Luxury Interiors, 1870-1920 as a Reflection of Gilded Age Social Status

Dissertation

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of The Ohio State University

By

M. Lynn Barnes, M.A.

Graduate Program in and Clothing

The Ohio State University

2010

Dissertation Committee:

Professor Patricia A. , Adviser

Professor David Steigerwald

Professor Susie Zavotka

Copyright by

M. Lynn Barnes, M.A.

2010

Abstract

This dissertation is based on six leading families in the , their mansions and their . They experienced status through consumption of luxury goods, especially in decorating their homes. The thesis of this study is that it appears that yacht owners borrowed interior design ideas of their homes to decorate the interiors of their yachts. Their purpose was to enhance and maintain a presentation of status while at . It is assumed that yacht interiors from 1870 to 1920 were an extension of house interiors, reflecting the owner’s status, specifically in the use of textiles.

The luxury yachts were extravagant symbols of the wealth, taste, and social power of their owners and were paraded as a statement of social status. The consumption of luxury products and an overt demonstration of leisure were part of the lifestyle that

Gilded Age industrials and financiers strove to obtain. Luxury yachts were used as a tool, either through sport, cruising or extravagant entertaining, to promote the apparent well-being of the family.

The three eras of during the Gilded Age were: -yachts, auxiliary-yachts and steamer yachts. This study will examine the interiors and textiles of mansion drawing rooms and luxury yachts at each phase of development, and whether or not they were transferred to the yacht’s main saloon as a statement of social status.

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Four specific topics will be addressed. These are: developments in the Gilded Age that gave rise to elite Americans’ desire for extravagance in luxurious interiors, the rise of the American parlor as a status prototype, evaluation of the auxiliary activities that supported yachting as a social status statement and the technological advances that promoted luxury yacht, and home interiors.

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Dedication

This work is dedicated to Joseph Sewell, who was my principal at Piner High

School in Santa Rosa, California, 1992. His wise and timely counsel of “you are going to do as you have planned” set my feet on the path to graduate studies and career promotions. His encouragement was critical to my and I would not have pursued and completed graduate studies, had it not been for his advice. Thank you, Joe.

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Acknowledgements

My sincerest gratitude goes to Dr. Patricia A. Cunningham, my advisor. Your direction, patience and fortitude through the processes of work, research, exams and writing were stellar and you set a high standard for those that follow in your path.

Thank you.

My committee members, Dr. David Steigerwald and Dr. Susie Zavotka both deserve applause and commendation for your insightful recommendations and guidance from the planning stages to the completion. Your areas of expertise laid the foundation for this project and enhanced my understanding. Not only did I enjoy your classes, but I considered it a privilege to know you.

My research included visits to many maritime research librarys and museums.

The collections and reference materials held at the Frick Museum of Fine Art, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library, the Newport County Preservation

Society, and the Rosenfeld Collection and Blunt Library at Mystic Maritime Museum were extremely helpful. Librarians and curators at each of these locations are greatly appreciated for their assistance.

Two people in particular were vital to the completion of this work, Lindsay

Shuckhart, curator at the and Daley, the Development &

Marketing Director of the Coronet Project at the International Restoration Yacht School.

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Their wisdom, availability and access to their collections and archives proved invaluable in locating primary sources that were necessary for the completion of this work.

A project this size requires the unfailing support of family and friends. My parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews were consistent in their encouragement, and prayers. Thank you, each one, for your participation in this adventure. The conversations with my friends and colleagues, especially Mixon and

Joycelyn eased many a distraught evening. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

To Tim, the brother I never got, but I am so glad I found. You helped me see the in the midst of the rainstorm. From “Let me show you an old ,” to the very last period, you helped the schooner on course. I am grateful for your tenacity and belief in my success.

My sweetheart, Christopher, deserves special recognition. Everyday, your prayers, counsel, encouragement, support, friendship and were necessary for the completion of this work. My world is a far superior place to live in because of you.

Thank you sweetheart.

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Vita

June 2010 Ph.D. in Textiles and Clothing : Historic Dress The Ohio State University, OH

May 1999 M.A. in Family and Consumer Studies/Dietetics Major: Clothing and Textiles, International Emphasis San Francisco State University, CA

June 1986 B.A. Family and Consumer Sciences Major: Home Economics Education San Diego State University, CA

Fall 2008-present Assistant Professor, Historic Costume and Dress West University, WV Courses taught: Historic of Fashion, Applied Historic Dress, Introduction to Fashion Business, Fashion in the Media, Basic Construction, Global Issues and Fashion, Fashion Merchandising Portfolio Presentation, New York Study Tour.

2006 – 2008 Assistant Professor, Fashion Retail and Merchandising Eastern Kentucky University, KY Courses taught: Introductory Apparel Production, Advanced Apparel Design, Introduction to Apparel Design and Merchandising, Apparel and Global Sourcing, Apparel Retail and Merchandising, Visual Merchandising and Display, Fashion Illustration, Museum Fieldwork and Historic Research, Vintage Fashion Show, 1800-1830.

2000 – 2004 Assistant Professor, Fashion Merchandising and Design Bluffton University, OH Courses taught: Management Home Residency, Textile Sciences, Beginning and Advanced Apparel/Textile Product Design, Historical Analysis of Costumes and Design, Human Ecology, Interior Space Planning and Materials, Functional Apparel and Textile Product Design, Work and Family Life Education Programs, Theatrical Costuming I and II.

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Fields of Study

Major Field: Clothing and Textiles

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... ii

Dedication ...... iv

Acknowledgments ...... v

Vita ...... vii

List of Tables ...... xv

List of Figures ...... xvi

Chapter 1: Introduction to a Comparison of Gilded Age Yachts and Mansions . . . 1

Research Question ...... 4

Statement of Purpose ...... 5

Objectives ...... 5

Background ...... 6

Status in the Gilded Age ...... 6

The Yacht as Conspicuous Consumption ...... 10

Limitations of the Study ...... 11

Rationale ...... 13

Sources and Scope of the Study ...... 14

Textiles as Status...... 15

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Methodology...... 17

Analysis of Photographic Data ...... 18

Chapter Contents ...... 29

Definition of Terms ...... 38

Chapter 2: The Rise of the American Aristocracy: Emulations of European Social Status and their Effect on American Home Interiors ...... 40

Late Nineteenth-Century Social and Financial Developments ...... 42

New Families of Wealth ...... 43

Houses and Furnishings as Status Symbols ...... 48

Parlors and Status ...... 53

The Influence of the British Parlour and British Designers ...... 57

The Influence of the French Salon and the Rise of American Designers ...... 71

Chapter 3: The Rise of the American Home Parlor as Status Prototype for Private Luxury Yacht Saloons...... 89

Status Ashore — The American Home Parlor ...... 89

Status Afloat – The American Yacht Saloon ...... 93

Status through Textiles in the Parlor and on the Yacht ...... 94

Parlor Furnishings ...... 95

Textiles ...... 96

Fabric Production ...... 104

Status in Professions – Architecture, Interior Design, and American Yachting ...... 122

The Rise of American Architects and Interior Designers ...... 123 ix

Influence of Interior Design on Homes ...... 139

Influence of Interior Design on Yachts ...... 142

Chapter 4: Reflections of Social Status in Gilded Age Yachting Associations, Activities, and Publications ...... 145

The Expense of Yacht Ownership ...... 148

The Development of Yacht Clubs ...... 154

The Yacht Squadron ...... 157

The ...... 159

The Club House...... 166

Yacht Club Yearbooks and Rosters...... 169

Auxiliary Industries, Businesses, and Social Events ...... 171

Regatta Balls ...... 171

Yacht Racing ...... 173

Cowes Week ...... 174

America’s Cup ...... 176

Yachting Sportsmanship ...... 181

Etiquette of Yachting ...... 182

Other Yachting Trophies ...... 183

Maritime Art...... 185

Maritime Photography ...... 190

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Yachting Ephemera ...... 202

Yachting Images in Magazines ...... 211

Yachting Publications ...... 217

Chapter 5: The Lineage of Royal Yachts, Yacht Designers and Supporting Technologies of the Gilded Age Luxury Yacht ...... 219

Luxury Yachting Historical Background ...... 220

Royal Yachts ...... 221

Presidential Yachts ...... 229

American Yachting Background and Cleopatra’s Barge ...... 233

Yacht and Racing Measurement Rules...... 237

The Yacht Designer and Builder...... 240

Yacht Designers 1819-1938 ...... 246

George Steers, 1819-1856 ...... 246

John Beavor-Webb, 1849-1927 ...... 251

Edward Burgess, 1848-1891 ...... 254

Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff, 11848-1938 ...... 258

Classification and Registration of Gilded Age Yachts ...... 265

“Working” Textiles of a Vessel ...... 269

Sails and Cloth ...... 269

Ropes and Cordage ...... 274

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Flags, Ensigns, and Burgees ...... 275

Chapter 6: The Grand Schooner-Yachts of the Gilded Age ...... 279

Yacht Interiors ...... 281

British Example of a Grand Schooner-Yacht ...... 292

Lieutenant William Henn, R. N. and ...... 292

American Example of a Grand Schooner-Yacht ...... 302

Rufus T. Bush and Coronet ...... 302

Photographic Analysis of House Parlors and Yacht Main Saloons...... 322

British Parlours...... 323

British Yacht Example: Galatea ...... 326

American Parlors ...... 330

American Yacht Examples: Coronet and ...... 333 Discussion ...... 336

Chapter 7: The Auxiliary-Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age ...... 338

The Transition from Sail to Steam ...... 338

Yacht Club Acceptance of Auxiliary Steam Yachts ...... 344

Social Acceptance of Auxiliary Steam Yachts ...... 345

J. Pierpont Morgan, 1837-1913...... 346

Commodore Morgan and the New York Yacht Club...... 349

Morgan and I ...... 349

Morgan and Corsair III ...... 352

Cornelius II, 1845-1899 ...... 354 xii

Vanderbilt II and North II ...... 358

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. and Namouna ...... 359

Photographic Analysis of House Parlors and Yacht Main Saloons ...... 361

Morgan Drawing Room ...... 362

Corsair II ...... 365

Vanderbilt Grand Salon/Drawing Room ...... 367

Cornelius Vanderbilt II and North Star II ...... 369

Discussion ...... 370

Chapter 8: The Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age ...... 373

The Standardization of and Preference for Steam ...... 377

American Examples of Steam Yachts ...... 380

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. and Lysistrata (1900) ...... 382

Eugene Tompkins and Idalia ...... 384

Colonel E. H. R. Green and United States ...... 384

Howard Gould, 1871-1950 ...... 386

The Gould Houses ...... 386

Gould and Niagara ...... 387

A. J. Drexel II, 1865-1934 ...... 389

Steam Yacht Era Drawing Room – Beacon Hill House ...... 390

Drexel and Margarita ...... 391

Photographic Analysis of House Parlors and Yacht Main Saloons ...... 393 xiii

The Elms, Drawing Room ...... 393

Niagara ...... 394

Beacon Hill House Drawing Room ...... 395

Margarita ...... 396

Discussion ...... 397

The Rise of the Diesel Engine ...... 399

Chapter 9: Conclusion ...... 403

Suggestions for Future Studies ...... 409

References ...... 412

Appendix A: Chapter One Table ...... 463

Appendix B: Discussion of Primary and Secondary Sources ...... 469

Appendix C: Schooner-Yachts: Origins, , and Historical Background . . . 473

Appendix D: The Grand-Schooner Yacht Saloons and Parlours ...... 494

Appendix E: Auxiliary-Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age and Parlours ...... 505

Appendix F: Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age and Parlours ...... 516

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List of Tables

Table 1. Selected families, homes, and yachts for study ...... 17

Table 2. Identification of textiles found in photographs ...... 25

Table 3. Criteria used to identify characteristics of photograph ...... 26

xv

List of Figures in Appendixes

Figure 1. Martinez Grid...... 464

Figure 2. Photographic Image with Martinez Grid (Galatea)...... 465

Figure 3. Photographic Data Grid Collection (Galatea) ...... 466

Figure 4 Table of Textile Code Abbreviations ...... 467

Figure 5. Research Data Table...... 468

Figure 6. Schooner-Yacht Fore-and- Rigging ...... 495

Figure 7. Galatea, Museum Photographic Archive ...... 496

Figure 8. Galatea Main Saloon Interiors ...... 497

Figure 9. Coronet Main Saloon Interiors and Plans ...... 498

Figure 10. Robert Herrick House, British Parlour...... 499

Figure 11. Gothic Style Interior Illustrations ...... 500

Figure 12. Gothic Revival Style Portières Example...... 501

Figure 13. Table Covering Example ...... 502

Figure 14. Horatio Victor Newcomb House, American Drawing Room...... 503

Figure 15. Magic Main Saloon Interiors ...... 504

Figure 16. Auxiliary-Steam Yachts ...... 505

Figure 17. 1882 Harper’s Weekly Illustration of Namouna Main Saloon...... 507

Figure 18. Candace Wheeler, Textiles Designed for Namouna ...... 508

Figure 19. Morgan House Drawing Room, 219 ...... 510

Figure 20. Corsair II Main Saloon Interiors ...... 511

Figure 21. Vanderbilt Grand Salon, and ...... 512 xvi

Figure 22. North Star II, Main Saloon and Dining Room ...... 513

Figure 23. William C. Whitney Drawing Room ...... 517

Figure 24. Niagara Music Saloon and Rosenfeld Interior Images ...... 518

Figure 25. Arthur Curtis James, Drawing Room, Beacon Hill House ...... 520

Figure 26. Margarita Deck Plans ...... 521

Figure 27. The Elms Drawing Room ...... 522

Figure 28. Margarita Main Saloon Interiors ...... 523

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“The voyage of the best is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average tendency.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Chapter 1: Introduction to a Comparison of Gilded Age Yachts and Mansions

During the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the United States as an

industrial nation with rising international influence in the years following the American

Civil War, there emerged a new class of American corporate leaders and industrialists

with phenomenal wealth and the desire to visibly demonstrate it socially. In part this was

an intentional attempt at adopting the centuries-old European aristocracy that was

grounded in the genealogy of royal families. The American’s quest to demonstrate their

wealth was demonstrated by a shift in societal definitions that evolved from the

aristocratic/feudal model found in to an expression of success and power by the

nouveau riche American barons of business. As a result of this desire and the perceived

unethical business activities of these individuals there arose the commonly-used label

“Robber Baron,” describing this new industrial aristocracy. They in turn amassed huge

personal fortunes and consequently ostentatiously displayed their wealth as a status statement. According to Alison Bell “status consumption” is yet another defining label for the elite of the Gilded Age.1 The Industrial Revolution produced a unique time in history. A convergence of technology, ingenuity, invention and mass production created an environment for ostentatious behavior and the acquisition for enormous wealth that

1 Alison Kay Bell, “Conspicuous Production: Agriculture and Domestic Material Culture in Virginia, 1700- 1900” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia, 2000), abstract. 1

was manifested in a “flotilla of capitalists.”2 In turn, this behavior launched flamboyant

consumption and leisure activities that promoted social competition.

The new American industrialists defined their social status and identity with the

overt consumption of luxury products and the accompanying lifestyle. The extravagant

display of conspicuous ownership of high-priced goods helped the industrialists maintain

their elevated social status and identity. As Erik Hofman explains, “Many of the other

owners [industrialists and yacht owners] were men who had made their money quickly

and enjoyed spending it, not infrequently with an eye for personal glorification or

maximum display.”3

The “Gilded Age,” a phrase coined by Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in

their novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day (1873) was a time of industrial expansion

and accumulated wealth displayed by opulent lifestyles and elegant pastimes.4 The title of their book was in reference to a dialogue between King John, and two of his lords,

Pembroke and Salisbury, in William Shakespeare’s play, King John.

Therefore, to be possess’d with double pomp, To guard a title that was rich before, To Gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue

2 Llewellyn Howland III, “The American Megayachts,” Maritime: Life and Traditions Fall 2001, 30-43. 3 Erik Hofman, The Steam Yachts: An Era of Elegance (Tuckahoe, NY: John de Graff, 1970), 15. 4 Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day & Later Novels, ed. Hamlin L. Hill (New York: Putnam, Inc. 2002), title page.

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Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.5

Twain affirmed the book title by remarking, it was a time of “the golden road to fortune”6

One leisure distraction that gained the attention among the wealthy was the sport of yachting. Luxury yachts were a unique phenomenon. Yachting historian John

Rousmaniere states: “Almost by definition, a luxury yacht is a mansion afloat, designed to transport its owner in splendor and ease—and designed no less as proof of status and abundant means.”7

As accumulated wealth increased and ship building technology progressed, the

yachts and their interiors became grander in expression. Regattas, yacht clubs and yachting apparel followed the creation of this diversion and participation in yachting

included extravagant racing and shipboard entertainment. Both activities required

appropriate surroundings and apparel. Yacht interiors, especially the textiles, reflected

the owner’s lifestyle ashore as an assemblage of luxurious properties and lavish tastes.

The surroundings and apparel were used as a social remark and reflection of wealth and

status by the yacht owners and onboard guests. Living aboard ship became an extended

statement of one’s wealth and placement within society and the American social

aristocracy. Gilded Age yachtsmen embodied Thorstein Veblen’s statement: “In order to

gain and to the esteem of men it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power.

5 William Shakespeare, King John, act 4, scene 2, lines 9-16. 6 Cited in Elizabeth Prelinger, The Gilded Age: Treasures From the Smithsonian American Art Museum (New York: Watson-Guptill, 2000), 7. 7 John Rousmaniere, Luxury Yachts: The Seafarers Time-Life Series (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), 6.

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The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence.”8

Research Question

This dissertation is a study that seeks to answer the question “How did American

luxury yacht interiors during the years 1870-1920 demonstrate social status?” The

answer to this question lies in part in the technological advances in the maritime and

textile industries that affected, necessitated and facilitated changes in yacht design and interior design. Another component to the answer is found in the rise of consumerism and the increasing use of personal property, real estate and luxury goods as a demonstration of social status, particularly among the emerging American upper class.

One important way to achieve an outward appearance of status was through the decoration of the home. The effect of consumerism on society is an ancient issue, and was considered by early commentators, “As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?”9 This

study addresses the social concept of luxury consumerism and its role in the development of socio-economic classes in the United States.

The study is based on six leading families in the United States, their mansions and their yachts. These Americans experienced status through consumption of luxury goods, especially in decorating their homes. It appears that yacht owners borrowed ideas about the interior design of their homes in decorating the interiors of their yachts in order to enhance and maintain a presentation of status while at sea. It is assumed that yacht

8 Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899; repr., New York: The Viking Press, 1931), 36 9 Ecclesiastes 5:13 NIV

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interiors from 1870 to 1920 were an extension of house interiors and reflected the owner’s status, especially in the use of textiles.

Statement of Purpose

The study is an historical analysis of the function of luxury home and yacht interiors during the Gilded Age. It is assumed that yachts built by wealthy Americans at the time were meant to reflect the status of their owners, and that owners followed patterns of consumption used within their homes. The study examines the extent to which yacht owners conformed to the practice of conspicuous consumption by insuring that the design of the interior of their yachts conformed to the same level of taste found in the interiors of their homes. The focus of the study is textiles. And further, since the interiors of home were considered status markers, the interiors of the yachts were a deliberate attempt to further ensure ideas of status for these families.

Objectives

There are seven major objectives in this study of yacht and home interiors as a reflection of social status during the Gilded Age. They are:

1. Chapter Two—to examine the developments in the Gilded Age that gave

rise to elite Americans’ desire for extravagance that included building

luxurious homes with lavish interiors and purchasing yachts to express

their position in society.

2. Chapter Three—to examine the rise of the American home parlor as a

status prototype for American luxury yacht saloons.

3. Chapter Four—to examine reflections of social status in Gilded Age

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yachting associations, activities, and publications

4. Chapter Five—to examine of technological advances in shipbuilding,

architecture, and interior design, during the Gilded Age that influenced the

construction and designs of both luxury yachts and houses, and their

interiors.

5. Chapter Six—to interpret the relationship between yacht design and

interior design during the first era, 1870-1890, of yacht development, sail

as a reflection of Gilded Age social status.

6. Chapter Seven—to interpret the relationship between yacht design and

interior design during the second era, 1890-1910 of yacht development,

transition from sail to auxiliary power, steam/diesel as a reflection of

Gilded Age social status.

7. Chapter Eight—to interpret the relationship between yacht design and

interiors design during the third era, 1900-1920 of yacht development,

auxiliary power steam/diesel as a reflection of Gilded Age social status.

Background

Status in the Gilded Age

Some characteristics of the high society Gilded Age population were extravagant lifestyles, opulent surroundings and grand entertainment. Multiple homes, carriages, haute couture apparel, transatlantic travel and the latest leisure diversions were typical of this society. Gilded Age high society participants, also known as the leisure class, were members of a generation that had earned their wealth predominately during the Industrial

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Revolution. As new members of the elite society they were eager to display their newly-

attained position within society. American industrialists gladly joined the ranks of their

European counterparts obtaining all the possessions deemed necessary to maintain their newly-acquired social status. An expression of social status was defined by the vast

accumulation of paraphernalia. The more adornment accumulated in an interior

environment the greater the communication of wealth and status. All members compared

their social rank by the accumulation of their belongings and their ability to display them.

In A Theory of Social Comparison Processes (1954) Leon Festinger noted that

“humans have a basic need to compare themselves with others, for the purpose of self-

evaluation.”10 His theory explains why “people compare their thoughts and behaviors to

other people, and the effect of these comparisons on the individual’s own thoughts and

behaviors.”11 This theory has been used to explain why reference groups are used to

define conformity and the development of human uniqueness. Individuals strive to

evaluate their opinions and abilities and then assess those through comparisons with other

people. The comparisons result in either changed behavior or in the maintenance of one’s status quo.

Gilded Age society frequently engaged in social comparison. Accounts of Alva and Consuelo Vanderbilt’s entertainment styles and their shunning of members of their peer group that they found despicable are numerous. Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan recounts the eager anticipation of the fancy dress ball her mother, Alva, gave for the gala opening of the home located at 660 Fifth Avenue. Contemporary papers

10 Leon Festinger, “A Theory of Social Comparison Processes,” Human Relations 7 (1954), 117-40. 11 Cited in George B. Sproles and Leslie Davis Burns. Changing Appearances: Understanding Dress in Contemporary Society (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1994), 207. 7

said that “it proved to be the most magnificent entertainment yet given in a private house

in .”12 Alva Vanderbilt and other members of her “blue blood” society were in

constant competition for the finest apparel, travel experiences, homes and balls. The

society pages of the day were filled with stories of her extravagant, gala affairs. Each

event was carefully scrutinized and then enhanced by the next grand dame. She would not be socially usurped by anyone. She believed it was her social responsibility to display

the grandest style possible at social events.13

The Upper-Class Leadership Theory, also known as the Upward Social

Comparison Theory, states that “fashions are an elitist phenomenon initiated by

the highest socioeconomic classes and copied by lower classes. We mostly compare

ourselves with the people we deem socially better than us in some way,” and may explain

the fevered pursuit of these women and their families to continually entertain, build

homes, acquire yachts, Pullman railroad cars, and join social clubs in order to maintain

their social standings.14 The many balls such as the annual French Ball and fancy-dress

balls for the individual British, American and French seasons were considered by the

matriarchs of this society as a self appointed display of their family position.15 One-up-

man-ship was deemed as a necessary expression in order to jockey for position within the

12 Balsan, Consuelo Vanderbilt, The Glitter & Gold (, U.K.: Consuelo Balsan Vanderbilt, 1953), 5. 13Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 125-62. 14 Sproles and Burns. Changing Appearances, 109-110. 15 The French Ball as described in the Post, March 9, 1890 states that there will be “some elegant costumes on display as there will be a prize given for the handsomest one on the floor.” A fancy- dress ball refers to costumed/masquerade balls, which were attached with an exotic theme, for instance, Louis XVI, Arabian nights, and Nursery Rhythms. Sponsors and guests often spent tens of thousands of dollars at couture salons in for their costumes. See “Fancy Ball Costumes,” Alias Costumier (), ca 1890. Color advertising placard (in author’s collection).

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social order of their peer group. The status of the individuals and the family fortunes

were defined by their spending habits in comparison with those in their peer group.

Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class, first published in 1899, is another

theory that helps to explain Gilded Age society. An important component of his theory,

conspicuous consumption, applies to the Gilded Age society members and their yachts.

According to Veblen, conspicuous consumption “is a means of reputability to the

gentleman of leisure.”16 A person’s wealth or power was not sufficient for social

standing unless they were put into evidence in business and pleasure. He further argues

that the more wasteful one’s consumption, the more reputable one’s social position. It is

clear that Gilded Age yacht owners proved Veblen’s theory correct.

Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory relates to Veblen’s conspicuous

consumption concept in that both ideas use a peer group as the standard of measure.

Veblen agrees with Festinger that one’s peer group is used to evaluate opinions and attitudes. However, Veblen goes further and states that “an individual should possess as large a portion of goods as others with whom he is accustomed to class himself; and it is extremely gratifying to possess something more than others.”17 According to Veblen’s

theory, the more obvious display of the possession(s), the greater the satisfaction of the

individual. A 240-foot luxury yacht, with perfectly appointed interiors and participants

that were favorably adorned is an example of conspicuous consumption. Such an

exhibition would occur at the yacht clubs, during afternoon or participation in

16Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 75. 17 Ibid., 31.

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regattas and transatlantic crossings. The yacht was conspicuously displayed.

The Yacht as Conspicuous Consumption

Gilded Age yacht extravagance was a result of Industrial Age barons needing a

new avenue to demonstrate their financial success to their peers. Their yachts were

constructed with the newest in maritime technology and appointed with the most

extravagant interiors to make a social statement of their position within their society.

New with new interiors meant that the cycle of building bigger and better yachts

and status symbols would continue. As steam power entered the maritime industry,

yachts became larger, and interiors changed. Social comparison continued as

conspicuous consumption was flaunted with yacht ownership. In his notable work Steam

Yachts: An Era of Elegance, Erik Hofman traces the growth of steam yachts through

British and American yacht registers noting that in Britain there were only 30 steam-

powered yachts in 1863, 140 in 1873 and 466 in 1883. In 1913, just before ,

the number dropped to 263 as the diesel began to provide a less space-hungry and cleaner

alternative. Similarly, in the United States, the first steam yacht was Cornelius

Vanderbilt’s 270’ Length-Over-All (LOA)18 North Star, built in 1853. By 1913, 272

steam yachts over 75’LOA were listed in the Register of American Yachts.19

The culture in which this socio-economic group found themselves gave structure

to their identification and further defined their business and social relationships. Such

cultural categories maintained one’s social stratum by use of extravagant symbols and

18 Length Over All commonly referred to as LOA in the industry, refers to the total length of the yacht. The LOA is the American measurement while the British Thames Yacht Management or TYA is the British measurement for overall tonnage. 19 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 3-4. 10

possessions. These objects denoted and validated an individual’s and family’s placement

within a social class. Grant McCracken states, “A culture’s material objects make these

categories more concrete and lend expression to them.”20 By virtue of these categories

the human community stratifies itself based on the material objects that lend distinction,

classification and socialization. Yachts, like homes, were an appearance symbol and were

part of the collection of material objects of this socio-economic group.

Except for Coronet, all yachts that are discussed within this study have either

disintegrated, ran aground, were scuttled or sank. Most of the Gilded Age palaces under

scrutiny for this study have also met with ruin in the name of progress for condominiums,

parking lots or other real estate ventures. In speaking with yachting authorities and

various curators, such as John Summers, Elizabeth Meyer, Frank Futral, Susan Daly,

John R. Tscirch and Suzanne Durham they have all commented that a comprehensive

study in regards to the interiors of Gilded Age luxury yachts has not yet been

conducted.21 This study will allow both the homes and the yachts to re-tell their gilded

interior tales.

Limitations of the Study

Researching interiors of yachts from this era is difficult because of the scarcity of

extant documentation and the fragmentation of information. External construction, often

as a reflection of concerns for speed, dominates extant records. The majority of yacht

20 George McCracken, Culture and Consumption (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1988), 73. 21 Discussions with John Summers, curator of Coronet, harbored at IYRS, summer 2003; Elizabeth Meyer, founder of IRYS, summer 2004; Frank Futral, the Curator of Decorative Arts at the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, September 2005; Susan Daly, Coronet Development & Marketing Director, IYRS, Summer, 2004; John R. Tscirch, Architectural Historian and Director of Education, The Preservation Society of Newport County, summer 2005,: Suzanne Durham, Special Collections Manager, The Biltmore, July, 2007. Comments from these individuals all attest to the lack of research that has been conducted either collectively or with the specific families that their historic site represents. 11

records and research is focused on yacht exteriors, performance abilities and dimensions.

The desire for speed and the ability to win races was also part of the status sought by owners. There was a social dilemma in trading the pursuit of speed for comfort and splendor. Engineer and yachting historian Erik Hofman observed:

Gradually it became evident that comfort and seaworthiness were incompatible with high speed, so a group of -like high speed yachts evolved. . . . These yachts carried their owners along the coast in comfort, if not in splendor. A story is told of Mr. [M.C.D.] Borden returning to New York in Little , being overhauled and passed by one of the Winchesters. Turning to his captain, he said, “Don’t stop at the Yacht Club landing, but continue on to Seabury’s so I can order a faster yacht.”22

This dilemma was compounded by the fact that many yacht interiors were designed and

constructed by the shipyards rather than naval architects and interior designers (itself a

reflection of the history of the professions which were not formally established in the

United States until 1893 and 1898 respectively). Taylor and Rosenfeld write of some of

these issues, “it is difficult to realize the variations in yacht design of the 1880s. In those

days, every yacht was an individual creation, reflecting the effect of local or national

types and uses; the personal beliefs of her designer and builder, and the idiosyncrasies of

her owner.”23

Extant yacht images are predominately of the exterior of the ships at full sail or

the vessel under steam. When interiors are mentioned in journals, logs, newspapers, and

yachting publications of the day, they are usually brief passages added to the larger

description of the exterior of ship. For example, in the October 16, 1898 edition of New

York Herald, the Niagara was announced to the public. The article gives a full account

22Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 16. 23 William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Croft, Inc., 1958), 48. 12

of the shipwright, dimensions, and owner, descriptions but only makes passing mention of the interiors of the ship. The role of creating the interior appointments was left to Mrs.

Howard Gould, the owner’s new bride. Only wood types, colors and fabric textures are

noted. There is no mention of manufacturer, nor are there photographic images of the

interior of the ship (although there are interior illustrations). While there is commentary

on the elegance and unrestrained opulence of the interiors, it is placed within the

boundaries of exterior ship description.24 References to other ships such as the Coronet

(1885), Corsair II (1890), the North Star II (1893, formerly the Ventetia) followed suit with meager descriptions of the interiors and the designers responsible for the interiors.

Rationale

At present, there is no cumulative resource of historic yacht interiors, designers

and manufacturers of interior components. An extensive search of current dissertations

and theses also shows that no research has been conducted with regard to maritime history of yachting, yachts, yacht interior design, and the Vanderbilt families or the J. P.

Morgan family. There are dissertations written that pertain to the many facets of the

Gilded Age “Robber Barons,” and their historic houses.25 There are, however, no

dissertations or theses that combine the Gilded Age, luxury yachts and interior design

history.

Sources and Scope of the Study

24 “An Ideal Pleasure Craft is the Steam Yacht Niagara,” New York Herald, 16 October 1898. 25 Examples of dissertations that analyze home interiors of the Gilded Age are Eric Haines Patterson’s dissertation, “The Most Stately Mansions: An Analysis of the Social Functions of Domestic Architecture Among the Affluent in America in the Later Nineteenth Century and a Discussion of the Manner in Which Edith Wharton, Henry Blake Fuller and Theodore Dreiser Interpreted the Domestic Architecture of the Affluent as a Social Artifact in Fiction” (PhD diss., , 1977). Other dissertations are studies of individual furniture makers such as the Herter Brothers, or specific homes such as Montpelier, Orange, Virginia and the Mallory-Neely House, Memphis, Tennessee discussed in chapter two. 13

The study encompasses the three major eras of yacht design 1) sail, as seen in the

grand-schooner, 2) transition from sail to steam/diesel, known as auxiliary-steam and

3) steam/diesel. Eight luxury yachts are investigated and analyzed covering the three

phases of yacht development—sail, transition from sail to steam/diesel, and steam/diesel.

In addition to published and unpublished ship logbooks, diaries, books, and manuscripts,

use is made of interior sketches, photographs, and reconstructed plans of the ships

enhancing the study. These findings are compared and contrasted with architecture,

interior designs of the era and the yacht owners’ homes. This demonstrates how the

yachts were an extension and reflection of the culture and of the owners.

The specific rooms that will be evaluated for this study are the parlour, also

referred to as the ‘salon’ and the ‘drawing room,’ located in the houses and the main

saloon that was on board the yacht. These rooms are equivalents and were used for the

same intent and purposes; to display accumulated wealth, grand entertaining and special

occasions.26 Photographic images of different rooms within the homes exist, for instance

ball rooms, dining rooms, music rooms, etc., but the predominate photographic image

that prevails below the yacht’s deck is the interior of the main saloon. Because of this constraint, the evaluation for this study will compare and contrast the home parlour with the yachts main saloon.

Possession of certain objects historically connotes social status. Rarity, craftsmanship, and exclusivity all played a part in defining what, when and how an object demonstrated social status. The use of prescribed objects allowed a family to emulate

26 Katherine C. Grier, Culture & Comfort: Parlor Making and Middle-Class Identity, 1850-1930 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), 64-70. 14

others to achieve their position and power within a society. Thorstein Veblen defines

“emulation” as the process of social “comparison of persons with a view to rating and grading them in respect to relative worth or value,” and renamed it “invidious comparison.”27 He further argues that invidious comparison becomes the primary motivator for social comparison and ownership of properties/objects is the coveted trophy. One such trophy throughout history is the ownership of textiles, whether expressed in dress or in household textiles. Thus it was the fabric that revealed status in this study of yacht saloons and mansion parlors.

Textiles as Status

The process of raising or growing and producing cloth has always been time consuming and therefore, made textiles an expensive commodity. Historically, beautiful printed, and pattern-woven textiles were associated with wealth and power because their production was so labor- and skill-intensive. In addition, raw materials such as and metallic threads were scarce and expensive. From the early courts of

Europe textiles demonstrated the power and wealth of nobility. The wealthy families of the Gilded Age shared the same invidious comparison of the European aristocracy and they were eager to gain membership within the aristocratic society by way of trophy acquisitions, specifically textiles. Textiles equaled a status symbol of noble value and placed the American upper crust on the same level as the European aristocracy.

Throughout the Gilded Age, though mechanized textile fabrication occurred, textiles of high quality and craftsmanship were still acknowledged as a valuable possession. For the

27 Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 34.

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scope of this study, an analysis of household and yacht textiles as pictured in the images

will be analyzed. Because the majority of the images are rendered in black and white,

attempts to identify the content, weave and location of manufacturing will occur.

Embellishments such as fringe, tassels and baubles will be included in the analysis.

Changes that occurred within the interior decorating dictates of fashionable interiors,

such as portieres, tiebacks, mantel lambrequins, needle crafted fire screens and tufted

upholstery will be added to the appropriate time period for analysis.

On board the yacht, there was one textile article that demonstrated membership in

high society. This was the New York Yacht Club burgee. Although the burgee’s

appropriate position on a yacht is atop the forward ,28 many times the New York

Yacht Club burgee was placed on obvious display within the interior of the yacht for the

sake of a status symbol statement for all who viewed it. Notations as to whether or not

the burgee is in the image will be included in the textile inventory.

Parlour furniture evolved from random and miss-matched pieces to a prescribed

parlour suite with appropriate accoutrements. Ornately carved, and matching parlour

seating furniture, decorative upholstered footstools, reception chairs, étagère’s, piano

forte’s and bijouterie all professed of “parlour consciousness.” As time progressed

furniture styles and materials also changed. Wicker, rattan, chaise lounges and platform

rocking chairs were viewed as appropriate and acceptable between 1880 and 1910.29 For

the scope of this study, however, the survey of furniture pieces and construction materials will not be primary analysis. Instead, the major emphasis of this study is the use and

28 Timothy Wilson, Flags at Sea (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999), 44-45. 29 Grier, Culture & Comfort, 91. 16

social expression of textiles within the home parlor and the yacht main saloon.

The following table identifies some of the family names, some of the homes and some of the major yachts within the corresponding yacht eras that are discussed in this study. Interior images for the specific yachts and homes of an owner may not exist or may not be useable for this analysis; therefore, exemplar homes of the same time era are substituted. For instance, Coronet was owned by Rufus T. Bush, but images of his home interiors are not available, therefore the interior photographs of the drawing room of the

H. Victor Newcomb house, a home from the same time period, are used instead.

Yacht Era Family Home Yacht

Sail William Henn, R. N. Robert Herrick Galatea Rufus T. Bush H. Victor Newcomb Coronet Auxiliary- 5th Ave and 57th North Star II Steam J. P. Morgan 219 Madison Ave Corsair II Steam Harold Gould The Elms Niagara A. J. Drexel Beacon Hill House Margarita Table 1. Selected Families, Homes and Yachts for Study

Methodology

This study takes an historical approach for its method. It combines data collection techniques that are used for historical analysis, visual culture and material culture studies.

Using a variety of archival sources, such as yacht and home artifacts, newspaper, journal and magazine articles, correspondence, diaries, yacht log books, inventory lists, photographs and illustrations, an interpretation of yacht interiors as a significant expression of Gilded Age social status, was conducted.

17

In historical research sources are selected that increase the understanding and

attempt to explain the research question. The actual number of “participants” for this

study is reliant on the quality and completeness of the information they provide.30 The

yachts, homes and families for this study were selected because they demonstrate a

wealth of information and reveal insight as to the relational phenomenon of home interiors to yacht interiors. A comparison of the historical context of these families is essential for complete interpretation of their values and social status as expressed in their homes and yachts. The comparison process includes the identification of themes, patterns, motifs and meanings within the structure of interior design using descriptions and photographs of home and yacht interiors. As noted above, primary and secondary source data was collected from yacht logbooks, general history books, biographies, correspondence, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, ship models, interviews, photographs, magazine and journal articles, archival materials, maritime publications and maritime museum exhibitions.

Analysis of Photographic Data

Humankind has used images to record and communicate events since the time of the first cave drawings. Photographic images are no different. They are used to document and record changes and events in individual’s lives, families, technological advances and destruction. They provide a momentary view into values and what was

30 Karen Whalley Hammell, Christine Carpenter and Isabel Dyck, eds., Using Qualitative Research: A Practical Introduction for Occupational and Physical Therapist (London: Churchill Livingstone, 2000), 16.

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considered valuable.31

Photographic images can be manipulated to convey an underlying message.

Motivation of the photographer and/or the client must be taken into consideration when evaluating the content of an image. When viewing yacht and home interiors of the

Gilded Age social hierarchy, it is imperative that the researcher keep the image within social and historical context, understand class and social structure issues, question the

relationship of the client to their objects and realize that photographers were usually hired

to portray an idealistic environment.32 The client would want their properties to boast of

perfection to their peer group and therefore, “the meaning of the photograph is

understood to be inseparably tied to social consciousness, culture and custom.”33 One very good example of such a consciousness is the publication of The Burr McIntosh

Monthly by the New York social photography studio. The Burr McIntosh Studio published a monthly photographic magazine beginning in 1902 of New York City’s social and financial elite individuals, their properties, yachts, and their corresponding leisure activities. Editions were photographic records of the social elite adorned in their couture wardrobes posed for fame and prosperity. One editorial in the September 1903 edition declared that the magazine was devoted in part to the “faces of women who are

31Jenny L. Presnell, The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students (New York: University Press, 2007), 95. 32 Ibid., 180. 33 Su Braden, Committing Photography (London: Pluto Press Limited, 1983), 1-3. 34 Editorial, The Burr McIntosh Monthly, Vol. 2, no. 6 (September 1903), n.p. Notably, this entire issue is devoted to yachting and designated the “Yachting Number” on the cover that portrays in its cover art a young woman in yachting attire waving the burgee of the New York Yacht Club from the of a small sailing craft known as a .

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known to fame and blessed with beauty will fill the more interesting part of our pages.”34

Lou Taylor notes that the use of photography to decipher coded meaning(s) and reality is extremely complex. She claims that it is essential to identify the patron’s place in society; otherwise the evaluation has no relevance to the social or cultural meaning.35

Although photographic images offer information, they are not neutral tools, so

that when used in an historical analysis caution is advised. For example in a New York

Times article (July 23, 2007) Errol Morris discusses the impact that context plays when

photographs are not accompanied with captions.36 Without a caption the photograph loses context. In his article, he discusses the image of a transatlantic . Upon immediate survey, it appears as any other ocean going liner of the era. When the caption is added, “The Lusitania” the photograph takes on a completely different connotation that reflects the observers associations and beliefs in regards to the mishap of the Lusitania.

Now the photograph is charged with emotional meaning, especially to the viewer in the summer of 1915. Mr. Morris asks, “Do they [the photographs] tell the truth?” The same phenomenon is true of images that portray luxury yachts and home interiors of the Gilded

Age. Without the correct captions to accompany the images, the viewer is left without the correct context and can only speculate as to the “truth” and may conclude that the photograph portrays “happy history.”37 Not all surviving photographs have the luxury of

captions or identification and therefore, require a systematic study on the part of the

35 Taylor, The Study of Dress History,(Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002), 163, 170-71. 36 Morris, Errol, “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire,” , Monday, July 23, 2007. 37 Jay Price, “Producing Photographic Histories,” AASLH History News, Autumn 2005, vol. 60, no. 4, 16-9.

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researcher.

From its initial offer to the public in 1839, the daguerreotype had a peculiar

power. It was instantly popular and this new technology was embraced by all and viewed

as an instrument of analysis. The first professional studio in the world opened in New

York in 1840 by Mr. Alexander Wolcott.38 Although of the permanently fixed daguerreotype images from the camera obscura of Louis Jacques Mande’ Daguerre were in France, the technology was swiftly adopted and perfected in England and the

United States. By 1853, there were more daguerreotype studios and galleries in New

York City than in England, more on alone than in London.39 Portraiture by

such artists as John Singer Sergeant, James Abbott McNeill Whister, , Edgar

Degas and Pierre Auguste Renoir continued to portray the social status of the individual

and families, but the daguerreotype became the “instant” method for documentation of

the social status, surroundings and possessions of individuals and families.

A common practice for clients and photographers was to “enhance” the content of

the photograph in order to capture the client’s desire to conform to and meet the

expectations of a higher social class. Gestures, poses, furnishings and social settings

asked the viewer to think of the subjects “in the same way that they are thinking of

others.”40 The family photograph not only defined the social structure of the family by

way of placement of family members within the photograph, but it defined the social

38 Gus MacDonald, Camera: Victorian Eyewitness, A History of Photography, 1826-1913 (New York: The Viking Press, 1980) 6. 39 Beaumont Newhall, The Daguerreotype in America (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1961), 15. 40 Geoffrey Batchen, “Individualism and Conformity: Photographic Portraiture in the Nineteenth Century,” The New-York Journal of American History, Spring/Summer 2006, 14.

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status of the family.41 The family was “fixed” by way of “a subjects dress or stance, location or expressions to imply social conditions and individual attitudes”42

Documentarians such as of Jacob A. Riis, a late nineteenth century photographer for the

New York Tribune, staged his lower tenement subjects in order to convey a grimmer picture of their dismal conditions.43 Others have been found to “manipulate reality in order to better illustrate the ‘truth,’ ” either by reconstruction of the photographs’ content or by omission of important factors.44 Riis’s objective was to stir sympathy and heighten the impact of his pictures, not necessarily to photograph the truth. Other photographers were motivated to produce political propaganda or perpetuate ‘artistic forms’ of photography, not to portray “straight photography” as Alfred Stieglitz demanded.45

Photos of late Victorian interiors were possibly intended to document furnishing changes, to record possessions and in many instance ‘advertise’ successes. Historic home and yacht interior photographs were often staged and manipulated in order to portray social standings, a particular image or to present particular objects or highlight an

41 Ann Victoria Bliss, “Fixing’ the Family: The Function of the Family Photograph in and Literature” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Davis, 2006), abstract, 1. 42 Gus MacDonald, Camera: Victorian Eyewitness, A History of Photography, 1826-1913 (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 106. 43 Luc Sante, Introduction to How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis (1890; repr., New York: Penguin Books, 1997), xiv-xx. 43 Gus MacDonald, Camera: Victorian Eyewitness, A History of Photography, 1826-1913 (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 6. Other photographers such as Roger Fenton and his staged photographs of the Crimean War, Dr. Bernardo’s reconstructed photographs of the London homeless, manipulated landscapes of the American West and staged photographs of the American Civil War, are mentioned. The author discusses how these manipulated photographs were used as political propaganda and have assisted the viewer in making permanent opinions based on the false content or omission of the photograph. 44 Gus MacDonald, Camera: Victorian Eyewitness, A History of Photography, 1826-1913 (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 176. 45 Paul Strand, “Photography” Photography: Essays & Image; Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography (New York: The , 1980), 219.

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activity. The interiors were an expression of the social standing of a family and the

“objects may be organized to express the causes of which they are the effects, or they

may be used as abstract forms, to create an emotion unrelated to the objectivity as

such.”46 Paul Strand noted that the organization of the objects is achieved either by the

movement of the camera or by the re-arrangement of the objects, so as to achieve the

desired image.47 Unlike studio portraiture, however, home and yacht interior photographs were limited by the available light and the technology required for lengthy exposures. When making photographs within the confines of a controlled studio, the illumination as managed by the photographer. Producing a photograph of a home or yacht interiors was far more precarious. The windows, or in the case of yachts, the hatches and , were often the only source of light and only allowed short durations of the light exposure necessary for photographs. In addition, the intensity of the light was a constantly changing factor.48 These conditions prompted the movement

of interior objects in order to display the wealth of accumulated possessions and make

statements as to the social status of a family.

