Magnates and Mansions: Who Were The American Millionaires That Loved the British Country House?

Phipps, Carnegie and Old Westbury Gardens

In its turn of the 20th-century heyday, Long Island could boast no fewer than 900 country houses.  Since then, most have disappeared, leaving Old Westbury Gardens in a unique position – the only house to have survived complete with its collections, garden and archive.  Clive has just been there and shares its wonder with John, asking why the American country house is such a different beast form its counterparts in the UK.  

The story of Old Westbury Gardens is romantic.  Jay Phipps, son of Andrew Carnegie’s partner Henry Phipps, built it for his English bride, Margarita Grace – who loved the life she had known growing up at Battle Abbey in Sussex and was only persuaded to marry him when he offered to create something similar on the other side of the Atlantic.  Westbury House, as it was originally known,  was therefore as English as possible.  And yet there are many differences from prototypes in the UK, revealing the difference between English and American priorities. 

Andrew Carnegie was another builder of country houses.  John ponders why this should have been. The ensuing chat illuminates the values of the plutocracy in the Edwardian age, an age of super wealth and (sometimes) philanthropy.