One of the Last Gilded Age Mansions in Manhattan: Payne Whitney Mansion

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Tour the magnificent Payne Whitney Mansion on 5th Avenue! Delve into the Gilded Age's opulence, architectural wonders, and the mansion's incredible transformation.

Location: Manhattan, NY

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Public Domain Photos from: Library of Congress, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, Tom Murphy VII
Assets from: Envato Elements
Music form Epidemic Sound

[kenziej]

Gawd if ever a city should’ve been preserved as once was, it’s NYC. NYC gilded age estates were so exquisite and a marvel to take in more so than a modern skyscraper.

[christopherkraft]

I'm glad to see that this lovely mansion still exists today!!! 🙂

[LJB]

Unfortunately for the Whitneys, they sold the mansion without ever knowing that the "Young Archer" is not a copy but an original early Michelangelo (realized in 1996 by art historian Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt ). Excellent video.

[ricardosanfernando]

In Argentina we stil have houses of the gilded age and many of them are fully conserved as in their glorious days

[marthamarlette]

This house was never the French Embassy. Embassies are in capital cities, such as Washington, DC. This building housed the French Consulate in New York.

[garywait]

Thanks for another delightfully informative video. As an American cultural historian, I delight not only in the decorative aspects of your presentations, but in the light they shed on the lives of those who built and occupied these marvelous buildings.
One interesting footnote to this one: Helen Hay Whitney was the daughter of John Hay, who was Lincoln's private secretary and, with John Nicolay, his co-biographer; and subsequently Ambassador to Great Britain and Secretary of State under McKinley. Several years ago, I spent two summers cataloging the Hay library at his summer home, The Fells, on Lake Sunapee, N.H., where the Whitneys undoubtedly visited. The house, now restored, is open to the public, and might make a suitable subject for one of your This House episodes.

[denverdubois]

I find it rather sad that the son sold off his parents' beautiful home instead of raising his own family there. I love a homestead that future generations can always return home to--grand mansion or humble, comfy house, it doesn't matter--it's just the idea of home that matters.

[sprague]

3:32 Son Jock Whitney coined the term 'crewcut' while on the rowing team at Yale. He was a major investor in Technicolor and Selznick International Pictures, the company that produced "Gone With The Wind". He put up half the money to secure the rights from Margaret Mitchell. Later he was appointed US Ambassador to the UK by President Eisenhower.

[dougcargill]

This is actually two houses. The Whitney house is the one with the bowed front (on the right as seen from Fifth Ave). The one to the left (the Henry Cook House) still has the original Stanford White interiors and sold in 2012 for $42 million. It’s one of the most spectacular houses in NYC.

[Jmpd]

The Michelangelo in the front hall turned out to be authentic and had been ignored until the late 1990’s when it was reassessed and is now considered so important it is on permanent loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[daradoe]

I enjoy all of your videos, but my favorites are the Manhattan gilded age mansions.👍

[catherineblack]

It's across the street from Central Park at 74 street and 5th avenue.

[bobolpatrick]

Merci pour la découverte et vive la France !

[MrMagi]

The Michelangelo sculpture in the gallery is not a reproduction. It is genuine.

[rebeccablakey]

This home was so tastefully decorated and very thoughtfully built. Amazing that the home is still standing and is repurposed.

[sergpie]

Some of these mansions in Manhattan are selling for upwards of $40, 000, 000. Absolutely insane, but nevertheless stunning abodes.

[TheJojo]

A beautiful edifice! It’s nice to see a Manhattan mansion survive to our day structurally intact. Although it’s no longer a residence, it serves an important purpose as an embassy.

[claudiocavaliere]

Absolutely magnificent house! Good taste all the way! Amazing architecture and decoration! Fascinating! Congratulations! Very interesting and enjoyable video!

[moniquesilverans]

Trop de décorations tuent la décoration

[Javachacin]

You can go visit, it’s open to the public, at least the entrance area, you can look at the beautiful lobby area, the staircase and peak into the reception room, which you can’t walk into but see from outside. There’s a French book store towards the back (if you look at that main picture of the entrance, that back hallway now leads to the store) so there’s a lot of foot traffic.