Lost Palaces of 'Millionaires' Row'
During the Gilded Age, New York City's Fifth Avenue became synonymous with extreme wealth. The city's richest families — notably the Vanderbilts and Astors — built enormous, ornate homes along a stretch that came to be known as "Millionaires' Row." These mansions were designed to display fortune and status even as the era was defined by stark income inequality (a 2021 study in The Journal of Economic Inequality estimates the richest 0.01% held about 9% of U.S. wealth in 1913).
Why the mansions vanished
By the Progressive Era and into the 20th century, changing tastes, rising maintenance costs and shifting urban economics made these single-family palaces impractical. Large domestic staffs, expensive upkeep and increasing land values encouraged owners and developers to replace mansions with stores, office towers, and apartment buildings. While many Fifth Avenue homes were demolished between the 1920s and 1940s, a number of summer estates in Newport, Rhode Island, survive as reminders of the period.
William H. Vanderbilt — the Triple Palace (640–642 Fifth Avenue)
Completed in 1882 and designed by John B. Snook and Charles B. Atwood, the Triple Palace actually comprised three connected residences for William H. Vanderbilt and two of his daughters. The complex featured stained-glass windows, a shared courtyard and a three-story art gallery with hundreds of European paintings (Untapped New York). The Triple Palace was demolished in stages between 1927 and 1949; the site is now occupied by commercial high-rises.
William K. Vanderbilt — the "Petit Chateau" (660 Fifth Avenue)
William K. and Alva Vanderbilt hired Richard Morris Hunt to build a white-limestone, French chateau–inspired mansion in 1882. The 60-room, three-story house cost about $3 million at the time (roughly $98 million in today's dollars, per Vogue) and provoked snobbery from older New York families who considered the new money display ostentatious. Demolished in 1926, the site later became a 39-story office tower; the family's Marble House in Newport still stands.
Cornelius Vanderbilt II — the blockwide chateau (between 57th and 58th Streets)
Designed by George B. Post with later expansion by Richard Morris Hunt, Cornelius Vanderbilt II's French-style mansion occupied an entire Fifth Avenue block and was regarded as possibly the city's largest single-family residence in its day (Untapped New York). Purchased and demolished by Braisted Realty in the late 1920s, the location became the Bergdorf-Goodman flagship store in 1928. Several architectural fragments survived: wrought-iron gates were moved to the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, sculptural reliefs now decorate the Sherry-Netherland Hotel lobby, and a marble-and-mosaic mantel sits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
William S. Clark — "Clark's Folly" (completed 1911; demolished 1927)
Copper magnate William S. Clark's 121-room mansion—completed after 14 years of construction—included four art galleries, a swimming pool and even a private rail spur for coal delivery. Built at an estimated $6 million (about $203 million today, per the Museum of the City of New York), critics dubbed it "Clark's Folly." It was torn down in 1927 and replaced by a luxury cooperative building.
Astor double mansion (840–841 Fifth Avenue)
Richard Morris Hunt designed adjacent residences for Caroline Schermerhorn Astor and her son John Jacob Astor IV in 1896. Caroline, a central figure in New York society who curated the exclusive "Four Hundred," used the mansion for grand entertainments; its ballroom held up to 1,200 guests (DuJour). John Jacob Astor IV later died aboard the Titanic in 1912. The Astor house was demolished in 1926; its contents were auctioned and Temple Emanu-El now occupies the site.
Brokaw House (1 East 79th Street)
Finished in 1890 for clothing magnate Isaac Vail Brokaw and designed by Rose and Stone, the Brokaw House echoed French chateau styling with an Italian marble entry hall, stained-glass windows and ornate woodwork. After serving various institutional uses following Brokaw's death, the mansion was demolished in 1965.
Charles M. Schwab — Riverside Drive estate (completed 1905)
Steel executive Charles M. Schwab's Riverside Drive mansion covered a full block between 73rd and 74th Streets and totaled about 50,000 square feet, with features such as a pool and bowling alley (The New York Times). Schwab offered the home to New York City in 1936 as a mayoral residence, but the city declined; the house was torn down in 1948 and replaced by an apartment complex.
Legacy
Most Fifth Avenue palaces were lost to redevelopment, but their reach persists in salvaged ornamentation, museum collections and surviving summer estates. These structures illustrate both the architectural ambition of America's richest families and the social and economic shifts that reshaped the city in the 20th century.
Sources: Business Insider, Untapped New York, Vogue, Museum of the City of New York, DuJour, The New York Times, The Journal of Economic Inequality.
