Greg O’s Garage; HBO’s The Gilded Age, Long Island and the Vanderbilts Part 1
HBO's excellent new series 'The Gilded Age' has many connections, real and fictional, to NYC, Long Island and the Vanderbilt family. If you've yet to see it, and are a regular reader here, this new series is highly recommended.
While it is a fictional series detailing the rise and acceptance of a 'new money' family, The Russells, into the 'old money' guard of the gilded age society of New York, there are plenty of factual characters and locations within the show to keep any history aficionado happily entertained.
The first thing a watcher will notice is the thinly veiled portrayal of the Vanderbilt family by the fictional Russell family of the show. Clearly, George Russell represents William K. Vanderbilt, Willie K's father. Matriarch Bertha Russell exhibits the same drive and determination of Alva Vanderbilt attempting to rise through the ranks of the Astors and New York's social elite in New York's gilded age of the 1870's through 1910. Set in the early 1880's, the show, writers, producers and cast have all done their homework to ensure relative historical accuracy. So accurate, that aside from the wardrobe and story lines, many of the sets and locations are the actual residences of gilded age families.
Within this first of a series of posts, we'll examine the locations used to produce this visually stunning program. Future posts will show similarities of fictional characters to their real-life counterparts, as well as factual figures sprinkled throughout the series and plot lines.
Greg O.
Old Bethpage Village Restoration
The set locations of the show are varied and all over the place, but the bulk of the series was shot on a tremendous Hollywood set built at the Armor Museum at Old Bethpage Village restoration on Long Island. Other locations are the actual mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, Tarrytown, NY, The City of Troy, NY and other smaller locations around Long Island.
Seen here, rendered in 3D on Google Earth, this elaborate set started construction during the height of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020. Like many movies of today, the fictional recreation of 5th Ave and 61st Street relies heavily on computer graphics (CGI) as noted by the half buildings and plenty of green screens to pepper in the CGI effects in post-production, but what is there is enough to make even a lifetime New Yorker think they're actually in the city standing next to the wall at Central Park on 5th.
Heavily guarded (by tanks!) and off limits, much of the set can be seen from the Armor Museum parking lot. After watching most of the season, then catching a glimpse of it in person is absolutely amazing!
The fictional Russell mansion on 5th and 61st is just a partial facade with only a first floor and 3 windows constituting the second floor above the main entrance.
The rest is filled in by CGI in post-production to create the imposing view and grandeur of the fictional house.
We've come a long way in terms of special effects, so even with the knowledge of most of the frame being faked, it doesn't detract from enjoyment of the show. In fact, it's so good, it's fun to try and point out the real from the fake watching episodes second or third times.
A first episode scene takes place in a Pennsylvania train station. Visually amazing, but yet more Hollywood trickery.
Seen here on Google Earth, the train station depot is tucked away in the back corner of the OBVR set and makes obvious the only real items in the final shot are the structure, people and platform.
Troy, NY
The upstate NY city of Troy is remarkable and rich in gilded age history and buildings within its historic districts, so the show uses their surroundings in many of the outdoor street scenes.
New York City
In episode 1, a scene is seen shot here at the actual Bethesda Terrace and Fountain for realism and authenticity.
Constructed between 1859 and 1864, Bethesda Terrace is an excellent choice to add that authenticity to the show. Seen here in its current, and mostly original form.
Newport, Rhode Island- The Breakers
In Newport, Rhode Island, of the many obvious choices was Vanderbilt's The Breakers to shoot the spectacular interior scenes.
A masterpiece designed by Richard Morris Hunt built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
The Breakers over-the-top ballroom and music rooms are the stand-in for the Russell ballroom at fictional 5th & 61st. Even watching it on the small screen doesn't detract from its elaborate ornamentation.
Marble House
Consuelo Vanderbilt's actual bedroom at Alva Vanderbilt's Marble House is used as George Russell's bedroom.
Red must have been Conseulo's favorite color and is surprisingly masculine. Perfect for George.
Rosecliff
Stanford White designed Rosecliff was built 1898–1902 by Theresa Fair Oelrichs, a silver heiress from Nevada, whose father James Graham Fair was one of the four partners in the Comstock Lode. Her sister Virginia 'Birdie' Graham Fair married Willie K. Vanderbilt Jr. in 1899.
As seen in this still shot from the show, just the right-hand, front entrance of Rosecliff was grafted via CGI to create character Sylvia Chamberlin's mansion in NYC.
Other locations
The Elms, in Newport, by architect Horace Trumbauer (1868–1938) designed it for the coal baron Edward Julius Berwind and was used for the servant's kitchen for the Russell mansion.
Other grand mansions in Newport included Chateau-Sur-Mer and Belcourt, as well as a few others for interior shots.
