Victorian America

The Victorian age in America calls to mind classic images of heavily upholstered chairs, extensively carved woods, multicolored veneers, rococo and Gothic arches, and Moorish-influenced decor. It was a marvelously eclectic period noted for an undisciplined exuberance and unlimited riches made possible by the emerging Industrial Revolution. With stunning new photography of magnificent period houses, most open to the public and many never before published, Victorian America: From Classical Romanticism to Gilded Opulence presents the finest examples of Victorian American architecture and decorative arts from the 1850s, through the Civil War, and into the turn of the century. Here are authentic and spectacular Victorian interiors as seen in the Putnam-Balch House of Salem, Massachusetts, Wilson Castle of Proctor, Vermont, Victorian Mansion of Portland, Maine, the Bush House of Salem, Oregon, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in New York City, Rosedown in Louisiana, Vizcaya in Miami, the Hermitage in Tennessee, the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee, and the Villa Finale in San Antonio, among other great houses. Author Wendell Garrett, noted American historian and former editor of the magazine Antiques, presents perceptive and knowledgeable descriptions of the houses, their interiors, and their furnishings while providing a more detailed social and economic background essay that places these elegant residences in historical context. This is Victorian America as it has never been presented before - over fifty splendid historic houses that preserve the grandeur of the Gilded Age.