GILD tips

“What was this building before?” is Howard Cushing’s favorite question. That’s because this patrician, shingled white building facing Newport harbor fits in so completely with the other buildings in this Rhode Island town known for its 18th century houses but also for sailing and society socializing. Though Cushing has a history in Newport as a descendant of a prominent family that includes the artist Howard Gardiner Cushing, his great grandfather, the building doesn’t: it’s a new build created by Cushing and partner Wirt Blaffer. But as Gardiner House, a boutique hotel that soft opened in September, it feels immediately in sync with Gilded Age grandeur-just with contemporary style.

Gliding down rocky hillsides and winding lanes past great oaks, blossom trees, and Tudor manor houses, meet the grand iron gates of Fawsley Hall guarded by lion heads sat on gothic pillars as the thick misty fog sweeps over the rolling hills of Northamptonshire and you smell the scent of over 1,000 years of history burning in the air.

During the Gilded Age in the late 1800s, railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt was the richest man in America with a net worth of $100 million, or around $200 billion today — more money than the US Treasury had at the time.

Collar stays. They might be a staple in a gentleman’s wardrobe but they’re not usually found in the amenity offerings in the bathroom of a hotel. They are here, though, in The Fifth Avenue Hotel which opened in October in NoMad in New York. And it makes sense: the original 19th century mansion, remodeled as a Renaissance palazzo in 1907, was formerly the site of Gilded Age society events and it’s easy to imagine a guest of the first owner, renowned hostess Charlotte Goodridge, having his valet install them before heading off to the opera. Starting this month, the hotel can once again resemble a private home, an extremely lavish one, by introducing Your Mansion at The Fifth Avenue Hotel, a three-night takeover of this historic part.

Whether you are a first-time visitor to Tokyo or know the city well, there are plenty of surprises waiting on the capital’s doorstep. The temples and shrines of Nikkō and Kamakura offer a window into Japanese history, while Mt Takao, Hakone, and Izu Oshima Island provide a natural contrast to Tokyo’s crowded, urban heart.

Forget the huge hotels with hundreds of identical rooms. If you’re planning a trip to the Tuscan capital of Florence, Italy, consider the intimate 18th-century palazzo of AdAstra. Not only is each and every one of its 14 rooms totally unique, but the storied, luxe mansion overlooks a secret garden with a gorgeous neo-gothic fairytale tower designed for observing the stars.

In July, I did something I'd long been eager to do: I visited Versailles, the sprawling, gilded estate outside of Paris. 

In the Gilded Age, Boston and New York grandees flocked to western Massachusetts. They built scores of homes called Berkshire Cottages that were, in fact, cottages in name only. Many of these impressive villas and grand estates are thankfully still there, some thriving under new guises.