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21 archive photos show America's grandest houses through history

Dive into the archives of American stately homes
1880s: Edith Wharton's childhood drawing room
1891: White House cook at work
1901: Edith Wharton builds The Mount
Early 1900s: the ballroom at the Larz Anderson mansion
1914: A tableaux for the Red Cross at The Breakers
1914: Alva Vanderbilt hosts ladies at her Chinese tea house
1919: Alva Vanderbilt holds a suffragette rally at Marble House
1922: a glimpse inside Whitemarsh Hall
1922: an elegant organ
1922: Whitemarsh Hall's lavish bonus features
1923: the Garrett family's home theatre
1930s: Alabama's stately Swan House
1930s: Sarah Winchester's bedroom
1938: a staircase to nowhere in the Winchester Mystery House
1956: Alec Guiness poses outside Biltmore
1957: the Tiffany Ball at Marble House
1960: the study at Old Westbury Gardens
1960: the grand hall at Old Westbury Gardens
1961: a young woman explores the fireplace at Henry Ford's Fair Lane
1961: a different point of view on Fair Lane's architectural details
1962: Jackie Kennedy attends the America's Cup at The Breakers
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Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

Dive into the archives of American stately homes

Step behind the curtain of some of America’s largest and most lavish stately homes and discover their secrets through the ages. From Hollywood movie stars at the Biltmore Estate to Suffragette rallies at Marble House, these unique moments in history will cast these storied homes in a whole new light.

Click or scroll to step back in time with these 21 images from the archives…

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Alexandra Upton

23 April 2025

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