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Throughout Chicago, historic mansions built by legendary architects were the homes to characters just as great and whose impact is still felt today.

Chicago is known throughout the world for its architecture. Although many people are familiar with the city's skyscrapers and public buildings, they often overlook or are unaware of Chicago's mansions that are located throughout the city. These mansions represent Chicago's past and its future, and it can even be said that they are the very embodiment of Chicago and its architecture. These fashionable residences were built to make a statement, and what better way to have done this than to employ the leading architects of the time to design them. These architects included men such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Hobson Richardson, Daniel Burnham, and John Wellborn Root. While the city's mansions are significant because of who built them, they are just as important because of who lived in them. Many of these mansions were built for Chicago's elite businessmen and captains of industry-men who represented old money, new money and big money. Just as important were the families of these men and the other residents who came to live in these mansions-for they left a legacy of their own that contributed to the city's history.

In 1907, William and Florence Sloane began construction on a five-room summer cottage on the banks of the Lafayette River in Norfolk. Over the course of 30 years, they would expand their home from its origins as a summer retreat into a 42-room Arts and Crafts mansion nestled on 12 acres of gardens and grounds. As their home grew, so did their desire to bring an arts scene to southeastern Virginia. In 1937, the Sloanes turned their attention to repurposing their home as a museum. By opening the site to the public, the Sloane family created a new space for the arts and education in Norfolk. Today, visitors continue to enjoy their vision through an expansive art collection and acres of gardens and grounds.

This pictorial record of Morris County, New Jersey, traces the dramatic rise of America's least-known colony of millionaires during the Gilded Age. The area became a country retreat for the upper class. Families such as the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Kountzes, Wolffs, Dodges, and Claflins built impressive estates in the area referred to as the
inland Newport. By the 1920s, the prominence of Morris County was eclipsed by the lure of Long Island, and its economy was being threatened by the Depression. Faced with high taxes from the newly established income tax, skyrocketing maintenance costs, and a dwindling reservoir of help, the wealthy residents began razing their mansions. Although many of these vast estates have been long gone and forgotten, author John W. Rae's collection of early Morris County photographs recaptures the area's palatial homes in their full grandeur. Within the pages of Morris County Mansions, Rae invites you to join him on a visual tour of the magnificent architecture of the Gilded Age. Meet the area's
prominent families and discover little-known facts about the homes in which they resided.

Morris-Jumel Mansion is an engaging look at the history of
Manhattan's oldest residence. Built by Roger Morris in 1765 as a summer estate, it has truly been a witness to history throughout the last 250 years. Located in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, the mansion sits on a large hill, with sweeping views of both the East and Hudson Rivers. George Washington strategically located his headquarters here during the fall of 1776, but the Jumels, who made the house their home from 1810 to 1895, left the most indelible mark. In 1904, the residence became a museum, thanks to the Daughters of the American Revolution, who saved the house and allowed it to grow with the changing neighborhood. Today, this landmark is a symbol of both the long history of the city and the contemporary face of its now diverse neighborhood.

Perry Hall Mansion, constructed c. 1775 as the country estate of Harry Dorsey and Prudence Carnan Gough, has long been considered one of the most historic structures in Baltimore County, Maryland. Nestled on a ridge overlooking the lush forest of the Gunpowder River Valley, the mansion has played host to a number of crucial events in both local history and the emergence of Methodism in the United States. Since its completion, the house has claimed 14 different principal owners, culminating with its transfer to public ownership in 2001. Each of the families who lived there left behind unique legacies. Materials contained in Perry Hall Mansion depict the evolving use of the building and grounds and demonstrate how this progression reflected changing conditions within Maryland generally.

A collection of images celebrating the extravagant and historic mansions of Pittsburgh, PA.

In the 19th century, the positioning of Pittsburgh as a major manufacturing center and the subsequent rise of the area's steel industry created a wave of prosperity that prompted the beneficiaries of that wealth to construct extravagant residences. Wealthy enclaves sprang up in the city's East End, across the river in neighboring Allegheny City, and into the countryside. Pittsburgh's Mansions explores the stately homes of the area's prominent residents from the 1830s through the 1920s. Businessmen such as H.J. Heinz, Henry Clay Frick, and members of the Mellon family commissioned elaborate homes from the preeminent architects of their day. Firms such as Alden & Harlow, Janssen & Abbott, and Rutan & Russell left their marks on the city's landscape, often contributing iconic public buildings as well as expansive private homes. Though many of the residences have since been lost, Pittsburgh's Mansions offers a look back at the peak of the city's prominence.

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark is currently the only 20th-century blast furnace in the nation being preserved and interpreted as an industrial museum. Since reopening in 1983, Sloss Furnaces has become an international model for similar preservation efforts and presents a remarkable perspective of the era when America grew to world industrial dominance. At the same time, Sloss is an important reminder of the dreams and struggles of the people who worked in the industries that made Birmingham the "Magic City." Today Sloss is not only dedicated to preservation and education but serves as a center for community and civic events. Site tours and public presentations provide insight into Sloss's industrial heritage as well as a rare glimpse of an early Birmingham that has all but disappeared.