The House the Rockefellers Built: A Tale of Money, Taste, and Power in Twentieth-Century America
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Book Overview
What it was like to be as rich as Rockefeller: How a house gave shape and meaning to three generations of an iconic American family One hundred years ago America's richest man established a dynastic seat, the granite-clad Kykuit, high above the Hudson River. Though George Vanderbilt's 255-room Biltmore had recently put the American country house on the money map, John D. Rockefeller, who detested ostentation, had something simple in mind--at least until his son John Jr. and his charming wife, Abby, injected a spirit of noblesse oblige into the equation. Built to honor the senior Rockefeller, the house would also become the place above all others that anchored the family's memories. There could never be a better picture of the Rockefellers and their ambitions for the enormous fortune Senior had settled upon them. The authors take us inside the house and the family to observe a century of building and rebuilding--the ebb and flow of events and family feelings, the architecture and furnishings, the art and the gardens. A complex saga, "The House the Rockefellers Built" is alive with surprising twists and turns that reveal the tastes of a large family often sharply at odds with one another about the fortune the house symbolized.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0805075445
ISBN13:9780805075441
Release Date:July 2007
Publisher:Henry Holt & Company
Length:333 Pages
Weight:1.40 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 6.7" x 9.5"
Customer Reviews
4 ratings
ROCKEFELLER'S KYKUIT
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
This is a very well written book about the iconic Rockefellers and their family estate. It's interesting how the house seems to act as a metaphor for each of the family member's, their interests, their desires. Kykuit is an amazing set peice and the mixture of Jr.'s Bosworth and Ogden Codman classical estate, Sr's wanting the house to be tasteful and not too grand, and Nelson's avande garde, modern tastes. The estate and it's location are breathtaking and the Codman interiors are exquisite. This is a very well researched and fascinating study of the Rockefellers and their Kykuit. I do recommend getting the Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit, it's very good.
Excellent Insights into and the history of the family and house
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
Lee and Robert Dalzell have put together a very fascinating look at both the history of the home that generations the Rockefeller family occupied, how they built it, wrestled over it, disagreed about it and loved it which reflected the complicated relationships of the dynasty. Not unlike many parent and sibling relationships, there were arguments about what their parents' intentions were, Senior's and Junior's, Abby's, etc. and how they lived their lives based on interpretations of their parental affinities. The home (house?) becomes the symbol of the old world of privilege as well as a modern world of the current generation. The house and now the entire estate essentially was cobbled together and pulled apart as each new generation left its own footprints. I particularly enjoyed trying to separate Lee's from Robert's "story" as well as the intertwining story of the house and the family.
The House The Rockefellers Built
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
This is much more than a book on the building of a house. It is about three generations of a family, their individual personalities, their character and development over time, all centered around the construction of a house that became a national monument. It is about their time and place in history. It is well written, a delight to read and leaves the reader yearning to know about the succeeding generation. Bob McGill
Rockerfellers House
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
I read this book from an architect's viewpoint, and it squares with my experience that there is something about homebuilding that is intensely personal. Much has been written about visionary Designers. In fact, it is the clients who hire and steer those designers who are writing their world views large. I visited Kykuit once and thought the design was quirky for a pile from the mansion age...quirky but with vim & vigor, bold but not bombastic. Now I know how it got to be that way.
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