Hotels, resorts, and tourist attractions were built to accommodate the demand. The realization that anyone could buy a ticket for a thousand-mile trip
14500-537: The rapid success of the young architects. His brother Frank's ties to E. C. Benedict, a leading financier, introduced him not only to patrons but also to his future wife. In 1900, at the age of 40, he married Benedict's daughter Helen at the Presbyterian church in Greenwich, Connecticut . The ceremony was attended by many of New York's wealthy citizens. Charles F. McKim was the best man, Stanford White designed
14645-542: The same year, Frederic N. Gilbert was removed as a member of the country club for allegedly trying to obtain control of it. Frank Harris Hitchcock was President of the club at the time, and had been the club's first president. Gilbert took legal action against the club. The Rockwood Hall club was building up debts, especially during the Great Depression , which began in 1929. The club was ultimately not financially successful, and declared bankruptcy in 1936. During
14790-554: The servants' wing was divided from the house by a heavy brick and stone wall to prevent spread of fire. All doors in the house, except those at the main entrance, slid to close. The floors were of highly polished inlaid American oak. The property is located in the town of Mount Pleasant , in Westchester County, New York . It lies west of U.S. Route 9 , then known as Broadway, and 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Tarrytown and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Scarborough . It
14935-478: The site and hired Gervase Wheeler to design a house on the property, which was constructed in 1849. By 1860, Bartlett sold the house to William Henry Aspinwall, who lived there until 1875; his son Lloyd lived at the house until 1886. William Rockefeller purchased the estate and likely extensively renovated the house and property, hiring the firm Carrère and Hastings for interior renovations. Rockefeller died there in 1922, and his heirs sold it to investors, who turned
15080-574: The site was its distance from airports and other transportation available in New York City. Laurance sold 80 acres (32 ha) of the property to IBM in 1970 for the development of the IBM World Trade/Americas Building; the stipulation being that the building not be tall or seen from the main estate. A low, 4 story corporate headquarters with reflecting pool and fish pond was designed by Architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and Associates . New York Life later operated out of
15225-533: The site. Most recently, biotech company Regeneron purchases the property for the DNA Learning Center (DNALC Building). Laurance had planned to donate Rockwood Hall to New York State, and made the IBM sale to offset the loss of tax revenue to the town of Mount Pleasant. During Laurance's ownership of the remaining land, he made the space available to the public for hiking, fishing, and other recreation. From
15370-491: The solution. The AFL was a coalition of unions, each based on strong local chapters; the AFL coordinated their work in cities and prevented jurisdictional battles. Gompers repudiated socialism and abandoned the violent nature of the earlier unions. The AFL worked to control the local labor market, thereby empowering its locals to obtain higher wages and more control over hiring. As a result, the AFL unions spread to most cities, reaching
15515-409: The south veranda and terrace. The dining room was mahogany, wainscoted almost to the ceiling. The walls were covered with oil paintings. The fireplace was of Siena marble, and a sideboard was of mahogany. The billiard room, in the southwest corner, had a frescoed domed ceiling and a fireplace of light-hued onyx. The breakfast room, in the northeast corner, had wainscoted gum-wood walls, with space between
15660-414: The southeast corner of the house, used Circassian walnut wainscoting all the way to the ceiling. The fireplace was of black Levantine marble. Carved oaken chairs were throughout the room. The library was described as dark and sombre as opposed to the light and airy music room, an example of how nearly all of the house's rooms were distinct from the adjoining rooms. The dining room and library opened out onto
15805-498: The southern states, lingering resentment over the Civil War remained and meant that much of the South would vote Democratic. After the end of Reconstruction in 1877, competition in the South took place mainly inside the Democratic Party. Nationwide, turnout fell sharply after 1900. Despite the high voter turnout, aggressive political campaigning, and frequently nasty elections, there were few real policy differences between
15950-546: The standard of living in Pittsburgh with Birmingham, England, one of the richest industrial cities of Europe. After taking account of the cost of living (which was 65% higher in the U.S.), he found the standard of living of unskilled workers was about the same in the two cities, while skilled workers in Pittsburgh had about 50% to 100% higher standard of living as those in Birmingham, England. Warren B. Catlin proposed that