It was not until the invention of flash photography in 1887 that the dim interiors

of homes and yachts could be photographed in their “natural” interior arrangements. This

did not relieve the temptation to re-arrange interiors to depict a family’s higher social

status. The decorative arts that were displayed within the homes and yachts were far

46 Ibid. 47 Ibid. 48 Alexander Black, “The Amateur Photographer,” 1887, Photography: Essays & Image; Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1980), 151.

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more than generic props or pretty decorations, but “constitute a code – a language – the

mastery of which unlocks contextual meaning.”49 In view of the potential manipulation

and the technological needs for photography the “figurative content and the meaning of

symbols implied by such elements as dress, expression, foreground and background…we

must discover how well the subject matter has been ‘represented’ by the image in the

context for which it was destined.”50 The content and meanings of symbols for this dissertation are in regards to home and yacht interiors of the Gilded Age.

Photographic images of yacht interiors and home interiors are one aspect of data

analysis used in this dissertation. The procedure for this portion of analysis includes an

interpretive description of each photographic image. From this, determination can be made regarding the techniques used to create the interior design and the style of the interior motifs. A data-collecting tool/template was developed for the ease of analyzing the photographic contents. Factual information of homes and yachts will enable interpretation and analysis of the interiors within the photographic content.

Three studies of Victorian textiles and furnishings have been conducted using

material culture models. Each provides a model for gathering and organizing information

regarding the artifacts that has been modified for the specific research of the individual

projects. The first example is Barbara Ann Caron’s research study, “American Victorian

Furnishing Textiles as a Vehicle for Understanding Lifestyle and Meaning: A Case Study

of the Library and Reception Room in the Alexander Ramsey House.” She based her

49 Cheryl Robertson, “Related Objects: The Family of Victorian Interiors,” The New-York Journal of American History, Spring/Summer, 2006, 63. 50 Braden, Committing Photography, 89.

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analysis of artifacts on the two material culture models of E. McClung Fleming and

Kenneth Ames. She incorporated the E. McClung Fleming four-step research model with

Kenneth Ames’ Horizontal Constellations model to create her own identification template of artifacts.51

The four steps that Fleming suggests are 1) factual descriptions of the artifact

which includes a visual description, 2) evaluation of aesthetic qualities and workmanship,

3) cultural analysis of artifacts relationship to its culture and 4) interpretations of the

artifacts significance. Fleming’s approach is methodical and well-suited to study

household furnishings. The symbolist viewpoint is “especially appropriate for Victorian

artifacts because it incorporates the concepts of both function and meaning.”52

Based on his studies of Victorian American hall furnishings, Kenneth Ames

contends that artifacts reflect a society’s values. He clusters or creates “constellations of objects” to indicate “attitudes, values and patterns of behaviors.” His three-step model includes 1) identification, 2) comparative analysis, and 3) interpretation of artifacts.53

The worksheet that Barbara Ann Caron adopted for her study included the accession

number, site, locations, classification, object name and date, size, maker, source (donor),

condition, description, object history and references.54 For the purposes of this study

adaptations of Fleming’s four step methodologies are used to identify specific textile artifacts found within the context of the photographic images. The following table

51 Barbara Ann Caron, “American Victorian Furnishings Textiles as a Vehicle for Understanding Lifestyle and Meaning; A Case Study of the Library and Reception Room in the Alexander Ramsey House” (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1991), 50-55. 52 Ibid., 50-51. 53 Ibid., 53. 54 Ibid., 56-57. 25

identifies the information that was gathered:

Identification Construction Cultural Assessment What is the artifact Quality of the item based Functional use? on its appearance and Utilitarian or (cluster grid squares) materials Combination

Fiber Content Used to enhance appearance Level of of room craftsmanship/quality of construction Display opulence and used to convey the Materials/workmanship social status of the & quality owner

Table 2. Identification of Textiles Found in Photographs Source: Table adapted from E. McClure Fleming, “Artifact Study” A Proposed Model.” Winterthur Portfolio 9 (1974), 154-161.

Demographic facts will accompany each photographic. Using Caron’s list of identification characteristics, information regarding each photograph will be collected.

The criteria are in the following table:

Category Information Name of Yacht/Home Date of Construction Launch Date Years of Service Yacht/ Home Dimensions Homeport Home Location Shipyard of Construction

Owner(s)

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Shipwright/Builder Architect/Interior Designer

Archival Resource of Photograph Table 3. Criteria Used to Identify Characteristics of Photograph Source: Barbara Ann Caron. “American Victorian Furnishings Textiles as a Vehicle for Understanding Lifestyle and Meaning: A Case Study of the Library and Reception Room in the Alexander Ramsey House.” Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1991, 54.

Archival and secondary sources of photographs depicting yacht interiors and home interiors are compared and contrasted in order to find common interior design practices and preferences when using textiles. Identifying common trends in yacht interiors and owners’ primary housing interiors as well as between yachts of different owners are compared.

The tool used in this study to analyze historical photographs and images is based upon a presentation by Daniel A. Martinez, the historian for the USS Arizona Memorial, on January 11, 2008. His presentation entitled, “Hidden Images: Rare & Forgotten

Views of the Pearl Harbor Attack” incorporated a photographic data grid format that is used to identify and analyze the content of historic images and photographs in a systematic manner.55 Martinez describes this analysis as a “forensic analysis of historic photos” because it identifies hidden knowledge needed to argue investigations. This system aides in the interpretation of photographic content and necessitates focused evaluation of the minute details that may go unnoticed when looking at the larger

55Daniel A. Martinez “Hidden Images: Rare & Forgotten Views of the Pearl Harbor Attack” (Lecture at Naval War College, Newport, RI, January 12, 2008).

27

photograph. A systematic survey of both yacht and home interior photographs allows for a more comprehensive interpretation. Similarities and dissimilarities of interior expressions can be easily identified and then interpreted as to their reflection of gilded age social status.

The construction of the system entails an 8” x 12” transparent plastic that is blocked off into permanent, one-inch blocks. Across the horizontal axis, the letters “A”

through “J” are written, one letter per . The vertical axis is numbered “1” through

“8,” one number per block. Boxes are identified by a letter/number label throughout the

grid, for instance, D7 and H2. The transparent sheet is placed over the of an historic

image and each block, A1 to J8, is investigated and analyzed as to its contents (see

Appendix A, figure 1 and figure 2).

The “Photographic Data Grid Collection” form includes the photograph

identification and detailed information of each block is then listed with its corresponding

grid block. The photographic contents of block A1 is listed in the block A1 of the form.

If there is nothing in the block, then the block description box is left blank. Every

photograph has its own corresponding “Photographic Data-Grid Collection” form. In this

way, all photographs are analyzed with the same uniformity (see Appendix A, figure 3,

figure 4 and figure 5).

An observation in regards to photographs as an archive should be made. It is

essential to note that the nature of photographs is that they are both a visual primary

28

source and a material cultural object.56 They are items that are to be held, interacted with, displayed, distributed and manipulated. They simultaneously perform a visual contact with the past while handling the photographic image. Neither function can be

separated from the other. Each is an integral part of the other.

Chapter Contents

Chapter One

The first chapter provides an introduction to the subject, a statement of the

and objectives pertinent to this study, the methodology used and the primary

sources that used acquired. It includes a discussion of how archival photographic images

will be incorporated into the interpretation as a primary source.

Chapter Two

The first objective of the study is discussed in Chapter Two. The developments,

both socially and financially, that enabled the American elite to give rise to extravagant

homes and yachts is discussed. A pronounced characteristic of the American haute

monde was to emulate the European nobility. America lacked a monarchy and a royal

lineage; therefore, elite American families attained “noble status” by procuring European

art, antique furnishings, objects and accoutrements from castles and palaces for their

home interiors and exteriors. Fireplaces, cornices, paneling, and/or pilasters, were

designed, carved, painted, and gilded under the direction of French designers then

disassembled, transported, and installed in their American home. For example members

56 Elizabeth Arnold , “Family Pictures ‘Out of Place’: Race, Resistance, and Affirmation in the Pope Family Photographic Collection, 1890-1920” (Ph.D. diss., The University of North Carolina in Greensboro, 2006), 20.

29

of the social elite, such as Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt insisted on authentic reproductions of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French interiors. Her Newport,

Rhode Island, resort house, , a birthday gift from her husband William

Kissam Vanderbilt, was fashioned after the Petit Trianon at Versailles.57 Working

closely with , Alva Vanderbilt produced a Louis XIV summer

cottage that dazzled the social competition. Marble House was the most ornate and

expensive summer house in Newport when completed in 1892 and nobility from Europe

would have comfortable in it and recognized its style and artifacts.

Discussions of homes and mansions as a status symbol include the appropriate

interior appointments to emphasize wealth and social standing. Influences of European

and British interior designers, specifically Charles Locke Eastlake and William Morris,

on the interiors of American home parlors is reviewed. The effect of extravagant public

parlors, hotel lobbies, steam boat saloons, Pullman parlor cars and trans-Atlantic ship liners, as a source of inspiration and imitation for home parlors in America is analyzed as another resource for eventual luxury yacht interiors.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three is a discussion of the second objective. The history of interior design and its initiation as a profession in America will be reviewed. The influence of the interior designer within the realm of the house interiors, specifically the parlor, as it extended to the yacht interiors, specifically the main saloon, is included in this discussion. The relationship between the American home parlors to the American yacht

57 A Guidebook to Newport Mansions of the Preservation Society of Newport County (Newport, RI: The Preservation Society of Newport County, n.d.), 36-45, 51. 30

saloon is reviewed. Aspects of parlor furnishings as a status symbol statement are

discussed.

Documentary evidence such as photographic images, correspondence and

inventory lists will be collected from the New York Historical Society, The Newport

Preservation Society of Newport County, the Newport Historical Society, the individual

“summer cottages” in Newport, Rhode Island, the New York City Public Library, the

Reading Room of the Morgan Library and Museum, and the Redwood Library and

Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island. The Frick Art Reference Library houses extensive

correspondence between Elsie de Wolf and Clay Frick in reference to her employment as

interior designer and purchasing agent. Articles from The New York Times, The New

York Herald, the New York Yacht Club Registry books, are also collected. When available, artifacts from home interiors are examined.

This chapter gives a background presentation of yachting history and how it

evolved into the Gilded Age yacht interiors subject to this study. Chapter Three

continues the discussion of interior design, especially as it was practiced in America as a craft within the scope of architecture. Before the twentieth century interior designers were employed as artisans in architectural firms and were not recognized as a separate profession.58 Elsie de Wolf, under the direction of American architect, ,

was the first to incorporate professionalism into the practice of interior decorating when

she was commissioned to decorate the interiors of the New York Colony Club, 1905.59

58 Christine M. Piotrhowski, ASID, IIDA, Professional Practice for Interior Designers, 3rd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002), 7. 59 John Pile, History of Interior Design (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000), 255.

31

The approval by recognized architects such as, Richard Morris Hunt, Henry Hobson

Richardson, and McKim, Mead & White would have assisted in the presumption that an interior decorator was necessary to maintain ones placement in the social structure.

When available, interior designers would have been commissioned to design the interiors of yachts also. For example, when referring to the interiors of W. B. Leeds’ yacht,

Noma, Erik Hofman states: “He had his house decorator do the interior of his yacht in heavy, carved paneling.”60 Just as American architecture, homes and interiors followed

the fashion trends of the European nobility, so the evolution of yachting in America

followed the precedence of Great Britain’s yachting class.

Chapter Four

The fourth chapter discusses how yachting associations, activities, and publications

supported the social structure of the yachting society. To maintain exclusivity, yacht

clubs, clubhouses and club publications were formed to separate yacht members from the

rest of society. Membership in a yacht club was recognition of ones social status.

Activities such as regattas, regatta balls, club events, and sporting activities were reserved

for members only. The aura surrounding yacht clubs supported the social status that its

membership sought.

Other businesses and art forms occurred as a result of the social status that

yachting had in society. Maritime art and photography flourished during the Gilded Age.

This chapter discusses the development and history of maritime artists, maritime

photography and the photographers that captured the images of yachts.

60 Hofman, Steam Yachts, 15.

32

Art forms that were a result of nineteenth century technology also promoted the social status that yachtsman and their yachts held in society. Yachting ephemera was found in stereographs, tobacco cards, postcards, and calendars because they all used yachting as subjects in their art form.

Both popular press and sporting magazines covered stories and events of the yachting activities and personalities. Often, illustrations of yachts and the social elite on board were portrayed in publications such as Century, Harper’s Bazaar, The R udder,

Outing Magazine, and Yachting. Chapter Four evaluates how these associations, activities and publications reflected the social status that accompanied yacht ownership.

Chapter Five

Chapter Five discusses the technological aspects of luxury yachting during the

Gilded Age. The beginning discussion gives an historical background of the development of luxury yachting and its close connection between Britain and America.

An overview of European royal yachts and American presidential yachts is given to demonstrate the trans-Atlantic connections of Gilded Age yachting. Yacht designers, yacht designs, classifications and rules are all a result of the yachting ties between the two nations. Full discussions of each of these subjects and their importance in the development of luxury yachting during the Gilded Age are found in Chapter Five.

On board each vessel are “working” textiles that are necessary in order for the yacht to sail, navigate and communicate. A section is devoted to discussing how these textiles have an important role in yachting.

33

Chapter Six

The sixth chapter interprets the fifth objective of this study which is a relationship

between home interiors and yacht interiors during the first era of American luxury

yachting. In this era yachts were sailing vessels without engines. These yachts were usually , a with two or more masts. Specifically, this chapter studies the luxury yachts Galatea and Coronet.

The Galatea shows evidence of the influence that European yacht interiors had on

American yacht interiors. John Beaver-Webb built Galatea in 1885 for Lieutenant and

William Henn, R. N. and his wife, both exceptional sailors. An America’s Cup challenger in 1886, Galatea crossed the Atlantic and was “fitted with literally all the comforts of home; she had an elegant main saloon, the furnishings of which were left almost intact on racing days.”61

Rufus T. Bush, a rising industrialist of the Gilded Age, demonstrated that

ownership of a yacht was as important an economic display as ones New York

townhouse and summer residence in Newport, Rhode Island or the Hudson Highlands.

Coronet, launched on August 17, 1885, and currently undergoing restoration, is the

“oldest and most original grand yacht in the world. She is priceless historical artifact and

a magnificent example of American design and engineering.”62 The significance of

including Coronet in this study is that she is the last remaining grand yacht of the Gilded

Age.

61 William P. Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting (Brooklin, MN: WoodenBoat Publications, Inc., 1989), 87. 62 Elizabeth E. Meyer cited in John Summer, The Schooner Yacht Coronet: An Air of Greatness (Newport, RI: International Yacht restoration School, 2005), 3. 34

Collecting historical data that includes photographs, yacht logs, correspondence and articles is the methodology for this objective. Interior images of the Galatea are located at the Mystic Seaport Research Library in the Rosenfeld Collection. The Coronet is docked at The International Yacht Restoration School (IRYS) in Newport, Rhode

Island. The grand yacht, Coronet, is the of IRYS and is a primary source.

Visiting on board at different time periods during her restoration reveal the varied interior design applications throughout her history. In addition, the research library for her reconstruction is also located at IYRS. Articles of her transatlantic races and the Amherst

Eclipse Expedition, 1895-1897, published in the New York Times and yacht log books are included in her primary source list.63

Chapter Seven

The seventh chapter examines the sixth objective. This chapter delves into the transition from sail to auxiliary powered, steam/diesel yachts. As income increased, and yacht designs were improved, social class competition bred new fashions in yachts. Just as with the invention of the light bulb and the accompanying hesitation to relinquish reliable gas-lighting where homes were “wired” for both, in case the new technology failed, sailing yachts had a similar transition to steam/diesel yachts. “Steam yachts were becoming popular with those who could afford them in the post-Civil War years, but they weren’t regarded with complete confidence and they usually carried enough of a sailing

63 The Coronet is the only extant grand yacht of this time period that exists in completion, accompanied with provenance. All other yachts mentioned in this study have either been destroyed, scuttled, rotted or ran aground and only exist in photographs, primary source descriptions or in bits and pieces. As an example, the ship wheel, the only part left in existence, of the Niagra is on display at the Detroit Yacht Club. For the purposes of this study, the Coronet and her documentation become an essential primary source for research and comparison. 35

rig to get them home in case the steam failed.”64 Yachts took on a bizarre hybrid

appearance that incorporated both sail rigging and funnels. The yacht owners during this

time period did not however, relinquish grandiose luxury. Instead, as the yacht

dimensions increased, so too did the accumulation of interior appointments and

furnishings. The wealthy and elite had always gravitated to yachting, but the popularity

of the steam yacht enhanced their social events into a prestigious pastime.65

“Newly minted tycoons” invested in the hybrid yacht to gain notice and speed.66

Prominent yachts studied in this chapter include North Star II, Namouna, Niagara and

Corsair III. Cornelius Vanderbilt III renamed Venetia to North Star II after his great-

grandfather’s original . She was more luxurious than the first and with her

“carved, bow, had the long, lean hull that was to become the hallmark of

American luxury steam yacht.”67 Some of the many homes that the Vanderbilt families

built are discussed and analyzed in comparison to their yachts. These include, but are not

limited to the house at 1 West 57th Street, New York City, the summer cottages in

64 Taylor and Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, 36. 65 Ed Holm, ed., Yachting’s Golden Age: 1880-1905 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 67. It is during this time period that artists, such as Jacques Joseph Tissot and Childe Hassam began to capture the luxurious lifestyle on board yachts. For example, Tissot’s The Last Evening, 1873 and The Ball on Shipboard, c. 1874 and Hassam’s The White Dory, 1895. Both artists incorporate haute couture of the day, on board festivities and the perfect rigging of a yacht. For more examples of James Tissot see Christopher Wood, Tissot: The Life and Work of Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1930, : Little, Brown and Company, 1986. For other examples of Childe Hassam, see H. Barbara Weinberg, Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. 66 Ross MacTaggart, The Golden Century: Motor Yachts, 1830-1930 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001), 11. 67 Armin Brand Allen, The Cornelius Vanderbilts of : A Family Retrospective (Newport, RI: The Preservations Society of Newport County, 1995), 55.

36

Newport, Rhode Island, specifically The Breakers and Marble House, and the estate in

Asheville, North Carolina, the Biltmore.

Chapter Eight

The eighth chapter interprets the seventh objective of this study. An evaluation of the relationship between home interiors and yacht design of steam/diesel powered yachts during the third yachting era will be discussed. The steam/diesel yachts included in this chapter are Margarita, 1900 and Niagara, 1898. Each exhibited lavish interiors and technologically advanced yacht design. Eric Hofman introduces his book, The Steam

Yachts: An Era of Elegance by stating that the steam yacht was the most impressive status symbol man had ever devise, these floating palaces were decorated and furnished as elaborately as the most luxurious mansion ashore. Illustrations show “the appalling mass of Victorian bric-a-brac and what-nots found on yachts of that era to make them

resemble parlors ashore.”68 Both Margarita and Vanadis are exemplary examples of

Hofman’s description of “floating palaces.”

Resources for the fifth objective are archival documents for The Elms and

Rosecliff held at the Newport Preservation Society for Newport County. Documents for

the Clayton and the Fifth Avenue Frick family home are located at the Frick Art

Reference Library in New York City. Both of these locations house inventory lists,

correspondence, bills-of-sale and archival objects that are used for analysis and

interpretation. The Niagara and Margarita both have archival documents at the New

68 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 8. 37

York Yacht Club, Harbor Court and the New York Historical Society.69

Chapter Nine

The ninth and concluding chapter summarizes Gilded Age social status as a

reflection of home interiors and as they were transferred to yacht interiors. Their

possessions and their leisure pastimes also demonstrated that they could afford to be elite.

Veblen, an eyewitness to this rivalrous display of wealth, argues that “in ‘social duties,’

and in quasi-artistic or quasi-scholarly accomplishments, in the dare and decoration of the

house, in sewing-circle activity or dress reform, in proficiency of dress, cards, yachting,

golf and various sports,”70 the conspicuous consumptive practices of the social elite was

exemplified in a variety of activities, yachting being one. A complete discussion of which

primary and secondary sources that will be used can be found in Appendix B.

Definition of Terms

For the purposes of this dissertation, the following definitions are used:

Burgee: A flag or a pennant of a yacht or boat club, its earlier meaning was the owner’s, or house flag. In its present meaning the term dates from sometime in the XVIII century (the oldest yacht club is the Royal Cork, dating from 1720 and it is probably that theirs is the oldest club burgee). The term probably comes from the French bourgeois, which had an earlier meaning if master, or owner.71

Gilded Age: From the title of a cynical book written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, 1873. Refers to a society that is “superficial and glittery, committed more to style than substance, and especially to the style that only money could

69 Housed at the New York Yacht Club and the summer residence of the club, Harbor Court, are yacht half models, scrapbooks of newspaper articles and descriptions of yacht interiors; photographic images and personal correspondence in regards to interiors are housed at the New York Historical Society. 70 Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 94. 71 John G. Rodgers, Origins of Sea Terms (Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985), 29. 38

buy.”72 For the purposes of this research project, the dates are 1870 to1920 and limited to the American society.

LOA: An exterior measurement of ships, in feet. It is (Length Over All) measured from the foremost part of the to the aftermost part of the , and includes any fixed projections, extending beyond the stem and stern.73

Material Culture: The name given to the study of person-thing relationships; it is the study of things- or objects-in-use.74 It is the totality of artifacts in a culture; the vast universe of objects used by humankind to cope with the physical world, to facilitate social intercourse, to delight our fancy, and to create symbols of meaning.75

Schooner: Fore- and aft-rigged sailing vessel with from two to seven masts, the prevailing rig of which is fore-and-aft. Schooners were first constructed in colonial American and proved effective and popular due to their speed, ability to sail close to the wind, and small drew requirements. They were widely used in fisheries and the coastal trade until the 1920s.76

Steamship: A vessel using a steam engine as the principal means of propulsion as opposed to a motor vessel. It specifically describes an oceangoing watercraft propelled by a steam engine or a steam turbine.77

Yachts: Elegantly furnished pleasure-vessels (either sail or steam), they are of very different sizes and shapes, and generally rigged as fore- and aft-schooners, or cutters.78 They are privately-owned having an early association with vessels of state for royalty, nobility and other dignitaries.79

72 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986), 70. 73 Naval Vessel Register, NAVSEA, , Shipbuilding Support Office, N. V. R., http://www.nvr.navy.mil/def_ol.htm (June 18,2007). 74 C. Lury, Consumer Culture (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996), 1. 75 Jules Prown, “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method,” Winterthur Portfolio (Spring, 1982): 1-2. 76 Robert McKenna, The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy (Camden, ME: International Marine, 2001), 328. 77 Captain Henry Paasch, Paasch’s Illustrated Marine Dictionary (1885; repr., New York: Lyons & Burford, 1997), 7. 78 John G. Rogers, Origins of Sea Terms, 196. 79 Peter Heaton, Yachting: A History (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1955), 17. 39

Chapter 2: The Rise of the American Aristocracy: Emulations of European Social Status and Their Effect on American Home Interiors

The Gilded Age, an era from approximately 1865 to 1918, brought about a new

American phenomenon: the first High Society, complete with prominent families, acquired fortunes and a “joyous flaunting” of their new wealth. Mark Twain’s coined term referred to the gilt of the shiny new veneered lifestyle of the infant millionaires’ club in America. Although glowing on the outside, there was a brassy base substructure that was largely ignored by its elite members. Everything, from apparel, multiple homes, travel, home furnishings, entertainment, and friends took on the gleam of an extravagant lifestyle that produced mansions, couture collections, European possessions, private luxury yachts, and railroad parlor cars. Their possessions particularly their mansions that eventually extended to their yachts were “to demonstrate the enormity of their wealth and to assert the difference between their social stratum and that of the upper-middle class.”1

Ownership of magnificent mansions, outings on one’s enormous luxury yacht, fancy dress balls and opening nights at the opera became powerful symbols of a new layer of

American society. There were no boundaries, including a quest for European aristocratic status, in the rush for social status, opulent surroundings and ostentatious, sometimes gaudy possessions. “Princely dwellings and the elaborate social functions held within

1 Wayne Craven, Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 36, 299. 40

them”2 added to the aura of elitism. Princely dwellings extended to palatial yachts where

the social calendar included boating activities, regattas and ports-of-call. As William

Peirce Randel noted, “The rich gave a glitter to life.”3

The prosperity amassed from the Industrial Revolution, railroads and the required

steel and coke to operate them, acquisition of real estate, mineral rights, and department

store tycoons, drove a very competitive ostentation toward advancement in the social

scene. Expensive pleasures and symbols of wealth motivated the acquisition of choice

real estate, architects, interior designers, grandiose objects, club memberships and

philanthropic affiliations. Life became an expensive exercise in maintaining the race

toward the largest, the best, and the fastest possessions one could purchase. Luxuries

were no longer an idle fantasy but were required by a population that was careening

toward grander wealth. For guidance on how to invest their newly acquired riches they

turned to Europe. The very finest mansions “were copies of French chateaus; there were

also reasonable facsimiles of Moorish and Oriental palaces. The best interiors were also

reminiscent of the luxurious best abroad, like the room in the Rockefeller town house . . .

with its ceiling copied from Alhambra and with exquisite brasses from Turkey.”4 With

American gusto, they embraced the times with rugged independence and a bravado spirit of the entrepreneur.5

2 Michael C. Kathrens, Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 37. 3 William Peirce Randel, : American Life in 1876 (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1969), 322. 4 Ibid., 377. 5 Allison Kyle Leopold, Victorian Splendor: Re-creating America’s 19th-Century Interiors (New York: Stewart, Tabori and Change, 1986), 14-78. 41

Late Nineteenth-Century Social and Financial Developments

By the turn of the twentieth century, a modern phenomenon – the corporation – had emerged as the modern business mode of operation. Headquartered in New York

City, the socially and financially successful families of America congregated for gala extravaganzas in the private parlors and ballrooms of their mansions, private club rooms and the executive board rooms. Even membership and attendance at the socially accepted church was a note of propriety for the New York upper class and economic elite.6 Every aspect of life was subject to evaluation. Homes and multiple residences

became a primary expression of their financial success. Other evidences included

extravagant entertainment, couture wear, private yachts, private railway cars, and

eventually automobiles and airplanes. Their social and cultural agendas were not

considered complete without the added inclusion of international travel and trade.

The wealthy, influential families of America’s Gilded Age for various social

aspirations felt compelled to take The Grand Tour, a tour of Europe’s greatest cities.

They deemed it their cultural obligation and considered it essential that their love affair

with Europe extend to palaces, museums, art exhibitions, cathedrals and opera house

visits. What better way to maintain class and social structure at home in America, than to

cavort with the European gentry that were involved in precisely the same exercise,

touring Europe. The children of American high society grew up learning the history of

English royalty and admiring French and Italian art and designs. European sights and

events were an extension of their development and education and viewed as important as

6 Timothy J. Gilfoyle, review of The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896, by Sven Beckert, Reviews in American History 30, no.2 (June 2002): 279-87. 42

a college education. As a poet candidly wrote, “How much a dunce, that has been sent to

roam; / Excels a dunce, that has been kept at home.”7 Socializing amongst the blue-

bloods of Europe assured their children a “rightful” place within the social strata of

European acquaintances and perhaps entry into their families as spouses. Presentation at

court was among the objectives of The Grand Tour. As a result, camel-back steamer and

wardrobe trunks branded with Louis Vuitton, Haskell Bros. Makers and Crouch &

Fitzgerald labels, bestowed with couture wardrobes and presentation gowns lined posh

staterooms of many a trans-Atlantic vessel.

New Families of Wealth

The years following the American Civil War saw a dramatic increase of fortunes

and an accumulation of vast wealth with “astonishing alacrity.” What appears to be an

inherent chic characteristic of these American-made riches was the imitations of

“manners and mannerisms of Europeans especially the English” who in turn were taking

their cultural cues from France. To complete the image of European acculturation, “the

very rich insisted on hiring servants who had been trained abroad. . . In their elaborate

palaces of granite and marble, the châteaux of Fifth Avenue and Newport, and the crenelated conceits of and St. Louis, they were waited upon.”8 This relationship

between family and servants was transferred to the same social structure on board luxury

yachts between owner and crew members.

The title of William Sheller’s book, Barons of Business is most likely a more appropriate designation for the majority of American Gilded Aged tycoons rather than the

7 Peter Gay, Age of Enlightenment: Great Ages of Men Time-Life Series, ed. Leonard Krieger (New York: Time Incorporated, 1966), 89. 8 Russel Lynes, The Domesticated Americans (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1957), 164. 43

disparaging title, Robber Barons. Although there were several personalities that fully

earned that title – Jay Gould, Jim Fisk and Daniel Drew to name three9 -- most of the

business barons, though ruthless in some dealings, were conducting commerce,

manufacturing and transactions in a very competitive, essentially honest environment.10

Shortly after the rise of the new nineteenth-century American financiers and

industrialists, commentary emerged that encouraged some sort of governmental control

over the “modern robber barons, who, by corporate rascality, supplemented with tricks of

the stock exchange, manage to plunder at will not only their fellow gamblers but the

innocent bona fide investors in corporate enterprises.”11 The precedence established by

the Rhine River opprobrium was reflected in the revival of the term in reference to the

nineteenth century businessmen and bankers that dominated their respective industries,

for instance , John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould and J. P. Morgan to name a few. It was Matthew Josephson’s book The Robber Barons (1934), that was

responsible for applying the twelfth century term to the nineteenth century captains of

business. In his foreword written in 1962 of a later edition, Josephson explains that the

purpose of his book was to give an account of their lives, their manners and their morals

and how they acquired their money:

At the season in 1933, when money itself was disappearing (all the banks having been closed for a while) it seemed as if this whole breed might disappear, or perhaps be reformed beyond recognition. Would some fearsome bulls and bears ever again range over the market place as anarchs of all they surveyed? Then, the

9 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 15. 10 The term, “robber barons” dates back to the twelfth century, and was used to described the unscrupulous German feudal lords and archbishops of the Holy Roman Emperor, who amassed personal fortunes by illegally charging exorbitant tolls on merchant ships traversing the Rhine River. Unless the unjust toll was paid, the iron stretching from tower to tower across the river were not lowered for passage. 11 Carl Schurz, The Boston Herald, Supplement, June 1, 1882, p. 30 as quoted in Craven, Gilded Mansions, 15. 44

old barons had such great panache!—with their private “palace cars” on rails, their imitation-Renaissance castle, and their pleasure yachts, one of which J. P. Morgan defiantly christened The Corsair. Those “kings” of railways, those Monopolists of iron or pork, moreover, founded dynastic families which Charles A. Beard once likened to the old ducal families of feudal England.12

Linked to the robber baron title were descriptions of unethical means for acquiring fortunes that included labor exploitation, enforcement of inhumane working conditions, and the use of political means to enrich their positions and maintain economic power and industrial supremacy.13 What is sometimes overlooked in a discussion about “robber

barons’ are the positive effects of their wealth. Cornelius Vanderbilt in his railroad

empire employed over 200,000 people at higher wages, J. P. Morgan consolidated and

reorganized many failed railroads, John D. Rockefeller restructured the oil industry,

Philip Armour and Gustavus Swift revolutionized the meatpacking industry, Boston

bankers financed Bell’s telephone. George Vanderbilt researched dairy production and sustainable landscaping at the Biltmore and built a village for his employees, several universities i.e. Johns Hopkins, The University of Chicago, Rockefeller University, were established, the Carnegie libraries were built, along with foundations and the accumulations of fine arts and museums to house them.14 Thousands of track miles were

added to the rail network, the western half of the continent was settled, natural resources

were harvested, the development of the domestic markets occurred and the shipping

industry grew substantially. There was an enormous increase in the country’s industrial

12 Matthew Josephson, The Robber Barons (New York: Harcourt, and Company, 1934), v. 13 Ibid., 50-74. 14 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 16-7 and Timothy J. Gilfoyle, review of The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896, by Sven Beckert, Reviews in American History 30, no. 2 (June 2002): 281. 45

productivity and international competition.15 Because the captains of Gilded Age industries took the old adage “a man’s home is his castle” seriously, American architecture, interior design, fine arts and furniture and and manufacturing abounded.

The definition of American culture encompassed the acquisition of fine art, particularly from European masters and art galleries. There was a pronounced snobbery among the highly educated members of the upper class. 16 The objective was to procure

the greatest collections of rare or highly prized works of art, and in the case of J. P.

Morgan a genuine concern for decaying and lost classical art, books, manuscripts and

sculpture. There was an underlying motivation, however, and evidence of this intense

obsession is demonstrated between J. P. Morgan and Henry Clay Frick. Both gentlemen,

in a desire to display their superiority over one another and others members of their

cohort, used the possession of fine art pieces as a device for power, status and control.17

The two men took pride in their “cultural capitol” and gladly supported the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. They generously donated to the initial inventory of the museum. Their private collections, however, grew to such enormous magnitude that they both required the construction of private art galleries and libraries.18

15 Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (New York: Random House, Inc., 1999), 129. 16 Ann Wallace, Arts & Crafts Textiles: The Movement in America (Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 1999), 9. 17 David Halle, Inside Culture: Art and Class in the American Home (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993), 6 Sociologists have emphasized a different set of external forces – struggles for power, status and control – as determining much of the meaning of art and culture for . 18 Halle, Inside Culture, 7. ‘Cultural capitol’ sees culture as a central mechanism in reproducing the class structure of dominant and dominated classes and focuses “on the way high culture serves as a device for excluding subordinate classes from the circles of power and privilege.” For both Morgan and Frick, their art collections served as a statement of power and superiority. As each one secured another object of art, the other was goaded on to continue the competition with greater accumulation of art pieces. Morgan built 46

The space required to house their collections were not only extensions of their physical

mansions, but the works of art were placed on display throughout the public quarters of

the house. Acclamations from peers as to the grandeur of your cultural taste and power

of acquisition served to support your social placement within society.19 As one last

triumph, Frick purchased all of Morgan’s bronze statuary in 1916 after Morgan’s death in

1913.20 To Frick’s credit, however, upon his death he bequeathed his palatial New York

home and the art collection to the public. His wish was that the public would enjoy

pleasure form the masterpieces within their proper surroundings, his personal art gallery,

and that “I want this collection to be my monument.”21

There were several motivating factors that strained efforts to be the most successful Baron of business. One of the determining factors was who one’s spouse was and what grand benefits could be gained with a marriage.

The first-generation tycoons followed no particular pattern in choosing their wives . . . .The second generation, buy contrast, selected mates for dynastic reasons, principally to forge business links or attain higher social standing. For the most part, the big spending also got underway with the second generation. Wives recruited architects, bought the furniture, battled their way into society, chose the jewels, and organized the servants, dinners, balls, and travel. Their husbands generally collected the paintings and invariably built the yachts and racing stables. All such activity should have been delightful, but the nouveaux riches – husbands and wives alike – competed ferociously with their peers (and even relatives) for advancement in the social scene, which often left them as much pained as pleasured.22

his private library, 219 Madison Avenue, New York City from 1902-1906 by Warren of Warren and Wetmore. The completed construction of the Frick’s New York palace and art gallery was in 1914. 19 Halle, Inside Culture, 6. 20 Michael Walter, docent of Art of the Gilded Age exhibit, The Clayton, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 24, 2009. 21 George Harvey, Henry Clay Frick, The Man (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928), 336. 22 Alexis Gregory Families of Fortune: Life in the Gilded Age (New York: The Vendome Press, 1993), 13. 47

A far more appealing marriage, one that added aristocracy to the family bloodline,

was the union with European nobility. These unions had a twofold advantage, for both

the American family and the European aristocracy; bragging rights for the family and

replenished bank accounts for the aristocracy.

By 1915 nearly 500 American women had married into the European aristocracy, which included 42 American princesses, 17 duchesses, 19 viscountesses, 33 marchionesses and hundreds of baronesses and countesses, almost all of them Britain and France. . . . All in all, the American invasion of European society was extremely fortuitous. The women not only replenished coffers and thickened blue blood; they proved to be distinct social assets.23

The grand financial accumulations and social re-positioning allowed the American elite to rise to extravagant lifestyles, homes and luxury yachts.

Houses and Furnishings as Status Symbols

Houses serve several purposes. The primary function of a house is that it is a

“dwelling place and a refuge for men, and under this description comes palaces and castle, mansions and mud-huts, cottages and caves, anything with four walls and a roof.”24 Protection from natural weather occurrences and from invading people with

malicious intentions is the primary objective of those that reside inside “anything with

four walls and a roof.” In that sense “both castle and cottage are in a sense living

organisms. They change, they adapt to the demands made on them.”25 The house is

linked inseparably with its owner and it reflects the tastes, habits, personalities,

affiliations, and social standing of its inhabitants. As John Maass states in his book, The

Victorian Home in America, “Houses are like clothes: both are shelters for the body

23 Ibid., 201. 24 Ettore Camesasca, ed., History of the House, trans. Isabel Quigly (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971), 6. 25 Ibid., 7. 48

which proclaim the owner’s status.”26 Throughout the history of the house, there has always been delineation between the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy. Although the purpose of the house is to protect its residents, it is also a very visible exclamation as to the family’s status. With one glance an observer recognizes the societal significance of the household.

The nineteenth century birthed revolutionary practices in the field of architecture and building technology. The imitation of European architectural styles and the

American invention of preparing building materials off-sight, created an environment that encouraged the proliferation of houses.27 Following the American Civil War the rise of

industrialism coupled with the enormous rise of fortunes “houses exuberantly sprouted

cupolas, turrets, bays, balconies, oriels and deep porches in fantastic combinations.”28

Suddenly, houses in the United States could project the whims of their owners and

emulate Italian, French and Gothic architectural styles of Europe. The two-way traffic

between Europe and America allowed “the passion for revivals and fantasies [to travel]

successfully across the Atlantic from Europe . . . fondness for historic styles which

characterized architecture at this period also affected furniture.”29 The home facades and

interiors of the American elite adapted to their rise in fortunes and social standing. They

established concrete and physical evidence of success. They were a visual support to the

accomplishments of their occupants and assisted in the promotion of their social

26 John Maass, The Victorian Home in America (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1972), 4. 27 Ibid., 21. 28 James Howard Kunstler, “The Beginnings of Suburbia” in Wendell Garrett, David Larkin and Michael Webb, American Home, An Illustrated Documentary: From Colonial Simplicity to the Modern Adventure (New York: Universe Publishing, 2001), 194. 29Charles F. Montgomery Jr., “North American Nostalgia,” in Camesasca, ed., History of the House, 268. 49

aspirations. The Gilded Age members “delighted in building large and impressive homes

filled with the choicest examples of the decorative arts, paintings and sculptures, plus

boiseries, [decorative paneling of carved wood] fireplaces, doorways, and the likes

plucked from ancient châteaux and palazzos across the Continent.”30 Although the

United States had thrown off their allegiance to the British they still associated

aesthetically to England and Europe. Most of “the richest interiors were still furnished

with European pieces imported at considerable expense.” 31 The arrival of these

shipments was so noteworthy that it was recorded, in personal diaries, conversations and

of course newspaper commentary. At times the American manufacturing of European

copies was not exclusive enough, so entire rooms were designed, purchased and imported

from European studios. As an example, the William Kissam and Alva Vanderbilt 660

Fifth Avenue, New York City residence, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, and

affectionately titled Petit Château, “the large salon (thirty-eight by thirty-three feet),

which was designed and executed in Paris by Jules Allard et Fils in imitation of the style

if Louis XV, was shipped to New York where it was reassembled by several Allard’s

artisans, sent over expressly for that purpose.”32 The scenes for music recitals and dances

held at The Breakers, took place in the music room that was constructed in Paris and

shipped to Newport for reassembly.33 After such an accomplishment the family’s preeminence was a resounding statement of social superiority. For the other members of their social class the only viable option for their own maintenance of social predominance

30 Craven, Gilded Mansions,188. 31 Montgomery Jr., “North American Nostalgia,” in Camesasca, ed., History of the House, 268. 32 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 119. 33 Gannon, Newport Mansions), 19. 50

was to continue the acquisition of European architectural designs and interior furnishings.

The scrutiny of guests, peers and family members caused “Cornelius and Alice

[Vanderbilt], in their jockeying for preeminence with the other members of the family,

[to want a] profusion of decorative detailing, employing expensive and abundant

ornamentation of surface, to declare their greater wealth and social standing. But since

most people would never gain admittance to view the luxury of the interiors of the

Cornelius Vanderbilt house, the architectural declaration of wealth and primal social

position had to be expressed through the splendidness (and costliness) of the exterior.”34

The mansion exteriors, whether located on Fifth Avenue in New York City, Bellevue

Avenue in Newport, or on the Hudson River Highlands all proclaimed magnificent

interiors, though not visible, to the outside viewers.

It was a “self-conscious consideration of taste” 35 a notion that had not been

developed in preceding centuries. This taste travelled successfully across the Atlantic

from Europe incased as a “fondness for historic styles which characterized architecture of

this period also affected furniture.”36 Period rooms, a popular interior décor of the 1880s,

reflected the passion for historic revivals and fantasies that were so predominate with this

social class. The re-creation incorporated the furniture and architecturally surroundings of

a past historical style, particularly Louis XV, as in the case of the salon at Petite Château.

Furnishings were either original European antiques purchased from actual French

chapels, châteaux, nunneries, castles or hôtel de ville and transported to American

mansions, or they were skillful American reproductions, such as those created by Herter

34 Craven, Gilded Mansions,134. 35 Camesasca, ed., History of the House,263. 36 Ibid., 268. 51

Brothers, that were easily mistaken for the authentic pieces.37 The objective was to

fashion a re-created European room, or rooms as did the Vanderbilt’s, and Astor’s, in an

American residence that boasted exquisite taste, social prominence and exclusivity.

Grand staircases of elaborate wrought iron and bronze railing in the eighteenth century

French manner, gilded ballrooms, swaths of recreated French textiles, fire mantle pieces

from French châteaux, Italian villa’s and English manors all proclaimed that the elite

American society had accomplished equality with their European counterparts. Just as

Alva Vanderbilt-Belmont, upon her death could claim fulfillment of her youthful fantasy

of “rivaling the Medici as great architectural patrons,”38 so too, because of their

extravagance in built environments and interior furnishings, could other Gilded Age constituents say the same.

The house environment allowed for maintenance of social strata. The upper

echelon could partake of all the luxuries provided by the family mansion, while the

working class was restricted to dictated spaces. Inside “the house was organized around

the distinction between the formal, the informal, and the servants’ sections. The servants’

domain was the top and bottom of the house.”39 Interiors for servants’ quarters and living spaces, though sufficient, were not the extravagance of their working environment.

Separate quarters and separate levels of interior furnishings maintained a differentiation of social status. As will be discussed in Chapter Three, this same application of separate quarters and separate interior furnishings occurred in luxury yacht design for the

37 Craven, Gilded Mansions119. 38 Gannon, Newport Mansions, 70. 39 Halle, Inside Culture, 24. 52

expressed purposed of differentiating of social strata between owner, guest and yacht

crew.

Parlors and Status

The grand accumulation of tremendous novae fortunes gave birth to an

unquenchable desire to display abundant and exotic wealth. Multiple homes lavishly

furnished, extensive foreign travel, elaborate entertainment, participation in social events,

resorts and clubs, ownership of private yachts and rail cars became a cornucopia of

conspicuous consumption. The costly foreign accoutrements that adorned the many

interiors accentuated the purchasing power and social position of each family. All

acquisitions had the specific intent to “secure a hold at the top of the social pyramid.”40

Although American interiors reflected the influence of many foreign connections, for instance Oriental screens and vases, Turkish curtains, Persian and Spanish leather, it was the elegant European rooms of the British, the French and the Italians that became the standard for elegance, culture and refinement. In their pursuit to associate with powerful Europeans, it was predominately the matriarchs of American high society that gave directions for the interior decorating, shopping and household acquisitions that defined and demonstrated privilege and an air of sophisticated abundance. Likewise, the

American high society men took their interior design cues from the expensive interiors of

European hunting lodges, castles, clubs and yachts to adorn their private American clubs, libraries, billiard and smoking rooms.41 The Great Exhibition housed in the Crystal

40 Kristin L. Hoganson, Consumers’ Imperium: The Global Production of American Domesticity, 1865- 1920 (Chapel Hill: North Carolina Press, 2007), 14. 41 As examples, photographs of George Vanderbilt’s imported ceiling frescos in the library at Biltmore are from Venice. Gregory, Families of Fortune, 119. James Gordon Bennett, Jr. designed his first transatlantic 53

Palace in London May 1, 1851 and the Paris Exposition of 1867 brought together artisans

and crafts from exotic lands. Themes of “industry” and “progress” as it related to the development of economics, politics and science were displayed, compared and discussed.

Astonishment of new inventions and exotic merchandise from far off lands were gathered together in an extraordinary exhibition. It was a celebration of “the useful and practical, a display of the technological triumphs of an acquisitive society. . . [with] large displays of overelaborate furniture.”42 Both expositions laid the foundation for the American

consumer, which only whetted their appetites for undreamed-of exotic decorations for their homes, clubs, entertainments and eventually their yachts.43 Great houses and

palaces of Europe became the standard of elegance that modeled the wealth and social

stations the American Gilded Age upper class sought. A spirit of self-conscious fashions,

found in every avenue of life fed a craving of quantity and grandiose display.