Jay Gould's Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY was another obvious addition for interior shots as well as his Hempstead House in Sand's Point, Long Island (Now known as the Sands Point Preserve)
In the next post, we'll take a look at the cast fictional and factual, and their roles within the show.
Comments
Hello Greg,
Great research and you’re right; the show is fabulous. I’ve been trying to explain the Vanderbilt nuances to my wife as the show has unfolded and you’ve made it a whole lot easier. Keep it up!
Greg, Thanks for this article. Old Bethpage Village Restoration (OBVR) has been used for filming TV shows & movies since 1974 when “The Case Against Mulligan” was filmed there in the historic Village under strict curatorial control. Actually, the following year on November 21, 1975, a film crew arrived at OBVR to start filming the TV movie “The Devil’s Work”. I remember this very well as I, along with a number of other staff, worked as extras sitting in the Manetto Hill M.C. Church depicting the members of the congregation. We worked from 2:30-4:00, and got paid $35.65 for the work! The one correction to your article is that Jay Gould never stepped foot on the Sands Point Preserve property. He died in 1892, a decade before he son, Howard Gould (1871-1959), bought the property, living there with his wife Katherine Clemmons before their scandalous, and very public, divorce in 1909. Originally living in an existing wooden mansion, they would build the 3 stone bridges, ponds, dog kennel, pheasant house, cow barn, a now long demolished greenhouse complex, and the magnificent limestone stables, known as “Castle Gould”. This impressive stable complex with a central bell tower was never a mansion, but purpose built to house Gould’s horses and carriages, and later automobiles. It NEVER was a mansion as many have stated. His 272 ft. yacht, the Niagara, was tied up at his dock on L.I. Sound. It was called the largest pleasure yacht ever built in the U.S. up to that time (1898). The 3 mansions on the site were Hempstead House, completed around 1914 by Howard Gould, Falaise built by Harry Guggenheim, and Mille Fleuers built by Mrs. Daniel Guggenheim. To my knowledge, the only estate on L.I. to have 3 mansions on it, and all still standing!
I completely agree this series is very entertaining and goes the extra to make things authentic to the camera’s eye. I enjoy watching the background as much as the action catching details like:
- the brand new (clean!) walls around central park
- the mysteriously bright clean ballast under the track when a train is shown. while I doubt this is period accurate it is always pleasant to see well maintained trackage.
- a surprising lack of house poop on the streets was covered in a bit of background business where there was a man sweeping some away!
With but 2 episodes remaining this is a good choice to binge watch and get caught up.
Thanks for the compliments guys! It’s a great show, so this was a fun post to put together. I’ll be putting together a part 2 looking at the cast and Vanderbilt parallels.
Gary- I always appreciated seeing you at the OBVR. I recall the first time I met you, you were kind enough to spend about 30 minutes explaining all the farm tools at the barn near the refreshment stand at the LI fair. And later splitting the crowds as you rode by on a penny farthing.
I also happen to be huge record collector with about 3000 records. On a recent record hunt, I came across this record of the OBVR brass band from 1981. I’m sure you’ve seen one before and maybe even know most of the people involved with it.
Greg, Thanks for the compliments. OBVR was fun to work at; I especially enjoyed the Manufacturer’s Exhibition at the LI Fair, although setup & knockdown was time consuming, but explaining 19th century technology to visitors like yourself was a big part of why I enjoyed it. Of course my favorite part of the Fair was being “The Wheelman” on the high wheel bicycle with no brakes, another great interpretive tool! Yes, I’m familiar with that recording, and knew several of the band members. Music at OBVR started back in the 1970’s with both the brass band and the OBVR singers. After your recording, 2 additional cassette tapes were released - “The Long Island State” featuring the OB Singers, and “Rally Round the Flag” performed by both groups. Back on June 1, 1991 we had a “Grand Brass Band Concert” where the Dodworth Saxhorn Band from Michigan, and the Centennial Brass Band from Maine, joined with the OBVR Brass Band in Concert under a tent in the Fairgrounds - what a great evening that was. It was hoped to produce a recording of that event, but unfortunately it never happened. We also hired guest musicians to perform for special events including Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis, along with Skip Gorman, all well-known with their own recordings. Did you know that the original singers group at OBVR, known as the Fellowship Singers, included Pat Carey, Mariah Carey’s mom? Such great memories!
Just watching the first episode OnDemand, I’m hooked line & sinker : )
Greg it was great reading your article and the story about the horses. Our good friend Allegra Farms from Connecticut is supplying the horses and carriages for the Guilded Age. I have worked on shoots for TV and movies and the horses can be the worst actors on set. Looking forward to Part 2. We have ran the horse show during the L I Fair for 30 years and always enjoy our time spent there. Here’s a photo of me judging the show and explaining the horses and carriages to the guests.