As grand mansions and country houses were built during America’s Gilded Age, an integral part of any estate design was an equally grand and impressive garden. Drawing on European traditions, great Gilded Age gardens ranged from the very formal to a more natural style that incorporated the surrounding countryside. The most successful garden designer of the late 19th century was the extraordinary Beatrix… Continue reading Summer Gardens of the Gilded Age ENCORE
Topic: Travel & Country Estates
A New Year in Old New York with the Bowery Boys
A rite of passage for many New Yorkers (and visitors alike) is to spend New Year’s Eve in Times Square patiently awaiting the moment when the crystal-studded ball begins its descent from the top of the old New York Times Building and a new year officially begins. But there is so much history to New York’s New… Continue reading A New Year in Old New York with the Bowery Boys
Episode #109: The Story of Black Newport: A Rich and Vibrant Legacy
From its earliest days as one of the most significant ports for the 18th-century slave trade to the late 19th-century years of the Gilded Age, Newport, Rhode Island, has been a tremendously important center for the evolution of America’s African heritage community. Viewers ot HBO’s “The Gilded Age” will follow the story of Peggy Scott and her… Continue reading Episode #109: The Story of Black Newport: A Rich and Vibrant Legacy
Episode #106: John Singer Sargent and Paris: The Path to Madame X
Join Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Stephanie Herdrich as she joins Carl for this in-depth look at how the career and personal life of Gilded Age artist John Singer Sargent evolved over his ten-plus-year period in Paris from the 1870s to the mid-1880s. Sargent is the subject of a major new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that focuses on… Continue reading Episode #106: John Singer Sargent and Paris: The Path to Madame X
Episode #104: Egyptomania: From Napoleon to the Discovery of King Tutankhamen
Throughout the 19th century, perhaps culminating in America’s Gilded Age, the public held a deep fascination for all things Egypt. This “Egyptomania” affected design, style and cultural and social thought. As a result of the wave of exploration and discovery predominantly by the French, English and Americans, the world gained a view into one of the world’s most ancient cultures. Architecture,… Continue reading Episode #104: Egyptomania: From Napoleon to the Discovery of King Tutankhamen
Episode #102: The Last Ships from Hamburg: The Untold Story of the Escape of the Russian Jews
Between the late 1890s and early 1920s, over 2 million Jews from Eastern Europe fled their homes and made the long, arduous unsettling journey to America to escape persecution and violence in their native countries. Many of these Jews were fleeing Russia, where a state-sanctioned anti-Semitism forced many to escape for their lives. This mass… Continue reading Episode #102: The Last Ships from Hamburg: The Untold Story of the Escape of the Russian Jews
Episode #95: Vienna 1874: Die Fledermaus and the World of Johann Strauss II
The world of Vienna at the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th was a world of change. New design, new fashion and new philosophy -and new music. But amidst sweeping change, the Viennese drank champagne and were swept along by the works of the great Johann Strauss II, known appropriately as the “Waltz King”. One of… Continue reading Episode #95: Vienna 1874: Die Fledermaus and the World of Johann Strauss II
Episode #94: Christmas Tales and Traditions: 19th Century England’s Wrest Park
Join Carl and Dr. MIchael Carter, Senior Properties Historian for English Heritage to celebrate an English country Christmas. Carl and Michael center their discussion on Wrest Park, home to the De Grey family for over 600 years. In the 19th century, the original house was torn and a French-inspired mansion rose in its place, still surrounded by the 18th-century gardens which guests… Continue reading Episode #94: Christmas Tales and Traditions: 19th Century England’s Wrest Park
“In The Good Old Summertime (ENCORE)”
Join listener-favorite guest Esther Crain and me for this encore presentation of one of last season’s most popular shows. Esther takes us on a journey from Central Park to Coney Island and shares stories of how Gilded Age New Yorkers — and tourists alike — tried to stay cool in the last hazy days of summer.
Episode #87: Summer with Queen Victoria: Life at Osborne House
In this special episode created in partnership with English Heritage, Carl is joined by curator Christopher Warleigh-Lack for a look at the once royal residence of Osborne House on England’s Isle of Wight. Christopher takes us inside the grand estate where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spent the summer and Christmas holidays. Following Albert’s sudden death, Victorian continued to come to Osborne and spent her… Continue reading Episode #87: Summer with Queen Victoria: Life at Osborne House