An extension of perceived social parity was to incorporate aristocratic behaviors

and activities into the lifestyles of the newly rich. One such adopted manifestation was

the formal parlor. Not only did the actual space of the parlor set aside an elite

environment, but its mere presence assumed the extravagant reception and entertaining of

guest, dignitaries and visiting Europeans. The importation of interior appointments was a

common practice. Russell Lynes notes:

yacht the 227 foot Namouna like an English country house, with oak, maple, and cherry paneled cabins. Gregory, Families of Fortune, 170. The Union Club, the most prestigious of private men’s clubs in New York City was modeled after the exclusive clubs in London. The interior sported wood-paneled card rooms, lounges and leather-upholstered furniture, Maxwell F. Marcuse, This was New York! A Nostalgic Picture of Gotham in the Gaslight Era (New York: LIM Press, 1969), 372. 42 Samuel Burchell C., The Age of Progress: Great Ages of Man Time-Life Series, ed. Leonard Krieger (New York: Time Incorporated, 1966), 139. 43 Russell Lynes, The Tastemakers: The Shaping of American Popular Taste (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), 99. 54

The parlors of prosperous city houses fairly dripped with what was popularly known as ‘the French taste.’ Carpets were soft and flowered. ‘I raly thought my boot was sinking inter the floor,’ wrote the fictional country bumpkin Jonathan Slick to his father after his first visit to a wealthy New York mansion. ‘It seemed like walking over the onion patches, when they’ve jest been raked and planted at springtime.’ At the windows were silk draperied, or curtains with elaborately tailored lambrequins, fringed and tasseled. Footstools covered with pictures in needlepoint of ‘lambs and rabbits sleeping among lots of flowers,’ cherrywood chairs carved in curlicues, sofas upholstered in shiny black or sometimes in bright red , with fancywork cushions on them, endless little tables with bowed and ornamented legs left scarcely any space to move about in the room. On the walls were flowered French wallpapers, gilded mirrors, and probably a romantic landscape by Church or Durand or some lesser light who sold to the Art Union. In the corner was a whatnot in which were displayed porcelain figurines, shells, china dogs, small pictures in lace and velvet frames, and on the mantelpiece was a gilded nymph draped over a clock or a branch laden with stuffed birds under a bell glass.44

Parlors were not limited to the financially and socially successful families of the

American Gilded Age. Middle-class families across America incorporated parlors into

their home interiors to boast about. A reexamination of the Social Comparison theory

assists in explaining this phenomenon. The demonstration of social hierarchy is

dependent upon the ability of one social class to imitate the social class just above them

in possessions, entertainment and living environments. Just as the American Gilded Age upper class attempted to imitate the aristocracy of Europe, so too, the American middle class attempted to mimic the Gilded Age social class. As Russell Lynes states, “The taste of the rich was only the taste of the poor on a more lavish scale. If the taste of the rich could be made sublime as their wealth could afford to make it, they [the social elite] reasoned, tastefulness would filter down to the middle classes and to the poor.”45 For the middle classes, furnishings for a parlor, regardless of space and economic constraints,

44 Lynes, The Tastemakers, 30. 45 Lynes, The Tastemakers, 117. 55

demonstrated their understanding of what a socially superior parlor was supposed to include by the purchases they made. A process coined by Thorstein Veblen as “invidious comparison” explains this phenomenon. According to Veblen, the process is one of

“social comparisons of persons with a view to rating and grading them in respect to relative worth or value.”46 Magazines such as The Lady’s World of Fashion, Delineator,

Harper’s Magazine and Godey’s Lady’s Book instructed women not only in fashionable clothing but also as to the appropriate interior appointments that reflected the upstanding morals of a Victorian home. Newspapers advertised various household goods that incorporated both European influence and Victorian values.47 Popular books such as

Mrs. Trollope’s Domestic Manners of Americans, (1832) Catherine Beecher and Harriet

Beecher Stowe’s The American Woman’s Home (1869) and Julia McNair Wright’s The

Complete Home: An Encyclopedia of Domestic Life and Affairs (1879) all shared

household advice, child rearing practices, domestic manners and appropriate interior

appointments. Paintings, photographs, museums, travel and missionary presentations,

department store window displays were important avenues for educating the middle-

class public about home decorations. Through exposure to these different stimuli, stylish

furnishings became a mode of communicating social into a higher social class and “carefully planned rooms were designed to be rhetorical statements expressing

aspirations, what a person believed or wished to believe.”48

46 Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899; repr., New York: Viking Press, 1931), 34. 47 Lynes, The Tastemakers, 10, 176. 48 Katherine C. Grier, Culture & Comfort: Parlor Making and Middle-Class Identity, 1850-1930 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), 15. 56

Cosy corners, a descendent of Victorian England, became very fashionable in the

1890s. If there was a limit on space, niches or corners were created to house settees,

overstuffed cushions, rugs, a Turkish coffee table, screens, fans, lanterns and shelves for

displaying china, pottery and other objets d’ art.49 The final touch was voluminous to the entire contents. Textiles were an important status statement in the creation of a cosy corner, so much so that several fabric stores “published booklets with instructions for making four different cosy corners.”50 The appeal of a cosy corner

allowed the mistress of the house the to create an exotic corner in a room that mimicked the far off places. Before her rise as interior designer extraordinaire, even the esteemed Elsie de Wolf was photographed lounging in her “Turkish” or “cosy corner” replete with luxuriously embroidered cushions arranged elaborately on the Persian rug all of which was under the protection of an eighteen inch fringed and tasseled Oriental awning and framed in multiple palm fronds.51 As was typical, high society set the

standard for lower social echelons to imitate. Cozy corners became an expression of

exotic escape for the rising middle class.

The Influence of the British Parlour and British Designers

As precursors of and models for American interior design, the English Victorian

parlor and the French salon share a commonality for which an understanding is essential

in this study. The term “parlor” was associated with both cultural values, such as

49 Judith Flanders, The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003), 143. 50 Hoganson, Consumer Imperium17. 51 Hutton Wilkinson, preface to the reprint edition of The House in Good Taste by Elsie de Wolfe (1913, repr., New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2004), xvi. A photograph of Miss de Wolfe draped on her lounge chair can be found in Buie Harwood et. al. Architecture and Interior Design from the 19th Century (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009), 228. 57

gentility and domesticity of Victorian England, and as a name for the room in a house

that was a showcase for material refinement. It was a room that was reserved for the very

best furniture, was set apart as a reception room, a place for entertaining guests and

served as a space for conducting special functions, such as wedding receptions, wakes

and other public events. The lush interiors of the parlor were reserved for receiving and

entertaining guests and consequently became known as the “best room.” It was a room

that was set apart for and “held the most choice (and therefore most formal) furniture and ornaments.”52 As incomes accumulated so did new cultural imperatives. Gentility was

expressed in an interior environment that favored a new code of social behavior,

elaborate etiquette standards, grandiose entertainment and a flamboyant display of household goods. It was to the parlor that hosts and guests would retire for after dinner

“sings” around the piano, storytelling, dancing, theatrical or magic lantern shows and

parlor games of cards, board games, forfeits and charades that became an intrinsic

component of the evening’s entertainment. New entertainment technologies displayed in the parlour such as the phonograph and the stereograph added to the family’s aura of cultural status.53 The brazen glamour and opulence of interior appointments was a means of advertising the financial and social success of the family in the homes as well as the luxury yachts.

Parlors were an overt demonstration, an instrument of measure as to the financial and social achievement of a family’s social standing. Used as a public room on display, conspicuous consumption of European interiors and materials was an obvious attempt to

52 Flanders, The Victorian House, 137. 53 “Parlor Games,” http://www.victoriaspast.com/ParlorGames/parlor_games.htm (accessed March 23, 2009), paragraphs 1-2. 58

gain peer favor and make statements of desired or actual arrival into a social class. This

practice had occurred in Europe for several generations. For example, earlier, in Jane

Austen’s book, Emma, (1814), Austen uses the character Miss Harriet Smith, “a natural daughter of somebody,” to elevate the social standing of the Martin family by her appraisal of their parlors. Her statement to Emma that “Mrs. Martin’s having ‘two

parlours, two very good parlours, indeed; one of them quite as large as Mrs. Goddard’s

drawing-room ”54 demonstrates Miss Smith’s attempt to justify the social standing of the

Martin’s, a tenement farmer of Abbey-Mill Farm, to Miss Emma Woodhouse, a gentleman’s daughter, by way of their parlors. It was a room that signified social status. For the contemporary and subsequent readers of Jane Austen, this statement set the Martin’s above the common social class and allowed Emma to view them with less disdain.

In addition, the parlor served as an expression of taste. In Victorian vernacular

“taste” was not a personal attribute, rather it was a collection of virtues, moral excellence,

integrity and rectitude as sanctioned by society.55 To ignore the dictates of taste as

defined by one’s peer group would have been an act of social suicide. Taste was

regarded as an act of judgment and symbolized the moral conduct of the family’s private

life.56 For the cosmopolitan matriarchs of the consumptive Gilded Age society, the parlor

served as a theater for sumptuous, “tasteful” expressions of a social facade: the principles

of gentility and domesticity were defined by the material contents in the “best room” and

communicated the cultivation, refinement and financial standing of the family. It was

the duty of the “priestess and minister of a family state” to select and arrange possessions

54 Jane Austen, Emma (1814; repr., Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1994), 17. 55 Flanders, The Victorian House, 131-39. 56 William Seale, The Tasteful Interlude: American Interiors Through the Camera’s Eye, 1860-1917 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975), 19. 59

in such a manner as to elevate the social standing and the moral state of the family.57 The

underlying purpose of the well appointed parlor was to boast of fine, upstanding

Victorian moral values, while flaunting material accumulation to ones guests and peers.

The 1919 edition of The Practical Book of Interior Decoration gives a commentary of

interior design practices from seventeenth century through nineteenth century of England,

France, Italy, Spain and America. Historical citations of how style, the use of motifs,

specific fabrics and colour, window dressings, and the progression of furniture shapes,

arrangements of and materials reflected not only the cultured taste of a European, but

how each of these interior components spoke if the family’s dignity and morality.58

References are made to the importance of the “guiding principles and traditions” of interior decoration and because “decoration is both an art and a science; it is the result of long centuries of loving thought and high craftsmanship based upon unalterable principles of beauty and use.” 59 Without the ordered interiors of European taste, the

home is viewed as chaotic and is a statement as to the potential disorder of the family.

When discussing the motives behind the nineteenth century interior design of American homes the authors state that “if the Modern Movement is an effort to realize, and to provide homes in correct relation to, human life today, it is evident that the result will depend upon the conception of what that life is.”60 Commentary such as this was

commonly linked with how interiors echoed the family values. If the keeper of the home,

57 Harriet Beecher Stowe, We and Our Neighbors (New York: J. B. Ford and Company, 1875), 152. Quoted in Katherine C. Grier, Culture & Comfort: Parlor Making and Middle-class Identity, 1850-1930 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), 8. 58 Harold Donaldson Eberlein, Abbot McClure and Edward Stratton Holloway, The Practical Book of Interior Decoration (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1919), 3-166. 59 Ibid., vi. 60 Ibid., 177. 60

the wife and mother, adhered to the advice, then the family’s reputation was left

unscathed and virtuous in the eyes of society. Although there were many influential

designers and architects practicing in Great Britain at the time, there were two British

designers that had a significant affect on American interiors, Charles Locke Eastlake

(1836-1906) and William Morris, (1834-1896).

Charles Locke Eastlake

Though trained in the Royal Academy as an architect, Charles Locke Eastlake

spent his career predominately “designing furniture, and occasionally interior fittings,

wallpaper patterns, metal work and jewellery.”61 His acute knowledge of materials that

he gained through his architectural background gave foundation to successful furniture

design and their fundamental expression as interior design components. When Eastlake

wrote a book entitled Hints on Household Taste, in Furniture, Upholstery and Other

Details (1868), the underlying pretense was an acute desire to “return to honest English

craftsmanship, the kind that requires skill and time.”62 The book became a leading guide

for home interior decorations and he became the oracle of domestic taste.63 In the preface

Eastlake states that his objective was “to suggest some fixed principles of taste for the

popular guidance of those who are not accustomed to hear such principles define.”64 The

61 John Gloag, introduction to the re-publication of Charles L. Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste: The Classic Handbook of Victorian Interior Decoration, (1878, London: Longmans, Green and Company, repr., New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969), viii. 62 William Peirce Randel, Centennial: American Life in 1876 (Philadelphia, PA: Chilton Book Company, 1969), 368. 63 This is the original title of Eastlake’s book that was a collection of several articles he had written under a pseudonym for the mid-nineteenth century magazines The Queen and London Review. The articles were combined for book publication and the title changed to Hints on Household Taste: The Classic Handbook of Victorian Interior Decorations in a later edition. By the time the book had gained recognition in America, it was in its 6th edition, proving its overwhelming acceptance with the American consumer. 64 Gloag, Hints on Household Taste, vi. 61

book includes written descriptions of furniture designs accompanied by illustrations that further portray acceptable furnishings of an interior that in turn demonstrates good taste.

His collections of advice include a wide variety of household articles such as wallpaper, carpeting, draperies, clothing, metal ware, and jewelry – all of which he stated should be expressed as close to the Middle Ages as possible.65 He writes: “In the field of taste,

whether social or aesthetical, it is always much easier to point out paths which should be

avoided than to indicate the road which leads to excellence.”66

The book became a popular interior design resource in Great Britain but

surprisingly had a greater influence in the ready readership of Americans. Though

Eastlake’s intention was not to create his own style, nevertheless, his simplistic

furnishings were named the “Eastlake Style” and by 1881 his interior creations

“continued to benefit the American furniture trade, and travesties of his designs found

their way into many American homes.”67 American builders and designers had always clamored for guidance found in foreign books on design68 and Eastlake was given

immediate acknowledgement with the first American edition in 1872 and the five

subsequent printings to 1881. Although he was writing in London, it was Eastlake that

told the American people the mistakes of “uneducated taste’ and went on to explain “how

to lay their carpets, paper their walls and choose their furniture to make their homes more

‘tasteful.’69 Considered a foreign authority, his advice and books were acknowledged as

65 William Peirce Randel, The Evolution of American Taste: The History of American Style from 1607 to the Present (New York: A Rutledge Book Crown Publishers, Inc., 1978), 142-43. 66 Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste, 156. 67 Gloag, Hints on Household Taste, ix. 68 Randel, Centennial, 368. 69 Asa Briggs, Victorian Things (Gloucestershire, Great Britain: Sutton Publishing, 2003), 194. 62

vogue counsel. His personal preference were the highly ornamental objects and interiors

of the sixteenth and seventeenth century because he felt that they best expressed the

simplicity of design and the honesty of craftsmanship, particularly medieval construction

of peg joinery instead of the use of glues. In a Harper’s Bazaar article published in 1876

a statement in regards to American interiors declared: “Not a young marrying couple who could read English were to be found without Hints on Household Taste . . . and all its dicta were accepted as gospel truth.”70

William Carter, a Philadelphia coal millionaire and Theodore Roosevelt invested in a “considerable number of Eastlake pieces” throughout the 1870s and 1880s.71 His

influence was not limited to sumptuously furnished English parlors and America’s east

coast mansions and cottages. Joseph Magoffin, a wealthy businessman and politician in

El Paso, Texas re-built his flooded adobe mansion in 1877 re-furnishing his home with

furniture dating from the 1870s through the 1880s. Described as a “magnificent country

seat” the parlor was appointed with rockers, settees and matching armchairs all with

incorporated Eastlake fretwork.72 Other wealthy patrons such as Jay Gould continued to

demonstrate the evidence of Eastlake’s influence when for $550 he purchased one

“elaborate Eastlake style desk” constructed by Herter Brothers in 1892. His Lyndhurst

mansion located in Tarrytown, New York undervalued at $77 million had many other

70 Acceptance of Eastlake’s interior recommendations and furniture were far more influential in America than in Great Britain. Many American authors, such as Candace Wheeler, Mrs. M. E. W. Sherwood and Mrs. Ella Church Rodman were regular contributors to monthly magazines such as Delineator, Pedersen’s, Appleton Journal and Harper’s Bazaar. This particular quote is from Harper’s Bazaar, 1876, in Asa Briggs, Victorian Things (Gloucestershire, Great Britain: Sutton Publishing, 2003), 192. 71 Edgar deN. Mayhew & Minor Myers, Jr., A Documentary History of American Interiors: From Colonial Era to 1915 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980), 278-79. 72Betsy Knight, “The Magoffin Homestead, an Adobe in El Paso,” in The Antiques Book of Victorian Interiors compiled by Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1981), 94-103. 63

Eastlake pieces adorning his home interiors. Henry C. Frick and his new bride Adelaide

Howard Childs, in 1881, purchased Eastlake style furniture made in Baltimore as their

first dining table (still on display at their home, The Clayton, located in Pittsburg,

Pennsylvania).73 Fictitious characters such as Newland Archer in Edith Wharton’s Age of

Innocence (1920) substantiate America’s infatuation with Eastlake style furnishings. Mr.

Newland envisions his library adorned with “sincere Eastlake furniture and the plain new bookcases without glass doors.”74 Although the Eastlake-style furnishings that were

made in America were not the handmade simplistic pieces of medieval or Gothic design

that Charles Eastlake prescribed, they were generally factory- made of cherry, walnut, oak, ash and chestnut. The Eastlake-style was popular in America between 1870 and

1890.75

Of particular interest for this study is his chapter on drawing rooms. Eastlake tells his readers the appropriate interior furnishings and textiles that should adorn the British

parlour. He describes and illustrates specific sofa designs as an “example of thoroughly

good design.”76 His descriptions of the drawing room chairs are “constructed of oak, covered with velvet, and trimmed with silk fringe.”77 Eastlake’s discussion of floor coverings and carpets is extensive and he explicitly states the use of size, acceptable colors, weaves, dyes, designs and countries of origin.

With regard to the style of carpet, it may be assumed that, except in a few rare instances, where an European influence has been brought to bear on

73 Michael Walter, docent of “The Art and Culture of the Gilded Age,” tour at The Clayton, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 24, 2009. 74 Edith Wharton, Age of Innocence (1897; repr., New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2004), 61. 75 Allison Kyle Leopold, Victorian Splendor: Re-Creating America’s 19th-Century Interiors (New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1986), 66-67. 76 Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste, 159 77 Ibid., 175. 64

the manufacture of the East, all Oriental work is excellent. Care should be taken, however, to avoid those designs which are remarkable for over-brilliance of colour. They are apt to be inharmonious with of the furniture and rich Oriental dyes frequently have a deleterious effect on the material which they stain. . . The dull Indian red is far more enduring, and is also more likely to blend well with the surrounding tints.78

Eastlake’s view of carpet use differed from that of Julia McNair Wright who in 1879 states that the carpet dictated the color scheme of the room. Although she advocates

Turkish and Brussels carpets she says that “The atmosphere of the house was already being set before they [the young couple] bought any things besides carpets. ‘What is the prevailing tint in your carpet?’ ‘Crimson.’ ‘Then you must have crimson curtains, crimson sofa, crimson everything.’ ”79 Instead, both Mrs. Harriet Spofford and Mr.

Eastlake encouraged different fabrics and colors that show contrast. Both recommended the use of Oriental rugs, and removable carpets. They were both advocates of straight draperies hung from an obvious rod using metal rings. For summer draperies and curtains, and dotted Swiss were the desirable fabrics in order to maintain the “light and airy elegance” associated with a well-decorated parlor. The suggested fabric for upholstered parlor chairs of all styles was velvet, constructed without tufting in the fashionable colors of deep green and deep crimson.80

William Morris

William Morris, born in 1834 to an affluent middle class family, was the son of a

wealthy city stockbroker. He is considered an influential home furnishings designer of the nineteenth century and remains one of the best known British Designers. He began

78 Ibid., 110. 79 Julia McNair Wright, The Complete Home, (1879) quoted in Asa Briggs, Victorian Things (Gloucestershire, Great Britain: Sutton Publishing, 2003), 198. 80 Mayhew & Myers, Jr., A Documentary History of American Interiors, 282-83. 65 his higher education at Marlborough College in 1848 and entered Exeter College, Oxford in 1853 with the intent of studying theology and then entering the Church. While at

Oxford, Morris developed an interest in art, design, architecture and literature, particularly as it reflected the medieval time period. Inspired by his love for medieval art and design, Morris “began to develop his philosophies of rejecting the tawdry industrial manufacture of decorative arts and architecture in favour of a return to hand- craftsmanship, raising artisans to the status of artists.”81 Morris believed that the

Industrial Revolution, as demonstrated in England and America, had robbed the artist, designer and worker of the satisfaction and pleasure found in handcrafted design and workmanship. He felt an urgent need to reverse the human subservience to the unquenchable machine. Associating with the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, Morris opened his first design studio, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., also called The Firm, in 1861.82

In a conscious effort to improve design, this partnership produced textiles and wallpapers that had a tangible richness, whose style dominated the later nineteenth century. Textile design and production became one of their most important offerings. The prospectus of the design company in the 1860s was to undertake carving, stained glass, metal work, paper-hangings, chintzes and carpets for the decoration of churches as Morris had anticipated. Urban expansion gave rise to larger Anglo-Catholic congregations, requiring an increase in church building. The result was a steady income of ecclesiastical

81 William Morris Wallpapers & Fabrics, “William Morris Fabrics and Textiles” http://www.william- morris.com/william-morris-fabric-and-textiles/5/ (accessed January 29, 2009), page 5. 82 Christine Poulson, William Morris (London: Quantum Publishing Ltd., 2002), 32. 66

commissions.83 Embroidery techniques based on the Opus Anglicanum, a surface

embroidery technique popular in medieval England, were re-introduced into client

commissions. The Firm’s non-ecclesiastical designs focused on “cloth and paper wall- hangings, embroideries, jewelry, woven and knotted carpets, silk and tapestries,”84 during the 1870s. His first textile, , entitled “Tulip and

Willow” was printed in 1873. From this print his home furnishing business was

launched.85 In addition to private client contracts, the Morris, Marshall Faulkner & Co.

published catalogues replete with textiles, embroideries, wall papers and carpet-

designs that introduced their home furnishing lines to clients throughout Europe and

America.

Fully devoted to the production of textiles and wanting to incorporate carpet-

weaving as a fine art, Morris dissolved The Firm and opened a second design company

entitled Morris & Company located at Merton Abbey Mills in 1881. Morris expressed

his feelings of autonomy when he wrote, “Almost all the designs we use for surface

decoration, wallpapers, textiles and the like, I design myself. . . all of which I must admit

had given me and still gives me a deal of enjoyment.”86 The premises and the buildings at Merton Abby Mills provided the necessary space for several different manufacturing processes. Carpet weaving, fabric weaving, fabric printing and , stained-glass production and most importantly a space to house the jacquard and tapestry looms. The

83 Ibid., 35 and “Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.,” under William Morris Fabrics and Textiles, http://willim-morris-fabrcs-and –textiles/5/ (accessed January 29, 2009), page 5. 84 Ann Wallace, Arts & Crafts Textiles: The Movement in America (Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs-Smith Publisher, 1999), 10. 85 Poulson, 67. 86 Diane Waggoner, The Beauty of Life: William Morris & the Art of Design (London: Thames and Hudson, 2003), 54. 67

woven fabrics that Morris designed were normally made in using a variety of

tapestry weaves, which were then used for heavy drapes, wall hangings or upholstery.87

Other cotton and fabrics were hand-blocked with the distinctive designs of the

Morris Company. At the time of his death in 1896, the Morris & Co. had produced over

140 designs for fabrics of all types. His wall paper and textile designs became staples of the Arts and Crafts Movement and his genius as a pattern-designer was considered unequalled. The majority of his textile patterns were produced between 1875 and 1885, and they were characteristically rich and varied in colors. He had an unparalleled talent for coordinating several motifs in a variety of colors that were designed into a harmonious expression.88

Known as the “Father of the Arts & Crafts Movement,” in both Great Britain and

America, Morris’s chief contribution was as a designer of repeating patterns for wallpapers and textiles. His strong influence of textile design and sources assisted in the resurgence of traditional textile arts and methods of production using exquisite and expensive fabrics. Morris incorporated naturalistic floral textile designs that mirrored the enjoyment and taste of many affluent and fashionable Victorians. Furnishings for the ideal parlour included a fitted carpet, softly upholstered neo-Rococo chairs, the grand central table and a piano-forte all of which were encompassed with “floral wallpaper borders [and] matching chair covers, curtains and carpets.”89 Embroidery designs also

87 William Morris Wallpaper & Fabrics, “William Morris Fabrics and Textiles,” http://www.william- morris.com/william-morris-fabrics-and-textile/3/ (accessed January 29, 2009), page 1. 88 Kate Woodhead, “The Artist’s Reacting; 1880-1939,” in Ginsburg, The Illustrated History of Textiles (London: Studio Editions Ltd., 1991), 74-76. 89 Charles Newton, Victorian Designs for the House (London: V & A Publications, 1999), 70. 68

incorporated floral patterns that were adapted from earlier embroideries or book

illustrations and then modified to suit a particular textile.

As Morris’s popularity gained momentum, substantial design commissions

occurred that promoted his designs. Working with Phillip Webb (1831-1915) a personal

and architect for Morris & Company, corroborative alterations were made to the

Great Tangley Manor in Surrey, 1885. The floors were re-carpeted with one of Morris’s

finest machine-woven Wiltons. Morris and Webb designed the drawing room at Old

Swan House in Chelsea, 1881, and it “provides an interesting period record of a wide

range of the finest of the firm’s work.” The floor sported a bold carpet designed “whose

border of large repeating palmettes was directly influenced by Persian originals in south

Kensington Museum,”90 and brought notoriety to Morris & Co. A three year project was the precise restoration of the Percy Wyndam estate, Clouds, 1889, that incorporated numerous tapestries and fabrics of Morris designs.91 As others witnessed the affects of

Morris designed interiors they too became clients. Lists of other estates that incorporated

Morris designed textiles and wallpapers, read like a Who’s Who of British lords and ladies, of dukes and duchesses.

Morris’s influence, however, was not limited to the Great Britain and the

European continent. Many American homes displayed Morris wallpapers and textiles.

One such example is found in the re-design of Chateau-sur-Mer located on the fashionable Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The American architect,

90 Jeremy Cooper, Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors (London: Thames & Hudson, 1987), 158. 91 Ibid., 158. 69

Richard Morris Hunt92 was retained to enlarge the Chateau-sur-Mer in the 1870s while

the new owners, George Peabody Wetmore and his bride Edith Keteltas traveled to

Europe on an extended honeymoon. While in England they spent much of their time

purchasing home furnishing for their new home. The Arts and Craft styles were

flourishing and considered the most avant-garde at the time. “The Wetmores purchased

many of Morris’ and Burges wallpapers, encaustic tiles, hardware, fabrics, custom-made

furniture and other furnishings.”93 Surrounding Hunt’s grand staircase are English

stamped–velvet portieres and furniture that is upholstered in matching fabric. American

interiors were replete with all of the kaleidoscopic paraphernalia of a fashionable

Victorian home.

Using Morris’s thought and practices as their primary inspiration, The Arts and

Crafts Movement became a “recognizable force in the 1880s, enjoyed in the 1890s.”94

Following a series of successful exhibitions sponsored by the Arts and Crafts Society,

1880s-1890s, the Arts and Crafts Movement renamed as the Craftsman Movement gained attention and acceptance in affluent American society. In the 1897, an influential group of Bostonian architects, designers and educators organized an exhibition of contemporary craft objects. Their objective was to combine aesthetic ideals with social activism and to reinterpret European Arts and Crafts ideals for Americans. The enormous success of the

92 Richard Morris Hunt was the first American architect to graduate from the prestigious Ecole des Beaux- arts, 1846-1855, in Paris. His association with the first professional school of architecture and his Parisian training made him especially desirable as the avant garde architect and he became a favorite society architect. His strengths, historicism and eclecticism perfectly assisted his clients desire to imitate European aristocracy. His commissions with the , i.e. the Breakers, the Biltmore, the Marble House were particularly advantageous for his career. 93 Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett, The Antiques Book of Victorian Interiors (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1981), 125. 94 Cooper, Victorian & Edwardian Furniture & Interiors, 180. 70

exhibition on June 28, 1897 spawned a desire to reinterpret the European Arts and Crafts

ideals into a design movement that conformed to the American consumer and the

improved status of women.95 American designers such as Candace Wheeler, Gustav

Stickley, Will Bradley and Henry Hobson Richardson fully embraced the Arts and Crafts

Movement and in turn designed buildings, textiles, furniture and decorative arts that were

reflective of Morris’s influence. His textiles and wallpapers represented the height of

English interior decoration and inspired a widespread desire to imitate his expertise by

both professionals and amateur designers on both sides of the Atlantic. His textile

designs embraced the Arts and Crafts Movement and were always based on motifs that

represented natural subjects, the plants, flowers and birds printed on cotton or linen grounds.96 In keeping with the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts Movement, his hand-

blocked printing methods replaced the mechanized roller printing techniques for printing

his fabrics and wallpapers. Because of his attention to hand-crafted goods, his fabrics

and wallpapers were available only to the affluent.97 A distinguished level of artistry and

craftsmanship added to the competition between fabric mills in Great Britain and France.

Their products were a symbol of expensive exclusivity.98

The Influence of the French Salon and the Rise of American Designers

French Salons and American Designers and Styles

95 Wallace Arts & Crafts Textiles,10-11. 96 John Pile, A History of Interior Design (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000), 210-913. 97 Buie Harwood, Bridget May and Curt Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design from the 19th Century: An Integrated History (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009), 426, 438. 98 A healthy rivalry existed in the eighteenth century between the French silk textile mills in Lyon and Spitalfields of Great Britain. The weaves at Spitalfields, however, were predominately copies of French silks. The only woven designs that were uniquely British were a few brocaded florals on light backgrounds. Clearly, leading British textile mills were taking their lead from the fashions set in France. Other textiles included cretonnes, cotton, velvet, plush, linen, wool and leather with little decoration. Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979), 207. 71

The American bourgeoisie compared their tastes most closely with that of

Victorian England. Yet, the British, concurrently, took their fashion and taste cues from

the French.99 French salons had their beginnings in the first half of the seventeenth

century in Paris. In the houses of grandeur among the Parisian wealthy, series of salons

were adopted for various receiving and entertaining of guests. The salon de famille

allowed personal collections and materials along with privacy for the family, but it was

the salon de compagnie that was “sacred to a magnificent hospitality.”100 In response to a

negligent French court, aristocratic and upper bourgeoisie women known as salonnières

ran and organized salons from their homes creating an acceptable environment for the

advent of salons in all homes of the upper class society.101 The most infamous hostess,

Madame Geoffrin, redirected the purpose of her salon to an arena for “aristocrats and

men of letters [that] mingled, each polishing the flaws of the others until the resulting

product represented the essence of civilization.”102 By the beginning of the late

eighteenth century the Parisian salon created a setting that provided opportunities for men

and women to discuss politics, social and cultural issues. Conversation was perfected to

an art form and honed for the purpose of diplomacy. Gatherings at such salons were an

intermingling of writers, artists, philosophers and other wealthy patrons that engaged in

99 William Seale, The Tasteful Interlude: American Interiors Through the Camera’s Eye, 1860-1917 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975), 13. 100 Elsie de Wolfe, The House in Good Taste (1913, The Century Co.; repr., New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2004), 88. 101 “The Background to Parisian Salon,” under Paris: City of Lights http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/parishomework/Backgroundsal (accessed April 15, 2008), paragraphs 1 and 2. Both Elsie de Wolfe in The House of Good Taste (1913) pages 87-93 and Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr. in The Decoration of Houses (1897) pages 124-37 both discuss the history of English parlors and French salons in detail, beginning with the Louis XIII to 1920. Each source lists appropriate window dressings, furniture pieces and arrangements, floor coverings and room colors. 102 Peter Gay, The Age of Enlightenment: Great Ages of Man, Time-Life Series, ed. Leonard Krieger (New York: Time Incorporated, 1966), 47. 72 intellectual dialogue as it pertained to the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the

Second Empire and the Restoration. The French salon that was dominated by aristocratic women was “an elegant room in a large house, used for receiving guests” but was distinguished from the English parlor in that it was used to incorporate lively intellectual discussion and debate between men and women.

The beginnings of the Art Nouveau design movement most likely began in France and Belgium during the late nineteenth century and introduced a new approach to design expressions of all types. Interior decoration furnishings was a main avenue of Art

Nouveau expressions; furniture, lamps, wallpaper, fabrics, even plumbing fixtures were designed in the new style.103 The initial creations and designs were merely an outgrowth of the Arts and Crafts Movement. With no clear beginning it only took its name from

Siegfried Bing’s shop in Paris called the La Maison de l’Art Nouveau whose inventory

“displayed the qualities that were characteristic of the movement.”104 Modern materials such as iron and glass, were reshaped into decorative ornamentation based on forms found in nature; flowers, vines, shells, bird feathers, and insect wings. Their shapes became curvilinear and S-shaped in expression and dominated the Art Nouveau motif patterns.105

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was highly influential with the progression of

Art Nouveau interior furnishings in America and the European continent. In Bing’s

Parisian store, Paris shoppers noticed “glass lamps by the American designer Louis

103 Samuel C. Burchell, “Settings for the Salon Set,” in S. C. Burchell, The Age of Progress: Great Ages of Man, Time-Life Series, ed. Leonard Krieger (New York: Time Incorporated, 1966), 150. 104 Pile, A History of Interior Design, 226, 232. 105 Ibid., 226. 73

Comfort Tiffany, intricately curving furniture, ornate wallpaper, pillows and art objects. .

. [the] wares were almost prohibitively expensive; all were handmade and lavishly ornamented. But they appealed to wealthy Parisian socialites for whom the height of fashion was the salon – a glittering gathering of artists, writers, wits and dandies invited for an evening of urbane conversation in their hostess’ Art Nouveau drawing room.”106

Tiffany lamps often surpassed the workmanship and artistic expression of French glass

workers, so Tiffany lamps and interior accessories soon adorned side and sofa tables of

the Paris salon. Tiffany designs were a mark of excellence in Art Nouveau décor.

American members of the Gilded Age elite sought to emulate the noble class of

Europe. Specifically, New York City emulated Paris more than it did any other city.

Paris was the epitome of nineteenth century refinement and New York City, the upstart

challenger, vied for cultural supremacy. Elise de Wolfe (1865-1950), acknowledged as

the first American interior decorator, explained to her readers that in America the Parisian

word “salon” had evolved to hold “awe, and appreciate its implication of conversation and exquisite decoration, of a radiant hostess, an amusing and distinguished circle of people,”107 who were entertained with gracious opulence. A relationship of

admiration and , respect and rivalry in fields ranging from architecture to decorative arts, from fashion to cuisines existed.108 The building and decorating of one’s many

houses was a way to express social and financial achievements in order to prove attained

equality. Palatial houses became monuments of financially and socially triumphant

106 Burchell, “Settings for the Salon Set,” in The Age of Progress150. 107 de Wolfe, The House in Good Taste, 88. 108 Donald Albrecht, curator, “Paris/New York: Design, Fashion, Culture, 1925-1940” exhibit (Museum of the City of New York, New York City, December 27, 2008). 74

family dynasties and the aesthetic achievements of a financially successful American

family required an approving audience. Social customs such as “calling” required the

appropriate dress, decorum, calling cards with their accompanying card trays, and

servants who announced your arrival.109 The “fashionable parlor” that was “lavishly

ornamented” conveyed the exquisite taste of the host and hostess, for the pleasure of their

guests, all the while, reinforcing their social standing. Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was

not only a self appointed authority of proper interior décor of homes, but she described

for the American consumer, correct etiquette and the interiors to strive for in her novels.

The introductory chapters of The Age of Innocence (1919) rely on history to inform the

current societies of the “realities” of a Gilded Age New York City. Set in 1885, one

reads of the social rules of behavior, dress codes and manners for the privileged class and

the detailed descriptions of the furnished settings for the excessively indulged that are

required to conduct ones daily regime. Operas and balls are placed strategically on the

season’s social calendar, and this is where the reader is informed of the three drawing

rooms that are prominently displayed in the house for the annual Opera Ball.

As Mr. Newland Archer, enters the house he passes the library walls hung with “Spanish

leather and furnished with Buhl and malachite” then he “marches solemnly down a vista

of enfiladed drawing rooms (the sea-green, the crimson and the bouton d’or)” to the ball

room.110 Wharton continues her portrayal of self-indulgent society members with

detailed descriptions of the art work that the owner of the house “Beaufort had had the

109 “Designing Domesticity: Decorating the American Home Since 1876,” under “Designing Domesticity: The House Beautiful,” http://www.personal.kent.edu/~swajda/designing_domesticity2.htm (accessed April 2, 2009), paragraph 3. 110 Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1920; repr., New York: Barnes & Noble Books, Inc., 2004), 20. 75

audacity to hang” in the drawing room.111 Ownership of a well-furnished drawing room, and as in this case, multiple drawing rooms, was one of many evidences of successful

attention to social form.

One notable event that enhanced the conspicuous consumptive behavior of

American social elites occurred when Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann (1809-1891), under the orders of Napoleon III, radically redesigned and renovated Paris. His reconstruction projects of Paris changed it into the spectacular fée électricité, or City of

Lights that it is today.112 The Haussmann renovation of Paris reflected the economic and

social changes that were occurring in Paris. The emphasis was for nouveau housing

needs of the rising middle class and protecting their health.113 The city reformation

destroyed much of the medieval city with its narrow interweaving streets and cramped,

unhealthy living conditions into a new city that included wider boulevards, public parks,

water works, a gigantic sewer system, new bridges and renovated houses. The

“Haussmann surgery” encouraged the rising Parisian bourgeoisie to utilize expanded city

spaces, to enjoy their leisure lifestyle and to flaunt their new wealth while strolling the modern streets of Paris.114 In addition to new apartment complexes, new houses were

constructed with “nouveaux riches [that] were usually ornate and composed of a mixture

if stylistic elements; favored styles were Renaissance and Baroque. This was symbolic of

111 Ibid., 21. 112 Gregory, Families of Fortune, 103, 109-110. 113 Blakemore, History of Interior Design Furniture, 344. 114 “Haussmann and New Paris,” under France in the Age of Les Misérables http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/mapping-paris/Haussmann.html (accessed July 27, 2008), paragraph 1. Raymond Rudorff, The Belle Époque: Paris in the Nineties (New York: Saturday Review Press, 1973), 29, 35. 76

their [rising bourgeoisie] financial riches and their desire to be recognized socially.”115

Re-created homes required new interior furnishings that reflected the re-created Paris.

The old Paris gave way to a “new” Paris that included the disposal of outdated personal

possessions and home furnishings. For the nineteenth century American social elite

attempting to obtain and mimic European aristocracy this opened the way for “lots of

splendid eighteenth-century paneling [that] had come on the market, and dealers packed

it up to send across the ocean as a background to the often royal furniture, porcelain, rugs

and tapestries they sold in large quantities.”116 European interior furnishings were now

frequently available in the open market and easily available for purchase. Wealthy

America’s began to lay claim to re-directed Parisian interior furnishings for their

mansions because of Haussmann’s expansive urban reform projects.

Equally important to textiles was the furniture of the parlor. By the 1860s the

center for American furniture manufacturing was located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Stylish furniture was a sign of the good life and the family furniture was a status symbol.

Typically, “large houses had special rooms – a parlor, library, hall, bedroom, kitchen and dining room,” each requiring its own furniture and furnishing. Terry Kovel discusses the contents of American parlors at the end of the nineteenth century saying, “Often a parlor was furnished with a suite: a man’s chair, woman’s chair, four smaller chairs, a sofa and perhaps a table in the same style . . . paintings were important too and so were small decorations . . . and the yards of fabric used to make drapes and upholstery.”117 She notes

115 Blakemore, History of Interior Design Furniture, 345. 116 Gregory, Families of Fortune, 109-110. 117 Terry Kovel, “When Furniture Became a Status Symbol, Stylish Pieces Were Built,” Dominican Republic, January 18, 2009. 77

that American furniture manufacturers, such as the Phoenix Furniture Co., (1876),118 and textile and wallpaper companies, such as F. Schumacher & Co, (1889), were intent on copying the Victorian styles of England and the Rococo styles of France for the middle and upper classes in 1876. The Herter Brothers,119 another prominent furniture

manufacturer and design firm were known for the expert craftsmanship and the use of the

revival styles such as Gothic, Renaissance, and Queen Anne.120 Their clientele list was

the impressive names of genteel society and their commissions were correspondingly

impressive; the interior design of J. P. Morgan’s New York City’s drawing room to accommodate the latest fashion, electric lights,121 and the interiors of the William Henry

Vanderbilt mansion located at 640 Fifth Avenue, New York City.122

Public Parlors and American Status

The private parlors of well-to-do families served as a social gathering space for

the best people. Gala events collected the socially haut monde in exquisite parlors that

boasted of the families wealth. Public parlors or commercial parlors served the same

purpose and were publicly accessible rooms of grandeur. The rooms were visible

118 The Phoenix Furniture Co. created Victorian-style parlor furniture for the middle and upper classes from 1876 to 1900. They continued to produce high quality furniture during the Arts and Crafts era specializing in parlor, library, bedroom suites and dining room furniture. The company was part of the Grand Rapids, Michigan furniture manufacturing center for the United States that began in the 1860s. They were purchased by Robert W. Irwin in 1911 and continued the company name and the Phoenix logo until the business closed in 1953. 119 The Herter Brothers was an interior design team of Gustave (1830-1898) and his brother Christian (1840-1883). Immigrants from Germany, they began their cabinetmaking firm in Lower , New York in 1865. Their workmanship was renowned and they were noted for the richness of their effects. The Morgan’s and the Vanderbilt’s were only two of their impressive clientele. 120 Jerry E. Patterson, The Vanderbilts (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989), 93. 121 Myrna Kaye, There’s a Bed in the Piano: The Inside Story of the American Home (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, Inc., 1998), 120. 122 Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 93. 78 evidence of success, gentility, and power for the commercially minded American and invited them to indulge in the amenities offered by the commercial business.

The inspiration for the American public parlor had several resources. The first were the public parlors that Americans experienced when on the Grand Tour in Europe.

Lavish furnishings beyond anything to compare in America were soon transported to

American public spaces. Simultaneously, European gilt laden interiors were either being reproduced in American manufactories or imported to the private parlors of American mansions. There they also functioned as an invitation to partake of the amenities that the owners offered. For this reason, the initial appearance of public parlors resembled the parlors in the homes of wealthy Americans. First-class hotels, , trans-Atlantic liners, and rail cars were financed by the “best men” and they seem to have initially

“furnished their commercial parlors along familiar lines, hiring firms that also provided furniture for their residences.”123

Hotel Lobbies

In America, during the 1830s to the 1860s the public tavern and roadside inn transformed its appearance and its public image into the elegant hotel. Majestic hotels set the precedence to provide elegant public parlors for socializing and parlor-like entertaining to their clientele. With aspirations of grandeur, construction of stately hotels began in every major city in America.124 The Astor House, using the Tremont House in

Boston as inspiration was considered the first palace hotel in New York City. Guests entered the hotel parlor in a “virtually perfected world of luxury and dream

123 Grier, Culture & Comfort, 31. 124 Ibid., 33. 79

fulfillment.”125 Rooms were decorated with European styles and themes from every historic period including the private dining room that was “fitted out as the cabin of a

millionaire’s yacht; paintings shaped and framed like portholes depicted the waterway

between the harbor and Long Island Sound and created the illusion that diners had

embarked on a leisurely cruise out of the city.”126 The grandiose scale of American

hotels was an American phenomenon and other hotels followed the Astor House glamour so that by the turn of the twentieth century hotel parlors from The Palace in San

Francisco to the Palmer House in Chicago to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City were

replete with European glitter, elegance and detail. The one commonality that the hotel

showplace parlors shared “was that they had been planned and built by men at the top of

the social and financial heap and proud to be innkeepers,”127 offering the very finest to

their guests.

After expanding his hotel legacy, William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (grandson of John

Jacob Astor) shunned the rigorous social rituals of the upper-class Gilded Age and retired to his Hudson River estate, the Ferncliff, for horseback riding and sailing on the family yacht, Ambassadress.128

125 Justin Kaplan, When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in the Gilded Age (New York: Viking, 2006), 19. 126 Ibid., 143. 127 Ibid., 73. 128 “William Backhouse Astor, Jr.,” under Class and Leisure at America’s First Resort: Newport, Rhode Island, 1870-1914. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Davis/newport/biographies/wbastor.html (accessed July 28, 2009), page 1. 80

American

Traditional water travel was changed in 1807 by Mr. Robert Fulton’s refinement of

steam navigation.129 Immediate results were the American services that developed

in two principle locations: the East coast, predominately on the Hudson River and the Long

Island Sound and the Inland River systems that included the Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi and

tributary rivers.130 Passenger soon traveled on board the steamboats and accommodations

changed dramatically. Berths were upgraded and “in keeping with the parlor furnishing

conventions, the main saloon . . . was furnished with wall-to-wall carpet, center tables under

gas chandeliers, and a large set of furniture designed in some variation of a “Louis” style.”131

A galleried central parlor with clerestory windows, paneled in mahogany was the location for nightly promenades and social gathering. The Mississippi River “offered their passengers one long unbroken saloon in which to conduct their social life.”132Just as hotels had been labeled “palace hotels” the grandest of the domestic steamboat were titled “palace steamers.” The description of the Bay State interiors, a luxury steamboat that cruised between New York City and Newport was

the saloons, cabins & staterooms are all painted and gilded in the most splendid style & sumptuously furnished. Brilliant Saxony carpets, chandeliers, marble tables, sofas, armchairs of every pattern, well-cushioned and covered with the richest stuffs, silk curtains, French china, cut glass, mirrors fill every apartment.133

The grandest steamboat interiors, however, developed after Cornelius Vanderbilt broke the

Fulton shipping monopoly on the Hudson River. Plying customers from Fulton’s North

129 William H, Ewen, Days of the Steamboats (New York: Parents’ Magazine Press, 1967), 8. 130 G. W. Hilton, R. Plummer and J. Jobé, The Illustrated History of Paddle Steamers (New York: The Two Continents Publishing Group, Ltd., 1976), 30. 131 Grier, Culture & Comfort, 44. 132 Lynes, The Tastemakers, 93. 133 Grier, Culture & Comfort, 45. 81

River Steam Boat Company included added runs in the schedule and decadent interiors.

The advertisement posters displayed night boats on the Hudson River and Long island sound that had wonderful two-story grand saloons, where the passengers, dressed in fashions finest, congregated. “The scale and luxury of the paddle steamers run by

Vanderbilt and Drew made a sheer delight of the journeying on the beautiful Hudson

River.”134

As mentioned previously, the men who were building and furnishing civic locations for the benefit of the public relied on the familiar surroundings of their mansions as interior decoration guidance. Photographs of the parlor located at the house of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York mansion show comfortable accommodations. “The Turkish overstuffed sofa and chairs and the Louis Seize revival tête-à-tête are the luxurious trademarks of the finest hotel lobbies and riverboat saloons.

