House Museum Kevin Durst House Museum Kevin Durst

A Stockbridge Gilded Age Cottage - Naumkeag

Naumkeag is the former Berkshire estate of New York City lawyer and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Hodges Choate, and his wife Caroline, located in Stockbridge, Massachusettes. The Choate’s, who were part of the newly-rich, traveled in well-to-do social circles. They decided to build a 44-room shingle-style “cottage” with brick and stone details, designed by the architect of the day, Stanford White.

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House Museum Kevin Durst House Museum Kevin Durst

A Berkshire Gilded Age Museum - Ventfort Hall

Sara Spencer Morgan, sister of J.P. Morgan and husband George Hill Morgan commissioned Rotch & Tilden to build Ventfort Hall, and it was built between 1891 and 1893. They were 7th cousins so they both carried the Morgan name. The Morgan family summered together at their Lenox home until Sarah died in 1896, and then her husband in 1911. Ventfort Hall was left to their three children, Junius Spencer, George Dennison and Caroline Lucy, who sold the house and all the contents, so there are no original furnishings in the house today.

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House Museum Kevin Durst House Museum Kevin Durst

The Mount - Edith Wharton’s Lenox Retreat

Edith Wharton was part of “Olde New York” society, and is credited with establishing interior design as a profession in the United States. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction for her book, Age of Innocence. She believed that good architectural expression included order, scale, and harmony.

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