16095-418: The state's most despicable villain." However Huntington defended himself: "The motives back of my actions have been honest ones and the results have redounded far more to the benefit of California than they have to my own." The growth of railroads from 1850s to 1880s made commercial farming much more feasible and profitable. Millions of acres were opened to settlement once the railroad was nearby, and provided
16240-487: The summer of 1937, Rockwood Hall Country Club leased the house and grounds to the Washington Irving Country Club and the coachhouse and stable to the Washington Irving Theater during Rockwood's foreclosure suit. The coachhouse and stable were remodeled and began showing summer productions beginning in 1938 and ending by 1940. Chase National Bank had acquired Rockwood's mortgage and began foreclosing on
16385-448: The system of railroads needed: The impact can be examined through five aspects: shipping, finance, management, careers, and popular reaction. Railroads provided a highly efficient network for shipping freight and passengers throughout the U.S., spurring the evolution of a large national market. This had a transformative impact on most sectors of the economy including manufacturing, retail and wholesale, agriculture, and finance. The result
16530-424: The time, the land was one of few large undeveloped tracts left on the lower Hudson River. New York State subsequently purchased Memorial Sloan Kettering's portion (appraised at $ 26.8 million) in order to fully own Rockwood Hall. The house was 500 feet (150 m) east of the Hudson River and 150 feet (46 m) above it. The building was designed in the castellated Elizabethan style . Under Rockefeller's ownership,
16675-415: The two gatehouses. Debris was to be dumped into the Hudson River, and care was taken to not damage the property's retaining walls, trees, shrubs, roads, and terraces. The last remaining structures are the gatehouse on U.S. Route 9 and the terraced foundation of the mansion. Rockefeller Jr. deeded Rockwood Hall to his son Laurance Rockefeller on April 8, 1946. Later that year, the property was proposed for
16820-480: The wainscoting and ceiling featuring inscribed phrases. The ceiling was azure blue, with emblems of the zodiac in gold. The den nearby had red birch walls and ceiling and a painted frieze, along with a yellow tiled fireplace. The house's second and third floors were dedicated to sleeping space, together containing 14 bedrooms. The second floor had five large bedrooms with attached bathrooms and two small bedrooms with attached bathrooms, with fireplaces in each bedroom and
16965-410: The wall to the left and right of the fireplace was a pair of corner seats. To the right of the main hall was a bathroom and coatroom. To its right was the reception room, a room with stained-glass windows, dark mahogany woodwork with inlaid maple, a mosaic-faced fireplace with a mantle of African onyx, and a carved mahogany mantelpiece with carved cherubs supporting a round mirror. The ceiling was gold and
17110-557: The wall, reading "Thirty miles from City Hall, New York City". One entrance had a swinging metal gate on two granite posts, next to a relatively undecorated gatehouse. The drive from the gate to the house took a visitor along a slightly ascending and winding road, through a grove of elms, to the east of Rockwood Hall. The house's architecture inspired the design of the Sacred Heart Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio , which
17255-400: The walls were frescoed. Seven electric chandeliers lit the space. The music room, next to the reception room, was colored a delicate green enamel. The walls were paneled satinwood, the ceiling was papier-mâché, and the fireplace was of Pyrian marble, with a small square window above. The room was lit by 250 electric lamps scattered throughout the room in "artistic carelessness". The library, in
17400-451: The working classes prompted the rise of populist , anarchist , and socialist movements. French economist Thomas Piketty notes that economists during this time, such as Willford I. King , were concerned that the United States was becoming increasingly inegalitarian to the point of becoming like old Europe, and "further and further away from its original pioneering ideal." According to economist Richard Sutch in an alternative view of
17545-935: The world until 1914, yet the United States' growth caused foreigners to ask, as British author W. T. Stead wrote in 1901, "What is the secret of American success?" The businessmen of the Second Industrial Revolution created industrial towns and cities in the Northeast with new factories, and hired an ethnically diverse industrial working class, many of them new immigrants from Europe. Wealthy industrialists and financiers such as John D. Rockefeller , Jay Gould , Henry Clay Frick , Andrew Mellon , Andrew Carnegie , Henry Flagler , Henry Huttleston Rogers , J. P. Morgan , Leland Stanford , Meyer Guggenheim , Jacob Schiff , Charles Crocker , and Cornelius Vanderbilt would sometimes be labeled " robber barons " by their critics, who argue their fortunes were made at
17690-639: The École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1880–1883 as a student in the atelier of Louis-Jules André . There he met his future partner, and both maintained ties to Europe throughout their lives (Hastings earning the French Legion of Honor as well as the Gold Medal of the RIBA). Upon returning to New York, Hastings entered the office of McKim, Mead & White, the leading American firm of