It was after all, such luxurious interior decoration that had first set the Commodore’s

Hudson River steamers apart from this of his competitors.”135 As was the customed practice, architects were hired to complete the interiors of structures. As an example, the interiors of the [Henry] Villard’s River steamers was commissioned to McKim,

Mead & White in 1885.136 Architects that were commissioned for mansions were in turn hired to design public parlors.

Pullman Cars

Prosperity, leisure and travel were among the benefits of mid-nineteenth century rail travel. Railways stretched their steel tentacles throughout Europe and continued their

134Gregory, Families of Fortune, 41. 135 Seale, The Tasteful Interlude, 64. 136 Leland Roth, McKim, Mead & White (Hew York: Roth, Harper & Row Publishers, 1985), 111. 82

journey to the United States. Just riding at the break-neck speed of 55 miles an hour took

your breath away, it was exhilarating. As mansion interiors were inspired by the French

so was the rail system and the accompanying rail stations. “Along with railroad efficiency France excelled in bringing style and elegance to railroad architecture, a passion of the day. Before 1850 rail terminals were often crude, but after mid-century

they began to outdo each other in size and splendor. Some were compared to medieval

cathedrals; others took inspiration from the Pantheon and other stately public

buildings.”137 In the United States, the French rail system inspired rail terminal architecture, as witnessed with Warren & Wetmore’s, Grand Central Station in New

York City and McKim, Meade & White’s, original Penn Station, also located in New

York City.

As with all other modes of public transportation, there was distinct class

segregation, “To be sure, the third-class passenger rode on hard benches, froze in ,

and gulped his meals on station platforms while the train waited (or departed). The

wealthy, on the other hand, luxuriated with velvet cushions, foot warmers and champagne in the new dining cars.”138 Dining cars were not the only cordiality available to first-class

passengers. Parlor cars, an upscale rail car furnished with comfortable chairs, sofas,

lambrequins, and portières took on the “fanciness and frippery of American architecture

and interior design”139 and were the mastermind of George Pullman. In 1858 “Luxury on

137 Burchell, “The Sooty Elegance of Terminals and Trains,” in The Age of Progress, 60. 138 Burchell, “A Holiday by Rail,” in The Age of Progress, 59. 139 Russell Lynes, The Tastemakers: The Shaping of American Popular Taste (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), 96. This quote was used by Edward Bok critiquing the interiors of Pullmans Palace Cars. Although most Americans were pleased with the accommodations, Mr. Bok was Mr. Pullman’s loudest critic. He was particularly dismayed with the “low taste of Americans” and blamed the Pullman cars as the instigator of lower cultural taste. 83

the rails was invented in the United States . . . [Pullman] parlayed one luxurious private

sleeping car into a vast .”140 Entitled the Pullman Palace Cars, they were the

créma-de-la-créma of rail travel.

Mr. Pullman’s initial inspiration came from the comforts and interiors that were

available on steamboats.141 A British Captain, Douglas Galton made note that the Americans

“took their ideas of railroad carriage design more from ships than from carriages,”142 after his

visit in 1856. For the socially prominent and heads of state Pullman created private cars and

lines of cars. For his trans-continental business trip, J. P. Morgan hired Pullman to create

several cars for his excursion. Evidence of prominent interior decorator’s being employed by

Mr. Pullman was the domed Tiffany skylight that was imbedded in the car over the barber

chairs for morning shaves.143 Gregory notes:

Private railroad cars, known as ‘varnish’ because of their lustrous wood paneling, escalated in price from $50,000 at the end of the Civil War to $500,000 between the two World Wars. . . A standard car contained a bathroom with a bronze tub (whose curled-in edge kept the water from sloshing on to the floor), a small kitchen, mahogany-lined saloon, a dining table for up to eight people and several bedrooms with comfortable beds . . . Cars had their own servants dressed in family livery, and on the rich man’s train, life followed the rituals of New York, Palm Beach, or Newport. Ladies and gentlemen dressed for dinner, their meal generally prepared by a French chef and served by an English butler . . . Decoration was at the owner’s whim and could vary from the wicker furniture chosen by Flagler, a symbol of his involvement with Florida resorts, to the velvet plush of Second Empire Paris. . . one could travel the country cushioned in all the comfort of Second Empire Paris.144

140Alexis Gregory, Families of Fortune: Life in the Gilded Age (New York: The Vendome Press, 1993), 164. 141 George Pullman first designed sleeping cars that were longer and wider than the standard rail cars and created considerably more space that the common coaches of the day, 1830s. As his career and income increased he built private cars that allowed for comfort and elegance. They were decadently furnished with “the most up-to-the-minute ideas of elegance, of plush and chandeliers and inlaid woods and tinted windows, of fringe and scroll work, and the inevitable figured carpets.” Russell Lynes, The Tastemakers: The Shaping of American Popular Taste (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), 95. 142 Russell Lynes, The Tastemakers: The Shaping of American Popular Taste (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), 94 143 Gregory, Families of Fortune, 164. 144 Ibid., 164-65. 84

Lifestyles and surroundings that were common at home accompanied the monied while

traveling. For them it was not necessarily an added feature of the transport company, but had

a designation of “expected comforts” that went hand-in-hand with their social status. Mr.

Pullman happily obliged their requests and made a fortune of his own. Grand efforts were

made to please the client and newspaper headlines announcing “Improved Parlor-car Service

Between New York and Atlantic City”145 enticed passengers to board the more luxurious train cars.

Instead of the “varnish” of a private yacht, the Henry C. Frick family chose to have a private rail created for them known as the Westmoreland. Used for extensive travel in the

United States, the floor plans for the parlor car reveal built in furniture, wood paneling, spacious room and several pieces of moveable seating, much like their mansion on East 70th

Street. Arthur Curtiss James and Jay Gould, two notable Barons of business, otherwise known as “spoiled lordlings,” combined their affiliations with the rail system and yachting.

Both were prominent rail road “executives” and owners of magnificent luxury yachts, the

Aloha and Atalanta respectively. Well aware of the travel comforts that were available, only the most expensive and ornate interiors in their rail cars and yachts would satisfy their status demands.

Transatlantic Liners

Initially trans-Atlantic crossings for passengers had unpredictable schedules, were lengthy, profoundly uncomfortable, cramped and lacking in delectable meals. The first ship to steam across the Atlantic was the British Sirius in 1838146 and initiated a

145 The New York Times, January 27, 1888. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf (accessed May 15, 2008). “In order to further improve the facilities to travel between New York and Atlantic City the Pennsylvania railroad Company will on Jan. 27 add a second parlor car to the one now in service.” 146 Diana Preston, Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy (New York: Walker & Company, 2002), 51-53. 85

gargantuan shipping competition; the primary adversaries were the British line The White

Star Line and the Nova Scotia line Cunard. Attention was focused as much on the

technological advances of steam driven ocean going vessels as it was on the interior

appointments for the passengers. Competition for the much coveted and prestigious Blue

Riband147 passed between shipping lines frequently as technology advanced the speed of

the ship’s crossing. Passengers in a hurry to cross the Big Pond sought speedy and safe

passage, without much concern about comfort.

The first step toward luxurious accommodations occurred on the Pacific in 1851

when the owner, Edward Knight Collins relied on the “sumptuous American river

steamers” for the interiors of his Blue Riband ship148 His objective was to woo

passengers away from his competitors. His ships displayed splendid extravagance and

the “saloons set new transatlantic standards of overstuffed luxury, with tabletops of

Italian marble, gleaming inlaid wood paneling, ornate mirrors and bronzework, a ceiling

of carvings and gildings, and plush Brussels carpet.”149 The results sparked a rivalry

between shipping lines that resembled the same competition among Gilded Age families,

their real-estate and possessions. It was unbridled opulence.

The Lusitania, launched in 1907, was the first grand lady of the to have an

architect design the ship’s interiors. “The point of seagoing interior design, always, was

147 The Blue Riband is awarded to the fastest ocean going ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Ownership of the award meant that your vessel was deemed the finest sea going ship which in turn increased the passenger list. It granted the owners temporary bragging rights for claiming the grandest ship of the moment. Speed trials were important gauges and closely observed among the ship owners. 148 Preston, Lusitania, 54. 149 Stephen Fox, Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel, and the Great Atlantic Steamships (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003), 120. 86

to make the ship not look like a ship.”150 She was also the first to have the grand dining room, dress for dinner fashion code and the first to have “the Louis XVI drawing room . .

. with details borrowed from the Petit Trianon at Versailles. . . decorated in white and gilt.”151 The interiors of later ships were inexhaustible in their finery. An expert who

critiqued the remarked that “passenger ships would come what they in fact soon

did become – not means of travel but points of destination in themselves . . .The

reproduction of decorative details of famous residences [internationally] and mansions of

distinctive periods on board ship is becoming quite fashionable.”152 Other liners, the

Mauretania, the Adriatic, and the Titanic, among others followed suit in grandeur and

splendid environments.

Certain ships became more fashionable to travel based on speed of transport and

travel accommodations. Social behaviors that were considered proper etiquette in a

mansions’ parlor were practiced in the drawing rooms of ship liners. A twofold business

contract existed between the first-class passengers and the ship’s interior offerings: the

passengers’ presence in exchange for indescribably lavish staterooms and public

gathering places. “Once Americans had had a taste of richness there was no end to their

appetite for it, and the businessmen who financed hotels and the managers who operated

them, did their best to satisfy the national palate that hungered for comfort dipped in a

sauce of glitter and gold.”153

150 Ibid., 403. 151 Ibid., 47. 152 John Malcom Brinnin, The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic (New York: Delacorte Press, 1971), 363. 153 Lynes, The Tastemakers, 84-85. 87

For the middle-class social strata, public parlors were completely out of their financial and social reach. They could only stand from afar gazing upon untouchable opulence. On the other hand, the upper class could construct similar spaces to hold extravagances and host gala events within them. Public parlors served as an inspiration for this social class, and encouraged the continuance of such consumptive behavior. The richness of public parlors that transposed mansions and eventually yacht main saloons advanced in a similar fashion to alter steamship main saloons, hotel lobbies, parlor rail cars, and ship liner drawing rooms. As will be discussed in chapter three, the close amount of money families bestowed upon their parlor interiors and parlor entertainment was a proclamation to their peers of their prized social standing within the wealthy community. The home parlor became the model for the yacht main saloon.

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Chapter 3: The Rise of the American Home Parlor as Status Prototype for Private Luxury Yacht Saloons

As industrial wealth became more prevalent in post-Civil War America, houses

and furnishings of the emerging business elite began to emulate homes and tastes of

European aristocracy in a quest for social status and recognition. This social ambition

was soon reflected in yachts as well. Rather than creating a new style for the maritime

environment, shipwrights and yacht owners transferred domestic styles and trends to the

world of yachting. In so doing, not only did they look to the royal yachts of Europe’s

monarchs for examples, but also, to the American yacht owner’s homes. The

transference of textiles from the home parlor to the yacht main saloon was desirable

because in so doing, the owner created another elegant space that demonstrated high

social status.

Status Ashore — The American Home Parlor

The house, particularly for the wealthy American, was intertwined with worldly success; the enormous size and its address were intimately linked to the fortune of the family that lived privately within. The facade was a physical demarcation of public versus private arenas. The house protected the family from worldly views and differing morals and values. As house interiors increased in number and size a further demarcation occurred between public and private spaces. The hierarchy of the room indicated the level of status and function and further defined the family activities. Visitors were

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received in the parlor, the dining and drawing rooms. Family-only rooms were the study, bedrooms, bathrooms and dressing rooms. When entering the parlor, family members shed their privacy and took on a public persona. “The parlor was the center of cultural

life in late nineteenth-century America. Whether a public parlor of hotel lobbies,

photographer’s studios, railroad cars and steamboats, or a domestic one, this room

signaled a dedication of refinement and, indeed, a way of life.”1 The acquisition of art,

sculpture, heirlooms, portraiture, bric-a-brac and world travel souvenirs adorned the

walls, shelves, mantles and flat surfaces of every well appointed parlor. The heritage of

the American parlor has a direct association with English parlours. Because of America’s

colonial status with England, interior design tastes and appropriation of furnishings was

“dictated” to the design-conscious elite of the colonies. Even after “severance from the

Mother Country,” as an infant republic, Americans still turned to English aristocracy for

guidance in interior styles, inspirations and furnishings. The commentary in The

Practical Book of Interior Decoration (1919) makes a point that “it must also be distinctly understood that all the evolutions of the styles considered reached their full and

richest fruition only in England and that they were reflected in America in less elaborate

1 “Designing Domesticity: Decorating the American Home Since 1876,” under “Designing Domesticity: The House Beautiful,” http://www.personal.kent.edu/~swajda/designing_domesticity2.htm (accessed April 2, 2009), paragraph 6. The aura of parlor entertaining extended to every aspect of hospitality. As an example, “The balls at Miramar, The Hamilton Rice estate, are perfect summer night entertainments. The lawn stretching down to the sea is converted into an outdoor salon.” Maude Elliott, This Was My Newport, quoted in Ceil Dyer, The Newport Cookbook: A Collection of Authentic Recipes and Menus From Every Era of Newport’s Fabulous History, from Colonial Days and its Life as a Great Seaport to its Glamorous Age as the Queen of American Resorts (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1972), 103. 90

renderings.”2 The authors further argue that this situation did not deter from the culture

and taste of the newborn American society but that the

estates that were able to support the expense of the highest decorative achievements of the age were comparatively few in number, and although there were not wanting instances of the greatest elegance and most lavish expenditure in furnishing of various town houses in Philadelphia, in Boston, in Charleston and New York, and of some country houses in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina, the majority of people, from the force of circumstances, were obliged to be content with the simpler though not less admirable interpretation of modes that attained an hitherto unparalleled development in the British Isles.3

As the English interior decoration styles progressed through the Baroque inspiration, the

Gregorian period, the Italian Renaissance, the Adam Brothers, Classic and Greek

Revivals, Pompeian style, “the Chinese taste,” and what Ebelein, McClure and Holloway

(1919) refer to as the “familiar ‘Louis Seize,’ ” so too the American interiors reflected the

precedence of English interiors. Following the Philadelphia of

1876, elite Americans became absorbed with the collection, preservation and restoration

of the artifacts of their colonial heritage, expressly used in the interiors of their many

homes. Candace Wheeler verifies the many reasons that Americans should demonstrate

“sympathy with what is called the “colonial craze”; not only because colonial days are a

part of our history, but because colonial furniture and decorations were derived directly

from the best period if English art.”4 She qualifies her argument by listing master

English designers such as The brothers, Flaxman, Wedgwood, Chippendale and

2 Harold Donaldson Eberlein, Abbott McClure and Edward Stratton Holloway, The Practical Book of Interior Decoration (Philadelphia; J. B. Lippincott Company, 1919), 25. 3 Ibid., 25-26. 4 Candace Wheeler, Principles of Home Decoration with Practical Examples (New York: , Page & Company, 1903), 29. 91

Hogarth as contributing high architectural and pictorial standards to the American

interiors.

The great race for wealth, as confirmed with superior home interiors, found their

ideal expressions from European interiors, especially France, Italy and England. Candace

Wheeler in 1903 quotes a “successful foreign who had visited this country at

intervals” as declaring that the palaces of Europe had embellished their interiors for

generations with the best of fine art but that “in America there is something of it [the best

of fine art] everywhere. Many unpretentious houses have drawing-rooms possessing

colour-decoration which would distinguish them as examples in England or France.”5

Commentary from European designers and painters validated the success of Americans in accomplishing European interior decorations within their interior environments.

The 1919 edition of The Practical Book of Interior Decoration gives a commentary of interior design practices from seventeenth century through nineteenth century of England, France and America. When discussing the motives behind the interior design selections the authors state:

It is an excellent sign that many Americans of better and more thoughtful class are taking into account of something other than size . . . . The tastes of these people may be highly formed and rather luxurious, and merely simple and charming houses would reflect neither their personalities nor their lives. They may wish these abodes to be jewel caskets enshrining gems in the way of rare furniture, textiles, vases and pictures, and there should be none to say them nay in their desire to surround themselves with beauty.6

5 Ibid., 4-5. 6 Eberlein, McClure and Holloway, The Practical Book of Interior Decoration, 180. 92

Status Afloat – The American Yacht Saloon

Just as American home parlors reflected European cultural tastes, so too, were

those tastes reflected in American yacht saloons.7 A competitive spirit to out dazzle one

another existed among the nouveau-rich. It was evident in their many mansions and in

their yachts. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt was among the first to create a floating

mansion. When the Vanderbilts set sail in May, 1853, the original 270-foot North Star was amply furnished, attractively appointed and palatial in size. “The family [Mr. and

Mrs. Vanderbilt, ten children, six son-in-law, one daughter-in-law and a granddaughter]

spread out into North Star’s 10 private staterooms and settled down to enjoy their floating

palace. The yacht’s main saloon was furnished with Louis XV rosewood chairs and

sofas, padded with velvet cushions.”8

The purpose of the yacht’s main saloon was the same as that of the salons, drawing rooms and parlors found in every mansion: a place to gather, socialize and flaunt

your wealth. The main saloon was the heart of the yachting experience. The yachting

difference was that there was no carriage, with costumed livery to escort you home when

the evening’s entertainment was complete. On board a luxury yacht you retired to your stateroom, also bedecked with opulence. What Commodore Vanderbilt initiated continued through the Gilded Age yachting era. The 323-foot Margarita, launched in

1900 by owner Anthony J. Drexel spared no expense for her lush interiors. She was

7 The term “saloon” in reference to yachting is Anglicized from the French salon, specifically the salon de compagnie that was a space for hospitality. 8John Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, The Seafarers Time-Life Series (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), 91. 93

regarded as a masterpiece of yachting and “the finest pleasure yacht afloat.”9 Her

drawing room like that of her predecessor the North Star was replete with Louis XV

décor, intricate paneling and coffered ceilings. Rich carpeting, graceful sofas, settees, a

massive French bureau and fireplace made it “one of the most splendid living spaces

aboard any ship.”10 Practices of interior decorating that were customary in mansions were also present on board luxury yachts. For instance, the main saloon of Jay Gould’s

248-foot propeller-driven yacht the Atalanta, was outfitted with expensive tapestries, and the deck of William K. Vanderbilt’s Alva was covered with Oriental carpets for the lounging leisure of those on board. The expectation of the yacht owner was that the

interiors, in particular the main saloon, represented for the pleasure of their guests the

level of wealth and culture of his family. Just as the Gilded Age matriarch presented a

perfectly appointed European parlor as a reflection of her family values and morals, the

Gilded Age patriarch created the same ambiance on board his luxury yacht. Elegant

entertainment and many business transactions were performed in the opulent

surroundings of a yacht’s main saloon.

Status Through Textiles in the Parlor and on the Yacht

Below the main deck of the yacht, the main saloon was the primary location for

entertainment. As such, it the most extravagantly furnished space and was frequently

adorned in high profile textiles.

9 Ibid., 100. 10 Ibid., 105. 94

Parlor Furnishings

As was the custom of the day, each room in the house was to be decorated with a

“separate spirit.” The parlor was no different. Its purpose was to offer a “liberal display of elegance and decorations, where the most handsome and rarest items were on display for entertainment of guests.”11 Two British resources, Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork, and Furniture (1877), by and Agnes Garrett, and Art

Decoration Applied to Furniture (1878), by Harriet Prescott Spofford, describe the parlor as a room that should be “a room of light, airy elegance, with gay and beautiful decorations.”12 In keeping with this philosophy, the parlor furniture was made of fine materials and textiles. Specific items carried with them statements of success and were visible symbols of accomplishment and identification with elite practices. As an example, the newly created piano forte was included as appropriate parlor furnishings. It symbolized both virtue and elegance while demonstrating personal virtuosity, entertainment and the added benefit of musical soirées.13 When the piano and the piano stool were adorned with elaborate textiles such as “, felt or and edged with

11 Edgar deN. Mayhew & Minor Myers, Jr., A Documentary History of American Interiors: From the Colonial Era to 1915 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980), 196. 12 Ibid., 196. 13 Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., The Decoration of Houses (1897; repr., New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997), 147. They discuss the importance of remodeling the grand piano into a refined eighteenth century replica of a harpsichord. Their suggestion of slender fluted legs and the piano case either painted or inlaid with marquetry is in keeping with correct proportion and design. Katherine C. Greer, Culture & Comfort: Parlor Making and Middle-Class identity, 1850-1930 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), 97, further establishes the piano forte as a symbol of “hard-won, usually feminine accomplishments and the family’s appreciation of music.” It associated the family with other open-minded individuals that also demonstrated elite associations with refined music virtuosity and appreciation. 95

an appropriate fringe”14 it served as a double symbol of excellence in taste and the achievement of virtue and refinement. Pianos, draped in luscious fabrics found their way into the main saloon of privately owned yachts for the same reasons they were considered a necessity in any drawing room of respectability in homes.

Specific elements were viewed as essential for the cultured and well appointed parlor: Brussels carpets, window dressings that included outer drapes and lace under drapers, lambrequins, portières, parlor suites of furniture, decorated mantles and swaths of fabrics. Even the fabrics that were deemed appropriate had names such as “damask,”

“,” and “velvet.” Each adjective used to describe the interior elements, such as the parlor floor coverings, window dressings, and wood paneling, were emblems that were associated with ideal parlor décor.15

Textiles

Fabric furnishings, the textiles, are a fundamental part of the interior of a room,

both public and private. They are responsible for the visual impact of a room in regards

to color, , embellishments and surface design. The acquisition and maintenance of

textiles was an integral part of household management. Textiles became an expression of

elite society and aesthetic taste and level of education. The international and domestic

design of fabric became visual documentation of the financial power that the woman of

the household held. Historically, textiles, especially beautifully printed, pile and pattern-

woven textiles, were associated with wealth and power. Because the production of

14 Mrs. [Jane Ellen] Panton, Homes of Taste. Economical Hints (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1890), quoted in Judith Flanders, The Victorian House (Hammersmith, London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003), 139. 15 Katherine Grier, Culture & Comfort: Parlor Making and Middle Class Identity, 1850-1930), 30. 96

textiles was so labor- and skill-intensive and the availability of some raw materials was

limited or scarce, ownership of household textiles made an extraordinary statement of

financial and worldly success. The American domestic consumption of textiles during

the Gilded Age resembled that of the mobile courts of feudal Europe. Considered as

valuable as precious metals and ivory, the possession of exquisite textiles was a “tangible

sign of wealth and power of a prince.”16 Household textiles reinforced a family’s social

standing and communicated the suave and chic fashion intelligence of Europe. By “the

1880s, textiles cover[ed] every available surface from mantels to wall shelves. . . . Used for wall treatments, window treatments and upholstery are damasks, , , plush, tapestry, , silk, , cashmere, and, in lesser rooms, elaborately patterned [a heavyweight, printed cotton fabric that is sturdier than chintz] or highly polished chintz.”17 Textiles were not limited to windows and furniture for as noted

above, every surface was “enriched” with a textile accessory. For instance, Turkish

antimacassars were used as a protective textile device to subdue the soiling of a sofas,

settees and high-backed winged chair arms. Antimacassars were either made of the same

upholstery fabric, a complimentary fabric and at other times, they were made from a

decorative lace such as filet crochet. They were also another added layer of decorative

textiles. Protective fire screens could be examples of the needle-craft prowess created by

ladies of the house, and decorative screens, used for privacy and delineation of space,

were at times stretched with exquisite imported silks or again, needlecraft works of art.

Tapestries, both imported and domestic, adorned walls and table tops, while carpets and

16 Ibid.,19. 17 Buie Harwood, Bridget May and Curt Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design from the 19th Century (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009), 315, 318. 97

rugs were spread across the floors. Pillows and cushions were much needed accessories

and offered the opportunity to display embroidery work of the household.

The same textile symbols and principles extended to the interior of the luxury

yacht. Duplicating the interior decorating practices that were evident in mansions, the

luxury yachts were also fully decorated to reflect the owners taste, culture and income

bracket. Mrs. , though not a yachting , insisted that her husband’s new yacht, the North Star be “fully equipped for entertaining” implying that the yacht interior met the posh social standards of the elegant society. Among the textiles ordered for the yacht were “sheets of the finest and . . . blankets [from the]

French, bound in silk.”18 Luxury yacht interiors joined the many well-appointed outlets

for display by the fabulously wealthy. Their interiors, of both yachts and mansions,

reflect on the lifestyle of families and individuals “whose sole aim seemed to be aimless

pleasure colored by gaudy ostentation.”19

Window Treatments

Window dressings and draperies held a special interest for the Victorian minded

interior designer. The use of imported, expensive textiles that were elaborately draped,

sumptuously layered, heavily pleated, plated, folded, festooned and otherwise

exaggerated were in vogue during much of the nineteenth century. Wealth was displayed

in window dressing. If there was one word to describe the Victorian pre-occupation with

18 Jerry E. Patterson, The Vanderbilts (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989), 258. 19 Mary Murphy Schlichting, “A Summer Salon: Literary and Cultural Circles in Newport, Rhode Island, 1850-1890” (Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1992), 16. 98

window dressings it would be “excessive.”20 For much of the century, particularly during the high-Victorian period, drapes were invariably made up into very full pleats and folds.

Heavily swaged-and-tailed or festooned draperies were popular particularly for aesthetic

reasons but also in part to improve insulation against drafts from the windows.21 Drapes were usually tied back to flank embroidered lace under-curtains or plain silk shades creating elaborate confections of fabric.22

Often, “puddling” occurred at the hem for two reasons: the first was a functional quality to capture heat or assist in maintaining the interior temperatures; the second was

simply an expression of wealth. Money was obviously of no concern, as one’s draperies

extended all over the floor in excess and no one took offense as this was the expected

outcome of one’s draperies. “Breaking” or hemming at the floor did not occur until

later in the new decade.

Although a decisive pronouncement of status and wealth, Victorian window

dressings also were a practical barrier to light and heat, wind, cold and street sounds. The

typical window treatment included four layers of curtains. Closest to the window pane

hung what was known as the “glass curtain,” a thin sheer curtain, usually of delicate .

Covering the netting, was a filmy lace under-curtain, which was layered by a lush outer , often made of velvet, damask, silk or brocade. This outer layer was often imaginatively and asymmetrically draped with swags and festoons then generously embellished with embroidered borders, tassels, braid and fringe. To add to the weight of

20 Ellen M. Plante, The Victorian Home: The Grandeur and Comforts of the Victorian Era, in Households Past and Present (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Courage Books, 1995), 41, 69. 21 Judith Miller and Martin Miller, Victorian Style (London: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 1993), 62-78. 22 Judith Miller, The Style Sourcebook: The Definitive Illustrated Directory of Fabrics, Paints, Wallpaper, Tiles, Flooring (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1996), 32. 99

the draperies, cotton and lining fabrics were use to finish seams and protect the

fashion fabric from sunlight and insects. Interlinings were sandwiched in between the

fashion fabric of the outer drape and the lining. They were used to give body to the

fashion fabric and to stabilize the drape of the fabric. Historically, wool or cotton flannel were used and were not seen by the viewer.23 Linings were essential to obtain the

correct draping and added significant weight to the final product. Because of this, the

hardware required to securely mount the window dressing to the wall was usually

massive in size. An ornamental valance, known as the lambrequin, usually made from a

slightly stiffened material would be mounted at the top of the window dressing to conceal

the necessary hardware required to mount the window dressings.24 For portières the

lambrequin was mounted over the doorway or entryway.

Lambrequins

There was a correct formula for decorating windows in the formal rooms of mid-

to late-Victorian interiors. These included the use of lambrequins, drapes and under

curtains or shades. The excessive weight of the fabric and the addition of weighty

embellishments often required the use of thick wooden rods for secure mounting. For this reason, decorative valances and lambrequins were created. Their functional purpose was to conceal the unattractiveness of the window casings and apparatus used to hang the

23 Jane C. Nylander, and Richard C. Nylander, Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005), 157-64. 24 Allison Kyle Leopold, Victorian Splendor: Re-Creating America’s 19th- Century Interiors (New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1986), 43. Jane Nylander also discusses the importance of concealment of drapery hardware by way of a lambrequin, Fabrics for Historic Buildings: A Guide to Selecting Reproduction Fabrics (Washington, D. C.: The Preservation Press, 1983), 110. 100

drapes. Their aesthetic purpose was as a crowning design statement at the top of the window dressing.

Like a valance, a lambrequin is an architectural ornament that spans the tops of draperies. The standard forms used during the late nineteenth century were scalloped or scrolled shapes, cut from wood and covered with fabric. The fabrics were of every sort, with heavier solid-color weights often chosen for their tailored appearance. At times the fabric would be the same as the window dressing and at other times they would be of a complimentary or a solid color. Lambrequins needed to compliment the color scheme and unify the window dressing. The material would be stretched tightly on the wooden form and then embellished with gilt, fringe or tassels. For added aesthetic touches, designs made of braids were frequently placed on the lambrequins.25 For a different

textured finish to the lambrequin, tufting was employed. Commonly associated with

Moorish styles, tufting became a very popular technique in both upholstery and

lambrequins.26 (An example is the lambrequin used over the portières at the New York

Yacht Club model room entrance.)

Trims

Braids, fringes, tassels and trims were placed on the edges of upholstered

furniture and every layer of draped fabric whether as window dressing, mantle drapes or

over a table. The embellishments made a better statement of accomplishment. Excessive

adornment showed achievement, wealth and status. Originally created to disguise seams

and unfinished edges, braids, fringes, tassels and trims known as passements, were

25 Lawrence Grow and Dina von Zweck, American Victorian: A Style and Source Book (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985), 160-91. 26 Mayhew and Meyers, A Documentary History of American Interiors, 253-58. 101

popular in fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy. Milanese textile immigrants took their

decorative hand-sewn trimming skills with them when they moved to the court of Louis

XIV. The result was a proliferation of these intricate trimmings beginning in the French

court, moving throughout Europe and later as mimicry of European courts, in America

during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.27

Tassels

Decorative tassels and tiebacks have been used to embellish draperies since the

Renaissance. Tassels were added to portières, lambrequins, window curtains and

upholstery as an additional design embellishment. The nineteenth century tassels became

extremely ornate and played a prominent role in the furnishing of interiors. The most

elaborate were reserved for the drapery tiebacks and servants bell-pulls. Included in their

designs were the multi-tiered tassels worked around a maximum of six carved wooded forms. The arrow- and dome-shaped heads, and long, onion-shaped skirts that were then appliquéd with golden leaves or shells proved very popular.

Tiebacks

Tiebacks were originally created to restrain window drapes, bed-hangings and portières. Throughout their existence they have been simple braided chords, ribbons, or as in the case of Gilded Age interiors, the work of the passementier combined extravagant textiles and embellishments for the desired effect.28

27 Judith Miller, The Style Sourcebook: A Definitive Illustrated Directory of Fabrics, Paints, Wallpaper, Tiles, Flooring (New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, 1998), 184. 28 Ibid.,186-89. 102

Fringes

The original purpose of a fringe was to knot the threads of the end of a woven

fabric to prevent unraveling of the weft. During the seventeenth century, fringes became

decorative as well as functional. The nineteenth century introduced fringes that were

extremely elaborate and intricate, as was typical of a Victorian interior. Considered the height of fashion they adorned both draperies and upholstery.29

Gilded Age American homes, offices, restaurants and clubs were characterized by

heavy window drapery and luxurious upholstery, lavish ornaments and an abundant use

of table covers, lambrequins and purely decorative textile accents. In a photograph of a

guest bedroom at the Wakehurst Newport mansion of James J. Van Alen, a dressing

is lavishly draped and swaged in a decorative textile.30 The fabrics used included

richly textured brocatelle, brocades, lampas and damask. Throughout the period solid-

colored fabrics were very popular for primary rooms. Complex decorative effects were

accomplished through the use of many layers of fabric and the embellishment of

contrasting colors and trims. The draperies were usually surmounted by decorative lambrequins and cornices and further set off by elaborate fringes, tassels and tiebacks.31

Historically, textiles have always been an expression of wealth and in the case of

Victorian society, it remained true.

Window treatments were often changed seasonally. The “heavy winter hangings were often made of solid-colored wool or velvet panels trimmed with decorative woven

29 Miller, The Style Sourcebook,190-93. 30 Michael C. Kathrens, Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 56. 31 Jane C. Nylander, Fabrics for Historic Buildings: A Guide to Selecting Reproduction Fabrics (Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Trust, 1983), 110. 103

tapes, braids, fringes or bands of embroidery.”32 As an example, drawing rooms were

made of luxurious fabrics such as velvet, , brocades and silks that were then

augmented with tassels, ribbons and festoons. When drawn back, they were secured with silk ropes, flat tie-backs or ormolu, rosette-headed pins, leaf- or scroll-shaped fitments on either side of the window.33 During the summer months, the heavy winter drapes were

stored away and replace with lighter fabrics such as soft silks, , white , laces

and polished cotton chintzes.34 This process was called “disrobing” or changing to

“summer dress.”35

Fabric Production

Fabric production changed dramatically during the Victorian and Gilded Aged

eras. Fueled by the technical advances of power-loom weaving and machine-printing

from engraved metal rollers, the mass production of fabrics introduced easily accessible

fabrics with lower costs to the consumer. Durable dyes, especially aniline dyes after the

mid-1850s, expanded the selection of colors and introduced more complex patterns and

richer hues.36 The irony is that the designers of this time period selected previous time

periods, Classical, Medieval, Gothic, and Renaissance, from other countries, such as

France, as well as Middle-Eastern flat patterns and Japanese designs, as their source of

inspiration. William Morris, Bruce Talbert, Christopher Dress and Walter , all

leading textile designers, were important figures in the Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts

Movements. Instead of employing the new technology of power looms and machine

32 Ibid., 109. 33 Miller and Miller, Victorian Style, 68. 34 Nylander, Fabrics for Historic Buildings, 122; Miller and Miller, Victorian Style, 68. 35 Leopold, Victorian Splendor, 45. 36 Miller and Miller, Victorian Style, 12, 64. 104

printing their production techniques favored traditional hand-blocked methods and

vegetable dyes which were relatively expensive.37 Upper class clientele were the only

clients that could afford their fabrics, and, no doubt they were delighted to adorn their

surroundings in expensive fabrics as evidence of their social status and cultural tastes.

Velvet

Velvet, as a highly used and sought after Victorian and Gilded Age fabric

deserves special attention. Regarding the origins of velvet, there is now a belief that the

fabric, originally made from silk, arrived in Italy for the first time in the twelfth and

thirteenth centuries from the Far East, transported by merchants and then spread

throughout Europe. The largest industry for the production of velvets for the western

world was established in Italy during the twelfth through the eighteenth centuries.

Immense wealth and huge fortunes were generated during the Renaissance by velvet merchants, which included the de Medici family. Their guild was one of the most powerful in the entire Renaissance, surpassing the woolmakers and silkmakers guilds during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It required a specialized weaver, the veluderi, to create velvet and its production became synonymous with wealth. It was during this time that velvets were used for apparel and housing décor of the wealthy

class.38

From the middle of the nineteenth century on, expensive textiles were a

fundamental aspect of interior decorating. Although Louis XIV was the source of

37 Ibid., 12-13. 38 Roberta Orsi Landini, “The Triumph of Velvet: Italian Production of Velvet in the Renaissance,” in Velvet: History, Techniques, Fashions, ed. Fabrizio de’ Marinis (New York: Idea Books, Inc., 1994), 19- 50. 105

inspiration for many components of interior design, it was velvet production from the

Italian Renaissance that was used as the velvet-producing model. For instance, William

Morris studied Italian fabric production from the fifteenth century to produce decorative

textiles. Velvet was one of his interests.39 Patterned velvets with Gothic geometrics or

French Rococo Revival designs were used extensively in the late-nineteenth Gilded Age

home. Not only was it considered the supreme textile but “velvet – warm, soft, and

sensual – was the most comfortable fabric available, as well as the fabric that best

exemplified the nineteenth-century idea of the home as a haven.”40 It exemplified

cultured taste. Evidence of the profuse use of silk velvets as window dressings in both

public and private surroundings is demonstrated in the New York Yacht Club model room (1901) and J. P. Morgan’s home study, The West Room of 219 Madison Avenue,

New York City (1882-1920), which was often referred to as “the most beautiful room in

the world.” Both locations have windows that were heavily draped with crimson colored velvet draperies that were extravagantly embellished with matching silk fringes.

Portières

An additional interior textile embellishment was introduced in the form of portières. These were interior curtains hung in pairs in the doorways or entries into rooms. For instance, the portières at the New York Yacht Club are hung in between the marble staircase entryway of the club and the model room.

39 Ibid.,19-50. 40 Ibid., 61. 106

Portières possibly have their beginnings in the Arab style.41 Interiors during the

late seventeenth through the early eighteenth centuries incorporated portières en suite.

To enhance greater unity within the room, the fabrics of portières matched the fabrics and

embellishments of the window dressings. Both windows and doorways had the same

fabric adornment, making the fabric requirement a larger yardage order, perhaps

demonstrating the overt wealth of the family.42 During the Victorian period, however,

the portières became an independent expression of expensive textiles. Designs for

portières were a separate part of the interior design contract.

Frequently, the portières were draped in the entryways to parlors and drawing rooms and served as an “introduction” to the room. The initial reasoning for the use of portières was

as an effective means of mitigating drafts between rooms, but they became another

avenue of ornamentation and status statements and softened the division between rooms.

Elaborate fabrics of velvets, serges [soft and loose wool, woolen and silk fabric],

damasks and tapestries were used during the mid- and high-Victorian periods for portiere construction. To continue the over-embellished Victorian expression, excessive use of silk braids, tassels and fringes were used as tie backs for the heavy-weighted fabrics.43 In many cases portières were trimmed with horizontal bands of appliquéd velvet or embroidery as are the extant mohair portières in the dining room of The Clayton.44 The

41 Mayhew and Meyers, A Documentary History of American Interiors, 206. 42 Peter Thornton, Authentic Décor: The Domestic Interior, 1620-1920 (London: Seven Dial, Cassell & Co, 2000), 56. 43 Miller and Miller, Victorian Style, 71, 163. 44 The extant portières that are currently hanging in the dining room at The Clayton, the home of Henry Clayton and Adelaide Howard Childs-Frick in Pittsburgh, are made of mohair fabric and have extensive embroidery in a scroll pattern running the length of the portières; Kimball & Sons, a New York City interior decorating firm, was hired to create the dining room interiors, furniture, cabinetry and fabrics. Tour “Art and the Gilded Age” at The Clayton, Michael Walter, docent, May 24, 2009. 107

Frick’s were practicing what was expected for fashionable drapery in their home as

“Mohair draperies carried associations of historicism and tastefulness in the early twentieth century. For example, Sanford Mills advertised their mohair drapes as ‘Prized throughout countless centuries for their marvelous beauty and durability, mohair upholstery fabrics . . . are today numbered among the aristocrats of the textile world.’ ”45

As their fashionability grew, portieres were hung on both sides of the entryway, doubling both the cost and the visual effect of added extravagance. Elsie de Wolfe includes very clear direction as to the appropriateness of portières in a home. In her book, The House in Good Taste (1913), she states that “Of course, if your house has been built with open archways, you will need heavy curtains for them . . . if you need portieres at all, you need them to cut off one room from another, and so they should hang in straight folds. They should be just what they pretend to be – honest curtains with a duty to fulfill. . . They should be double, usually, and a faded gilt gimp may be used as an outline or as a binding.”46 De Wolfe continued with a discussion of excellent fabrics of

reproduced brocades and old tapestries, using foliage designs with hues of soft greens, tans, browns, and dark blues as “very pleasing.” Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., declared that portière became

one of the chief expenses in the decoration of the modern room; indeed, the amount spent in buying yards of plush or damask, with the addition of silk cord, tassels, gimp and fringe, often makes it necessary to slight the essential features in the room; so than an ugly mantelpiece or ceiling is preserved because the money required to replace it has been used in the purchase of portières. These

45 Kathryn Clippinger Kosto, “ ‘ Some work … to be kept:’ Textiles and Memories of Victorian Domesticity,” The Dublin Seminar for New England Folk Life Annual Proceedings, entitled “Textiles in New England II: Four Centuries of Material Life,” ed. Peter Benes (Boston: Boston University Press,1999), 192. 46 de Wolf, The House in Good Taste, 57-58. 108

superfluous draperies are, in fact, more expensive than a well-made door with hinges and box-lock of chiseled bronze.47

From the 1870s to the 1890s portières became so fashionable that they frequently replaced doors. Wharton and Codman mentioned this phenomenon in The Decoration of

Houses (1897) when they observed that “it is now not unusual to see a wide opening with no door in it, enclosed in yards and yards of draperies which cannot even be lowered at

will.”48

In addition to advice found in period books on interior design, literary works of

the time such as Leo Tolstoi’s Anna Karenina, described the lushness of “tapestried

portieres’” that one could disappear behind49 and the new French hangings that

exemplified the “impression of wealth and sumptuousness [of] modern European luxury”

to include “portières – [that] were all new and expensive.”50 As an example, the

description of the drawing room at the Forestier’s residence in the novel Bel-Ami (1885) includes walls that “were draped with violet hangings covered with tiny embroidered flowers of yellow silk. Curtains of grey-blue , the stuff of which military uniforms are made, embroidered with pinks in red silk, were draped over the doors

[portières]” and all the chairs, ottomans and stools were covered with a Louis XVI brocaded silks or “lovely Utrecht velvet with a pattern on a cream ground.”51

47 Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., The Decoration of Houses (1897; repr., New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Ltd., 1978), 63. 48 Ibid., 63. 49 Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte-Cristo (1844: repr., N. Y., , 1910), 117. 50 Leo Tolstoi, Anna Karenina, trans. Constance Garnett (1875; repr., London: J. M. De3nt & Sons, Ltd., 1889) http://labs.timesonline .co.uk/bookscraper/publications/highlight/anna-karenina ?qportieres, chapter 19. 51 de Maupassant, Bel-Ami, trans. H. N. P. Sloman (1885; repr., Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1961), 33- 34. 109

The artistry of hand embroidered portières is discussed and illustrated in Charles

Eastlake’s book, Hints on Household Taste (1878). Eastlake observed that designs by

Mr. A. W. Blomfield and Mr. C. Heaton “were composed of velvet and other stuffs,

embroidered by hand and decorated with deep borders, consisting of alternate strips of

velvet and common horse-girths. . . [which] traditionally the spirit of some very

excellent designs.”52 The two illustrated portière examples are designed by Mr. Heaton

and incorporate not only hand embroidery but appliqué work in his portière entitled “The

Fox and the Stork.” The American consumer was very aware of Charles Eastlake’s book and would have read and viewed his portière descriptions and illustrations.

In 1879, when Cornelius Vanderbilt II hired Louis C. Tiffany & Company and

John La Farge to design the interiors of his dining room, picture gallery and drawing

room of his 57th Street and Fifth Avenue New York City mansion, textiles were a major

investment, particularly for the portières. Under the direction of La Farge, two

extraordinary portières were embroidered for the dining room.53 It was the responsibility

of Louis C. Tiffany & Company to design and implement the drawing room interiors.

Instead of art work adorning the drawing room walls of the Vanderbilt mansion, Dora

Wheeler designed and executed eleven needle woven tapestries, in hues of “pale blues,

greens, grays, purples, salmon pinks, yellows and creams” for the walls. Candace

Wheeler designed, embroidered and appliquéd pale green satin portières to compliment

52 Charles L. Eastlake, Hints of Household Taste: The Classic Handbook of Victorian Interior Decoration (1878; repr., New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1986), 101. 53 James L. Yarnall, “Souvenirs of Splendor: and the Patronage of Cornelius Vanderbilt II,” The American Journal of Art 26, no. 1/2 (1994), under “JSTOR,” http://www/jstor.org/stable/1594594 (accessed July 1, 2009), 80-7. The titles of the two portières that were constructed for the Vanderbilt dining room were Garland of Fruit and Flowers and Aeneas at Carthage. The Garland portière was set in a plush reddish-purple ground. The Aeneas portière was the last of the portières made for the house and relates the story of Dido and Aeneas. Its center panel was a field of gold embroidery. 110

her daughter’s tapestries.54 Feather-stitched roses were embroidered in a “prodigal variety

of roses dropping from stems in their plentitude if bloom and color.”55 Samuel Coleman,

a design colleague of Louis C. Tiffany and Candace Wheeler incorporated “art

needlework” of reeds, birds and irises into the Japanese-motif inspired portières that he

designed for the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion in 1879.56

Candace Wheeler’s inspiration for her award-winning1879 portières, Consider

the Lillies of the Field, was apparently from a set of portières that had been executed by

students of the Royal School for a country home in New York.57 Her initial use of simple

outline stitches and plain-woven cotton fabric gave way to “large scale embroidered

works . . . a few years later; those featured densely stitched silken threads or elaborate

appliqués of silk velvets, creating the rich, luxurious effects preferred by a wealthy

clientele”58 as was demonstrated in the Vanderbilt II New York mansion and two other

significant commissions that she was involved with: the draperies and portières for The

Union League Club (1880) and the interiors, under contract from McKim, Meade and

White architects, of New York Herald owner James Gordon Bennett Jr.’s luxury yacht the

Namouna, 1880-1881. The Union League Club contract for draperies and portières

included the six different rooms in the clubhouse, the main hall, smaller halls on the

upper floors, dining rooms throughout the clubhouse, the second-floor picture gallery, the

54 Amelia Peck and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art of Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2001), 133. 55 Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1883(?) as quoted in Amelia Peck and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art of Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2001), 133. 56 George Henry Yewell, “Samuel Coleman,” in Amelia Peck and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Designs, 1875-1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2001), 106-107. 57 Peck and Irish, Candace Wheeler,102-103. 58 Ibid.,102. 111

third floor alcove dining room, and the main dining room on the fourth floor. Extensive

descriptions of portière designs such as “plush on plush,” the use of silk, Turkish fringes,

“velvet in antique colors” gold brocades, metallic threads and the use of borders, bands

and appliqués were spelled out in the contract. Themes were to include Japanese decorations that incorporated fruits, flowers of fruits, Fish and Netting portieres for the main dining room and the Cranes and Reeds portières that hung in the adjoining hallway.

