Mansions of the Gilded Age Symposium 2018

Five esteemed speakers and authors discuss topics related to Gilded Age homes, society, and art.

A selection of sandwiches, salads, and snacks will be available for purchase to ticket holders at lunch. Pre-purchase lunch voucher with your symposium ticket to speed through the lunch line.

Lecture Schedule

8:30 - 10 AM
Registration and Coffee Station Open; Museum Shop Open

9:00 AM
Special Tour of Lyndhurst Mansion - SOLD OUT
Optional add-on

Take a tour through the first and second floors of Lyndhurst mansion exclusively for symposium participants. Pre-purchase with your symposium ticket to receive a discounted tour price. Space is limited to 20 participants. Tour departs promptly at 9 AM.

10:15 AM
Introduction
Gary Lawrance, Architect, Author and Historian

10:30 AM     
Our Time at Foxhollow Farm
David Byars

David Byars discusses his book, Our Time at Foxhollow Farm, which chronicles the lives of Tracy Dows and his family over a 30-year span while they lived on their bucolic Hudson Valley estate, designed by Harrie T. Lindeberg.

11:30 AM     
A Dangerous Woman: American Beauty, Noted Philanthropist, Nazi Collaborator – The Life of Florence Gould
Susan Ronald

A revealing biography of Florence Gould, fabulously wealthy socialite and patron of the arts, who hid a dark past as a Nazi collaborator in 1940’s Paris. 

12:30 PM         
Lunch and Book Signing
Pre-purchase lunch voucher with your symposium ticket to speed through the lunch line.

Optional Tour of Lyndhurst Mansion 
Take a tour through the first and second floors of Lyndhurst mansion exclusively for symposium participants. Pre-purchase with your symposium ticket to receive a discounted tour price. Space is limited to 20 participants. Tour departs promptly at 12:30 PM.

2:00 PM                  
Ardrossan: The Last Great Estate
on the Philadelphia Main Line
David Wren

Explore David Wren’s unique and fascinating chronicle of the construction and furnishing of an early 20th-century country house, vividly brought to life by letters from the family archive.

3:00 PM                  
Houses of the Hamptons 1880-1930
Gary Lawrance

Mr. Lawrance will give an illustrated view into the great summer resort homes that made the Hamptons, often referred to as the “American Riviera,” one of the premier resorts of glamour, luxury and architectural achievement. The talk will also give a brief history of the founding of the Summer Colony.

4:00 PM
Jay Gould and His Daughters; the Forgotten Collectors of the Gilded Age
Howard Zar

This presentation aims to re-establish the Goulds as important art collectors and major Tiffany patrons, as well as highlight Lyndhurst Mansion as one of the few remaining venues to experience the taste of the early Gilded Age.

5:00 PM                  
Champagne Reception and Book Signing
The reception is included and free to all symposium participants

Symposium sponsored in part by Rago Auctions