17835-732: The École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he was in the atelier of Leon Ginian until 1882. He returned to New York where his family had resettled after leaving Brazil and worked as draughtsmen for the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White . He and his Paris acquaintance, Thomas Hastings, worked there together before striking out on their own in 1885. During this period Carrère independently designed several circular panorama buildings in New York and Chicago. After he married Marion Dell in 1886, they lived on Staten Island and had three daughters, one of whom died as an infant. In 1901 they moved to East 65th Street in Manhattan and built
17980-489: Was $ 1.8 billion; 1897, it reached $ 10.6 billion (compared to a total national debt of $ 1.2 billion). Funding came primarily from private finance throughout the Northeast, and from Europe, especially Britain, with about 10 percent coming from the Federal government, especially in the form of land grants that could be realized when a certain amount of trackage was opened. The emerging American financial system
18125-429: Was accustomed to spending part of the summer with his wife in cottages near Mackenzie's farm. In 1839, Perry purchased a neighboring parcel and built a stone house, named The Moorings. They settled into this home as a year-round residence with their children. Around 1853 or 1854, Perry sold the country estate and moved back to New York City. Importer and merchant Edwin Bartlett obtained the property around 1848, demolished
18270-486: Was also a dark side. By the 1870s railroads were vilified by Western farmers who absorbed the Granger movement theme that monopolistic carriers controlled too much pricing power, and that the state legislatures had to regulate maximum prices. Local merchants and shippers supported the demand and got some " Granger Laws " passed. Anti-railroad complaints were loudly repeated in late 19th century political rhetoric. One of
18415-489: Was also an era of poverty, especially in the South, and growing inequality, as millions of immigrants poured into the United States, and the high concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious. Railroads were the major growth industry, with the factory system, oil, mining, and finance increasing in importance. Immigration from Europe and the Eastern United States led to the rapid growth of
18560-404: Was always closely tied to the axial planning that ensured the functionality of the interior spaces and circulation. They were among the earliest users of new technologies, from structural steel to electrification, even employing passive air conditioning systems. But their major interest was in the adaptation of the classical language of architecture developed in Europe to the American scene, creating
18705-433: Was an American architecture firm specializing in Beaux-Arts architecture . Located in New York City, the firm practiced from 1885 until 1929, although Hastings practiced alone after Carrère died in an automobile accident in 1911. Both men studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in France and worked at the firm of McKim, Mead and White before they established their firm. The partnership's first success
18850-406: Was an integrated market practically the size of Europe's, with no internal barriers, tariffs, or language barriers to hamper it, and a common financial and legal system to support it. Railroad financing provided the basis for a dramatic expansion of the private financial system. Construction of railroads was far more expensive than factories. In 1860, the combined total of railroad stocks and bonds
18995-511: Was apparently reached in the eighties with approximately 3.8 percent." The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 60% from 1860 to 1890, spread across the increasing labor force. Real wages (adjusting for inflation) rose steadily, with the exact percentage increase depending on the dates and the specific work force. The Census Bureau reported in 1892, that the average annual wage per industrial worker (including men, women, and children) rose from $ 380 in 1880 to $ 564 in 1890,
19140-454: Was based on railroad bonds. By 1860, New York was the dominant financial market. The British invested heavily in railroads around the world, but nowhere more so than the United States; The total came to about $ 3 billion by 1914. In 1914–1917, they liquidated their American assets to pay for war supplies. Railroad management designed complex systems that could handle far more complicated simultaneous relationships than could be dreamed of by
19285-525: Was born in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil, the son of John Merven Carrère, a Baltimore native and Anna Louisa Maxwell, a Scots/Brazilian native of Rio who was the daughter of Joseph Maxwell, a prosperous coffee trader. The architect's father entered Maxwell's coffee business and later developed other business interests of his own in Brazil. As a boy Carrère was sent to Switzerland for his education until 1880, when he entered