Each design was to be original and not to be repeated anywhere else in the clubhouse interiors.59 When the project was complete the interiors of the clubhouse “set new

standards of splendor and luxury in the Gilded Age, situating Tiffany & Wheeler [Co.] at

the forefront of American interior design.”60

It is unclear as to whether or not the textiles designed for Bennett’s Namouna

were intended as merely curtains or also hung as portières. The author of the Harper’s

Weekly article “The Steam-Yacht “Namouna,’ ”(1882) was clearly amazed at the interior

fittings of the Namouna as he includes several references to wood paneling, electric

chandeliers, stained “skylight glasses” and specific textiles used on board the yacht. The

textiles were of “olive-green plush” and “were also finished with the emblematic

of Scotland, to harmonize with the sides of the saloon” and the curtains in the owner’s

bedroom “hang from the ceiling and covering the bed is of a rich material in some

intricate Eastern pattern.”61 The textiles that were designed for the Namouna as

59 Ibid.,126-27. 60 Ibid.,128. 61 “The Steam-Yacht “Namouna.’ ” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. May, 6, 1882, Vol. XXVI-No. 1324, 277. http://app/harpweek.com/viewartivcletext.asp?webjotsfile=hw18820506000025%2Ehtm&xp (accessed July 1, 2009). 112

discussed in the Amelia Peck and Carol Irish book, Candace Wheeler: The Art and

Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 supports the editorials of the time period.

Thistle-themed textiles fabricated from silk and metallic threads are pictured just as the

Century Magazine article describes them:

The light is distributed over the apartment from a large, dome-like sky-light of crackle glass. A curtain of rich Indian stuffs can be drawn across, and the light can be further tempered by a stained-glass slide. Light is also admitted by round port-holes. Exquisite hangings, in which the inter-woven thistle is wrought in silk and gold, can be drawn across them to dispel the idea that one is on shipboard. The thistle on these curtains constantly reappears in the decorations of the yacht, and is doubtless a reminiscence of the Scotch origin of her owner. 62

As an added emphasis to the drama of this textile, Amelia Peck stated that the Thistle-

themed textiles were related to the plaster work within the yacht interiors. When working

with this textile, she said that it tended to curl a lot because of its weight and metallic

threads. The metallic weft threads and the silk warp threads not only added to the

luxuriousness of the textile but also to the final cost of the interior appointments.63

Candace Wheeler, acting as an interior design advisor, includes remarks and instructions to her readers concerning the use of portières in her book, Principles of

Home Decoration with Practical Examples (1903). The “curtains and portière each seem to claim their own in the mixed and softened background of the walls.”64

62 S. G. W. Benjamin, “Steam Yachting in America,” The Century; A Popular Quarterly 24, issue 4, August 1882, 605. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?nostisid=ABP2287-0024-160 (accessed March 4, 2009). The images are discussed further in Chapter 7 and are shown in the appendix for the chapter. 63 Discussion with Amelia Peck, Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts division at The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, July 6, 2009. 64 Candace Wheeler, Principles of Home Decoration with Practical Examples (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, February 1903), 41. 113

The New York City Vanderbilt mansion is but one example of the profuse use of portières within a home. The portières hanging in the third floor living hall of the

Biltmore are another example of profuse use of portières. Inspired by his European

travels, George Vanderbilt, the grandson of the patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, hired

Richard Morris Hunt, to build the Biltmore. It was modeled after the highly ornamental

French Renaissance style taking architectural inspirations from sixteenth century French

châteaux’s. The furniture, upholstery, draperies, and carpets of the Biltmore were also

inspired by European properties and were to be “decorated with custom-made pieces and

an eclectic assortment of English, Continental and American furniture and artworks in a

range of period styles.”65 The portières of the third floor living hall were custom-made for George Vanderbilt. Designed for the Biltmore house guests as a sitting area and an upstairs library, the portières were made from two hundred and twenty-five yards of dark navy, blue wool at John Miners Textile Consultants in Halstead, , England. The gold bullion fringe66 and tassel trim were hand-crafted by Sevinch Deman located in

Cairo, Egypt.67 In describing these specific portières, Jenny Gibbs, the interior design

curator for the Biltmore states that “appliqué or embroidery was frequently added to

divide [portieres] into horizontal bands that correspond with the frieze and dado

[architectural features] of the adjacent walls.”68 Portières became a common interior drapery in Newport summer cottages, the Hudson Highlands, Manhattan mansions and

65 Rachel Carley and Rosemary G. Rennicke, A Pictorial Guide to Biltmore (Ashville, North Carolina: The Biltmore Company, 2004), 14. 66 Bullion fringe is characterized by twisted lengths of hanging rope often made from gold, silver, or metallic fibers. Miller, The Style Sourcebook,191. 67 “Third Floor Living Hall” unpublished internal document (training manual used for the docents at the Biltmore) obtained during research at the Biltmore, February 23, 2008. 68 Jenny Gibbs, Curtains and Draperies: History, Design and Inspiration (New York: Overlook Press, 1994), 149. 114

apartments, resorts, private clubs and churches. Their individual, one-of-a-kind artistic

designs with expensive , coupled with meticulous craftsmanship added

extravagance to the Gilded Age interiors. They became something else to boast of to

guests as they moved from room to room, doorways framed in exquisite portières.

Carpets

Madeleine Ginsburg writes that although the exact location is not known, the

origins of carpets are “firmly rooted in the .”69 As time progressed, “Oriental rugs

were also used in the eighteenth-century home and, of course, afterward. An Oriental rug

usually means any of the hand-knotted rugs made in southeastern Europe, Turkey, North

Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India and China. The elaborate designs had symbolic meanings,

but most of them were just geometric in design.”70 Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman validate Ginsburg’s research. When writing in 1897 about carpet selection they tell their readers that the selection should be “carefully studied,” and that “Oriental carpet- designers have always surpassed their European rivals.”71

Hand knotting and embroidery techniques characterized carpet weaving, making them extremely difficult to obtain and deeming them a luxury item. From the reigns of

Louis XIII to that of Napoleon I, carpets were “exclusively for the use of the court or state.” 72 They were much like the luxury yachts produced largely for the sole enjoyment

of aristocracy or the state. Because of their high value, carpets were used as table

69 Madeleine Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles (London: Studio Editions, Ltd., 1991), 113. 70 Ralph and Terry Kovel, Know Your Antiques: How to Recognize and Evaluate any Antique—Large or Small—Like an Expert (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1967), 232. 71Wharton and Codman, The Decoration of Houses, 104. 72 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 117. 115

coverings, wall hangings, cushion covers and window seating comfort in addition to floor

coverings.

The carpet industry moved to England in the mid-eighteenth century and was

adopted in the United States so that “Hooked rugs were made in America by 1700, but

reached the height of their popularity from 1850 to 1870, when the cheap factory-made

rugs appeared.”73 The “cheap factory-made rugs” are in reference to those made by the

Jacquard loom-weaving techniques. As the century progressed, William Morris, known

for his exquisite hand-knotted and embroidered carpet and rug designs, strongly

influenced the taste and desire for Arts and Craft made interiors in America. As an

example, “Embroidered rugs were made by many of the “well-to-do” American women

of the early nineteenth century. Woolen was stitched in a heavy material, with stitching covering the entire surface of the rug. The embroidered wool-on-wool rug was rare even when it was in style in the nineteenth century.”74 Although wall-to-wall Wilton

or Brussels carpets had been the fashion, due mainly to affordability during the 1860s and

1870s, hardwood and parquet floors re-introduced during the last quarter of the

nineteenth century, made Oriental throw rugs and tapestry or needlepoint rugs a

necessary floor covering.75

A symbol of wealth was the ability to change out floor coverings just as “heavy

winter drapes” were changed. Summer seasonal decorating replaced the heavy Oriental

rugs with matting for a cooling effect and noticeable difference in the interior.

Many advice books such as Godey’s Lady’s Book and authors Candace Wheeler and

73 Kovel, Know Your Antiques, 230. 74 Ibid., 231-32. 75 Plante, The Victorian Home, 34. 116

Elsie de Wolfe give lengthy and specific details as to appropriate colors, borders and

sizes of carpets and throw rugs.

Upholstery

Prior to the seventeenth century, furniture was constructed of primarily oak, elm or chestnut and lacked the luxury of padded seating. Upholstered seating first appeared

in Europe in the 1620s. The added comfort and the use of expensive textiles soon

became a means for communicating social status.76 Upholstery appeared on chairs seats,

settees, and divans. “The most sumptuous fabrics were used for furniture upholstery, the designs similar but usually more conservative than those used for dress fabrics.”77 Either because it was a new sumptuous technique or because it added a new level of comfort, cushioned seats were appreciated by all. Overstuffing the upholstery soon became popular. The result was a “profusion of upholstered seats known as pouffes and crapauds

(meaning “toads”) and a rash of settees for two or three people with names like confiantes ‘a deux places and indiscrets a trios places or canapés a l’ amitié which evoked an atmosphere of pneumatic bliss.”78 The introduction of coil-springing assisted

in upholsteries that were luxuriant and curvilinear.

It was the furniture that was most often the dramatic statement in a formal parlor.

Fabrics that were used were raised–patterned brocades, cotton or silk damasks, ’s,

tapestry fabrics or plush velvets, all of which were period and color coordinated with the

window dressings.79 Elsie de Wolfe recommended that numerous stools be used in a

76 Miller, The Style Sourcebook, 13, 17. 77 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 39. 78Gibbs, Curtains and Draperies, 137. 79 Miller, The Style Sourcebook, 48. 117

“fine room should be covered with a good damask or velvet or some rich fabrics.”80

Every season introduced new selections of fabrics and upholstery materials and advice was always given to select fabric that was appropriate for the style an period of the furniture. Tufted upholstery, commonly associated with Moorish styles became a very popular upholstery and lambrequin technique.81

Tapestries

Tapestries have been used as wall hangings, portières, bed-hangings, screens and

cushion covers since the Middle Ages. After the seventeenth century tapestries have also

been used as upholstery fabric for furniture and was especially popular during the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Originally a hand-woven art using bobbins and worked on a loom, tapestries generally portrayed important religious or historic events, or scenes from everyday life.82 Their ponderous sizes required massive

spaces for use or wall decorations. Castles and palaces became the showplace for

tapestries. The nineteenth century American mansion recreated the voluminous spaces

found in European aristocratic homes, thus, tapestries could easily enter the Fifth Avenue mansion or the Newport summer cottage with ease. Consuelo Vanderbilt recalled that at the Marble House Newport, Rhode Island retreat “there were fine tapestries flanking the

entrance depicting the Death of Coligny and the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s

Eve.”83 Edith Wharton, the turn-of-the-century interior aficionado commended their use

80 de Wolfe, The House in Good Taste, 195. 81 Mayhew & Myers, A Documentary History of American Interiors, 205. 82 Miller, The Style Sourcebook, 82. 83 Consuelo Vanderbilt, The Glitter and the Gold (New York: Harper, 1959), 25. 118

as “nothing can be more beautiful than tapestry properly used.”84 For the Gilded Age

interiors, tapestries were not merely selected as a work of art but they “were important as

status symbols and capitol investments. Tapestries were luxury items and ownership of a

set of fine tapestries was a visible demonstration of wealth and consequent power.”85

During his visit and shopping spree in Europe, George Vanderbilt purchased the

set of five sixteenth century Flemish tapestries from the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, 1887. He

hung them on the dining room walls at the Biltmore for the enjoyment and entertainment

of his dinner guests.86 The tapestries spoke clearly of his desire to reflect European historical fashion and to demonstrate his wealth among his peers. Charles Eastlake best summed up the Biltmore display of tapestries when he wrote that “In the Middle Ages it

was customary to decorate the walls of the most important rooms of a public building or private mansion with tapestry; and there is no doubt that a rich and picturesque effect was thus obtained which no other means could produce.”87 Candace Wheeler, though not an

advocate of tapestries in the “modern home” of 1903, admits that tapestries have a

“peculiar richness and charm” and are “unapproachable in effect” when hung on the wall.

Her greatest objection, however, was the exorbitant cost noting that a “well preserved

tapestry of a good period, and of a famous manufacturer or origin, is so costly a purchase

that only our bounteous and self-indulgent millionaires would venture to acquire one

solely for purposes of wall decoration.”88 As George Vanderbilt demonstrated, that was

84 Wharton & Codman, The Decoration of Houses, 42. 85 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 175. 86 John M. Bryan, Biltmore Estate: The Most Distinguished Place (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1994), 131. 87 Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste, 116. 88 Wheeler, Principles of Home Decoration, 19. 119

precisely his objective in obtaining such costly wall decorations. They still adorn the

dining hall walls of the Biltmore estate.

All fabrics and textiles were constructed with either hand-knotting, embroidery or

hand looms techniques, all very labor intensive and time-consuming. Until the late-

eighteenth century, fabrics were predominately created on the drawloom which was very

expensive and time-consuming. The invention of the “Jacquard attachment” for looms

by Joseph Marie Jacquard revolutionized the manufacturing of woven patterned cloth.

Instead of creating patterned fabrics and carpets by selectively raising warp threads by

hand, the Jacquard attachment loom used “pre-ordained [patterns], on a series of punch

cards” that allowed for “an infinite variety of warps to be raised by machine.” 89 Jacquard

looms, first exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1801 became the automated version of the

draw loom and replaced the necessity for the “drawboy.” The outstanding benefit of the

Jacquard loom was speed. Fabrics could be produced in a fraction of the time it took

with a draw loom therefore increasing production and lowering costs. A result was an

increase in consumer demand and consumption of machine manufactured cloth and

carpets that found their way to American closets and home interiors. The Jacquard

attachment was so successful that by “1812 it was fitted to 18,000 looms in Lyon,

France.”90 American imitation of the French Jacquard loom was incorporated at a carpet

manufacturing plant in Philadelphia as early as 1820.91 Carpets were first made in the

United States in 1791 and the first carpet factory in the country, the W. P. Sprague

89 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 123. 90 Eric Broudy, The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present (, NH: University Press of New England, 1979), 134-135. 91 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 123. 120

factory in Philadelphia, made finger-tufted rugs.92 The attitude toward loomed carpets had changed by 1820 and it was completely acceptable and fashionable to furnish a home with loom-woven carpets.93

The American’s maintained a close design alliance with the Europeans, especially with French modes. Americans “kept in step with European trends either by direct import or home production. French influence was particularly marked in the 1780s and

1790s [and] was strengthened by émigrés who had settled on the Eastern seaboard and entered the textile trades. The alliance stimulated the vogue for French style.”94 In order to support the pleasurable consumption of European luxuries two key elements needed to be bolstered; availability of sumptuous products and the role of an interior decorator.

An expression of social and financial success was to overtly consume an abundance of objects to be placed on display so that ones peers could gaze upon your display of wealth and good taste as expressed with the assistance of a high profile interior decorator. After all, “to consume was to assert taste and social position [and ones] home and its contents was the primary site of status in all levels of society.”95 However, it was

not limited to the consumption of “an abundance of objects,” but of the correct objects.

As an example, French silks throughout the Gilded Age in America were heralded as the favorite among the socially elite. In 1882 American weavers were successfully producing very fine silks and a protective tariff added sixty per cent to the cost of

92 Kovel, Know Your Antiques, 232. 93 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 123. 94 Ibid., 60. 95 David Crowley, Introduction to Victorian Style (London: David & Charles, 2002), 8. 121

imported French silks. Disregarding these two factors, “affluent Americans remained

faithful in their preference for French silks.”96

Status in Professions – Architecture, Interior Design, and American Yachting Culture

The employment and use of interior decorators, whose rise as a profession was

itself an expression of newly acquired wealth, furthered “the struggle to outdo, or at least

not to be outdone”97 ambitious climbing of America’s social and financial elite. Interior

decorators had been used throughout the courts, palaces and castles of Europe for

decades. For the rising American social neophyte, however, the field of interior

decorating was an extension of an architectural firm or an upholsterer. Some American

decorators such as Herter Brothers, Cheney Brothers, William Baumgarten and Company

and Leon Marcotte & Co. were emulating Parisian interior decorating firms, but they

lacked the panache of a French interior decorating title. Allard et Fils (Allard and Sons),

a Parisian firm founded in the eighteenth century, fulfilled the expectations of American

Gilded Age elite. Parisian connections of the firm and its clients reinforced the firms’

credibility in creating “high style” French interiors for the American elite. From their

travels to Paris, wealthy Americans witnessed interior grandeur and splendor of the homes of their wealthy Parisian counterparts. They returned to America with visions of interior magnificence in hopes that they could create their own imperial surroundings.

Known as “the greatest French decorators,” the Herter Brothers’ first commission was the

96 Mary Schoeser and Kathleen Dejardin, French Textiles; From 1760 to the Present (London: Laurence King Ltd., 1991), 139. 97Kay Davis, “Class,” under Class and Leisure at America’s First Resort: Newport, Rhode Island, 1870- 1914 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Davis/newport/class/upper_newport.html (accessed July 28, 2009), page 3. 122

boudoir of Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt located in the Fifth

Avenue mansion. After the successful completion, commissions from Richard Morris

Hunt and Stanford White, among others, were frequent. Clients of Herter Brothers

included the John Jacob Astor’s Fifth Avenue residence, the grand salon of the Cornelius

Vanderbilt II Fifth Avenue residence and The Breakers music room. All of the main

rooms on the first floor of Marble House, owned by William and Alva Vanderbilt were

Allard et Fils creations with the crowning achievement displayed in the ostentatious gold ball room, a reproduction of Louis XIV and Louis XV palace interiors. The success of

this firm had further impact on the American client. So frequent were the calls to

decorate American mansions, that in 1885, Allard et Fils established a satellite branch in

New York City.98 For the benefit of correct social standing, high society American

families were now ensured that their mansions and eventually their yachts would display

appropriate French interiors.

The Rise of American Architects and Interior Designers

The study of architecture focuses on the built environment of structures. The

exteriors of buildings express both function and aesthetics while they direct the

movements of daily traffic circulations. Interior design parallels this concept but instead

focuses on the interior environments of the built structure. In interior design attention to

daily activities and movement patterns within the buildings becomes the focal point.

Interior design redirects the macro view of architectural spaces into the micro view of

interior spaces. Interior furnishings further describe the intimacy of interior

98 Wayne Craven, Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 151-84; William A. Coles, “The Genesis of a Classic” in Wharton and Codman, The Decoration of Houses, 262. 123

surroundings. Furniture, objects of art, souvenirs, heirlooms, and textiles define the

space, giving a more detailed inventory of room function, as well as and the aesthetic

taste of the owner.99 As Elsie de Wolfe explains in her book The House in Good Taste

(1913) “A person’s environment will speak for their life, whether they like it or not. How

can we believe that a person of sincerity of purpose will hang fake “works of art” on their

walls or satisfy themselves with imitation velvets or silks? . . . A house is a dead

giveaway, anyhow, so you should arrange it so that the person who sees your personality

in it will be reassured, not disconcerted.”100

The nineteenth century marked a shift in architectural training. Instead of the

traditional apprenticeship, architects sought professional training in an academic

education. Although the first American school of architecture had opened at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1865, many architecture students sought their education in France. The French Academy of Architecture was replaced with the

L’Ecole des Beaus-Arts in 1819 and became the world’s premier architectural school during the nineteenth century. The primary inspiration for the Beaux-Arts school of academic design was French classical architecture. It was characterized by “lavish carving, gilding, rich marble and extravagant lighting [that] created a grand atmosphere

for large hotels, department stores, opera houses, municipal buildings and even exclusive

private residences.”101 Among the Beaux-Arts graduates were American architects

Richard Morris Hunt, of Warren & Wetmore, John M. Carrere, Thomas

Hastings of Carrere & Hastings, Charles F. McKim of McKim, Meade and White. They

99 Harwood, May and Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design, xi, 5. 100 de Wolfe, The House in Good Taste, 15. 101 Corky Binggeli, Interior Design: A Survey (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007), 171. 124 returned to America trained in the monumental planning and designs concepts of the

Beaux-Arts. Training began to include a rejection of the High Victorian architecture and a return to Classical Eclecticism and a Neo-classical Revival on a very grand scale. By

1900 both had permeated fashionable architecture styles throughout North America,

Great Britain and Europe. The Beaux-Arts aspired to emulate the classical traditions of

Rome, the Italian Renaissance, the Baroque and seventeenth and eighteenth century

France. In America, the initial stages of this style was largely limited to the East Coast, but became popularized at The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, when

American graduates of L’Ecole des Beaus-Arts “competed” for the grandest expression of Beaus-Art paired columns and lavish ornamentations.102 Commissions for public spaces such as the Boston Public Library and Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal, New York

City (McKim, Meade & White), the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, New York City

(Richard Morris Hunt), the New York Public Library (Carrere and Hastings), and the

New York Yacht Club and Grand Central Station, New York City (Warren and Wetmore) were expressions of the Beaux-Arts avant-garde architecture. In New York City, the great financial wizards of the Industrial Revolution almost unanimously rejected apartment dwelling in the Gilded Age and elected to construct urban palaces and cross street townhouses.103 Wealthy private patrons such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew

Carnegie, the Vanderbilt family and Henry C. Frick built lavish Manhattan homes, summer “cottages” in Newport, Rhode Island and resort homes up the Hudson River that announced their affiliation with the premiere architectural style of European aristocrats.

102 Harwood, May and Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design, 289. 103 Craven, Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society, 8-12. 125

Lifestyles of the American beau monde included membership in fashionable clubs, for both genders. The New York Yacht Club was among the most desirable and prestigious for men of distinction and wealth, a “citadel of American yachting.”104 It was an environment conducive to gentlemen sailors and fierce regatta competitions. Polite comparisons of members’ yachts were part of the dinner conversations followed by wagers for the next yachting match. Well aware of the memberships association with maritime activities and the symbolism, Warren and Wetmore disregarded the fashionable

Italian Renaissance or French châteaux architecture of the Fifth Street mansions and chose to design the New York Yacht Club facade after the stern of a Dutch merchant ship sporting three huge -style windows that protrude over the sidewalk below. The view from 44th Street, where the club building stands, is as if you are watching the ship

leave port. When inside, one peers to the street below, as if surrounded by the ship

captain’s stateroom with the ship in one’s imagination departing for a lengthy voyage.

Interiors of the model room, entryway and the exterior of the building are adorned with

nautical and sea motifs as decorative stone and wood embellishments. The Grill Room, a

“modest” restaurant for casual dining is a replica of the “tween decks in a sturdy ship.

The top of the wall even has a swooping line.”105 In 1906, the New York Times reported

(shortly after the Club’s “inaugural sail”) that “except for the absence of motion one might fancy oneself at sea.” The love affair with nautical interiors inside buildings extended to Harbour Court, the summer residence of the New York Yacht Club and former waterside mansion of the John Nicholas Brown family.

104John Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts. The Seafarers Time-Life Series (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), 88. 105John Rousmaniere, The Clubhouse at Sea (New York: New York Yacht Club, n.d.), 18. 126

The significance of the New York Yacht Club interiors is that it was a nautical

environment on land that became a place of respite for the grounded seafaring industrial

entrepreneur. Images, models, and architectural details that exemplified maritime décor

eased the transference of interior decorations from yacht to home and home to yacht.

Wetmore and Warren were not the only architects that realized this significance. The

office of Richard Morris Hunt produced early sketches that “suggest a nautical scene over

the mantle [in the Biltmore dining hall], a reference perhaps to Commodore Vanderbilt or

to Columbus”106 when designing the interiors of the Biltmore. Russell Lynes connects

Richard Morris Hunt with maritime metaphor when he writes the “he [Hunt] was a sail

that caught the ambitious breeze that blew off the great fortunes of the seventies and

eighties and drove the ship of taste into luxurious and splendid harbors. He was the

artistic conscience of men and women of great wealth to whom display and ostentation

were a highly competitive game.”107

Architects of ancient and Rome controlled every aspect of design from the creation of the building to its contents. Nineteenth century architects, caught in the revival of neo-classicism, attempted the same approach. With the rise of expert luxury cabinet makers, textile designers, wall finishers and upholsters, the need for interior decorators increased. Architecture and interior decorating are intrinsically joined together, however, as conveyed in Eberlein’s interior decorating advice book of 1919

“One fact of tremendous importance in the art of interior decoration . . .is that interior

106 John M. Bryan, Biltmore Estate: The Most Distinguished Private Place (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1994), 131. 107 Russell Lynes, The Tastemakers: The Shaping of American Popular Taste, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), 131-32. 127

decoration does not consist merely of selection and arrangement of movable furniture and

garnishings; the architectural background and the fixed decorations are every whit as vitally essential to a successful and complete composition.”108 Both inside and out,

houses were designed to convey dignified balance, a high degree of refinement, and

completeness in ensembles of “fixed and movable decoration.”109

While the classical reinterpretations of architecture occurred during the nineteenth century, interior design emerged as a separate profession. As noted before, American graduates of the L’Ecole des Beau-Arts were predominantly men. The only female graduate of upstanding note was Julia Morgan who was frequently under the employ of the William Randolph Hearst family. Before the Industrial Revolution, interior decoration was reserved for the wealthy.110 Mid-nineteenth century was an eclectic mix

of decorative styles; Renaissance Revival, Baroque revival, Gothic Revival and styles

that included motifs derived from Chinese, Persian, Indian, and Arabic ornamentation.111

It is important to have an understanding of the historical background in order to understand the new expression of interiors at the turn of the last century. As is common today, there was not always a clean distinction between styles. Many styles overlapped because it was a favorite chair, painting, lamp etc. and they stayed in the interior space even though they were not a part of the new motif.

Late nineteenth century interiors were often a combination of historical or period revival styles in different rooms of the same house. It was William Morris and Charles

108 Eberlein, McClure Holloway, The Practical Book of Interior Decoration, 26-27. 109 Ibid., 27. 110 Ann Wallace, Arts & Crafts Textiles: The Movement in America (Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 1999), 41. 111 Miller, The Style Sourcebook, 37. 128

Eastlake that introduced a coherent decorative style and pre-industrial, handcrafted

furnishings in the late 1860s. The Aesthetic and the Arts and Crafts styles relied on the

effect of color and pattern rather than on a particular architectural style to create the

desired interior.112

In an international context, the finest American interiors were usually

insignificant and considered inferior from the best designed interiors of Paris and

London. Even the most famous American designers of this period, Leon Marcotte, the

Herter Brothers, Stanford White and Ogden Codman, Jr. were not, in spite of their

European connections, initially considered worthy of consignments.113

The professional field of interior decoration, in America, is approximately forty years behind that of the field of architecture. Although there were advertised decorators in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans at mid-century, interiors were usually created by the contractor or architect, the house painter or the owner himself. By the late 1870s, however, decorators prospered through the enormous rush of public and commercial building through-out the Gilded Age. By the mid-1880s it was not uncommon for interior decorators to be involved in big projects. They were hired by the wealthy to “do” their many houses, office buildings, rail-road train cars, cruise liners, hotels, steam boat saloons and one might include the interiors of their luxury yachts.

Some interior designers were associated with architectural firms but most were representatives of furniture companies.114 There was an ever-increasing occurrence of

112 Ibid., 43. 113 William Seale, The Tasteful Interlude: American Interiors Through the Camera’s Eye, 1860-1917 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975), 10. 114 Ibid., 22. 129 professional decorators, especially in urban centers by the end of the nineteenth century, including Candace Wheeler, an established interior designer, who published several articles and books.115 By the 1860s the practice of decorating window with lace or muslin under-curtains and heavy drawn-back drapes such as velvet, damask and chintz was well established.116 Notably, William Morris and Charles Eastlake influenced interiors with their fabric and wallpaper designs of 1880s – 1890s.117

Through popular publications of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries such as The Ladies Home Journal and Century Magazine and trade magazines like

American Record and Good Furniture all Americans were exposed to the work of professional decorators.118 The proper draping of windows, doors and countless objects throughout the Victorian interiors was the subject of many articles in contemporary publications.119

The feminine persuasion of a fussy decor was dominant throughout Victorian interiors. It was in the library and the smoking rooms that men escaped that feminine fussiness. Needless-to-say, private clubs such as the New York Yacht Club were included in this list. They were decorated in an emphatically masculine way, which at this time would have been pre-dominantly Gothic. This does not mean that these rooms were any less cluttered or elaborate, but they were defined by what was considered masculine clutter.120 The formality associated with a room devoted to intellectual

115 Mayhew and Myers, A Documentary History of American Interiors, 197. 116 Grow and von Zweck, American Victorian, 152. 117 Miller and Miller, Victorian Style, 121. 118 Seale, The Tasteful Interlude, 21. 119 Grow and von Zweck, American Victorian, 152. 120 Leopold, Victorian Splendor, 189, 197. 130

pursuits, the library, or manly endeavors, the private club and smoking rooms, called for

handsome window dressings without the feminine frills typically found in the parlors.121

Interior decoration was the after thought of the architect. Rarely were interior

furnishings a continuance of the architects design or an effort from a cohesive design

team. Instead individual and separate contracts were made between the cabinetmaker, the

carpet dealer, the painter, and the upholsterer. The interiors lacked unity. On occasion, a

single decorator may be hired, but decoration and furnishings were usually provided by a

luxury cabinetmaker’s firm, such as Herter Brothers, or Pottier and Stymus in New York

City or Gillows in London. Although the furniture could be spectacular, the textiles, wall

coverings and stenciling often lacked imagination.122 In the eighteenth century interior

decoration was the extended business practices of upholsterers who sold fabric and

furniture. Architects employed a variety of craftsman to complete the interior

appointments of their architectural designs. It is not until the second half of the nineteenth century that the interior decorator emerges from the tradesman, painter of wallpaper hanger and establishes a separate profession. The beginnings of the profession

were influenced by several factors, largely the need for women to have a secure income.

The two prominent ones were the number of widows from the Civil War and women

seeking financial independence from fathers or husbands. There were many

opportunities for these women, and soon interior decorating became an acceptable profession for many women.123 Most scholarship pertaining to the early history of

interior decorating and design gives attention to prominent firms and identified the new

121 Plante, The Victorian Home, 83. 122 Peck and Irish, Candace Wheeler, 14-17. 123 Harwood, May and Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design, xxiii, 5, 304. 131

profession as a male preserve, an extension of the male-dominated field of architecture.

Two female designers that are included in the time line of interior decoration progression in America are Candace Wheeler and Elsie de Wolfe.124 Both had a significant affect on

the profession of home, public and private yacht interiors.

Candace Wheeler

Candace Wheeler (1827-1923) is considered America’s most noted textile

designer of the Gilded Age. Through her artistic expressions and expertise in fibers and

weaving skills she designed beautiful textiles and interiors for American mansions,

private clubs and luxury yachts. Her visit to the Centennial International Exhibition in

Philadelphia, 1876 inspired her to begin her career. The exhibition was sated with the

exquisite offerings of most of the countries in the world. But the displays that caught her

imagination and business inspiration was The London Royal School of Art Needlework.

Examples of G. F. Bodley, William Crane and William Morris’s embroideries and

weaving designs were among the many entries.125 An article entitled “Art Needle-Work

at the Centennial” Harper’s Bazaar, 1876, described the textiles on display as “A

conspicuous feature of the British collection . . . a tent constructed in purple velvet

hangings, and ornamented with a superb collection of specimens of embroidery and

needlework . . . elaborate and curious specimens of art needle-work . . .with wall-

hangings done in very elaborate embroidery, both appliqué and stain stitch, in floral and

124 Karina Helen Hiltje Corrigan, “Edith Blake Brown and the Rise of Professional Interior Design” (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 2001), 9. 125 Ginsburg, ed., The Illustrated History of Textiles, 81. 132

arabesque patterns of various colors.”126 The exhibit of textiles and embroideries fashioned by British artists was the first exposure that many Americans had to view the

English Arts and Crafts movement. This British inspiration caught the vision of Candace

Wheeler. Validated by the British designers’ quest for the highest possible quality and the renewed mission to re-instate the art form of embroidery and weaving, Mrs. Wheeler founded a new kind of not-for-profit benevolent organization, The New York Society of

Decorative Art in 1877.

As already noted, the work of the English artist and textile designer, William

Morris had a distinctive impact on textile designs in America. English predecessors, among them Morris and Eastlake had supplied stitching techniques and acceptable fabrics, therefore it follows that Mrs. Wheeler attempted to imitate the English models.

In the introductory remarks of her book entitled book, Principles of Home Decoration with Practical Examples (1903) Mrs. Wheeler clearly acknowledges that “we

[Americans] are free to draw inspiration from the same sources which supplied Morris and the men associated with him in his enthusiasm, and in fact we do lean, as they did, upon English eighteenth-century domestic art.” 127 Inspiration from William Morris is

evident in her early textile designs and her affinity to English interior design practices

continued into her later career. Wheeler states that “Morris was for many years the great

leader” and then further explains that “in our day we have seen the “Eastlake furniture”

appear and disappear, succeeded by the “Morris furniture.’ ”128 She defined her interior

126 “Art of Needle-Work at the Centennial,” Harper’s Bazaar, 1876, quoted in Peck and Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 22. 127 Wheeler, Principles of Home Decoration, 4. 128 Ibid., 32. 133

design philosophy using the advised from English decorating manuals “that decoration of

an interior should revolve around its function and lighting.”129

Though her Society had a modest beginning it eventually gained recognition from

architects, furniture designers and other New York decorators. Her outstanding reputation advanced her exposure to prominent personal and professional connections. The first Art

Loan Exhibition held in the galleries of the National Academy of Design, December 3,

1877 was directed by Society board committee members such as William Cullen Bryant,

Hamilton Fish, John Jacob Astor, Mr. and Mrs. Belmont, William Vanderbilt, Mrs. Parke

Godwin, Mrs. Jonathon Sturges and Catherine Lorillard Wolfe among several others.130

These were some of the wealthiest citizens of New York City and their endorsement

promoted and confirmed Mrs. Wheeler as a textile artist. The contents of the Art Loan

Exhibition as described in the New York Times only verified her position, “. . . of

paintings is not large, but exquisite; of tapestry, there is probably no larger collection than

has ever been seen in this City, and the laces and embroideries are abundant and

beautiful.”131

Louis C. Tiffany invited Candace Wheeler, and Samuel

Coleman to form a design association called Louis C. Tiffany & Company, Associated

Artists in 1879. Her primary contribution was as the embroidery and professional textile artist. At this time Wheeler’s designs separated from her initial association with Morris’s textile interpretations and took on a uniquely American style that reflected a stronger and

129 Peck and Irish, Candace Wheeler,130. 130 Ibid., 27-38. 131 “Rare Art Specimens,” New York Times, December 4, 1877 as quoted in Amelia Peck and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001), 32. 134 more intense color palette unlike that of the European colors. Her inspiration was that of

“American light” and “native American flowers.”132

The Tiffany association produced interior decorations, pattern designs and needlework for, some of the country’s most elite families. The entirety of the homes, the parlors and salons of clients such as George Kemps, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Ogden

Goelet, William S. Kimball, Mark Twain, and Hamilton Fish all bore the signature and award winning textiles of Candace Wheeler. She specialized in “silk and raw-silk fabrics, woven from original designs, for friezes, wall hangings and furniture coverings, heavy silk canvasses and sail-cloths, in carefully studied combinations of color, for portières and curtains.”133 Prestigious public commissions included the Madison Square Theater curtains, the redecoration of rooms at the White House for President Chester Alan

Arthur,134 the draperies and portières of The Union League Club and the Veterans’ Room

132 Peck and Irish, Candace Wheeler, 44. 133 Mark Twain [Samuel L. Clemens], Mark Twain’s Notebooks and Journal. Vol. 2. ed. Frederick Anderson, Lin Salamo, and Bernard L. Stein, (Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1975), 399. 134Poppy Canon and Patricia Brooks, “The Elegant Era of ‘His Accidency,’ ” The President’s Cookbook (Printed in the USA: Funk & Wagnalls, A Division of Reader’s Digest Books, Inc., 1968), 308-19. For President Arthur, “Conspicuous consumption was not good enough – it had to be correct,” 311. Chester Alan Arthur could handily be nicknamed the “Gilded Age President,” because of his social and culinary styles. Deplored with the first attempts of renovating the White House, he haggled with Congress as to the funding of the project. In winning his argument, President Arthur employed the audacious Louis C. Tiffany & Company to “undertake innovations in the décor,” and refurnish “badly kept barracks.” Twenty- four wagon loads of White House furnishings, including many pieces from the 1814 White House redecoration of James Hoban, were put on the auction block and Arthur began nightly inspections and critiques of the newly plastered, painted and redecorated public and private quarters of the White House. Coming into office after the unfortunate assassination of President Garfield, President Arthur chose to change the interiors and social rules that had preceded his presidency. In the Martin Filler article in the March 2009 issue of The Magazine Antiques, comments about how Tiffany & Company were respected in the fledgling interior design industry, and who were “just beginning to create a reputation for daring approaches to decorative design,” this commission launched them into a high profile position with the members of the social and political elite, 59-61. 135

of the Seventh Regiment Armory.135 The high-profile commissions and assignments of this design team lent itself to an unabashed display of precision skilled workmanship and

“theatrical displays of deeply saturated color . . . a requisite degree of magisterial display

[that was] leavened with a dash of whimsy, in counterpoint to the prevalent pomposity of

Gilded Age mansions.”136

Wheeler’s textile designs were not limited to home and public buildings, but

extended to resorts and private yachts. Of notable interest to this study is the fabric she

designed for the infamous publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr.’s luxury yacht Namouna’s

main saloon in 1881 that will be discussed in chapter five.137 Successful design

commissions with the Vanderbilt mansions, implies that possible contracts link Mrs.

Wheeler with the interiors of their luxury yachts, The North Star, the Alva, and the

Valiant,138 also to be discussed in chapter five.

Mrs. Wheeler’s association with British textile designers assisted American

reverence for European and British influences concerning interior culture and taste. Her

passion to design exquisite textiles was found in the interiors of New York City, Boston,

San Francisco and London.139 Her ardor to create harmonious interiors furthered the

profession of interior decorating.

Elsie de Wolfe

135Allison Eckardt Ledes, “Candace Wheeler, Designer and Reformer – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,” Magazine Articles (Oct. 2001), http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cawh/hd_cawh.htm (accessed February 10, 2009), paragraph 4. 136Martin Filler, “Red, white and Tiffany blue,” The Magazine Antiques, March 2009, 60. 137Amelia Peck and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001), 44, 120-2. 138 Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 119-61. 139 Ledes, “Candace Wheeler, Designer and Reformer,”paragraph 5. 136

Thirty years later, it is Elsie de Wolfe who is credited with being the first woman to call herself a professional decorator. She was influential in transforming the gloomy

Victorian interiors of her childhood to those of a lighter interpretation of eighteenth century French interiors, furniture and reproductions. She redefined the world’s taste in

French fashion and home décor. Her focus was toward “light, air and comfort” a transition from High Victorian interiors to French Rococo. There is a sophistication of less clutter, elimination of heavy upholstered furniture, chests, tables and bric-a-brac and

“As for salons, which today would be called drawing or living rooms, they were generally decorated in the French manner and filled with what the society decorator Elsie de Wolfe called “FFF” – the “Fine French Furniture” of the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods.”140 De Wolfe covered dark woods with white paint, removed heavy drapes from

windows to allow light into the rooms and covered furniture in chintzes. Her passion

were the delicate lines of eighteenth century France and so she replaced furnishings with

Louis XV and Louis XVI furniture and uses of lighter, French color schemes; rose, pale

blues and creams. The French appointments not only connected the client to French

taste, but convey a spirit of dignity and graciousness.

In keeping with the very French practice of salon tête-à-tête’s, Elsie and Bessy, her New York City roommate, hosted soirées every Sunday afternoon in their

Washington Irving House main salon. The guest lists included social elites such as Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Morgan, Charles Dana Gibson, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Ethel

Barrymore, Mrs. William Waldorf Astor, Count Robert de Montesquoiu, Mrs. Cooper

140 Alexis Gregory, Families of Fortune: Life in the Gilded Age (New York: The Vendome Press, 1993), 109. 137

Hewitt, Ogden Codman, William C. Whitney and Stanford White, most of whom hired

here for the projects, the interiors of their homes or as is the case of Henry Clay Frick,

the millionaire steel magnate, “employed de Wolfe in 1913 to deal with the second-floor

family quarters of his Fifth Avenue mansion (designed by Carrere and Hastings, now the

museum housing the ), for which she assembled French antique furniture and placed it in suitable settings.”141

Her association and business transactions with the Frick family extended her client base as she became the buying agent for several families while traveling in Europe, searching for furniture and textiles to adorn her affluent, high-society clients’ surroundings.142 The success of her interior decorating book The House in Good Taste,

1913 assured her position in design history.

Candace Wheeler and Elsie de Wolfe worked nearly two decades apart – Wheeler

in the 1870s and 1880s and de Wolfe in the 1900s and 1910s.143 Both had distinctive

styles that incorporated European interiors into the realm of American interior spaces.

They combined the classic elements of European style with the American decorative

styles into unique blends that had never been seen before in America. Artifacts, art

collections, and furnishings from various cultures and countries mixed freely to lend an

air of the exotic and flamboyant luxury. The use of refined materials, sophisticated

colors and strong silhouettes epitomized the nature of the wealthy interior environment.

Interior decorating, whether it is acknowledged as professional or amateur has

been an everyday occurrence throughout history. It not only encompasses the interior

141 John Pile, A History of Interior Design (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000), 255. 142 Harwood, May and Sherman Architecture and Interior Design, 304. 143 Corrigan, “Edith Blake Brown,” 11. 138

environment of homes but extends to other residences, places of business, locations of

entertainment and of transportation vehicles.144 By the 1880s artistic and well appointed

interiors, regardless of whether it was the Manhattan mansion, the country estate, the

summer cottage, and the luxury yacht became a mark of wealth, status and extremely

good taste especially if it exemplified a grandiose domestic setting reminiscent of the

noble houses of European interiors.145

Influence of Interior Design on Homes

Correspondence between Mr. Frick and Miss de Wolfe indicates that both parties

were interested in two things: furnishing the 1 East 70th Street, New York City mansion

with exquisite European furniture and textiles and what kind of a bargain could be

bartered by both. In a letter dated March 19, 1914, Mr. Frick states to Miss de Wolfe

“what did the chairs cost you?”146 He goes on to re-state their contractual agreement in

regards to costs and fees and reminds her that “we are now awaiting your estimates on the

seven bedrooms on the second floor; the four bedrooms on the third floor including the housekeeper’s room; Mrs. Frick’s boudoir; Miss Frick’s library and the two reception rooms downstairs on the gallery end of the house. As to the reception room at the entrance to the house, the breakfast room and my sitting room, we will decide later whether to have you make an on them, or whether we will have to let White,

Allen & Company do them under prior arrangement, which I had overlooked, but which I

144 Pile, A History of Interior Design, 10. 145 Corky Binggeli, Interior Design, 162-67. 146 Henry Frick to Elsie de Wolfe March 19, 1914, de Wolfe Correspondence, Box 16, Folder 5, Frick Art Reference Library of the Frick Collection, New York City, NY. Research July 19, 2007. 139

fully explained to you.”147 Six days later, March 25, 1914, her estimate “to furnish the following goods [window dressings, valances, lambrequins, sash curtains, fringes], as per schedule herewith, for the sum of $10,384.00.”148 Mr. Frick and Miss de Wolfe’s correspondence is an example of commonplace business transactions between the

prominent families and their hired decorators. The enumeration of the many rooms that

Frick listed for de Wolfe gives an example of one of his houses. The Frick family also

owned Eagles Nest north of Boston and The Clayton in Pittsburgh. As previously

mentioned the Frick’s did not own a luxury yacht, instead they lavished their fortune on a

private rail car, The Westmoreland. The Frick family was one in a group of people that

practiced the same explosion of mansion building. The Vanderbilt family owned eleven

opulent homes along Fifth Avenue in addition to multiple homes in Newport, Lenox, the

Adirondacks and the Hudson River Highlands.149 Each house, each rail car, each yacht required interiors that competed with peer group pressures and were viewed as social

triumphs. Because of the enormity of the task, the elite families instructed their architects

and decorators to hunt down European masterpieces of every kind. They also

commissioned new home artists such as the Herter Brothers, Candace Wheeler, John La

Farge, Allard et Fils, Leon Marcote, Elsie de Wolfe, and several others who designed

spectacular interiors. Mansions took on the interiors of their European counterparts—

lavish, opulent, and extravagant – with the final purchase decision resting with the client

147 Ibid. 148 Elsie de Wolfe to Henry Frick, March 25, 1914, de Wolfe Correspondence, Box 16, Folder 2; Frick Art Reference Library of the Frick Collection, New York. Research July 19, 2007. 149 “The Museum of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall,” under Ventfort Hal, Mansion and Gilded Age Museum http://www.gildedage.org/event-print.php?recored=26 (accessed July 28, 2009), paragraph 3. 140

as de Wolfe proved when she implored Mr. Frick to “please be pleased” at the close of a

detailed letter of her acquisitions for the Frick’s 70th Street mansion and gallery.

The continual pursuit for first place created an interesting paradox. Members of

the elite social class had similar taste and thus competed with each other. Yet sharing

was not unusual. When George Vanderbilt was pre-occupied with the construction of the

Biltmore and had no use for his inherited mansion on Fifth Avenue he loaned it to the

Frick family. They were in need of a home –a mansion – after their move to New York

City. The vacant Vanderbilt mansion became a rental for the Frick family while their

East 71st Street mansion and gallery was completed.

The social elite also sought furnishings from the inventories of each other’s private possessions. An example was the exchange of correspondence between Henry

Clay Frick and J. P. Morgan in regards to a table. In a letter dated January 27, 1915, “Mr.

H. C. Frick to J. Pierpont Morgan, D[?], To large carved table in walnut, Italian (probably

Padua[n]) workmanship of the XVI century. $20,000.00.” 150 The response came within

the week, “Dear Mr. Frick: I have received the cheque for $20,000 for the table, which I

hope will be perfectly satisfactory to you. It is a good piece, and I am glad you have it.

