Harbor Hill: Portrait of a House | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Guy Wilson
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $60.00
Buy New: $36.19
You Save: $23.81 (40%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 215650
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 12.2 x 9.3 x 1
ISBN: 0393732169
Dewey Decimal Number: 728.809747245
EAN: 9780393732160
ASIN: 0393732169
Publication Date: March 31, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: N20081117043316T
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Product Description
The story of a grand estate erected at the turn of the last century, an embodiment of the excess of the Gilded Era.<|
A "palace" ruled by a "queen," Harbor Hill in Roslyn, Long Island, was commissioned by the beautiful and imperious Katherine Duer Mackay, wife of one of the country's wealthiest men. The mansion, along with its magnificent furnishings, art, and gardens, and the owners' striving, hubris, and ultimate failure are the dramatis personae of this saga. Stanford White, Harbor Hill's architect, wrote, "with the exception of Biltmore, I do not think there will be an estate equal to it in the country." Detailing the extravagant product of the owners' desire for social acceptance, the story encompasses western mining and old versus new wealth, religious differences and the building of a church, art collecting, and many people—from the architects, builders, and workers to the servants and staff who ran the house and gardens. Harbor Hill's story includes elements of farce and tragedy: in a sense an American portrait. 175 duotone and 8 color photographs.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Harbor Hill: a reader's opinion May 31, 2008
Harbor Hill: Portrait of a house deals with one of the most important private homes built in America's "gilded age." Both the family involved, and the architect, provide the meat for a good story. Unfortunately, the result is a dry review of the details. Perhaps there are few surviving photographs of the home's interior, but too few are included to gain a good picture of the interior design and furnishings. In the end, the book is something of a disappointment.
 HARBOR HILL April 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS AND WELL WRITTEN STORY OF AN ESTATE THAT NO LONGER EXISTS....THE AUTHOR MADE IT EXIST AGAIN, IF ONLY IN THE MIND OF THE READER.
harbor hill book April 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Gave as gift and person who received it absolutely loves it. She could not put the book down and we have ordered another copy to give as gift to somene else! Very well written and immensely interesting.
HARBOR HILL April 9, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Harbor Hill was one of the most spectacular mansions ever built in America. Designed by the iconic Stanford White and built to embody the MacKays desire to accend to the pinacle of NYC society. This book charts the rise of the MacKays and their ultimate demise, along with the similar fate of this great house. The mistress of the house was a real peice of work, but this beautiful showplace was really her creation, she knew what she wanted and Stanford White gave it to her, with Mr. MacKay's money of course. The book is well researched and it's an interesting read and the images are first rate. Honestly, it's tragic that this house no longer survives, you just wonder what kind of philstine could tear something like this down, unfortunitely this being America and not Europe, none of us should be surprised it was so uncerimoniously destroyed. Harbor Hills fate closely resembles the great Philadelphia mansion, Whitehall, and the MacKays are more than a bit similiar to the Stotesbury's, both thought they built their great estates to last for centuries and instead they barely outlived them..when you see the kind of grand mansions built today in places like Bel Air and Palm Beach, you can't help but notice how inferior they are in comparison to the great Gilded Age mansions like Harbor Hill, it's a shame we dont have more respect for beautiful architecture of the past, we inherited so much from the Europeans, but that unfortunitely was not one of them...too bad for Harbor Hill, now just a ghost, haunting old sepia stained images.
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