19430-408: Was built around 1913 and had six dressing rooms, a bathroom, and a sitting room with a fireplace, along with yachts, rowboats, and canoes. 50 feet (15 m) north of the boathouse was the 135 by 35 feet (41 m × 11 m) dock. Pipes for oil and water were laid between the power house and dock, for fueling boats and launching them. About 600 yards (550 m) to 700 yards (640 m) from
19575-617: Was built from 1864 to 1867 by Thomas Sargent as a private home for William C. Neff. The Cincinnati building is described as a "copy reversed left-to-right" of Rockwood Hall. The likely intermediate sources for Sargent were images published in Villas on the Hudson , by A. A. Turner. The former location of Rockwood Hall, and the surrounding estate, are now part of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. In 2014 and 2015,
19720-423: Was built prominently on a hill, on the highest point of the estate by skilled laborers from Scotland. The house had an asymmetrical scheme, with a square main portion and an L-shaped servants' wing extending north from the main house. The main portion had three stories and an attic. The house had a four-story tower at the southeast corner, which originally had a two-and-a-half-story octagonal tower next to it, with
19865-477: Was completed in 1902. Whitehall is a Mediterranean-flavored house faced with white stucco, with palatial interiors in various styles ranged round a grand entrance hall with double staircase. Carrère and Hastings were among the best-connected New York architects, and benefited from associations with the richest and most powerful of the city's citizens. Clients included Elihu Root , the noted attorney and cabinet secretary under Theodore Roosevelt, Edward H. Harriman ,
20010-713: Was deemed severe enough by the government that President Rutherford B. Hayes intervened with federal troops. Starting in the mid-1880s a new group, the Knights of Labor , grew too rapidly, and it spun out of control and failed to handle the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 . The Knights avoided violence, but their reputation collapsed in the wake of the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago in 1886 , when anarchists allegedly bombed
20155-448: Was described as resembling a Scottish castle, related to the Rockefellers' Scottish lineage. The house had two walled terraces at its base, one of which was used as a tennis court; the other was used at the front of the house for the roadway, while the back facing the river was laid with a mosaic. It also had a wide and stone-roofed veranda surrounding the house. Its architectural decorations included towers, turrets, and ported parapets. It
20300-574: Was empowering. Historians Gary Cross and Rick Szostak argue: The civil and mechanical engineers became model citizens, bringing their can-do spirit and their systematic work effort to all phases of the economy as well as local and national government. By 1910, major cities were building magnificent palatial railroad stations, such as the Pennsylvania Station in New York City, and the Union Station in Washington, D.C. But there
20445-420: Was in control. Most were of very short duration. In times of depression strikes were more violent but less successful, because the company was losing money anyway. They were successful in times of prosperity when the company was losing profits and wanted to settle quickly. The largest and most dramatic strike was the 1894 Pullman Strike , a coordinated effort to shut down the national railroad system. The strike
20590-438: Was led by the upstart American Railway Union led by Eugene V. Debs and was not supported by the established brotherhoods. The union defied federal court orders to stop blocking the mail trains, so President Cleveland used the U.S. Army to get the trains moving again. The ARU vanished and the traditional railroad brotherhoods survived but avoided strikes. The new American Federation of Labor , headed by Samuel Gompers , found
20735-481: Was less than 1-mile (1.6 km) from Sleepy Hollow Country Club . The property borders railroad tracks, formerly of the New York Central Railroad and today as Metro-North 's Hudson Line . The property also borders the Hudson River for 3 ⁄ 4 mile (1.2 km). The lawns and gardens spanned 26 acres (11 ha) of the property. Corrugated iron fences on concrete fenced off part of
20880-433: Was primarily used to grow hay and potatoes. The grounds also had two small brooks running through them which carried trout. During Rockwood Hall's inhabitance, the property had three entrances. Two had stone gatehouses on one side of the entrance, while the third, the center gate, only had oak trees around the road, and led to the principle driveway to the stables and mansion. The main entrance gate has an old milestone within
21025-547: Was the Ponce de León Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, designed for Henry Flagler . They went on to establish a successful practice during the 1880s and early 1890s, and rose to national prominence by winning the competition for the New York Public Library in 1897. The firm designed commercial buildings, elaborate residences, and prominent public buildings in New York, Washington and as far afield as Toronto, London, Paris, Rome, and Havana. John Merven Carrère
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