Yours very sincerely, J. P. Morgan,” dated February 1, 1915.151 Not only did Frick

“siphon” a possession from Morgan, but it had a European origin. To continue the quest

for superiority and perhaps to pad his own private art collections, Mr. Frick, with the

guidance of the English art dealer Joseph Duveen, “acquired many of the finest objects

150 Henry Frick to J. P. Morgan, Morgan/Frick Correspondence, Box 17, Folder 5; Frick Art Reference Library of the Frick Collection, New York. Research July 19, 2007. 151 J. P. Morgan to Henry Frick, Morgan/Frick Correspondence, Box 17, Folder 5; Frick Art Reference Library of the Frick Collection, New York. Research July 19, 2007. 141 from J. Pierpont Morgan’s estate – Limoges enamels, Renaissance bronzes, Sèvres porcelains, and eighteenth century French furniture,” between 1915 and 1916.152 From this correspondence example, it is implied that personal properties were purchased and circulated among the beau monde American Gilded Age members. They could be simultaneously critique, and be a resource for socially accepted status symbols amongst themselves.

Influence of Interior Design on Yachts

Shipwrights were to yachts what architects were for buildings. Their purpose was to design yachts that were water worthy and that met the specific requirements of the owner. The shape of a vessel, because it must be seaworthy, dictates the interior space.

Typical square rooms were not possible because of the curves and lines of the hull of a yacht. Creating living spaces within these restrictions was a specialized profession, usually undertaken by the shipwright. Shipyard construction was under the careful scrutiny and guidance of the shipwright. In order to achieve maximum speed, safety as well as comfortable living spaces above and below deck, the shipwright oversaw the yacht design and construction. It was no different from the way in which Richard Morris

Hunt expedited his many Vanderbilt mansions; the shipwright and the architect served the same purpose. It is assumed that the same relationship that existed between the architect and the interior decorator existed between the shipwright and the interior decoration of the luxury yacht. And just as many architects designed the interior furnishings of mansions, shipwrights designed the interior appointments of the luxury

152 Colin B, Bailey, “Building the Frick Collection,” under Frick Collection Publishes its First Book Focused on the History of Mansion Result of New Archival Research http://www.frick.org/assests/PDFs/Press_2006/CBBhousebook.pdf (accessed July 2, 2007), page 2. 142 yacht. When the profession of interior decoration came into its own, the interior décor of luxury yachts became the purview of the professional interior decorator.

Since luxury yachts were indicators of wealth, social standing and entertainment, the interiors were also seen as a viable extension of social status. Socially acceptable interiors became a priority. The obsession for extravagance that had permeated the interiors of mansions was transmitted to the yacht’s interior. J. P. Morgan spent thousands of dollars furnishing his luxury yachts, Corsair, Corsair II and Corsair III as will be discussed in chapter seven. Each piece of China had been fired with the New

York Yacht Club burgee crossed with Morgan’s private signal. Glass and silver place settings by Tiffany were among the expected inventory for his yachts.

If the original objective of the yacht was speed, why was an elaborately furnished yacht interior necessary? It is a paradox that will be discussed in chapter four when evaluating the Galatea and the Coronet; both yachts were designed for trans-Atlantic racing but were fully furnished for a luxurious crossing. A segment of that phenomenon may be explained by Thorstein Veblen. The natural progression of conspicuous consumption leads to conspicuous leisure. As will be discussed in the following chapters, the advancement of the yachting industry propelled the continual need for abundantly expensive interiors on board the yacht. A frantic compulsion accompanied every decision in regards to public image: behold the eye of the observing peer. Wayne

Craven succinctly encapsulates the frenzy of the socially elite Gilded Age cohort in his book Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society:

Society thus raced frenetically from one event to another, to and from venues that included both gala ballrooms and private dining rooms, glittering boxes at the

143

opera and the elegant salons with bejeweled receptions. For all of this, lavish architecture and interiors that displayed enormous wealth and the joy of spending it were expected, if one were to place one’s self and one’s family at the forefront of the impellent herd.153

Just as a Bellevue Avenue address became an elite address – even a password – for high

society,”154 a yacht berthed at the Harbour Court in Newport Bay equaled an elite

address. A fierce dispute existed at all levels as to who should possess and flaunt the

finery of the world, as possessions of mansions and furnishings of a particular quality

was “not simply a function of wealth but was a reflection of castelike social status.”155 If one was an unfortunate outsider, unable to purchase such extravagant “trinkets and baubles,” then one was designated to merely stroll by or look from a distance through field glasses at the display of unguarded, conspicuous wealth. Luxury yachts were among the boastful assets that confirmed one’s social standing in an opulent society.

153 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 215. 154 Schlichting, “A Summer Salon,”14. 155 Grier, Culture & Comfort, 24. 144

Chapter 4: Reflections of Social Status in Gilded Age Yachting Associations, Activities, and Publications

As the Industrial Revolution progressed in both Great Britain and the United

States, vast sums of wealth accumulated among those who were the financially astute newly-made millionaires and the established old-monied families of upper class society.

As noted earlier in Thorstein Veblen’s book Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic

Study of Institutions (1899), leisure and its overt consumption became a commercial industry in the late nineteenth century. Mass production and distribution of goods demanded the development of a market to consume those goods. As incomes swelled, the consumption of leisure increased, and in turn became a way of determining class identity. Yachting historian, John Rousmaniere furthers the Veblen discussion saying that leisure and highly visible consumption are tools “whose sole purpose is to win the world’s esteem” after all, “yachtsmen and yachtswomen have been trying to impress other people; yachting is a gilded pastime of flash and little substance.”1 Class status

largely determined the places Americans chose to visit, neighborhoods they established

themselves in, and the types of leisure activities in which they participated. Upper-class

Americans sought to legitimate their status by engaging in various forms of

1 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986), 5. 145

conspicuous consumption and leisure activities. Yachting became a “rational diversion

of people of leisure.”2

The consumption behavior of “yachting” contributed to class segregation and

legitimized their status by restricting certain areas, activities, and products for their own

use. The process involved excessive consumption of goods for the sole purpose of elaborate display, wide communications coverage of these goods and activities in sporting, society, and specialty magazines, and finally, attempts to privatize their self- assigned spaces. Kay Davis notes:

According to Veblen, wealth and social status must be ‘put in evidence’ in order to be esteemed. Building palatial estates, importing gowns and furnishings, and giving extravagant balls and dinner parties were all ways that upper-class families displayed their wealth. These activities legitimated their status as upper-class Americans to themselves and to other classes.3

The elite society of nineteenth-century America deemed property ownership as a

symbol of financial and social success. Acquisition and prominent display of things became the basis of self-esteem and peer respect. Adoption of traits and goods from

Europe in particular demonstrated that the family had acquired and cultivated an exquisite level of taste. Upper-class families preferred authentic goods from Europe to mass-market reproductions so, imported furniture, gilded interiors, elaborate coaches, and specially made Parisian gowns legitimated wealth and class status. Possession of properties and conspicuous display included the ownership of a luxury private yacht.

2“The Pleasures of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century Magazine; A Popular Quarterly, July 1897, volume 54, issue 3. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text=idx?c=cent;idn0=cent0054-3 (accessed August 19, 2009), 469. 3 Kay Davis, “Class and Leisure at America’s First Resort: Newport, Rhode Island, 1870-1914.” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/davis/newport/home/home.html (accessed July 28, 2009), paragraph 3. 146

One observer and participant noted that ownership of a yacht “has been a diversion of

those known favorably by bankers and ‘favored friendship of the nobility and gentry.’ Of

course like other amusements, it has grown more expensive year by year, and more is the

pity of it.”4 Until the invention of the private airplane and automobiles, yachting was

perhaps the most costly diversion in which people indulged. As the editor of the July

1897 edition of The Century magazine declared, “Until amateur aeronauts shall sail here and there through the upper spaces, ‘horsed upon the sightless couriers of the air,’ those

who know that the greatest spice to physical exercise is and self- will

skim the salty hue or the turquoise lake, with one hand on the and the other within

reach of the main-sheet.”5 Yachting successfully married the exhilaration of the sport

with the social necessity of conspicuous leisure and wealth.

It was a natural progression for auxiliary industries to develop in support of the

luxury yacht phenomenon. David J. Starkey remarks, “The engagement of people with

the sea for purposes of transport, resource extraction, power projection, or recreation

raises a welter of issues that lie within the compass of social history. The most general of

these questions relates to the extent of such involvement in maritime activity.”6 Starkey

labeled communities and peoples that are completely dependent upon the auxiliary

industries of the sea and yachting as “maritime societies.”7

4 Kelley, J. D. Jerrold, U. S. N. “The Social Side of Yachting,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, September 1890, Vol. 81. no.484. http://digtal.library.cornell.edu (accessed August, 19, 2009), 594. 5 “The Pleasures of Yachting,” 469. 6 David J. Starkey, “Social History, Maritime,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, IV, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 16. 7 Ibid. 147

With the intent of justifying the sport and pastime of yachting, an article from the period assures its readers that “the pleasures of yachting” should not be associated with

“idleness and wealth,” but that the “present votaries of outdoor sports [yachting, golf and bicycling], the rank and file of industry, they are the cause of new and vast expansions in the industrial life of the world.”8 Publications, both popular and industrial, various art forms, social and athletic clubs, sporting events, and entertainment revolved around the social reverence of private, luxury yacht ownership. Inspired by European nobility and aristocracy, in particular Great Britain, American yachtsmen adopted the intoxication of financial success and its exorbitant display found in owning a luxury yacht.

The Expense of Yacht Ownership

Prior to the Gilded Age, the schooner yacht was considered a luxury and was originally available only to the rarified and aristocratic world of old money and royalty.

The social intention of this rarified class was to maintain a substantial distance from the middle-class by creating a gap that was financially impossible to bridge unless born into the upper strata of society. The trappings of exclusivity, however, were costly to achieve and maintain.

The extraordinary increase in American and British wealth was enhanced by trans-Atlantic commerce and gave rise

during the present century [19th], and particularly toward its close, to the sport, science and pastime of yachting. It is said that $50,000 a year, as the expense of keeping a fine yacht, is now a common item in the personal accounts of millionaires; and in the race for social eminence and the formation of exclusive coteries, certainly the yacht is an effective measurement of both financial ability and docility

8 “The Pleasures of Yachting,” 468-69. 148

and loyalty to the conventions of fashion.9

However, that might be a low estimate.

An article in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine entitled “The Social Side of

Yachting” (September 1890), addressed the question of how much it cost to finance a

private luxury yacht. The immediate response was that the sum total was usually

indirect and vague. In the beginning of things a yacht is always an expression of its owner’s individuality, a witness to his opportunities” and “you may count this gentleman’s park of masts intershot with steamer’s funnels until your eyes and fingers can no longer reckon, and you will not enumerate the half of it. . . . Here are ripened the luxuries which we all think we deserve as well as our neighbor, and could enjoy so much better. Here is the outward evidence of ease and freedom, of plenty in a world where most of us have to fight so hard for other things than cakes and ale and ginger hot i’ the mouth too.10

After a lengthy discussion concerning the lofty and noble attributes of a luxury yacht

possession, and a rare detailed description of the interiors, the author furthers his

argument of wealthy entitlement by exposing the financial requirements of a luxury

yacht. A vessel that “cruises at home and abroad, and carries a crew of fifty” has a price

tag of “three hundred thousand dollars and the annual expenditure amounts to one

hundred thousand.”11 The author gives detailed expenditures for yacht running costs

during the yachting season of five months using their total footage and the number of

crew members. Based on these parameters, monthly expenditures ranged from $2,500

for a forty to fifty foot yacht to $75,000 to $150,000 for the big steamers that were over

9 Jules L. Stewart, On the Yacht Namouna, Exhibit descriptions of a painting exhibited in the United States section at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. 10 Kelley, “The Social Side of Yachting,” 596, 598. 11 Ibid., 600. 149 one hundred feet in length carrying a crew of thirty to fifty men. In an “isolated instance where a steamer made the voyage around the world, the expense for the five months’ cruise was said to have been something over $50,000” per month.12

Arthur F. Aldridge enumerates the financial outlay of “the millionaires’ sport” in his article “The Costliest of Sports.”13 He writes: “The enormous sums spent yearly in yachting – why a first rate steam yacht costs as much as a hundred thousand dollars in a season, and a cup challenger half a million or more.”14 Throughout his article, all costs of building a yacht and making her ready for sail are tallied. Captain and mates, boatswains and quartermasters’ salaries are included with the salaries for cooks, stewards, and a full larder of food for the crew members. There is little mention of the opulent yacht interiors or the hallmarks required for a first-class sail or cruise for owner and his guests. Aldridge focuses on the expense of building, operating and maintaining a yacht and proclaims that the required funding has “made the sport the most costly in the world.”15

In Outing magazine, Robert Dillon offered several examples regarding the extravagant financial obligations of yacht ownership. According to Dillon, the expense of Commodore Stevens’16 yacht Maria, considered a giant among her sister ships in

12 Ibid., 602. 13 Arthur F. Aldridge, “The Costliest of Sports,” Munsey’s Magazine July, 1901, 505-516. 14 Ibid., 505. 15 Ibid., 506, 507. 16 Robert Dillon, “What Yachting Costs.” The Outing Club. Outing Magazine, March 1889, vol. XIII, No. 6. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_13/outXIII06 (accessed August 3, 2007), 556. John Cox Stevens was the creator of the New York Yacht Club in1844, and was its first Commodore. His personal wealth came from the first trans-Hudson steam service initiated by his father, 1750s. They eventually developed the first ferry service between New York City and Philadelphia. John Cox Stevens was the financier for the family business and they eventually produced iron clad ships that was a highly profitable ferry-boat line up the Hudson River to Albany. His influence on the creation of the New York 150

1844, would have been rated as “average” in comparison to the luxury yachts of 1889.

Considering here interior appointments, they were “very commonplace and inexpensive as compared with the palatial luxuriance of the interior fittings of any of the large yachts now afloat [1889]. To spend $20,000 at that time in building and equipping a yacht was considered extraordinary, if not a financially impossibility, for any man except

Commodore Stevens, who, as the owner of nearly all of Hoboken and Weehawken, was estimated to be about the wealthiest man in America.”17 The expense of yachts reflected the steady increase in the wealth of the country. The two hundred thousand dollar outlay for William K. Vanderbilt’s Alva in 1892 would have purchased the entire of yachts that were registered with the New York Yacht Club in 1889. According to Dillon, the one hundred eighty-four yachts enrolled at the club in 1889 represented “an outlay of more than $3,500,000” to “build, rig, and furnish.”18 After the initial investment, large sums were required for maintenance and the running of the yacht. Much like a , it is “not so much the buying as the keeping that makes the money go.”19

The largest cost and considered “very heavy” was the payment to the crew members.

Estimated to be in the millions of dollars, crew numbers were anywhere from 100 on the

Alva to 6 on the smaller cabin-yachts. In the spring of 1889, the appraised number of registered yachts within the United States was at “3,333 with an employment of 45,289 men, to whom wages amounting to $2,264,450 are paid monthly, or the enormous sum of

Yacht Club and the development of American yachting as a sport and a luxury are discussed in further detail later in the chapter. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 151

$13,586,700 for a season of six months.”20 The cost of uniforms for the yacht’s crew which was the owners’ responsibility, was estimated at $540.00.21 Each member of a

crew required “one suit of blue serge and three of white duck, besides sweaters and caps

on which are the name of the yacht, , rubbers, an various other things.”22

In addition to uniforms, salaries and wages paid to crew and captain, constant

repair of the hull and renewal of rigging, sails, repainting, coal and dry dock overhauls

catapulted the expense of yacht maintenance into the hundreds of thousands of dollars

each year. 23 For instance, to keep the yacht in proper trim, three to four “suits” of sails

may be required throughout the season. Sails would stretch out of shape or may be

poorly cut and therefore discarded, requiring a second set that must be readily available.

The cost of the is “about a thousand dollars, and a whole suit five times as

much. Extra , , club , and working topsails are necessary, and there

are always spare balloon topsails and spinnakers ready in case of an accident.”24

Accidents could include broken masts and gaffs, holes in the hull, and collisions with other vessels. One estimate considered “wild” and “absurd,” (however, given who the owner was may not be that entirely ridiculous) approximated the daily cost of Jay

Gould’s Atalanta at near $3,000 per day.25 These expenses were required to create and

20 Ibid., 557. 21 Kelley, “The Social Side of Yachting,” 603. 22Aldridge, 508. 23 A ship is put into dry dock in order to scour the underbody of “spars,” burnishing and painting, sometimes requiring two to three coats, especially if the yacht is white. The purpose is for cleaning and creating an underbody that will glide through the water. Dry-docking was necessary at least once a year and more if the yacht was used for racing. The usual fee was approximately $300.00 per day plus wages for workers and other charges. A dry-dock project had an average stay of five days, and could amount to several thousand dollars upon completion. 24 Aldridge, “The Costliest of Sports,” 509. 25 Dillon, “What Yachting Costs,” 557. 152

maintain an environment for entertainment and stocking the steward’s pantry. The ritual

of extravagant entertainment preformed in private parlors and ballrooms was transferred

to the main saloons and aft-decks of luxury yachts. Considered an essential department for societal standings,

one yacht owners may spend $15,000 a year entertaining great numbers of guests at his table, while another man, with the same yacht may find one-third of that amount ample for the same purpose; but the sum of money put into circulation for ship stores and table furnishings may safely be put down as double the sum per month paid to the crew and officers in wages, or $1,500,000 for the yachting season of six months of the fleet of the New York Yacht Club alone. Thus the total amount of money put in circulation in one season by the yacht owners of this one club will not fall short of $3,500,000.26

As Aldridge comments in regards to yacht expenses, “the chief of these is the

entertaining, a cost of which cannot be estimated with precision,”27 as it is a necessary

and lavish affair to finance. Clearly the largest expenditure of the luxury yacht owner

could easily be entertainment of guests.

Investments into interior appointments and furnishings, in particular those of

period reconstructions in the main saloon, merely added to the financial obligations of a

yacht owner. The only social classes that had the financial resources required to invest and maintain a luxury yacht were those of nobility or the extremely wealthy, especially during the initial stages of the sport of luxury yachting. As J. D. J. Kelley concludes in his article, “if to this be added what it costs for the cabin outfit, without the delusion that

26 Ibid. 27 Aldridge, “The Costliness of Sports,” 509. 153

you are saving so much on your shore expenses — for in the long-run you will never do

— it will be seen that it costs a pretty penny for the sport.”28

The captain and crew expenses were part of the obligatory finances of running a

yacht. Their purpose was to maintain the familiar surroundings of a lavish environment

and ease of passage for the owner and guests on board. It was crucial to maintain

services equal to those found in the mansion or summer “cottage.” The crew enjoyed

little rest. The Quartermaster of the American steam yacht Osage sums up the possible

experience of crew with the owner and guests concerning a cruise to the West Indies in

1888. He remarks that the cruise itself was tame, but not monotonous as far as crewing

the passengers. “Those dam idle rich demanded you be on your toes, at their service,

every minute of the 24 hours. They did not consider the crew was entitles to any time to

themselves for rest, or meals. It was just a case of “go,” whenever they got some dame fool notion in their empty heads.”29 It was not different for their counterparts, servants

and livery, who were responsible for the same tasks in their many houses and “cottages”

on land. Transference of expected service from house to yacht occurred in much the

same manner that main saloon in the yacht reflected the ambience of the parlor.

The Development of Yacht Clubs

Membership to social clubs was an integral part of the Victorian and Gilded Age

social agenda. Certain club memberships carried with them high , social

recognition and respectability. Membership in New York City clubs such as the posh

Union Club, 1836, and the Metropolitan, 1891, implied exclusivity and for potential

28 Kelley, “The Social Side of Yachting,” 603. 29 John Bertonccini, “A Seaman’s Encounter with the ‘Dam Idle Rich’ ” Mains’L Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History 40 (Summer/Fall 2004), 9. 154

members, the “only persuasive argument for entrée was the size of their bank account.”30

Founded by wealthy citizens, they shared common interests, common goals, and common wealth. Elitism and class segregation was a desirable trait that set high society “as something distinct.”31 Membership for some was impenetrable or had a prolonged

waiting period of acceptance and scrutiny of worthiness. An 1890 Harper’s Weekly

article sarcastically described the social clubs in America as “the western millionaire,

who is surcharging the social atmosphere with the ozone of extravagance.”32

In addition to exclusive social clubs, sporting clubs also formed for the purpose of supporting sports minded upper classes as they engaged in their favorite pastime.

Following the precedence “diligently copied from their London counterparts,”33 the New

York Athletic Club, 1868, the Riding Club, 1873, and the New York Yacht Club, 1844,

for example, created an environment that perpetuated the sport and enhanced the pursuit

of excellence. Regatta balls, the social and leisure aspects of yachting, were among the

social calendar events of a yacht club.

Yacht clubs are specifically related to sailing and yachting with a detailed racing

schedule and to “serve the needs of the yachtsmen. The typical club provided a safe

anchorage, a network of mutual aid in emergencies, instruction, technical information,

management of races, and special flags that exempted yachts from paying port fees

30 Greg King, The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York: A Season of Splendor (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 91. 31 Ibid., 5. 32 Henry L. Nelson, “Some New York Yacht Clubs,” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, March 15, 1890. http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp? (accessed October 5, 2009), paragraph 1. 33 King, The Court of Mrs. Astor, 91. 155

charged to commercial vessels.”34 Among the special flags that are permitted to on a

member’s yacht is the burgee, the club’s unique flag. Usually triangular in shape, when

hoisted, it identifies the yacht and its owners as members of a specific yacht club. The

burgee serves as a status symbol and is often displayed in various locations of high

visibility. Although its usual post is at the top of the main mast while underway or at

, the club’s burgee was often embroidered or appliquéd on yachting apparel as well

as on pillows for the yachts saloon and aft deck. When viewed they clearly announced

membership status.35 J. Pierpont Morgan designed the Corsair china with the

“distinctive, stylish mark” of the New York Yacht Club’s burgee and his private signal crossed on every piece.36 When dining on board Corsair guests had no choice but to

recognize the burgee symbol on their dinnerware and the overt statement of the owner as to his membership and rank of Commodore within the New York Yacht Club.

The close affiliation with the sea connected yacht clubs to the navy. Dress codes

for positions on board yachts closely followed naval uniforms, specifically the captain

and the crew. Yacht owners were obliged to wear “uniforms” as prescribed by the yacht

clubs code of dress. One other connection existed between the navy and a yacht club and

that was the terminology of various posts among its membership. A yacht club can be

34 John Rousmaniere, “Yachting and Pleasure Sailing,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History IV, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 447-448. 35 Mrs. Brown’s yachting dress in her trousseau, stored at the Newport County Historical Society, has the New York Yacht Club burgee and the signal of her private yacht embroidered on the front bodice of her gown. John Redfern, a tailor in mid-19th century London, designed a line of gowns with the New York Yacht Club burgee incorporated throughout the skirts, circa 1880s, after he moved to New York City. Pillows with the New York City burgee appliquéd or embroidered on them are seen in several photos and illustrations: Arthur Curtis James, Aloha, G. W. C. Drexel, Alcedo, and Eugene Tompkin, Idalia. This form of textile expression of identity dates back to heraldry. 36 John Rousmaniere, Club at Sea (New York: New York Yacht Club, n.d.), 12. The Morgan family donated 1,169 pieces of Corsair china to the New York Yacht Club in 1944. Pieces of his crystal with the burgee/signal design etched on them and other pieces of the china are stored at the Morgan Library in New York City. Bills of sale are also available at that location. 156

termed a “Squadron,” the CEO and chairman of the club, mirroring military navies, is

referred to as the “Commodore” with other ranks titled “Vice Commodore,” “Rear

Commodore” and “Flag Officer.”37 Each position had specific duties and responsibilities

to assure a “smooth sailing” club.

The

Just as American homes, interiors and social customs mirrored European

traditions and aristocracy, so too the American club societies emulated the preexisting

clubs of Europe. As previously noted, American social and sports clubs took their

inspiration specifically from London clubs. In light of this relationship, the Royal Yacht

Squadron serves this “mentoring” function for the New York Yacht Club.

The first organized yacht club in the British Isles was the Water Club of the

Harbour of Cork, located in Ireland and established in 1720. With rules and regulations

of sailing in hand, they also organized dinners and fortnightly sails that coincided with

the spring tides. 38 Entertainment costs were shared among the members and “naval

discipline was the order of the day and members were made well aware of it.” 39 The success of the Irish yacht club inspired the charter of two of England’s earliest yacht clubs. The Cumberland Fleet, now named the Royal Thames Yacht Club, 1775, and The

Yacht Club, now the Royal Yacht Squadron, 1815.40 Of the two, the Royal Yacht

Squadron has significant ties to American yachting, yacht clubs, and racing.

37 Rousmaniere, “Yachting and Pleasure Sailing,” 447. 38 Maldwin Drummond, Salt-water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1979), 39. 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid., 41. 157

Considered “the most influential as well as the oldest yacht club in continuous existence”41 the Royal Yacht Squadron was founded at the Thatched House Tavern in St.

James’s, London, and the harbor town of , , England, soon became its summer headquarters.42 Originally named The Yacht Club, its membership included

various ranks of aristocracy and nobility and as John Rousemaniere comments this

“should indicate what kind of club they had in mind,”43 and that it was for “gentlemen

interested in salt-water yachting.”44 The quiet semi-annual dinners and regatta schedule

was abruptly altered when the Prince Regent, an avid yachtsman, requested membership.

Image and expenses were significantly increased, and when The Prince Regent became

King George IV in 1820, the Yacht Club was permitted to add the prefix “Royal” and

changed its name to the Royal Yacht Squadron. It set a new precedent for all English

clubs and “elevated yachting above almost all other interests.”45

The Squadron’s original purpose was to sponsor activities that promoted a sense

of community among its membership. Mock-naval reviews, processions, balls, and cross-Channel cruises were wrapped in the mantle of an elaborate style of life. Individual

races and the introduction of Cup challenges were interspersed with the dazzle of

yachting and entertainment accoutrements of the social scene. It was an assemblage of

people who enjoyed each other’s company and were having great fun, “but it was fun on

a small scale.”46 It was the unassuming invitation sent by Prince Consort Albert in 1850

41Rousmaniere, “Yachting and Pleasure Sailing,” 448. 42Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 51. 43Ibid. 44 “The RYS & Yachting” under History-RYS & Yachting. http://www.rys.org.uk/index.php? (accessed January 26, 2010), paragraph 1. 45 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 53. 46 Ibid., 49. 158

for an international competition of schooner racing in conjunction with the Great

Exhibition celebration that changed the course of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

Unbeknownst to any of the participants, the yachting world would become the arena for

fierce international competitions, that soon altered expected yachting skills, yacht design,

and yachting rules. The new competition required an opulent lifestyle that non-royals

had never been witnessed. The One-Hundred Guinea Cup, later to become the America’s

Cup, altered the focus and operations of every yachtsman and yacht club, regardless of

geographic location. Across- the-pond, the term “Royal” caught the attention of every

yachtsman of the Gilded Age who aspired to simulate the elite engaged in European

lifestyle.

The New York Yacht Club

Several events fostered the rise of yacht clubs in America, but three were significant. The first was that society clubs in general and specifically sports clubs became a necessary extension of social identity and an important aspect of social-status seeking for individuals, both male and female. Conspicuous membership in clubs that promoted prestige and elitism was sought out by society’s crème de la crème.

Membership was not limited to one club, however, but membership in several clubs of exceptional repute spoke highly of an individual’s status within the society. For instance,

the New York Yacht Club, at its inception a small band of friends of chiefly Knickerbocker stock with the income and leisure needed for this princely sport, decreed under expansion certain social criteria . . . the conduct of members and would-be members was perhaps more closely scrutinized

159

than their pedigrees.47

The second event that advanced the development of yacht clubs in America was

the successful establishment of several English yacht clubs, the Royal Yacht Squadron

being the primary club that inspired wealthy Americans to mimic their good fortune.

Conceived in 1815 and promoted to “royal” status in 1820, the Squadron stood out to the

American yachtsmen as the ultimate achievement in prestigious club association.

Although yachting in New York City was a “relatively new and extremely popular

spectator sport”48 during the , American yachtsmen had ambitious intentions of

creating an exclusive yacht club that equaled the precedence of English yacht clubs.

The enticement of this new sport, yachting, was a perfect expression of the third

event: an unprecedented rise in wealth. It was “the industrial revolution and a growing

empire [that] spawned a whole new level of wealth.”49 The combination of wealth,

increased leisure time, financial security, a desire for status, and a fierce spirit of

competitiveness ignited the growth of yachting in America.50 Although Americans borrowed from the English yachting saw parallel growth in both the United States and

Great Britain. The Golden Age of annual regattas on the Isle of Wight at Cowes is acknowledged as 1882-191951 while the “period from 1885 to 1903 was a golden era for

47 Dixon Wecter, The Saga of American Society: A Record of Asocial Aspiration, 1607-1937 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970), 452. 48 Melissa H. Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994 (Lyme, CT: Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc., 1994), 11. 49 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 49. 50 Ibid., 59 51 “Overview” under Overview: The Royal Yacht Squadron. http://www/rys.org.uk/da/11662 (accessed May 2, 2009), paragraph 6. See also, David Couling, Solent Yachting Scene: In Bygone Years 1890-1938. London: Stanford Maritime, 1984. 160

U.S. yachting.”52 Both countries experienced the Industrial Revolution and therefore saw an increase in conspicuous consumption and leisure time.

Yacht clubs throughout the Eastern seaboard and the Great Lakes in the U.S. began to organize during the early nineteenth century. The first yacht club in America was the Boston Yacht Club, established in 1834 followed by several others that also formed but failed.53 Wealthy financiers and businessmen congregated in New York City so it became the ideal location for a successful yacht club. As other wealthy New

Yorkers increased the ranks of American yachting it followed suit that an exclusive club of elite yachtsmen would segregate the common from the genteel yachtsman. Social class distinction was one of the motivating factors behind the inception of the New York

Yacht Club. The incorporation of the New York Yacht Club affected yachtsmen throughout America. Growth of yacht clubs fed both the desire for the sport and the need for social class identity. Wherever there were wealthy citizens with yachts there was a yacht club to support class distinction. “Instead of the one yacht club of 1844, there were on May 1, 1888, 101 incorporated yacht clubs in America. Of the yachting associations not yet advanced to the dignity of incorporated bodies, there are doubtless from two to three times as many more.”54

Not to be out-witted by Great Britain’s Royal Yacht Squadron, Mr. John Cox

Stevens, a wealthy steam ship and railway lines magnate, along with eight of his yachting friends formed the New York Yacht Club, July 30, 1844 onboard his fifty-one foot yacht

52 Ed Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 127. 53 Rousmaniere, “Yachting and Pleasure Sailing,” 448. 54 Dillon, “What Yachting Costs,” 556. 161

the Gimcrack.55 It was Mr. Stevens’ vision and realization “that the sport of yachting

needed organization . . . [he won his friends] over to his opinion that the time was ripe for

an American yacht club.”56 Incorporating naval terminology from the Squadron, the New

York Yacht Club named officers using the same titles and structure. For the first six

years, the club’s agenda included a few races that were “confined to matches for a modest

stake or wager and these were rare.”57 The primary motive for club membership was exclusivity and occasional social events. It was a rich man’s yachting club, formed to accommodate the desire to socialize only within the same social class. As Ed Holm notes,

“From the beginning the New York Yacht Club was conspicuous for the prestige of its

membership, [they became] the most aristocratic and exclusive aquatic fraternity in

America.” 58

The notoriety of the club, a reflection of their exclusivity, preceded their affairs.

The first regatta sponsored by the New York Yacht Club was sailed on the Hudson River

with the clubhouse as a backdrop, July 17, 1845, two days after their initial meeting,59

“they began a tradition that lasted: the club’s Annual Regatta.”60 Billed as a “trial of

speed” it was an event “so unique that according to the newspapers of that time a crowd

55 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 60. Charter members of the New York Yacht Club and their yachts were Hamilton Wilkes, Spray, William Edgar, Cygnet, John C. Jay, La Coquille, George L. Schuyler, Dream, James M. Waterbury, Minna, Louis A. Depau, Mist, James Rogers, Ida, and George B. Rollins, Petrel. 56 A. J. Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” Outing Magazine, May 1901, Volume 38. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_38 (accessed August 3, 2007), 12. 57 Ibid. 58 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 5, 7. 59 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 14. 60 Lindsay Shuckhart, “New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta: 154th Annual Regatta—How we got Here from There.” http://nyyc.org/history/article_25, n.d. (accessed November 4, 2009). 162

of many thousands flocked to the Elysian Fields to see the start.”61 From this small

beginning “the growth of the glorious pastime has since been concurrent with the

progress and prosperity of the Cup.”62 Yachting and the surrounding aura and gala

events were “a landmark of rare historic interest to yachtsmen . . . it was the cradle of a

sturdy infant sport destined to grow to gigantic dimensions.”63

A. J. Kenealy comments on the social aspects of the yachting season. It “opens

upon Decoration Day [Memorial Day], and the regattas run well into June”64

complimented by the many spectator yachts and balls throughout the season. Through the many regattas, gala events and posh membership, the New York Yacht Club established itself as the premier club in the United States. In addition, the regattas were strictly governed and that

for most of a century the rules and usages of American racing have been handed down from a seven-story limestone palace in , headquarters of the New York Yacht Club.65 Here the country’s oldest yacht establishment sets handicap ratings and sponsors scores of races – including the America’s Cup.66

They separated themselves from the rest of the clubs in the United States and went

further to extend the rigors of the sport. The reflection of Captain R. F. Coffin in 1886

61 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 15. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid.,12. 64 Kelley, “The Social Side of Yachting,” 595. 65 Yachting and racing rules are part of the manuals that yacht clubs issue for their membership and all are to abide by them. As the sport gained momentum, rules changed to equalize the competition and guarantee safety. Throughout the history of racing, specifically the America’s Cup, international committees would meet to grieve yachtsmen behavior during races and change the regulations of racing. An article in The New York Times, December 26, 1897 is a good example of the process. Titled, “Uniform Yachting Rules; Englishmen Meet an American Committee and Talk the Matter Over” was specifically called after the Americans did not agree with the rules concerning a race with the Valkyrie. 66 A. B. C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts (Alexandria, VA: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980), 148. 163

was that “the history of the New York Yacht Club is to a great extent the history of

American yachting, for down to the year 1885 no other club ever attempted anything

more than mere local effort.”67 Most yacht clubs confined their prominence to their

geographic locale. Sunday afternoon regattas on the bay or lake or a pleasure jaunt were convenient and demanded very little from the membership. In a five-part article for

Outing magazine, (June 1886-October 1886) titled “The History of American Yachting,”

Captain Coffin concedes that the plethora of “yachting events have been too numerous to mention them in detail.”68 The number of yachting events supports the explosion in the

sport and perhaps how the sport in turn supported the desire for elite society to be highly

visible. Initially, the “founders and early members loved the sport for enjoyment and

pleasure it yielded. There was no society end to the yachting of youthful times,”69 but

The New York Yacht Club eventually chose to engage in a different venue. While still engaged in high society matters and a superior membership roster they steered the club towards the creation of world-class yachtsmen who were interested in racing as much or more than social events.

The invitation from the Prince Regent of 1850, to “any foreign yacht” to come race at Cowes in celebration of the Great Exhibition, 1851, caught the imagination and the competitive spirit of John Cox Stevens. Already noted as the “prime mover in organizing the New York Yacht Club,”70 he directed the incident that would propel the

67Captain R. F. Coffin, “The History of American Yachting, From 1859 to 1870,” Outing, July 1886, Vol. VIII, No. 4. http://www.aafla.org/SporytsLibrary/Outing/Volume_08/outVIII04 (accessed August 3, 2007), 303. 68 Ibid., 306. 69 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 15. 70 Wecter, The Saga of American Society, 451. 164

New York Yacht Club into a more competitive and prestigious club. In the Racing

Yachts, written by A. B. C. Whipple, John Cox Stevens is compared to royalty when the author says, “like Charles II before him and so many yachtsmen to follow, he progressed to a bigger vessel.”71 In this case the bigger vessel was the acceptance of the race

challenge for which “John Stevens, Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, his

brother and four of their friends purchased a schooner yacht that was under construction

early in 1851 in the yard of William H. Brown of New York designed by Georg Steers.”72

The schooner yacht, America, and the six-member New York syndicate placed into motion a competition that would result in a stunning win and elevation of the club to international notoriety. This event was the America’s Cup. Before the America’s Cup win, the New York Yacht Club was a rich man’s club “presided over by gentlemen of the highest position, social and public,”73 just like the Union Club, the Century Club, the

Union League, the Knickerbocker and the Manhattan to name but a few.74 After the

addition of the Cup to the club’s trophy case, it was still as rich man’s club, but it was

elevated to international recognition and therefore European validation with a healthy

respect for American skill and yacht design.

The unique yacht design and sail construction were so innovative that “it is certain that the keen international rivalry for the possession of the Cup has been of boundless benefit to yachting. The schooner America opened the eyes of the English, and

71 Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 34. 72 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to Present (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 117-118. 73 Personal, Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, November 17, 1877. http://app.harpweek..com/viewarticletext.asp? (accessed July 6, 2009), paragraph 1. 74 Henry L. Nelson, “Some New York Clubs,” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, March 15, 1890, clubs are listed and discussed throughout the article. http://app.harpweek..com/viewarticletext.asp? (accessed October 5, 2009). 165

wrought a revolution in hulls and the of racing yachts.”75 What began as a

nonchalant wager on the part of Great Britain changed the course of yacht design and competition, led by the American win. The win resonated with yacht designers, shipwrights, boat yards, and most importantly the wealthy members and owners who financed the yachting craze. In his closing remarks, A. J. Kenealy concluded that “the growth of the sport has been phenomenal in the last decades. Society has taken up the

pastime. The girls love it. The squadron cruise of the New York Yacht Club is one of

the great events of the season. Few fashionable people care to miss the race for the Astor

cups. Fewer the international contests.”76 Yachting, both racing and cruising was at the pinnacle of the social activities pyramid.

Following the America’s Cup win, international rivalry spawned numerous challenges and races. The Great Ocean Race, a trans-Atlantic race, of 1866 between the

James Gordon Bennett Jr.’s Henrietta, ’s , and Pierre

Lorillard’s Vesta, each extremely wealthy challengers, caused international news coverage and “fascinated all who heard of it,”77 with day-by-day stories covered in

Bennett’s New York Herald. Races and challenges continued through the golden age of

yachting and, as will be discussed in Chapter Six, both the Coronet and the Galatea were

involved in highly publicized international racing events.

The Club House

The buildings that housed the New York Yacht Club have a direct connection to

its Commodores. The first clubhouse was a small Gothic building located in Elysian

75 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 23. 76 Ibid., 24. 77 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 75. 166

Fields near Hoboken, New . “Modest and unpretentious,” complete with

gingerbread trim, it was donated by its former owner, Commodore John Cox Stevens and

held its first meeting July 15, 1845.78 In Kenealy’s recount of the Club’s history he notes that in the infant years of the Club, the house in the Elysian Fields saw many exciting finishes from its porch and “in the model room the members met, and smoked, and spun rare yarns. There was no club uniform, no pipe clay and no red tape.”79 Changes in

societal etiquette dictates and an increase in membership forced the Club to seek several

new residences until the membership had swelled to the point that it was standing room

only at meetings. In desperate need of a new location and to the “ and utter

astonishment of everyone, Commodore J. Pierpont Morgan announced his willingness to

buy the land himself and give it to the Club.”80 The new club house was a marvel to all that entered and witnessed it from the street.

The present magnificent house in which the Club begins its second century is on West Forty-fourth street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. It is in startling contrast to the first club house, which was demolished last year. The land on which the present building stands was a gift to the Club from ex-Commodore J. Pierpont Morgan. The members subscribed liberally to the building fund and the result is a mansion in every way worthy the Club. In the style of the modern Renaissance of the French school it is simple, substantial and handsome. The employment of Indiana limestone with artistic carving gives a massive appearance to the exterior. The three windows in the second story modelled after the of Spanish , afford a requisite nautical flavor. The interior is superb in every way, combining all the luxuries and conveniences of the sybarite age. Two apartments

78 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 12-13. 79 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 18. 80 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 50. 167

are striking, the model room and the grill room.81

Although the Grille Room is an exquisite replication of an old wooden ship

‘tween decks interior with “beams and knees,” the model room holds an “unparalleled

collection which consists of more than 1,200 standing and half models.”82 Required by

members to measure the yacht for handicapping purposes, the half models illustrate a

definitive historical account of yacht hull design. Introduced in America in the 1750s, the half-hull models were either the left or the right half of the ship’s hull.83 Constructed by

the ship designer they served as the primary source of measurements because the yachts

were designed on paper. In order to participate in a race, a member was obliged to

submit a “correct half model” to the Model Committee that was then retained in the

permanent collection. The standing yacht models are “arranged in chronological order so

one can walk through the room and witness the living history of yacht design in

America.”84 The social significance of having a half hull model or a full model is

connected to both leisure and status.85 Owning a yacht that met the minimum standards

of the prestigious New York Yacht Club signified conspicuous leisure on the part of the

owner. Yachting expressed independence from time at the office. The yacht model

displayed in the clubhouse equated with the members ranking within the club. Their

status was literally on display.

81 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 19. 82 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 53. 83 Dana M. Wegner, “Ship Models,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 604. 84 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 52. 85 The half hull model or half model is a carved wooden model of one side of the hull of the yacht or ship with little or no deck details, masts, or rigging. They were originally used to design a ship and by the Gilded Age were used an intermediate stage between the ship’s original plan and the completed boat. The full model was a miniature of model of the full yacht that included all masts, rigging, and deck details. 168

Kenealy furthers the description of the model room in noting that the arrangement is in chronological order and allows for “an intelligent study of yacht evolution.”86

Today the yacht models serve as an extant collection that is unequalled while being a

display of beauty, but in the days of required submittal, the half model represented

implied social status and admittance into the most prestigious yacht club in America.

Yacht Club Yearbooks and Rosters

Each year, the Club Yearbook was published for the purpose of informing the

membership of the rules and regulations of the upcoming season. The content of the

yearbooks included the history and purpose of the club, the club’s constitution and

bylaws, officers, uniform guidelines, member club burgees, flag protocol, regatta

schedules, ceremonies and social events, and club traditions. Throughout the years the

content changed as the clientele of the yacht club increased and social class became the

edict for membership. For instance, the title page of the 1850 edition reads, “RULES

AND REGULATIONS for THE GOVERNMENT of the NEW-YORK YACHT CLUB”

and the “List of Yachts” page has categories for the name of the yacht, the custom house

tonnage, the rig (type of yacht) and the owners’ names.87 The title page of the 1889

edition demonstrates the shift in social culture associated with the New York Yacht Club

membership. It reads, “Lithographs of Pennants and Private Signals, List of Yachts,

Constitution, By-Laws, Sailing Regulations, & C. of the New York Yacht Club.”

Mention of private signals and list of yachts proceeding the club rules and regulations

clearly places the membership before the club. Content of this yearbook includes “Racing

86 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 20. 87 New York Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club Annual Yearbook, 1850 (New York: Van Norden & Amerman, Printers, 1850), title page, 4. 169

Numbers, International Code Signal Letters, Yacht Name, Owners; Name, Home Port,

Measurements for Time Allowance, Tonnage N. Y. Y. C. Rule, Tonnage Custom House,

Lengths Overall, and at Water Line, Breadth of Beam, Depth of Hold, Draught of Water,

Center-board or .”88 In addition to the constitution and the by-laws, chapters concerning yacht etiquette, uniform and dress, racing rules, and yachting routines inform members of the rules of yachting if their yacht flies the club burgee. Pages of colored pennants and private signals with the name of member and yacht club complete the book.

At first glance, the measurements appear to be associated with the racing requirements.

On second consideration, however, these measurements represent the size of the yacht that is equated to the wealth and social standing of the owner. The measurements boast for the owner and allow for a “silent gloat.” Although the purpose of the yearbook was a straightforward distribution of information to the members, it carried within its bindings, an unintentional reference to status. In addition to club information, a roster of all the

members, listed alphabetically with residence and date of admission, the name of their

yacht(s), stating the overall length, and type, and the name of yacht designer were

enclosed in the yearbook. To be included in the membership register was in and of itself

a statement of elevated social standing. The membership roll coupled with yacht(s)

ownership, and home addresses automatically disclosed which members occupied the

preeminent position of the most, the biggest and the best. Social competition for

supremacy was fierce and each year, members jostled for a higher position by way of

increased yacht size or number in a private fleet. Yacht club yearbooks continue to

88 New York Yacht Club Annual Yearbook, 1899 (New York: Korff Bros. Co.,1899), title page, 6. 170

publish the aforementioned information and the membership roster is still associated with

status.

Auxiliary Industries, Businesses, and Social Events

There are a multitude of industries and businesses that rely on the sea for their

livelihood and revenue. Yachting and the sport of created even more,

including social events. Many auxiliary industries, businesses and social events

accompanied the sport of yachting. In addition to the supporting maritime businesses,

artistic expressions of various kinds grew into their own “industries.” These were artists who produced scrimshaw, paintings, illustrations and poster art, all of which incorporated maritime themes.

Regatta Balls

The social events affiliated with the annual regatta were an important premium for the clubs’ membership profile. Initiated by the British customs practiced in Cowes, exclusive parties, balls and dinners, both on shore and on board, for members and invited guests preformed the function of class separation by creating social events to which only members were invited.

In addition they introduced a very important society members, the wives of club members, who were prohibited from the membership rosters because they were women.

Delegated to “the Strangers Room” at the New York Yacht clubhouse and similar clubs, the female socialites could demonstrate their prowess at other yacht club events such as the balls. Sponsored by the yacht club, the wives and daughters of club members paid

“attention to comestibles a high priority for New York Yacht club regattas [that were]

171

famous for their feasts both visible and tangible” 89 and to the whole host of other entertainment venues associated with the regatta and club.

Great care was taken to protect the social status of the family and the exclusivity of the club. On shore, one of the responsibilities for a wife was to take charge of entertainment details. When in residence on a yacht her responsibility for entertainment extended to the yacht as well

. . . and, so that all may see them, the Commodore invites the yachtsmen not competing, and their guests, to go over the outside course. When the last event has been decided, a night reception is given on the flag-ship to the squadron, and here at its full flood surges the social life of the cruise. It is everything that such an affair is on shore, multiplied and intensified by the inherent possibilities of the scene.90

It follows that if such an affair on board reflects that on shore, that the interiors of the yacht must be equivalent to that of the house parlor, if it is to be a successful night of

entertaining. Social events and “nights of rendezvous” 91 that surrounded the yachting

season in New York, Newport, and Cowes were a significant portion of the social

calendar. Between the close of the New York Yacht Club cruise and the date of the final

races, in late summer, trial races for the American champion to defend the America’s Cup

were held,92 therefore extending the social season of the yacht club.

89 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1904, 31. 90 Kelley, “The Social Side of Yachting,” 607. 91 Kelley, “The Social Side of Yachting,” 604. 92 George A. Stewart, “International Yachting in 1893,” The North American Review, July 1893. http://digital.library.cornel.edu (accessed August 19, 2009), 94. 172

Yacht Racing

Competition to be the best, the fastest and the grandest is a natural development

of the sport of racing, whether horses, cars, or yachts. The thrill of executing high

speeds while continually surrounded by danger is only one reason that yacht racing

became a posh sport of the Gilded Age. A wealthy man’s sport frequently included large

wagers, as “there was nearly as much betting among yacht owners as among horse

owners.”93 In the realm of yachts, racing created three distinct sectors; yacht cruising,

racing, and the spectators.

The racing yacht set the standards and fashions for the luxury cruising yacht. The innovations of the racing yacht-design were soon detected in the cruising yacht-design.

Both were a result of a change in the racing rules. 94 Although racing yachts began as

luxury yachts, as will be discussed in Chapter Six, the lavish interiors became too

burdensome for the desired speeds and maneuverability. Yacht racing for Americans was

a novel idea before the middle of the nineteenth century but was enthusiastically

embraced in the Gilded Age.

Social class distinctions were emphasized when racing yachts separated the

sportsman from the ever-present spectators who were just as much a part of the event as

the racing yachts. Photographs, specifically at , the New York harbor, and

Newport, along with illustrations and newspaper inserts document how “Stylish

93 Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 37. 94 Howard I. Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: Bonanza Books, 1985), 305. 173

spectators would secure a place on the afterdeck of a steam yacht, while those less well-

off enthusiasts watched from the public excursion steamers, if they could get a ticket.”95

Cowes Week

Precedence for great seamanship and gentlemanly sportsmanship in the British yachting world was initiated by King George IV, a keen sailor, in 1821. Under his “royal sponsorship, Cowes, yachting and fashion quickly came to be mentioned in one breath.”96

In 1826, the Royal Yacht Squadron established the first three-day regatta, which

developed into the Cowes Regatta accompanied with a grand fireworks display and the

Regatta Ball.97 Cowes became the world headquarters for yachting society.

Located on the Isle of Wight, Cowes, originally a fishing village, had a tradition of fine ship building that dates from . When the yacht building industry came about, the craftsmen of Cowes channeled their skills into producing yachts. The natural harbour at the mouth of the Median River and the body of water between England and the

Isle of Wight, called , created an ideal location for sailing.98 With the approval of the royal family, “The regatta week held annually in August at Cowes was – and to a muted extent still is – a glittering sea occasion. Royalty, more especially in the days of

Victoria, Edward VII and George V, made a point of attending aboard the royal yacht

Victoria and Albert”99 and became the longest-running organized regatta in the world.

95 Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 61. 96 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 53. 97 “History-Cowes Week” under Royal Yacht Squadron Archive, Information Leaflet No 8 – The First Cowes Week. http://www.rys.org.uk/index.php?option=com (accessed January 26, 2010), 1-2. 98 “Cowes” under Cowes on the Isle of Wight. http://iwight.com/just_visiting/towns/cowes.asp (accessed January 26, 2010), 1. 99 Philip McCutchan, Great Yachts (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979), 87. 174

Known as a social shrine, the Squadron historically provided the stage for the Admiral

Cup races, the Queens Cup, and the Britannia Cup.

The 1851 cup challenge that became known as the America’s Cup was only one

of several cup regatta’s held at Cowes. From here the rules and regulations of regattas,

classifications of yachts for each race, required dress codes, burgees and ensigns were

introduced. They became the standard for all regattas, regardless of international

location.

Not only was Cowes recognized as the world’s premier yachting center, but

society consecrated the week known as “Cowes Week” as a necessary social event to attend. As grand as the cup races were, the onshore and onboard events and entertainments were just as grandiose. , the headquarters for the Royal

Yacht Squadron, hosted balls, dinner parties, entertainment on the lawns and the final events of the Regatta Ball with a grand fireworks display. In describing her visit to

Cowes during the regatta week, Mrs. N. M. Condy noted that sailing was a daily event

and you

do everything that I to be done in the way of gaiety; so we got on very well, between sails round the island, champagne luncheons, a very pleasant archery meeting at Carisbrooke, and a final wind up with the Royal Yacht Squadron ball, unusually gay and certainly the most amusing one at which I ever had the good fortune to be present.100

Not to be slighted, gala parties, dinners and balls occurred on private yachts, by invitation only. According to Yachting World, 1894, Cowes Week presented “a scene unparalleled

100 Mrs. N. M. Condy, “Reminiscences if a Yachting Cruise” pamphlet, August 1843, quoted in Drummond, Salt-water Palaces, 45. 175

in any country – a million of money afloat and the double the happiness ashore.”101

Spectators crowded the shoreline and lean precariously over the railings of “spectator boats” to witness the event.102 It was the “spectator fleet” that demonstrated “British

sportsmanship with a fuselage of guns, whistles, bells and gongs,”103 when the America

defeated fifteen other yachts for the One Hundred Guinea Cup in 1851.

Before the cup challenge was issued to “yachts of all nations” in 1850, Cowes

Week had been the sight of premier regatta for twenty-four years. Every yachtsman in the world was aware of the skills required and the prestige associated with a coveted cup win from Cowes. The standard of excellence set by the Squadron and the renowned status of the Cowes events set into motion a desire for American yachtsmen and yacht clubs to aspire. Once again, an association with European aristocracy created a desire to not just participate but excel.

America’s Cup

Touted by Ed Holm as “The Yachting Trophy of the World,”104 the America’s

Cup is to date, sailing’s most prestigious competition and is the oldest continuously held

event in international sports. First named the “Squadron Cup” or the “Hundred Guinea

Cup,” the silver ewer trophy took on the name of the winning schooner yacht, America,

101 Yachting World, 1894, quoted Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 100. 102 Images of spectators along the shorelines of the Solent and on board yachts and other sailing craft are throughout the racing literature. When the New York Yacht Club began regattas on the bay and at Newport, the same images of spectators can also be seen in photographs. A Currier and Ives lithograph shows crowds of people on the shoreline and on board rowing boats at the /New York Harbor regatta. 103 Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 57. 104Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 127. 176

and the event was so named after the first challenge, the America’s Cup.105 Although the

actual cup was one of several off-the-shelf-trophies from a local jeweler, Robert

Garrand,106 its association as the premier in sailing skill, yacht design, sail design and

speed make it a coveted prize. Examples of America’s Cup yachts throughout its history

reflect “purebred, high-tech instruments built solely for racing.”107 The competitive drive

of owner, designer, crew and helmsman are also reflected in the yachts and the event.

A letter drafted from “a general meeting of the Royal Yacht Squadron” offered a

cup “valued at $100 for competition by yachts of all nations, the course being a 53 mile

regatta around the Isle of Wright, starting and at Cowes.”108 It suggested that a

boat be sent to the “first International Exposition at the Crystal Palace in London as an

example of the excellence of American shipbuilding and design.”109 The fledgling New

York Yacht Club under the leadership of Commodore John Cox Steven’s accepted the challenge and the international competitive spirit was unleashed. In order to participate in this new wealthy-man activity, however, one must own a competitive yacht so a six- person syndicate formed and they contracted -boat designer to construct a 101 foot schooner.

Bragging rights associated with superior American shipbuilding and innovative yacht design was to be displayed at Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition in the form of a non-

105 Rousmaniere, “America’s Cup,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, I, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 46. 106 “The Yacht America” under The Yacht America: The Royal Yacht Squadron. http://www.rys.ord.uk/da (accessed May 2, 2009), paragraph 4. 107 Rousmaniere, “America’s Cup,” 47. 108 Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,” 312. 109 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 18. 177

traditional yacht.110 Or as another source says, “The sailing race was organized for

maximum world attention as part of the “Great Crystal Palace Exhibition,” an unabashed

self-celebration of a British nation at the top of its imperial game in the first full

flowering of the Victorian Age.”111 The American yacht “was built specifically to

challenge English supremacy in shipbuilding and yacht racing”112 and on May 3, 1851

the “America the mission, the legend, the beautiful was launched.” 113 Not only was she

an innovative yacht design with new sails made of duck cotton but “belowdecks she was

comfortably appointed with generous sleeping quarters for the crew and two saloons that

were finished in carved rosewood, polished American walnut and green silk velvet.”114

A watercolor interior elevation of America, designed by Pehr Cedergren, a Swedish marine artist, shows the aft cabin of America adorned in “tufted velvet upholstery and carved rosewood paneling.”115 Her galleys were stocked with foods and wines in

anticipation of celebratory entertainment.

Motivation to partake in this international challenge runs deeper than a mere yacht

race. American social elites, including the charter members of the New York Yacht

Club, were competing with European nobility for recognition and equality. The French

author Paul Bourget, noticed this contest in his 1893 visit to America. He remarked that

“These millionaires do not entirely accept themselves . . . They do not admit that they are

110 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting, 67. 111 Charles R. Morris, The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy (New York: Owl Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC 2005), 30. 112 Lincoln P. Paine, “America,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, I, ed. John B. Hattendorf, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 14. 113 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 18. 114 Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 37. 115 Ibid., 43. 178

thus different from the Old World, or if they admit it, it is to insist that if they chose they could equal the Old World, or, at least enjoy it.”116 By throwing down a gauntlet to the

Royal Yachting Squadron of England, the Americans were daring a showdown of

yachting expertise and social reciprocity. Upon her arrival, the reluctance of the

Squadron to take up the challenge after seeing her trial runs, was only exacerbated by the

London Times referring to them as “a flock of woodpigeons” compared to the

“sparrowhawk’ of the America.117 Shamed into allowing the schooner to race one event,

the Hundred Guinea Cup began on August 22, 1851.

Awarded, and therefore justified, with a visit by and Prince

Consort Albert, the America hosted the royal couple the day after the cup event.118

Royalty acknowledged the superior yacht design and crew. America’s win not only demonstrated American technical prowess, but it assisted with the launch of American yachting from a leisure pastime to a frenzied pursuit of speed, associated with prestige.

The America’s Cup success gave a boost to patriotic spirit and inspired new yacht design,

new sail technology, and a host of new shipbuilders. Most of all it presented the elite a new social status toy. “The prize, still sought today, is the America’s Cup, symbol of an enduring fascination with speed as such and of the aesthetic appeal of efficient design.”119

To quote an Outing magazine article, “The most precious treasure owned by the Club

[New York Yacht Club] is the cup won by America sailing against a fleet of fifteen in the

116 Paul Bourget, Outre-Mer: Impressions of America (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1893), quoted in Kay Davis, “Class: Upper-Class Newport” under Class and Leisure at America’s First Resort: Newport, Rhode Island, 1870-1914. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/davis/newport/home/home.html (accessed July 28, 2009), paragraph 23. 117 The London Times, August 15, 1851 as quoted in David Shaw, America’s Victory (New York: The Free Press, 2002), 184. 118 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 23. 119 William Peirce Randel, The Evolution of American Taste (New York: Rutledge Book, 1978), 99. 179

regatta of the Royal Yacht Squadron.”120 Traditionally, the trophy, many times a “cup” was retired after each contest. After debate as to the final resting place for the One

Hundred cup the New York syndicate chose to present it to the New York Yacht

Club, technically a deed of gift, to be the first permanent challenge trophy during the

summer of 1857.121 The race changed yachting history. No one had the “slightest

premonition of the historic feats of yacht race that the America would precipitate”122 its association with the New York Yacht Club, name changes for the cup and the event or the social and technical pursuit of its ownership.

Yacht clubs hosted regattas and the accompanying balls and social events. The popularity of regatta created the need for a “spectator fleet” which introduced all sorts of vessels—from tugboats to yachts—from which spectators could watch a regatta.123 In the height of the American yachting phenomenon, “regatta days of the New York Yacht Club were almost general holidays among the men of large business, brokers and jobbers; and every craft that could float, from the skiff to the large excursion steamer, was brought into requisition for spectators.”124 The excitement of cheering one’s favorite yacht across the finish line required a front row seat aboard a yacht, preferably your own that was well appointed and furnished with all the regalia necessary to fully entertain others of your social status. Souvenir brochures, colorful booklets printed by the hosting yacht club,

included the history of the cup races, the club’s history, specifications of the racing

120 Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 21. 121 Whipple, The Racing Yachts, 61-62. 122 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1884-1994, 59. 123 William H Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958), 130. 124 Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,” 305. 180

yachts and most importantly the names of sponsors.125 Souvenirs and a prominent post as a spectator were much sought-after requisites. In discussing the excitement of hosting an America’s Cup race, and the financial outlay that the cup contest entailed, Arthur

Aldridge replied

Hundreds of yachtsmen will have their boats specially commissioned in order that they and their friends may witness the races; thousands of others will watch from the decks of a great fleet of tugs and excursion steamers; many will come from Europe, some with their yachts, in order to find out for themselves which is the faster yacht, II or the American boat.126

The “commissions” included lavish interiors and a well stocked .

Yachting Sportsmanship

Closely tied to a win was the display of gentlemanly sportsmanship. Anything less than honorable behavior was subject to scandal and questioned the morals or honor

of the yacht owner, which in turn, would scar the social image.

Of the large sports, outside of the field of athletics, which have stirred the praises of men, there is only one which, according to standards and tastes of the present time, may be called a noble sport. . . it is only yachting which in the realm of large sport continues to raise men to a sense of self-mastery and a mastery of nature’s forces, with no other aim than the crowing emulation with the laurel of honorable victory.127

Sportsmanship clearly was an essential ingredient for success. Unsportsmanlike conduct

“capsizes the pleasure of the contest.” The captain and crew have only “assumed the

125 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1884-1994, 44, 46. 126 Aldridge, “The Costliness of Sports,” 506. The America’s Cup contest that this article refers to is the 1901 race between Sir Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock II and Nat Herreschoff’s Columbia. Hosted by the New York Yacht Club, the Columbia retained the cup. 127 “The Ethics of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century Magazine; A Popular Quarterly, February 1896. http://digital.library.cornell.edu (accessed August 19, 2009), 632. 181

responsibility of cheating on his [owner] behalf.” Unmanly bickerings should cast the

America’s cup and other trophies to the bottom of the sea.128

In addition to the requirement of pristine sportsmanship for owners of yachts, conduct between captain and crew adhered to a code of duties and strict discipline. An

advertisement in the February 11, 1903 issue of addresses the necessity of

maintaining disciple on board yachts. The advertisement offers a book entitled “On

Yacht Etiquette” authored by Captain Howard Patterson. It described its contents as

exhaustive chapters on yacht discipline, ceremonies and courtesies for any and all circumstances. A full treatise on the duties and responsibilities of yacht officers, from the captain down. Observances in detail for the reception of presidents of republics, royalty, nobility, governors, members of cabinet, diplomatic corps, army and navy officials, and other distinguished visitors; colors in general; salutes; harbor and sea routine, etc., etc. . . . A book that is as necessary and as applicable in parts for the small yacht as for the palatial pleasure craft.129

It was imperative that the etiquette of the crew and captain project an image of elegance.

A captain and crew that performed duties resulting in a smooth running yacht was a

direct reflection on the owner. The rules of behavior followed by captain and crew were

just as significant as the social rules of the owner’s society.

Etiquette of Yachting

Closely aligned with the club membership and the social scene was the

understanding of polite rituals for membership into “polite society” that were considered

to be of paramount importance. With the increase of social interaction that accompanied

the Gilded Age business repartees and required entertaining, regulations for social

128 Ibid. 129 “On Yacht Etiquette,” advertisement in Rudder magazine, February 11, 1903. 182

standards increased and “rules of deportment became more rigid.”130 Prescribed

behaviors encompassed every aspect of public and, private demeanor. One false step, the

miss-use of a fork, an incorrect introduction or an oversight in apparel and the

consequences would be dire indeed, perhaps resulting in banishment from elite society.

Since social intercourse was such serious business, one would expect that the leisure and cultural pastimes would have served as an environment of reprieve from etiquette

scrutiny.

Other Yachting Trophies

The America’s Cup was and remains the ultimate achievement in yacht racing

society. Representing state-of-the-art yachting technology, a highly skilled crew, the critical judgments of the captain, and a very competitive spirit, regardless of the decade, it is the most coveted “cup” of yacht racing trophies. The compulsive nature of contests

however, inspired other matches that were important in the yachting regatta schedule. In

1882, Odgen Goelet presented “the first Goelet Cup for Schooners, valued at $1,000, and

the Goelet Cup for , valued at $500,” at the New York Club meeting in

February.131 The New York Times coverage of the Goelet Cup, August 13, 1893, shares with its readers that

this prize was so skillfully or fortunately provided that it has become the blue ribbon of our aquatic contests. Some of the races for it have been among the most exciting and instructive that have ever taken place in our waters, and the winning of them has denoted a real superiority of which

130 Barbara Rusch, “The Secret Life of Victorian Cards,” under The Ephemera Society of America. http://www.ephemerasociety.org/article/victoriancards.html (accessed October 13, 2009), paragraph 1. 131 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 35. 183

the winner had a right to be proud.132

Two years later, the same newspaper claimed that “this is one of the social events of the yachting season, and a larger fleet of steam yachts was never seen off this port before.”133

The article continues by listing twenty-two of the “most noticed” steamers by naming both yacht and its owner. “Others noticed” continues the list and the article concludes by naming all of the prominent guests aboard each yacht. Family names such as Vanderbilt,

Astor, Morgan and Carnegie top the list and once again they gain social notoriety. The

Goelet Cup was raced until 1897.

According to Winifield Thompson and Thomas Lawson (1902) although the

America’s cup is the most prestigious there are two other challenge cups that are “most important” and have been “sailed for international matches.”134 The two cups are the

Brenton Reef cup and the Cape May (gold) cup. Both cups were presented to the New

York Yacht Club by James Gordon Bennett, 1871 and 1872 respectively. An article in

The New York Times (September 13, 1893) proclaims that both cups are “American

trophies” and that the Brenton’s Reef cup was “captured by Sir Richard Sutton, owner of

the English , ”135 and remained in “undisputed English possession” until

1885. The article covers the challenge between the American-made Navahoe and the

132 The New York Times, “The Goelet Cup,” August 13, 1893. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive- free/pdf (accessed January 22, 2010), 4. 133 The New York Times, “ Breaks Down,” August 3, 1895. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf (accessed January 22, 2010), 4. 134 Winifield M. Thompson and Thomas W. Lawson, The Lawson History of the America’s Cup: A Record of Fifty Years (Boston, MA: T. W. Lawson, 1902). http://books.google.com/books?id=Brenton’s+Reef+Cup&source (accessed January 22, 2010), 355. 135 The New York Times, “For the Brenton’s Reef Cup: The Navahoe Made a good Race to Cherbourg Breakwater,” September 13, 1893. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed January 22, 2010), 2. 184

English Britannia of 1885 and boasts of an American seizure, bringing the Brenton Reef

cup home to the New York Yacht Club.

News coverage of the Cape May cup challenges shared equal space in the

newspapers and no doubt was the topic of much discussion among club members. The

New York Times article (August 31, 1894) covered the American dissatisfaction “with the

results of the race and the conditions attached to the contest” concerning the competition

between the American and the English Britannia.136 Each yachting season

brought its own challenges and renewed competitive drive so that when the Atlantic won the Cape May cup in 1904, The New York Times headlines proudly announced

“SCHOONER ATLANTIC WINS CAPE MAY CUP; Beat Commodore Louder’s

Endymion by More than an Hour.”137 Other cup challenges, both international and local,

filled the regatta season. They came and exited according to the fame of the sponsor or the prestige of the trophy.

Maritime Art

Representation of ships and important events at sea were frequent subjects portrayed on urns, vases, frescos, mosaics and sculpture throughout the civilizations of

antiquity. (Depiction of ships and boats is recorded as early as c.1360 B.C. on the tomb walls of Huy, Thebes.138) The typical ship portrait was “shown in profile, often at sea

and frequently against a specific topographical background associated with the work and

136 The New York Times, “The Cape May Cup,” August 31, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed January 22, 2010), 4. 137 The New York Times, “Schooner Atlantic wins Cape May Cup,” September 13, 1904. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed January 22, 2010), 7. 138 Michael E. Leek, The Art of Nautical Illustration: A Visual Tribute to the Achievements of the Classic Marine Illustrators (London: Quantum Publishing Ltd., 2005), 14. 185

career of that particular vessel.”139 Many portraits incorporated a special event such as

battles, maiden voyages, storm survival, sinking’s or as in the case of the yachts, regattas

and their accompanying entertainment and social events.

Just as the Dutch introduced yachting as a pleasure sport, the Dutch painters of

the seventeenth century had a significant impact on maritime art. The origin of the

marine painting “genre is frequently cited as a joint Anglo-Dutch production. A series of tapestries depicting the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588”140 that was produced for

Lord Howard of Effingham in the 1590s is credited with inspiring further development in

ship portraits. engaged in battle was a common subject particularly popular

with British audiences. French painters continued the classical subject of maritime art by

painting “the opulence and grandeur of the autocratic reign of Louis XIV (1661-1715).

The opulence extended to the way in which the French decorated their ships, which were

almost works of art in themselves.”141 The aura of maritime art eventually extended to

North American studios and galleries,142 and private ownership of grand maritime art

equated with either devout patriotism or an association with European aristocratic high culture.

The shift in maritime art subject matter during the nineteenth century reflected the rise of private luxury yachts as an essential possession for the wealthy. At this time, portrayal of naval battles and ships-of-war shared their prominence with renderings of

139 Anthony Tibbles, “Ships,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 319. 140 Geoffrey Quilley, “Painting: Historical Themes,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 248. 141 Michael E. Leek, The Art of Nautical Illustration: A Visual Tribute to the Achievements of the Classic Marine Illustrators (London: Quantum Publishing Ltd., 2005), 42. 142 Ibid., 22. 186

royal and private luxury yachts. Elite society shaped its admiration of grand naval

vessels to the luxury yacht. Having a portrait made of one’s yacht was similar to finding

one’s name mentioned prominently in social publications that focused on families of

wealth, social status and power.143

Maritime genre paintings incorporated luxury yachts as the primary subject,

revealing a life-style of leisure and elegance. The many maritime paintings of the French

artist James Tissot, who lived in England, went a step farther and invited the viewer to

board the luxury yacht. Of note is The Ball on Shipboard (c. 1874). The painting depicts

a combination of two fashionable social events, a ball on the promenade deck and a

regatta. This particular ball is hosted by the prestigious and elite Royal Thames Yacht

Club on board a man-of-war that is draped with a full array of country standards during

the Cowes Week Regatta. In his painting, the ship is anchored in the Solent, the

waterway between southern England and the Isle of Wright where numerous balls and

parties were hosted by various yacht clubs and elite society members. The painting did

not require explanation to the viewing audience when shown at the Royal Academy

exhibition in 1874. All understood the importance of the content and it only affirmed the

status of luxury yacht ownership and the accompanying lifestyle. (Tissot, realizing the

143 Portrait examples of yachts and private steamships include James and John Bard’s Cornelius Vanderbilt, c.1847 that profiles the “fastest and most luxurious vessel in the waters around New York;” James E. Butterworth’s race between James Gordon Bennett’s and James Ashbury’s , c. 1871; Julius L. Stewart paints passengers on board James Gordon Bennett Jr.’s Namouna, c. 1890. Renowned as possibly to “finest picture ever painted aboard a large steam yacht in the 90s;” Henry Groskinsky, race between Valkyrie II and Vigilant, c. 1893. 187

aura of his painting, shared with Bertha Morisot that only the most fashionable society of

England was at the yearly regatta.144

American maritime art followed the Dutch, French and English artists’

precedence.145 Gradually, the American nautical art developed to a level of

sophistication and progressed to the point that it was its own individual school and

interpretation. This development grew simultaneously with the luxury yacht industry and

the owner’s desire to commission yacht “portraiture.” Most luxury yacht representations,

however, were a presentation of the exterior of the yacht under full sail and either set as a

portrait or engaged in a rambunctious race. Of particular interest to this research is

the American artist Winslow Homer. His paintings depict luxury yachts either in the

foreground such as Nassau (1899), Key West Hauling Anchor (1903) and Diamond

Shoal (1905) or as a prominent part of the back ground as found in Dad’s Coming (1873),

Promenade on the Beach (1880) and Gloucester Harbor and Dory (1880). A master of

portraying “the unique phenomenon of American identity,”146 Homer also was known as

an authority on nineteenth century American maritime art.147 Like his French

contemporary James Tissot, Winslow Homer also invited the viewer on board to

experience the grandeur of luxury yachting first-hand.148

144 Nancy Rose Marshall and Malcom Warner, James Tissot: Victorian Life/Modern Love (New Haven CT: The American Federation of Arts, Yale University Press, 1999), 82. 145 Examples of American artists include Martin Johnson Heade, Approaching Storm: Beach Near Newport, c.1860; Francis Augustus Silva, The Hudson at the Tappan Zee, 1876; Winslow Homer’s Gloucester Sunset, 1880; Frank Weston Benson, Calm Morning, 1904; 146 Randall C. Griffin, Winslow Homer: An American Vision (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2006) 7. 147 Leek, The Art of Nautical Illustration, 122. 148 Homer portrayed several scenes on board luxury yachts as witnessed through the eyes of a voyaging guest. Specifically, the lithograph Yachting Girl (1880) presents a young lady standing mid-yacht steadied by the that could only be witnessed if the viewer were posed at the stern of the yacht. Homer also 188

Preceding photography, illustrations and printmaking were used to deliver

pictorial messages to the reader.

The work of the maritime illustrator was the only pictorial access to maritime subjects that the majority of the public would ever have. . . . It was not until the mid-nineteenth century, with the rise of photography, that the public experienced maritime subjects in a form other than the artists interpretations . . . . Much research was required of maritime illustrators with particular emphasis on accuracy of uniforms and ship design.149

It was the final decision of the publisher, however, that directed what would be illustrated and the mood that was to be portrayed. For instance, to further enhance the image of power, prestige and privilege, T. de Thulstrup’s illustrations entitled “Saluting a Passing

Yacht,” and “Luxuries of Yachting – Five O’clock Tea” support W. J. Henderson’s

article entitled “The Luxuries of Yachting.”150 The illustrations are of families dressed in

elegant apparel engaged in leisure activities aboard a private luxury yacht. Both the

article and illustrations reflect the publisher’s desire to enhance the concept of luxury

yachting. In another example, however, the thrill of racing portrays a completely

different attitude on board the yacht. The front page of Harper’s Weekly, October 7,

1893 shows a scene onboard the Vigilant, Captain Charlie Barr at the helm, and crewmen

holding tightly to the jib rigging, as waves wash over the deck.151 The publisher’s motive

was no doubt to reveal the excitement of a yacht race, yet at the same time promote the

created many wood engraving illustrations for Harper’s Bazaar that used nautical settings; Homeward Bound, December 21, 1867, Shipbuilding, Gloucester Harbor, October 1873. 149 Frederic B. Taraba, “Illustration,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, II, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 180. 150 W. J. Henderson, “The Luxuries of Yachting,” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, 1897, 535- 539. In author’s private collection. 151 M. J. Burns, “Haul Aft the Flying Jib Sheet,” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, October 7, 1893, front cover. In author’s private collection. 189

exclusivity of the sport. The illustrations rendered in the content of the article depict the

enormity of the yacht hulls as seen in dry dock. Only the wealthy could afford these

yachts.

Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives formed a successful printing company in

1857 that employed the new lithograph technology to portray sentimental and nostalgic

scenes of American events, politics, economics and social past times. Throughout their

printmaking career they “published at least seventy lithographs dealing with the sport of

yachting, and twenty or so are devoted to vessels that took part in the America’s Cup

races – up to and including the 1893 challenge of the defender Vigilant by the

unsuccessful Valkyrie II. Hand colored prints of luxury yachts and the sport of yachting

were in their “Celebrated Mammoth Catalogue” and wood-engravings of yachts and

yacht scenes appeared in popular press magazines such as Harper’s, Gleason’s Pictorial

Drawing-Room Companion and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.152 All these yach

images helped to popularize the sport of yachting and perpetuate the elitism associated

with yacht ownership. Additionally, Current & Ives prints were relatively inexpensive,

25 cents each. Given their graphic presentation of current events that included fires at

sea, ice-racing on the Hudson and yachting events, their prints in a “colour-starved and

often illiterate society” made their news appeal especially desirable.153

Maritime Photography

Photography introduced another method of documenting vessels of all kinds.

Initially, a photographic portrait of luxury yachts was limited to the exterior exposures of

152 Walton Rawls, The Great Book of Currier & Ives’ America (New York: Abbeville Press, Inc., 1979), 62. 153 Maurice Rickards, Encyclopedia of Ephemera (New York: Routledge, 2000), 113. 190

harbored yachts. Although the demand for luxury yacht photos increased, four factors

inhibited the ease of photographing them in the early stages of photographic

technological development. The first restraint was that the “marine environment [was]

exceptionally hostile to photographers. Sand, salt water, and spray ruin unprotected

equipment”154 just as waves and surf were hazardous to the photographer. The second

limitation was the “restrictions [that were] imposed by extended shutter speeds.”155 As discussed in Chapter One, many photographs of home and yacht interiors were hampered by the available light. Early maritime photographs of luxury yacht interiors are very rare even after the invention of flash photography in 1887 simply because light availability below deck was extremely limited. Portholes had evolved from gun ports156 and were

primarily a source of air circulation not additional light. Areas below the waterline had

no outside light source and clear photographic images from those sections of the yacht do

not exist, including yacht interiors. The third factor that inhibited maritime photography

was the continual swell and sway of the ocean currents even when the yacht was

anchored in harbor. The persistent movement of the yacht and the extended shutter

speeds required for dim interiors made early photographic documentation of yacht

interiors “extremely difficult.” The results of many early maritime photographs are either

154 Robin Lenman, “Marine and Nautical Photography” from Photography Encyclopedia. http://www.answers.com/topic/marine-and-nautical-photography, (accessed September 14, 2009), paragraph 11. 155 Leek, The Art of Nautical Illustration, 90. 156 Romola Anderson and R. C. Anderson, A Short History of the Sailing Ship (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2008), 127-128. Until the end of the fifteenth century, guns/cannon had been transported to the upper decks of ships and fired over or through the bulwarks. Heavier cannon inhibited easy transport to the upper decks so they were placed between decks and holes were cut out of the side of the ship to accommodate the cannon muzzle for firing. These gun ports eventually evolved into portholes whose main purpose was to increase air circulation below deck. The additional light was a benefit to having portholes but inverted glass prisms on the main deck had been used to “light” the under decks for several decades. 191

underexposed or out of focus.157 Content analysis of yacht photographs however, shows

that most photographic images of yachts are of the exterior and include few interior

photographic images.

Lastly, the ability to capture action shots on board a “pitching, rolling and spray-

swept deck” was inhibited by the restrictions of “wet-plates” preparations on-site, a

completed exposure and the need to be developed immediately. With the invention and

perfection of the gelatin “dry-plate” technology in the 1880s, action shots on board a

tossing yacht became available, though extremely cumbersome for the photographer.158

Maritime Photographers

The invention of the daguerreotype by Louis-Jacques Mande’ Daguerre in 1839,

“came at just the right moment to help document a tremendously important era in maritime history: the golden , the growth of steam power,”159 and the increase

of the whaling industry. The first recorded daguerreotype of a ship was taken in Boston

in 1854. The image is of two ships at the shipyard. Images of the ship Great Republic

and the silhouette of the capsized Champion of the Seas appeared in the May 20th edition of the Boston Daily Atlas.160 Those who appreciated maritime portraits soon had

something new to enjoy—the maritime photograph.

As an art form, “maritime photography is rooted in the tradition of marine

painting. . . their pictures were expansive seascapes and portraits of majestic ships

157 Leek, The Art of Nautical Illustration, 90. 158 Holm, The Golden Age of Yachting, 1880-1905, 104. 159 Jane Van N. Turano-Thompson, “Photography and the Maritime Portrait, 1840-1865,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 293. 160 Thomas Moore, “Photography, Ship,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 288. 192

entering or leaving port.”161 With the advent of privately owned luxury yachts, the focus of the lens changed from “mundane activities such as work in dark cargo holds, people engaged in daily work abroad ship, and waterfront activities,”162 to the grandeur of yachts keeling at full sail on the bay or in a ferocious race. The art of photography permeated the culture of luxury yachting. Photography, like maritime ephemera, exposed the yachting life to the ever-increasing middle class and more importantly to upper class social peers. Access to the new technology allowed owners to “always [have] the outside of their vessel recorded, but seldom exposed the below deck accommodations to the photographer’s plate. The amateur photographer had to be contented with snapping the view on deck, for the light below was insufficient and meant that only the professional, with his lighting powder, had any chance of success.”163 The lack of skill was

inconsequential to the wealthy yacht owner, however. As Maldwin Drummond noted,

“the amateur always looks to the professional for inspiration and guidance and the yachtsman is no exception.”164 In the case of the wealthy yacht owner amateur

photography was replaced with the hiring of a professional photographer, who might

even be one of the four prominent professional maritime photographers of Gilded Age:

Alfred and Frank Beken of the or Morris and Stanley Rosenfeld of the

United States.

161 “Capturing Poseidon: Photographic Encounters with the Sea,” under Peabody Essex Museum. http://www/tfaoi.com/newsmu/nmus124b.htm (accessed November 4, 2009), paragraph 3. 162 Ibid. 163 Drummond, Salt-water Palaces, 121. 164 Ibid., 9. 193

Beken of Cowes

Enamored by the beauty of the yachts that sailed past his Isle of Wright bedroom window, Alfred Beken, decided to capture the yacht images on film, selling his first prints in 1894. By the 1900s Alfred and his son Frank’s photographs were

“immortalizing the superb vessels owned by King Edward VII, Emperor Wilhelm II, and their coterie of millionaire enthusiasts.”165 Lacking a studio, Alfred and Frank would

perch themselves on an eighteen-foot clinker-built dinghy, balancing a heavy box

camera, “exactly five kilograms,” with both arms, clamping the rubber bulb in his teeth to

activate the trigger and peering at a racing machine of two to four hundred tons sailing

directly at them, approaching at the speed of a train was how the Bekens captured early

photographic images of yachts.166 The risk added aura and intrigue to the images.

Hammond Innes relates the dangers and the anxiety of the photographer very well in his introduction to A Hundred Years of Sail: Beken of Cowes, 1981. He invites the reader to imagine that

you are using plates. No time to re-load. It is Brynhild, say, and she is racing. You see her coming up over the horizon five miles away, and you have just one chance. Everything must be right – the light, the shutter speed, the focus, and most important of all, the framing of the picture, so that the length of the yacht and the top of her mast are all there, the light catching the sails. The bow wave expressive of her speed . . . everything, please God, everything absolutely right. The one take, no second chance, and the whole operation dependent on that first positioning of the dinghy. And always the risk that some switch of the wind, or a wild gust taking the helmsman by surprise, may send

165 Robin Lenman, “Marine and Nautical Photography,” Information from Answers. http://www.amswers.com/topic/marine-and-nautical-photography (accessed September 14, 2009), paragraph 10. 166 Ibid., paragraph 11. 194

that mad, towering, canvas-plied monster thundering down on you.167

Never before seen, their photographs mesmerized the viewer with “expensive” adventure

and enhanced the exclusivity of privately owned yachts showing details of yacht building

craftsmanship. Glimpses of a luxurious lifestyle on deck were permanently exposed.

Royalty bestowed their presence in their Isle of Wright photo shop, granting them

commissions of royal yachts. HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh writes that “the

Bekens have a lens for a yacht” and that when their camera was focused on you and your

yacht, it was a compliment in the highest form.168 Eventually, the Beken yacht photos

“graduated” to the deck during the heat of a race. Simultaneously capturing the fierceness and intimacy of a racing yacht merely intensified the pursuit by yacht owners, both European and American, to be among the Beken collection of elite glass plates.169

The Beken family was so highly regarded that “for the next one hundred years [the] family reigned supreme in England as masters of marine photography . . . and went on to record the age of yachting.”170

The Rosenfelds

Morris Rosenfeld (1885-1968) is known as the “inventor” of American yacht

photography. His photography “career” began as a thirteen year old when he won a five

dollar prize for his photograph of a big square-rigger. Using his prize money he

167 Hammond Innes, “Introduction” to A Hundred Years of Sail: Beken of Cowes (London: The Harvill Press, 1981), iii. 168 HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Foreword to A Hundred Years of Sail: Beken of Cowes (London: The Harvill Press, 1981), n. p. 169 The historical portion of the Beken Archives, 1888 to 1970 include over 100,000 black and white glass plate negatives and features among other ships, Sailing Yachts, Steam Yachts and Schooners. The images can be viewed at http://www.beken.co.uk/gallery-examples.htm 170 Moore, “Photography, Ship,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III: 291. 195

purchased a “clumsy Gundlach 4x5 plate camera”171 and worked in Edwin Levick’s New

York City studio. In 1910 after establishing his own photography studio, he free-lanced

for Leslie’s Weekly and Harper’s.172 Morris Rosenfeld entered the prestigious field of

action photography, specifically yachting photography, early in its history. He was able

to take advantage of his new role among distinguished photographers and join the

celebrated circles of wealthy yacht owners, photographing their luxurious nautical

palaces. His photographs appeared in Yachting, Life, U.S. Camera, Rudder, Time, Motor

Boating, and Look among several other publications.173 For the yacht owners, images of

their yachts appearing in American and European popular press reinforced their social

standings.174

Just as Frank Beken inherited his father’s passion for yacht photography, so too

Stanley Rosenfeld acquired his father’s intrinsic craft for capturing masterpiece yacht

photographic images. Their legacies were similar: to document the history of United

States and British yachting during Cowes Week and the America’s Cup regatta’s in photos.175 The Rosenfelds’ work was done throughout the Gilded Age. “The

photographs of the US J-Class, Enterprise, Rainbow, , Whirlwind, , and

Ranger, and the British Js , , , and Endeavor II, taken by

171 “Morris Rosenfeld” from Mystic Seaport Rosenfeld Collection. https://www.rosenfeldcollection.com/index.cfm (accessed October 26, 2009), paragraph 1. 172 “Morris Rosenfeld (1885-1968)” from Photographer – Morris Rosenfeld, Department of the Navy. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/arttopic/photgphr/photog-r/m-rosnfd.htm (accessed October 26, 2009), paragraph 1. 173 Stanley Rosenfeld, Foreword to The Story of American Yachting Told in Pictures, by William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld (New York: Bramhall House, 1958), vii 174 The Rosenfeld family produced more than 250,000 negatives pertaining to American yachting. These images were purchased by the Mystic Seaport Museum, of Mystic, in 1984 and are housed under the title of “Morris Rosenfeld & Sons” collection. 175 Nic Compton, The Great Classic Yacht Revival (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2004), 13. 196

Beken and Rosenfeld are among the most famous sailing images ever shot and symbolize

the essence of what sailors and non-sailors have come to regard as ‘classic yachting.176’ ”

Books such as Victorian and Edwardian Yachting from Old Photographs by Robert

Simper (1978), Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905 by Ed Holm (1999) and The Steam

Yachts: An Era of Elegance by Erik Hofman (1970) use the photographs of the Beken’s

and the Rosenfeld’s extensively to document and validate their research. The exterior

silhouettes of luxury yachts at full sail, using various rigging that requires different sail

formations, create a resplendent visual account of beauty, perfected design and

ostentatious luxury.177

A survey of the Rosenfeld Collection held at Mystic Seaport, The Museum of

America and the Sea produces only thirteen images of yacht interiors within the

collection of “nearly one million photographic negative and prints from 1881 to

1992”178 produced by the Rosenfeld studio. Of the thirteen interior images only three

apply to the time period restrictions of this research and none are of the yacht’s main

saloon. The first is of the dining room of Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s North Star, c. 1899.

The second is of the “social hall,” or aft deck of Arthur Curtiss James’ Aloha, c. 1899 and

the third is of the main library and staircase of the Niagara, owner Harold Gould, c. 1903.

All three images were photographed by James Burton a “photographic illustrator” of the

Rosenfeld studio in New York City. As previously discussed, the aura of maritime

176 Ibid. 177 Jane Ahlfeld and Jenny Bennett, “Getting Started in Boats: Small-Boat Sailing Rigs,” WoodenBoat Number 212, January/February 2010, tear-out supplement, 1-8. The article defines and discusses the different sails, lacings, wooden hoops and metal slides required for each kind of rigging. Specific to this research are the Gaff, Sloop, Schooner, Cutter, , and Cat-Ketch . 178 “Rosenfeld Collection” under Mystic Seaport the Museum of America and Sea. http://www/rosenfeldcollection.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=rosenfeld.imageDetail&mykey (accessed November 24, 2009). 197

photography was of the exterior of the yacht at full sail. Because of photographic

restrictions already discussed, mainly the lack of light, interior photos are rare, even with the very prolific photographers.

Other Maritime Photographers

Before the successful advent of Beken of Cowes and the Rosenfeld studio other

maritime photographers had ventured into the realm of yacht portraiture. Pioneers in

yacht photography endured the “cumbrous large-format wooden cameras and heavy boxes filled with easily broken glass-plate negatives [that] remained state-of-the-art

equipment.”179 The invention of the dry-plate process in 1871 freed the photographer to

capture his subject, the sailing vessels, within their marine environment. The technology

and refinements, specifically the dry-plate technique in the 1880s, that evolved still

required an “exceptional level of competence,” usually witness with commercial

photographers. The location of many commercial maritime photographers was on the

East Coast—Boston and New York City. Two commercial photographers dominated

yachting photography in Boston,: Nathanial L. Stebbins and Henry G, Peabody. Willard

Bramwell Jackson was an exceptionally skilled photographer located in Marblehead. The

two leading commercial photographers in New York City were Charles E. Bolles and

James Burton. 180 They all began in the “discipline of landscape and portrait

photography; most of their early negatives are, in fact, portraits of yachts.”181

Nathaniel L. Stebbins

179 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 163. 180 Ibid., 164. 181 Stanley Rosenfeld, A Century Under Sail: Selected Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld and Stanley Rosenfeld, Legendary Photographers of the America’s Cup Races (Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 1988), 8. 198

Considered the leading photographer in Boston, Nathaniel Stebbins reigned

supreme. He traveled to New York and “English yachting waters,” from 1884 to 1922,

“creating a visual legacy of more than 25,000 photographs of ship portraits from New

York to Boston.”182 It was his book, American and English Yachts Illustrated, 1887, that

introduced the American public to the artistry of yacht portraiture. The “fifty beautiful photogravure plates with captions spread over one hundred pages . . . all of the photographs were beautiful portraits of yachts surrounded by a large area of sky and water, in a landscape tradition.”183 The facing introduction page of Ed Holm’s

Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905 (1999) is a Stebbins photograph that incorporates all

the elements of the prestige of yachting. Set in historic Marblehead Harbor, “a favorite

destination for yachtsmen . . . here visitors in Sunday finery admire the combined fleets

of the New York and Eastern Yacht Club against the backdrop of Marblehead Neck and

its cottages.”184 Every bench seat is filled with spectators adorned in splendid afternoon

dress as luxury yachts of various sizes, small sailing crafts and ferried passengers fill the

harbor-scape. Stebbins perfectly captures the social strata of society: the elite being

observed by society’s wishful thinkers.

Awareness of yacht portraiture followed demand among the wealthy elite, and

hundreds of photographs ensued in addition to more books. Stebbins’ surviving prints

and negatives are housed at the Society for the Preservation of New England History and

are considered “the most prized artifacts at the society’s Boston headquarters.”185

182 Moore, “Photography, Ship,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III: 291. 183 Rosenfeld, A Century Under Sail, 8. 184 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 3. 185 Ibid., 164. 199

Henry Greenwood Peabody

Noted as an “exceptionally fine technician with an artist’s eye”186 Henry

Greenwood Peabody photographed yachting activities from Newport to Marblehead from

1880 though the 1890s. In 1886 he opened his studio in Boston and “specialized in

marine, landscape and architectural photography.”187 Following Stebbins’ lead, Peabody

published an illustrated book in 1891, entitled Representative American Yachts

resplendent with yachts of the affluent. Combining the eyes of an artist and the skill of

landscape portraiture, Peabody produced “about one thousand yachting negatives,”188

creating high artistic merit among critics and collectors.189 He traveled extensively

throughout his career, venturing to the America’s Cup races, Europe, Mexico, the coast

line of Maine, and eventually settling in Pasadena, California. In 1900 the Detroit

Publishing Company, the largest postcard publisher in the United States, contracted

Peabody as a field photographer to produce scenic attractions and uncommon views,

yacht portraits being one of the “scenic attractions” for their postcards.190 His prints and

negatives now reside in the Detroit Collection of the Library of Congress.

Willard Bramwell Jackson

A skilled Massachusetts Bay photographer, Mr. Jackson captured yachts and

regattas in the waters off of Marblehead, Massachusetts. He worked from “1898 to 1937,

186 Ibid. 187 “Henry G. Peabody Collection of Photographs and Negatives,” under Online Archive of California. http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/k8b69r2q0 (accessed November 4, 2009), paragraph 4. 188 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 164. 189 Ralph W. Andrews, Photographs of the Frontier West (Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1965), 169. 190 “Henry G. Peabody Collection of Photographs and Negatives,” under Online Archive of California. http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/k8b69r2q0 (accessed November 4, 2009), paragraph 5. 200 the apogee of competitive yachting and leisure boating in America.”191 He specialized in photographing great sailing yachts built by famous designers such as Edward Burgess, and L. Francis Herreshoff, and the racing yachts of Boardman, Cox & Stevens and Fife.

Each yacht portrait was surrounded by “a harbor dominated by elegant Gilded Age yacht clubs.”192 His technique, much like Rosenfeld’s was a tri-pod camera mounted in the of his motor powerboat, Alison. A sailing aficionado in his own rite, he co- founded the Pleon Yacht Club in 1887, and became the Commodore of the Burgess

Yacht Club in1901. Many of his photographs were featured in East Coast publications especially those that depicted the summer racing season. The majority of his photographic plates are preserved at the Peabody Museum of Salem. A recent exhibit,

May 2006-January 2007, entitled The Yachting Photography of Willard B. Jackson featured over fifty vintage photographs from the museums collection.

Charles E. Bolles and James Burton

Two leading commercial photographers Charles E. Bolles and James Burton set the standard for yachting portraiture as viewed in New York City, where their studio was located. Influenced by Henry G. Peabody’s technique and subject matter, they photographed yachts throughout the eastern seaboard eventually shooting the America’s

Cup races of 1903. The images that they produced were especially exhilarating and furthered the competitive nature of America’s Cup races as they were on board the defender, the Reliance.193 Intimate details of captain, crew, sails, rigging and spray

191 Daniel Finamore, “The Yachting Photography of Willard B. Jackson” under Peabody Essex Museum. http://www/tfaoi.com/aa/6aa/6aa359.htm (accessed November 4, 2010), paragraph 4. 192 Ibid. 193 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 164. 201

caught the imagination and thrilled yacht club members and supporters. As Stanley

Rosenfeld notes, “The America’s Cup races presented the marine photographer with

some of the most interesting coverage possibilities afloat. As the country’s premier

yachting event, it brought together the most prominent names in yachting and the largest

yachts.”194 So tantalized by the subject matter, Morris Rosenfeld acquired more than a thousand of Bolles and Burton’s surviving negatives for his own use in 1910.195 Their

photography served as inspiration for the Rosenfelds and is now part of the renowned

Rosenfeld Collection at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.

Yachting Ephemera

Printed ephemera are among the richest primary sources of information for

cultural, economic, and social customs and traditions. The Greek origin of the word

ephemeron, literally refers to something the only lasts through the day.196 What exactly

constitutes “only one day” is under debate. Maurice Rickards proposed that ephemera

are the “minor transient documents of everyday life”197 much like informal circulars,

printed for quick notice and discarded immediately. He continued to embellish the meaning of ephemeron by saying that it is “vital when they are needed, wastepaper immediately after. They flourish for a moment and are done. . . Above and beyond its

immediate purpose, it expresses a fragment of social history, a reflection of the spirit of

the time. As with other human records, as with the fashion-plate itself, its style is soon

194 Rosenfeld, A Century Under Sail, 6. 195 Ibid., 3. 196 Michael Twyman, ed., Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator, and Historian (New York: Routledge, 2000), v. 197 Ibid. 202

out of date.”198 His definition and explanation however, does not address the

publications of ephemera produced primarily with the collector in mind that were preserved in scrapbooks and no doubt were shared amongst peers as a status symbol.

One important collection of ephemera is the New York Yacht Club’s volumes of

scrapbooks that were started at the inception of the club, and which continue to the

present day. Each volume includes newspaper articles about the club, member’s yachts,

designers and new yacht technology, club dinner and tea menu’s, illustrations and

photographs, regatta schedules and tickets for the various activities. Originally intended to be a “memory book” the result of the scrapbooks is a comprehensive document of club activities and history. Volumes were not created annually, but as needed or filled.

An example of ephemera produced as a status symbol and possible collection pieces were the “Yacht Devotees” caricatures that were printed in the British publication

Vanity Fair, 1869-1914. It was known as “the cream of the period’s society magazine, best remembered for its witty prose and its caricatures of men (and occasionally women of privilege).”199 Sketched by artists James Tissot, Sir Leslie “Spy” Ward, Pellegrini and

W. E. Miller, the subjects were both British and American yacht enthusiasts rendered in

cartoonish illustrations. To be included in the list of caricatures was an honor and sign of

your achieved social status. Included in the monthly publication Vanity Fair, they were a

regular part of each issue and not necessarily meant to be the collector’s item they are

today. For the purposes of this research, the ephemera that will be discussed takes into

account both the “documents of everyday life” and printed materials published primarily

198 Maurice Rickards, This is Ephemera (Brattleboro, VT: Gossamer Press, 1977), 7, 9. 199 David Friend, “Vanity Fair: The One-Click History,” under Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/vintage/oneclickhistory (accessed December 8, 2009), paragraph 3. 203

as collector’s items, such as postcards, tobacco cards, and trading cards.

Postcards

A phenomenon that occurred during the last quarter of the nineteenth century

was the creation of the picture postcard. Originally issued in England, 1840, the “Penny

Black,” so nicknamed for the one cent postage stamp of Queen Victoria that was

primarily black in color, initiated the publication of governmental postal cards. In

Europe, during the 1870s, the restriction of government published post cards was lifted

and the “postals” modified into advertisement cards that illustrated and pictured exotic

places, events, and political campaigns.200 They were inexpensive and an instant means

for travelers to communicate to friends at home where they had traveled and what

adventures they had enjoyed.

In the United States, governmental postcards were first issued in 1873 and in the

spring of 1898 the U.S. Congress authorized the private publication of postcards. This

“act of Congress prompted the mass production of postcards that were mailed throughout

the world. People became obsessed with buying, sending and collecting postcards.”201

The broad range of subject matter, homes and yachts as an example, lent their appeal. As

the technology of photography improved images were used extensively to capture

locations, events and possessions. In the case of luxury yacht owners, postcards were an

inexpensive mechanism to advertise the possession and international location of their

200 “The History of Postcards,” from History of Postcards ~ Postcard History. http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/historyofpostcards.htm (accessed October 15, 2009), paragraph 12. 201 “A Brief History of the Postcard,” from History. http://www.post-card.net/history.html (accessed October 15, 2009), paragraph 3. 204

privately owned yachts.202 It became a device for one-up-man-ship presented to their

peers and the masses that ogled their self-appointed position in society. During the

“Golden Age” of postcards, 1898 to 1915, millions were sold, used and collected.203

Americans were exposed to a myriad of new ideas and places through visual presentations found on postcards. The appearance and availability of the postcards became a wish list for the middle and lower social classes. In terms of social comparison theory, the images, in particular the yacht images, served as a stimulant of hope and social status attainment. The yacht owner’s motivation for the photographic images of their yachts on “postals” and other ephemera and publications was for social bragging rights. The social status associated with one’s yacht on a postcard or a deck of playing cards was much the same as stationery carrying the letterhead of a trans-Atlantic liner for correspondence while on a voyage. Correspondence carrying the letterhead of vessels such as the RMS Lusitania, the RMS Adriatic, the RMS Mauretania or the RMS Olympic carried far more social status than a letter written from any of the other trans-Atlantic liners. The presentation of one’s possessions and life-style found in “throw-away” and temporary products re-enforced the prominence of your social worth. It should be noted, however, that the ephemeral images showed the exterior of the yacht, never the interiors.

202Photographic postcards such as Camden Schooner and Steam Yacht Corsair are postcards of luxury yachts. The Corsair postcard is a color lithograph published by Currier & Ives, 1881, which provides a photographic image of the Corsair I on the face of the postcard and documents the photograph with a narrative on the back: “This print records the appearance of the yacht named Corsair the year before Pierpont Morgan acquired her.” Postcards also showed photographs of yacht clubs and their harbors such as Newport, Rhode Island and Fall River, Massachusetts. These are examples of several photographic postcards of yachts in the author’s private collection 203 “A Brief History of Postcards,” from Shiloh Postcards: Social History Through Vintage Collectables. http://www.shilohpostcards.com/webdoc2.htm (accessed October 20, 2009), paragraphs 1-6. 205

Stereographs and Stereoscopes

Stereoscopes and stereographs were another technological advancement in

photography. They created another avenue to introduce the yachting set and their yachts

to the general public, and served as documentation for the yacht owners. Stereographs

present a three-dimensional view of subject matter through a device known as the

stereoscope. First created in 1832 by English physicist Sir Charles Wheatsone, a pair of

stereoscopic pictures or a picture composed of two superimposed stereoscopic images

result in a three-dimensional image when viewed through the stereoscope.204 The

original stereographs were drawings and sketches rather than photographs simply because

the technology had not been developed yet to produce first, the photograph, and second

superimposed images. By the mid-1850s however, Tintypes, flat mount paper and two

Daguerreotypes, “taken at one sitting at different angles of the [subject matter]”205 were made available and stereoscopes became immensely popular throughout Europe and the

United States.206 Evidence of their success is the plethora of stereoscopes that were

patented in the United States, 1860-1890.207 The stereoscopic pictures were the Victorian

travel guide to exotic locations and events. They allowed travelers to share their “wish

you were here” experiences as a subtle reminder that their social status and

accompanying wealth allowed them the privileges of world class travel. Looking into a

204Lisa Spiro, “A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes,” under A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes. http://cnx.org/content/m13784/latest (accessed October 26, 2009), paragraphs 1-2. 205 Paul Wing, Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years (Nashua, New Hampshire: Transition Publishing, 1996), 83. 206 “Stereograph (photography),” under Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/565632/stereograph (accessed October 26, 2009). 207 Wing, Stereoscopes, 109-70. The re-invention of the stereoscopes in the United States over a time period of seventy years supports the popularity of stereo views. The craze remained for a longer time period in the United States than in Europe, 130. 206

stereoscope created a magical experience. Suddenly “one is transported to exotic lands

featuring banyan trees, pyramids, or rugged mountain cliffs. A person in Illinois could

walk along a street in New York City and feel a part of the crowd on the sidewalk. After

a trip to Florida, a tourist could show his neighbor in New Hampshire the palmettos and

palms along the Ocklawaha River south of St. Augustine.”208 Frequently, stereoscopes and a library of stereographs, gracefully adorned parlor tables as trophies of travel exploits, bidding house guests to indulge in captured images of the family’s outings and possessions.

Possessions were a common subject for stereographs. Mansions, summer cottages, horses, and private luxury yachts were customary photographs among a family’s library of stereographs. As previously mentioned in the discussion of daguerreotypes developments, early interior photos were limited to the available light until flash attachments were invented. The same principles apply to early stereo views of home and yacht interiors. By 1890, however, home interiors were “fairly common [and] show popular collectibles (stereoscopes, rocking horses, Belter-style carved furniture, and

so forth).” 209

Stereographs of American ships, Mississippi River steamboats and harbor ports

were recorded as early as 1857. When stereographs became the vogue parlor accessory,

yacht races and regattas were shown in stereo views from the firm E. and H. T. Anthony of New York City. All of the America’s Cup races from 1885 to 1903 were photographed by the major stereographic firms and photographers, including R. Y. Young, Alfred Campbell,

208 John Waldsmith, Stereo Views: An Illustrated History & Price Guide, 2nd ed. (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2002), 5. 209 Ibid., 126. 207

Underwood & Underwood, the Kilburn Brothers and the Keystone View Company.210

The roster of yachts photographed in stereo view reads like a who’s who list in polite society: , Genesta, Columbia, Shamrock I, II and III, and Reliance. Stereographs of yachts, however, were not limited to America’s Cup challengers and defenders.

Private wealthy citizens, in an overt act of social class display also had their yachts photographed in stereo view. Evidence of notable social achievement became the viewing library on the parlor table. A collection of sixty-six stereo views, 1887-1891, of guests, crew and owners on board the steam yacht provides examples of the leisure lifestyle aboard a luxury yacht. Candid photos, taken by E. T. Gerry, reveal very satisfied passengers, including Commodore Jas. D. Smith on board for “trial races,

September 30, 1887” and other festive occasions. Views of the yacht include aft seating, pictures that extend the length of the yacht, multiple hatches and the elevated wooden dining cabin. These stereo views confirm the desire for American aristocracy to document their wealth for the viewing pleasure of fellow gentry.211

Tobacco Cards

The ephemera of Gilded Age luxury yachts were not limited to postcards and

stereographs. Yacht images, yacht clubs and burgee’s, and yachting apparel also

appeared on tobacco cards, playing cards, calendars and the pages of popular press, many

times as the front page or as a special spread within the magazine.212

210 Moore, “Photography, Ship,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III: 290. 211 The set of Electra stereo views are in the private collection of the author. 212 Yachting images were used to appeal to the reading audiences of magazines and popular publications. Examples of these advertising devices are the sketch of Charles Frederick Worth’s “Yachting Gown” on the front cover of Harper’s Bazaar, July 7, 1894; An August 1910 calendar postcard illustrated by Harriet 208

Tobacco cards also known as cigarette cards were among the first items of

ephemera that were produced for the specific purpose of collecting, known as cartophily,

and one card was included inside each package of cigarettes to strengthen the soft

package of cigarettes. Originating in America during the early 1880s, and eventually

created also in Great Britain, the stiffeners soon were viewed as perfect to advertise and

promote manufacturers products. Evolving into picture cards by 1879, they were

published with a series of themes and designed to be collected as a set. Seen as a “major

promotional device” each new series was accompanied with a high expectation of

increased sales by the tobacco companies. The advertising was kept to a minimal line or

two on the back of the card while the image on the front was designed to appeal to the

shopper and collector.213 The “sets pictured every conceivable subject” and included

yachts, ships, yacht clubs, yachting girls and stately homes. Duke’s Tobacco cards issued a thirty-six card set of ocean and river steamers in 1887. The cards illustrated a picture of

a fashionable women and a famous shipping line. In 1901 Ogden’s Ltd. published a set of 200 cards that included several cards of luxury yachts, on-deck scenes and yacht construction photographs within the set. The American Tobacco Company produced several sets of infamous ships throughout maritime history. The appeal to the collector was the acquisition of a full set thereby adding promotional fuel to the tobacco company’s ploy.214 The reverse side of the card included a short paragraph description

Arthur for Maue Tailor in Cincinnati shows a “yachting girl” on the deck of a ship with in the background. Both examples are in the author’s private collection. 213 Steve Talbot and David Snowdon, “The History of Cartophily.” http://www.stevetalbot.com/cards/history.php, December 11, 2002 (accessed November 24, 2009), paragraph 8. 214 Rickards, Encyclopedia of Ephemera, 96-97. A series of fifty cards entitled “Yacht Colors of the World,” packed in Duke’s Cigarettes, are illustrations of named women dressed in yachting wear posed 209

of the image on the obverse. In the case of the yacht cards, dimensions of the yacht, and the owners name were listed. The result was a dissemination of the yacht owners’ social standing to the mass public, thus reemphasizing their self appointed social position.

Deck Plans and Cross-sections (Cutaways)

Unique to yachting ephemera were deck plans and cross-section plans, precursors to marine architecture. They carefully graphed out the “floor plan” and “elevations” of the ship. Similar to architectural plans for homes they re-create the interiors and designate spaces in yachts. Exposure to the prestige that deck plans offered occurred before Gilded Age yacht ownership. With the advent and success of packet transatlantic shipping lines, 1807-1840s, competition for passengers increased.215 Passenger deck

plans, originally used for cabin allocations on transatlantic lines such as Cunard and

White Star, located the cabin and staterooms, ladies sitting rooms, the gymnasiums,

dining room, main saloons and accommodations for the captain and crew. As ships

increased in size, so too the deck plans enlarged and became very cumbersome for

passenger use. For ease of client travel, shipping lines issued small deck plans, known as

“cabin plans” that were printed on the back of pictorial trading cards featuring the

individual ships on the face of the card, which gave visual directions to passengers as to

their ships lodging.216 Cabin plans of a transatlantic voyage were a prized souvenir,

particularly from fashionable ships like the RMS Adriatic and the RMS Mauritania. They were a source of pride associated with one’s membership in the upper echelon of travel

underneath the unfurled burgee of the yacht club they represent. Five of these cards are in the author’s private collection. 215 Stephen Fox, Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel, and the Great Atlantic Steamships (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003), 4. 216 Rickards, Encyclopedia of Ephemera, 116. 210

society. It follows that the possession of elite trans-Atlantic liner’s cabin plans or deck

plans and cross-sections of a private luxury yacht could announce the esteemed position

of the owner within the society.

Yachting Images in Magazines

Not only were the deck plans and cross-sections framed and mounted in

conspicuous viewing locations throughout mansion and office, but deck plans and cross- sections of private luxury yachts were published and discussed in popular press articles.

An article in Century Magazine entitled “Steam-Yachting in America,” by S. G. W.

Benjamin (July, 1882) discusses the evolution of steam yachting, a product of France, that is now in America. The deck plan of a Herreschoff 100 foot steam-yacht shows

different patterns of textiles in the main saloon, staterooms, and dining room. Main

saloon settees and the arrangements of chairs and tables show both built-in and moveable

furnishings. The article continues with an in-depth description of James Gordon

Bennett’s luxury yacht, Namouna accompanied with illustrations of the forward and aft

decks.217

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine provided comparison of deck plans, rigging plans, and cross sections of the yacht America and “her English competitors” of the

infamous 1851 race in an article titled “The Modern Yacht: Sloop or Cutter?”218 The article presented several deck plans, cross sectionals and rigging plans of English and

American schooners side-by-side. Detailed discussions followed regarding the positive

217 S. G. W. Benjamin, “Steam-Yachting in America,” Century Magazine, XXIV, July, 1882, 598, 600, 603. 218 J. D. Jerrold Kelly, “The Modern Yacht: Sloop or Cutter?” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 67:399 (August 1883), 441-453. 211

and negatives of each plan, as well as accolades for American ingenuity in yacht design.

As each new “super yacht” was launched an article including illustrations and

photographs, cross sections and deck plans were included in The Rudder and Yachting magazines, the standard popular press publications for the sport of yachting. The

December 1898 issue of The Rudder an article discussing the new steam yacht

Hildegarde includes very detailed deck plans, showing tufted upholstery on the seats of the main saloon near the pipe organ.219 A later article, “Steam Yacht Pantooset,” May,

1903 has deck plans and a cross-sectional view that shows the “interior arrangements” of

the owners living quarters and details of the paneling and cabinet work. A winding

staircase from the vestibule leads to the main saloon that “is finished in white enamel,

with mahogany trimmings. On each side there is a wide sofa, with buffets at either end.

The furnishings of this room are magnificent.”220

Examples of other popular press publications that included yachting articles,

illustrations and eventually photographs were the Outing (1882-1923) magazine. It was a

late-nineteenth- and early twentieth century publication that began as the Wheelman and

covered a variety of sporting activities; The Century Magazine(1881-1930) formerly

Scribner’s Monthly Magazine published a wide range of articles featuring illustrations of

historical events that included yacht design and races; Harper’s Weekly (1857-1916) was

an American political magazine based in New York City. Its features included foreign

and domestic news, social issues, cultural reviews, fiction, essays on many subjects,

219 Thomas Fleming Day, “Steam Yacht Hildegarde,” The Rudder, December 1898, volume 9, no. 12, 391. 220 John B. Killeen, “Steam Yacht Pantooset” The Rudder, May 1903, volume 114, no. 5, 259. A comprehensive list of deck plans throughout the history of Gilded Age American yachting and shipping can be found at “History of Yacht Deck Plans,” under History+of+Yacht+Deck+Plans&hl (accessed November 24, 2009). The deck plans are listed by article date with a brief description and source of article. 212

including yachting, and illustrations by Thomas Nast, Winslow Homer, Frank Bellow,

Charles Dana Gibson, and James M. Flagg among others; Frank Leslie’s Weekly (1855-

1922) was a weekly publication of literature and news. In addition to covering the Civil

War, the Spanish-American War and the First World War, Leslies covered the laying of

the Atlantic Cable, 1858, the Klondike gold rush, 1897, and several America’s Cup

challenges.

Illustrations of maritime subjects appeared in popular press publications and

newspapers. Yachting was portrayed as a sport of elegance to their readers. An

illustration in the August 20, 1892 edition of The Illustrated American is titled “With the

Yachts of the New York Yacht Club” and illustrates a woman of wealth “embarking for a

visit to the yachts form the float of the New York Yacht Club t Newport.” The

illustration is clearly depicting wealth and activities of the upper class in very desirable

locations.221

The sport of yachting was not limited to the eastern seaboard. As the popularity of

the sport caught on, it moved to other bodies of water. On May 16, 1902 the Chicago

Tribune issued a “Supplement to the Tribune” entitled “Yachting” illustrated by Thure de

Thulstrup, 1889. The color illustration measures 7 ½ inches by 11 inches and depicts beautiful people casually lounging on the aft-deck of a lavish yacht. The apparel of the subjects denotes their specific roles aboard the yacht and their membership among the wealthy elite. Often illustrations of this sort were accompanied with articles describing the sport and exclusivity of yachting. In the case of this illustration the article “Yachting

221 “With the Yachts of the New York Yacht Club,” The Illustrated American, August 20, 1892, 12. In author’s private collection. 213

– the Sport of Kings” begins the article by saying,

Yachting, as well as racing, has become the sport of Emperors, Kings, and other mighty potentates of earth. It is also the recreation of those whose wealth is counted by the tens of millions, many of whom spend most of the summer at sea, and a portion of the winter as well.222

New Yorkers acknowledged the phenomenon and either joined them as in the

case of William Vanderbilt and his Alva, or gave a courtesy nod towards them: “the pleasures of yachting are no longer monopolized by the dwellers of our coasts. On many a lakelet of the West may be found fleets of spry craft representing the skill of the most famous builders of the world.”223 Strolling the lake front at Chicago one will witness

great fleets of sloops engaged in the “whimsicalness of interior winds” with the wildness

and enthusiasm of the people on the Eastern seaboard transferred to “the inhabitants of the interior States, many of whom never saw the ocean and probably never watch the bulletins for the outcome.”224 Maritime illustrations had obviously related the romance

and exclusivity of yacht ownership and racing to other locales and persons that were

devoted to pleasure and luxury.

Newspapers

The Illustrated London News (1842-1971) was the world’s first weekly published

newspaper. Although it was a British publication, wealthy Americans read it faithfully.

The forerunner to the French L’Illustration and Le Monde Illustre, and America’s

Leslie’s Weekly and Harper’s Weekly, articles and illustrations included the progression

222 The Chicago Tribune, “Yachting – the Sport of Kings: Description of the Nature Study Picture Given Free with Today’s ‘Tribune.’ ” May 16, 1902. 223 “The Pleasure of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century; A Popular Quarterly, July 1897, 469. 224 The Chicago Tribune, “Yachting – the Sport of Kings: Description of the Nature Study Picture Given Free with Today’s ‘Tribune.’ ” May 16, 1902. 214

of the Royal Yacht Club, and royal yachts such as the Victoria and Albert. International

news coverage reported the arrival of her majesty’s grandson, The German Emperor

Kaiser Wilhelm, who brought the ex-America’s Cup challenger Thistle renamed Meteor

to Cowes in 1892. His overt dare, disregarding family ties, encouraged the Prince of

Wales to build Britannia “one of the worlds most successful racing yachts in the calendar”225 and thereby, she became a European standard to best. In the United States

the New York Times and the New York Herald gave extensive coverage to the New York

Yacht Club, the yachting season and races along with society news in regards to the new

yachts and entertainment. Ed Holm’s notes that, “yachting activities of one hundred

years ago were the focus of journalistic coverage.”226 The New York Times produced

over 4,000 yachting related articles from 1880 to 1905, each promoting exclusivity,

social status, cruising schedules and the sport of racing.227

Americans consciously maintained their social status while traveling to Europe

for shopping sprees, the Grand Tour and international yacht cruising. The American

millionaires lived the “grandest style, taking houses in London and Paris, sailing their

yachts at Cowes, racing their horses at Ascot and marrying their daughters to European

titles.”228 American newspapers contained delayed news because of necessary trans-

Atlantic crossings. To satisfy the ever inquisitive American mind and social standing

competition, James Gordon Bennett, Jr. launched the Paris edition, commonly hailed as

225 “Overview” under The Royal Yacht Squadron. http://www.rys.org.uk/da/11662 (accessed May 2, 2009), paragraph 7. 226 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 165. 227 Ibid. 228 Hebe Dorsey, Age of Opulence: The Belle Époque in the Paris Herald, 1890-1914 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986), 18. 215

the “Paris Herald” in 1887. Bennett wanted to recount the flamboyant lifestyle of his

American readership while visiting European sights. He “demanded news-news-news and

names-names-names . . . not just any names, for the publisher was quite a snob and

interested mainly in kings and emperors, grand dukes and millionaires.”229 The columns

were a social log of the wealthy sets’ activities. Associating a family name with nobility and European aristocracy was one objective. For instance, with yachts harbored at

Trouville, the Paris Herald reported that the “King had had lunch at the Hotel de Paris with a Mr. Cromwell, a New York family,” then he left for the yacht races.230 The other

primary objective was to relate news of the wealthy: their adventures, investments and

transfer of property. An article published on May 20, 1896 entitled “New Palatial Steam

Yacht: Largest Yacht in Europe,” states that the “ is the largest private yacht in

European waters and is only exceeded in dimensions by some tow American yachts – Mr.

Vanderbilt’s Valiant and Mr. Robert Goelet’s Nahma.”231 Both Vanderbilt and Goelet

were no doubt thrilled to be listed as exceeding Baron Eimond de Rothschild’s palatial

yacht. In the same publication, it was announced that “King Leopold Buys the

Margarita” after personally inspecting Mr. A. J. Drexel’s yacht. The article proclaimed

that Mr. Drexel intended to “build a new vessel to replace the Margarita, of somewhat

larger dimensions and of greater speed.”232

229 Ibid., 7. 230 Ibid., 161. 231 “New Palatial Steam Yacht” The New York Herald, Paris, May 20, 1896 as quoted in Hebe Dorsey, Age of Opulence: The Belle Époque in the Paris Herald, 1890-1914 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986), 122. 232 “King Leopold Buys the Margarita” The New York Herald, Paris, May 20, 1896 as quoted in Hebe Dorsey, Age of Opulence: The Belle Époque in the Paris Herald, 1890-1914 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986), 122. 216

Yachting Publications

With the rise of yacht racing as a distinctive sport and yacht cruising as a leisurely

activity, many British and American newspapers and publications employed full-time

yachting columnists to provide lengthy articles about the technical developments of the

races, yacht design, and the social functions. The first British yachting periodical was

Hunt’s Yachting Magazine (1852); Forest and Stream (1873) was the first American magazine to write about yachting, seriously.233 As already noted, The Rudder and

Yachting magazines were created to exclusively report on the yachting industry and the accoutrements of the yachting season. The Rudder (1891-1950) concentrated on yacht

articles of design, construction, and cruising and was the first important American

yachting publication. Yachting magazine, first published in 1907, featured articles on

sailing, new marine products, technological advancements, and a calendar of races. Both

publications were the premier American yachting magazines. The blend of “news,

inspiration and instruction” promoted the use of photographs and illustrations of the

yachts, which in turn elevated the prestige of the sport.

The rise in the privately owned luxury yachts of the Gilded Age birthed

subsidiary businesses that supported the prestige and glamour of the yachting society. In

addition to the necessary crafts of building and maintaining a yacht, maritime art forms

and social activities paralleled the growth of the golden age of yachting. Each expression

of art and ephemeron supported the aura and elitism of the yachting phenomenon. For

instance, in order for a middle class photographer to affiliate with the upper classes on

233 John Rousmaniere, “Yacht Racing: From 1866 to 1936,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History vol. 1, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 532 217

board a luxury yacht, they first had to risk safety then produce a photographic portrait

that presented incomparable beauty. As the photographer’s craft was perfected and their

fame heightened, it became an “honor” for one’s yacht to be depicted among

photographer’s “works of art.” In the end, the artwork was a statement of social status.

Class segregation was reinforced with club membership and the surrounding events. In

fact, yachting activities were purposely structured to exclude the lower classes.

The sophisticated lifestyles were depicted as aristocratic leisure. Art, photographs, postcards, tobacco cards, and maritime ephemera celebrated the festivities of the upper-class celebrities. Knowledge of the activities of the social elite that came through publications and inexpensive representations imbued the middle- and lower- classes with awe and adoration, and perhaps envy for such knowledge enforced the notion that’s such practices might be unattainable. Yet, the symbiotic relationship supported all participants.

Yacht ownership and yacht club memberships implicitly signaled wealth and elitism. Supported by associations and events, made possible by the skills and labor of working class, yacht owners and often the builders of shared common social status, activities and tastes.

218

Chapter 5: The Lineage of Royal Yachts, Yacht Designers and Supporting Technologies of the Gilded Age Luxury Yacht

A portion of maritime history is the study of cultural dominance resulting from design and technological advancements. Luxury yachts of the Gilded Age benefitted from these advancements. The onset of yachting as a statement of wealth and leisure paralleled improvements in yacht design and new developments in propulsion yachts.

The transition from full sail to steam-powered yachts between 1870 and 1920, not only reflects an improvement in the craft of yacht design, but also changes in social aspects of yacht ownership and commercial interests. The support industries associated with yacht ownership also offered opportunities to declare wealth and status.

The continual creation of new and superior products saw an increase in consumption. At every economic level, particularly the rising middle class and the upper social classes, new consumer goods enticed the purchaser. Acquisition of new products equated with societal success. If individuals and families were able to accumulate quantities of those new goods, especially if they were grand in scale and monetary value, then their peers viewed them with high regard. Less acquisition activity usually meant lower status.

Consumption became “the construction of self through seeking, acquiring, and appreciating material objects . . . hinges on the promise that in purchasing an object, the consumer acquires access to some desirable but intangible experience that cannot be

219 directly bought.”1 Consuming luxury items produces a sense of pleasure and elevated social status. The process of consumption, however, is a never ending parade of “desire, acquisition and renewed desire” that is demonstrated in newly acquired purchases.

Luxury yachts were a symbol of lavish consumption. The continued accumulation of larger and better sailing and steam vessels was in part, related to advances in the technical development of yachts. Both occurrences supported the development of the other. The steady improvement in luxury yachts throughout history reflects the desire of yacht owners to use the yacht to express their wealth and social standing.

Luxury Yachting Historical Background

The original purpose of ships was utilitarian. They were built to transport people and products. They were as essential in warfare as they were in providing food or discovering new lands. From antiquity, there has been an underlying romance of the seas. Sea creatures, romance, endurance, and discovery all enticed the seafaring adventurer to exploration. A combination of fascination and fear were associated with maritime cultures. Ships and boats were left either to the adventurer, maritime trade, or the defense of a country. Pleasure crafts, especially for non-nobility, did not exist.

The Industrial Revolution and improved technology, such as steel production, changed the financial prowess and social structure of the average citizen. For instance, the trans-Atlantic luxury liner competitions initiated during the nineteenth century altered people’s attitudes about what had been dreaded for the Atlantic crossing. An Atlantic crossing became a luxurious event. “Going on a cruise to an exotic location” became an

1 Dell Upton, “Inventing the Metropolis: Civilization and Urbanity in Antebellum New York,” Art and the Empire City New York, 1825-1861, ed. Catherine Hoover Voorsanger and John K. Howat (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), 23. 220 advertising idea of the owners of the luxury ocean liners. It was quite different from in the beginning when ships were the common form of transport; there was nothing exotic or luxurious about them. Competition between trans-Atlantic liners served to inspire new yacht technology.

It was not unusual for Americans to model their behavior after Europeans. After all, many American colonists began their relationship with European royalty as subjects of the English crown. Social behavior normally practiced in London was imported to the

Colonies with emigrés. The acceptable and necessary deportment was all they knew.

After independence was gained the attention to correct behavior both in business transactions and social demeanor were so embedded into the American elite society that comparison to and competition with European aristocracy continued at every level of social intercourse. By the 1800s luxury yachting was an avenue that wealthy Americans selected as a venue to proclaim (to each other and to the international communities) their arrival to a high status position. In the yachting domain the incentive for their inspiration was the royal yacht. Identifying with royal yachts was yet another way to express equality with European aristocracy.

Royal Yachts

A yacht was considered a, “Vessel of State, normally employed to convey princes, ambassadors or other great personages from one kingdom to another.”2 The definition, written in 1771, further states that a yacht was “usually fitted with a variety of convenient apartments, with suitable furniture, according to the quality of persons

2 William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine (London: T. Cadwell, 1771), quoted in Peter Heaton, Yachting: A History (London, B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 17. 221

contained therein. They are generally elegantly furnished and nobly ornamented with

sculpture.”3 By the time this definition was written, yachting in Great Britain had already

been established for over one hundred years and there was a distinction between royal

yachts and other yachts. Falconer pointed out, “there are many other yachts of a smaller

kind, employed by the commissioners of the Excise, navy and customs; or used as

pleasure-boats by private gentlemen.”4 Yachting, however, had been ‘invented’ long

before Great Britain began its love affair with the sport.

“Vessels of State” were principally used for the transport or pleasure of royalty.

They served as a communication of “statecraft-a symbol of power and wealth.”5

Hieroglyphics from Mesopotamia, dating back to 3000 B.C., adopted the bow of a ship as

the symbol for a god or royalty. The oldest known royal barge belonged to the Egyptian

Pharaoh Cheops. Interiors included a precursor to air-conditioning with the use of

dampened reed mats that lay across the cabintop. Evidence of this barge is in the tomb at

Giza’s Great Pyramid where it was buried with the Pharaoh for one last voyage. There

are numerous accounts of elite Greeks, Romans and Chinese displaying a tremendous

for yachts, both as a display of status and for pleasure. Descriptions of their interiors

include furnishings that suited their opulent style.6

The first notable account of a royal yacht was Cleopatra’s barge, in 42 B.C., when

Cleopatra was sailing up the Cydnus River in search of Mark Antony. Plutarch, wrote

3 Ibid., 17. 4 William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine (London: T. Cadwell, 1789 edition), quoted in John Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, Time-Life Books, The Sea-Farers Series (Alexandria, VA: Time- Life Books Inc., 1981), 17. 5 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 16. 6 Ibid., 17. 222

“the entire populace of the city rushed to the waterside. No vessel like this one had ever been seen before.”7 When Cleopatra invited Mark Antony aboard her barge,

He found the interior of the craft almost stupefyingly splendid, with scented air, purple-and-gold tapestried walls, and lights dancing off hundreds of burnished copper mirrors. On the embroidered dining couches, the Roman and his vassal Queen are from golden plates set with jewels and drank from golden goblets.8

Cleopatra used her yacht no doubt to capture the heart and mind of Mark Antony. The

yacht interiors impressed even this man who was accustomed to controlling great riches.

Cleopatra’s elaborate display of wealth and power onboard her barge was not a

royal anomaly, other rulers throughout the ages used yachts for pleasure and statecraft:

Ptolemy II, (c. 283-246 B.C.) owned a whole fleet of royal yachts, with both the stern and

the bow of each of them encased in gild gilt; Caligula (c. 37-41 A.D.) commissioned

several royal yachts with decks and companionways paved with mosaics and lined with

colored marble. Ownership of royal yachts became “contagious” and spread from

Europe to Great Britain by the seventh century. Rulers of England, Norway, and

Denmark each possessed vessels worthy of nobility; sails of royal purple, “sumptuously

gilt” and elaborate interior décor were used to “indulge in water-borne ceremonies

attended by much pomp and ritual.”9 Royal pleasure crafts became a fixture of royal

regalia for heirs, and thus yachts remained predominately in the hands of royalty until the

late eighteenth century, reserved for their pleasure. As monarchs included personal

yachts among their naval fleet, frequently escorted by a royal squadron of warships,

7 Plutarch, Plutarch Lives, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (Harvard University Press, 1948), quoted in Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 16. 8 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts,16. 9 Heaton, Yachting: A History, 18. 223

yachting developed into a royal sport. Mention of royal yachts is common in works

about European nobility, with the crowning efforts being found materials about Louis

XIV’s La Reale. Accounts and renderings of his yachts and their regal interiors show magnificent interiors that could compete with Versailles. Unfortunately, his yachts were more “ornament than efficiency” and they became outmoded.10

The sport of yachting that began with the Dutch in the seventeenth century spread to Great Britain by the seventh century. It was during the reign of Charles II, 1660-1685, that a new era yachting was introduced to England. Being a true lover of the seas, he enjoyed sailing in luxurious surroundings, and his yacht interiors took on serious décor with a grandiose effect.

Records from first hand boarders indicated that his yachts, “had the interior of the

cabins decorated and gilded, while some of the best artists have been engaged in making

beautiful paintings and sculptures with which to embellish it within and without.”11 Her

bulkheads were gilded and paneled in mahogany; the portholes and bedchambers were

hung with crimson damask with added Holland quilts and pewter chamber pots. She had

“eight ornamental cannon projected from her gunports, decorated with gilded wreaths”12 and was the vision of opulence. Throughout the decades, other royal yachtsmen from

Europe, Asia, and Russia joined the ranks by acquiring elegant and lavishly appointed yachts. The primary purposes of these yachts were to indulge nobility in water-borne activities, fan-fares, and rituals that accompanied royal duties. “Yacht cruising” and yacht racing remained exclusive activities for the nobility, who enjoyed these activities as well

10 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 22-23. 11 Ibid., 24. 12 Tim Madge, Royal Yachts of the World (Surrey, United Kingdom: Thomas Reed Publications, 1998), 30. 224

as the yacht interiors that were likewise fit for their pleasure. When the yacht

Hohenzollern II of his imperial German Majesty, Kaiser Wilhelm II, arrived in the New

York City in 1902 it awed the New York yachting society with interiors that were splendidly appointed. Not only was the “whole ship fitted with electric lights, then still a

novelty at sea,”13 but the dining room could expand to 75 feet or retreat to an intimate 25

feet. The family saloon was “decorated in blue and white with maple fittings” and

bathrooms were attached to every room, which New Yorkers found “extremely

strange.”14 The music room, “with an upright piano with oak cabinet work, and an open-

grate silver and porcelain fireplace. . . with chintz upholstery. Enough was seen of the

imperial dining room and the saloon, in blue and other quarters, to determine that a general plan of color, furnishing, and decoration was followed.”15 The main saloon was a

photographic gallery of yachting art, yacht models and “photographs of the Kaiser and

his family. Everywhere there were paintings, many of them recent, showing the growth

of Germany as a nation state and her naval victories.”16 Visitors saw art work of the

“Emperor’s Meteor, King Edward’s Britannia, the contests between Allsa, Britannia,

Meteor, and Satanita, and Thistle, and Meteor and Britannia. With them were

capital sketches . . . and yachting trophies.”17 Yacht cruising was a serious business and pleasure for the Kaiser. The interiors of his imperial yacht were an extension of his

German palace. The ownership and display of maritime art was an added expression of

13 Ibid., 78-79. 14 Ibid.. 15New York Times, “The Kaiser’s Yacht Arrives in Port,” February 13, 1902, page 1. 16 Madge, Royal Yachts of the World, 78-79. 17New York Times, “The Kaiser’s Yacht Arrives in Port,” February 13, 1902, page 1. 225 his noble position. Yachting, however, also soon became a democratic sport and spread among the social elite, eventually embracing the common man and woman.

The royal yacht that was most influential for the American luxury yacht industry was the Victoria and Albert. The first in a series of three, she was the first twin paddle steamer and just over 200 feet long. Launched in 1843, she became the “prototype for hundreds of similar yachts, many of them for royalty across Europe and around the world. One of the key points about the monarchy in Britain at this time was that it set the fashion . . . . If the British Queen had a luxury steam yacht, then so would the crowned heads of the European nations.”18 The British crown also set the fashion for the

American pre-Gilded Age society. The launch of the first Victoria and Albert not only set the precedent for other European courts, but for the observant yachtsmen in America who were just beginning their own yachts of luxury. It was this vessel that delivered

Queen Victoria to the famous One Hundred Guinea Cup in Cowes in 1851 and to the meeting on board America the following day.19

Wanting to upgrade and move into the nineteenth century, the HMY [Her

Majesty’s Yacht] Victoria and Albert II was launched on January 16, 1855. Measuring

360 feet, she was the pride of the Royal Navy until she was scrapped in 1904.The May

16, 1902 edition of the Chicago Tribune stated it well, saying, “The finest yachts in the world are owned in the United States. This, however, does not apply to the yachts owned by some of the royalties, notably the Victoria and Albert, the state vessel of King Edward

18 Madge, Royal Yachts of the World, 47. 19 The America had just won the first Hundred Guinea Cup, 1851, challenge that would soon be known as the America’s Cup challenge. Her decisive win brought the United States into the international yacht racing scene along with the European royalty. The America’s Cup became the most prestigious challenge in international yacht racing and introduced new technology in yacht design. 226

VII of England, and the Hohenzollern II, in which William II, Emperor of Germany, takes many a cruise.”20 The article is referring to the second HMY Victoria and Albert.

The HMY Victoria and Albert II was the epitome of royal commissioned yachts.

She was a classic Victorian steam paddle yacht and became the Queen’s favorite. The

interiors were the finest. As an example, the royal apartments aft

used a great deal of chintz at the specific insistence of Prince Albert, who involved himself a great deal in the interior design . . . [the Queen’s drawing room had] sides covered with chintz, and the hanging pictures were of the royal family in oval gilt frames. The furniture was a birds-eye maple, also in chintz coverings. There were two large sofas, one each end of the room, two or three easy chairs with others high-backed. There was an Erard piano, a bookcase with cabinet combined, writing tables, and an oval centre table.21

Used as a vessel of state, the Queen, the Prince of Wales and members of Parliament

were on board for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Review of all British and foreign

warships. The caption of the illustration in July 10, 1897 issue of Harpers Weekly, reads,

“The Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert passing between the Lines.”22 Dwarfed by the 21 and the 54 , the illustration clearly depicts a “royal-ness” about the

Queen’s yacht.

The social calendar for the royal yacht included family outings, vacations,

summer sports days, and the annual Christmas Day party for both royal family members

20Chicago Tribune, “Yachting the Sport of Kings,” May 16, 1902, n.p. 21 Madge, Royal Yachts of the World, 57. 22 “Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Review of the British and Foreign War-Ships at , June 26,” Harper’s Weekly, July 10, 1897. http://app/harpweek.com/viewartcletext.asp (accessed September 18, 2009), illustration page 689. 227

and the crew and their family.23 Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were

highly esteemed in the British court. They exhibited the lifestyle, social graces, and

opulence that were envied by American yacht owner’s intent on displaying similar

attributes to their social peers.

The enticement of royal yachts was their extension of a royal lifestyle from castle

to yacht that included their interiors. Unlike state yachts or Presidential yachts that will

be discussed later, the royal yacht “always brought magic of their own to the trappings of

state. . . [they] remain in the family as a private place to which their owners can retreat,

and fill with their own belongings, permanently placed.”24 Ownership of a royal yacht,

appointed with the world’s finest possessions, automatically placed the sovereign at an

unattainable level for the common subject. The Gilded Age American yachtsman was

not a subject, however, and took pleasure in the “unattainable” being made personally

attainable. “While the royal families of the Great Powers studied each other’s yachts at

the gatherings such as Cowes, so did the minor royals of Europe and beyond . . . even in

republican America, presidents were getting into the act.”25

Much to the dismay of the Gilded Age American social elite, the history of the

United States lacked a royal lineage to unite luxury yachts to aristocracy. The Americans

did however have the office of the President of the United States, and it was a natural

progression to invent Presidential yachts as an American expression of royal yachts.

23 Madge, Royal Yachts of the World, 106.

24 Ibid., 176. 25 Ibid, 83. “Great Powers” included the Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, the British monarchs, Victoria and Albert and the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas and Alexandria. The Russian royal yachts, Livadia, 1880, and Standart IV, 1895, rivaled the Hohenzollern II and Victoria and Albert III in size and interior furnishings.

228

Presidential Yachts

Presidential yachts, just as the royal yachts of European monarchs, were a mark of

great prestige and added luster to the aura of the position. The intended use of the yachts

was for sequestered “discussions of state, entertaining dignitaries and guests, and for just

plain well-deserved relaxation.”26 Their environment, away from the distractions of

government offices, lobbyists, and political ploys, allowed for “a convenient way for

Presidents to entertain their foreign visitors when they came to town . . . and a good place to strike up deals with Congressional leaders in private.”27 Although the yachts were

used for pleasure cruises, many important documents, treaties, military tactics, and

discussions took place on board these yachts.

The first semi-official Presidential yacht was the River Queen, a wooden side-

wheeled steamer built for commercial functions, on the waterways surrounding

Washington, D.C. The vessel, rented for President Lincoln’s use, lacked the lavish public

parlors and superior interior appointments that were in the Vanderbilt Hudson River

steam boats previously discussed in Chapter Three. Although President Lincoln stayed in a “special stateroom with satin drapes, a mahogany bed, and a walnut washstand,”28 the

main saloon was furnished in a functional style with built-in furniture, plain, practical

carpet and durable upholstery.29 The opulence of presidential yachts is witnessed later as the significance of a presidential yacht increases with the need to both mimic European

26 Raymond H. Folger, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1953-57, forward to Special Fleet: The History of the Presidential Yachts by Fred E. Crockett (Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 1985), 9. 27 “Yacht of the Presidents: The USS Sequoia,” under RoadTrip America-Presidential Yacht U. S. S. Sequoia, http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/ussequoi.htm (accessed November 3, 2009), paragraph 5. 28 Fred E. Crockett, Special Fleet: The History of the Presidential Yachts (Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 1985), 16. 29 Ibid. 229

royalty’s yachting habits as well as the luxury yachts of the wealthy American yachting

sportsman.

Unlike the royal yachts for European nobility, the origin of presidential yachts

was not intended for exclusive use for the President. They were vessels purchased by the

United States Navy for service within the military. For instance, the wooden hulled

steamer Despatch was originally used as a quick-dispatch by the U.S. government

between 1873 and1880. She was overhauled and refitted for use as the first official

presidential yacht in 1880. Her first official duty began with Rutherford B. Hayes on a

short trip on the Potomac River on November 9, 1880.30 She continued her service with

presidents Garfield, Cleveland, and Harrison and was used for “conducting inspection

tours, attending fleet review celebrations and ceremonies, and entertaining foreign

dignitaries.”31 Caught in gale force winds in October 1891, she was wrecked on

Assateague Island off the Virginia coast, all on board safely brought ashore.

The second presidential yacht, the Dolphin, was also commissioned as a

/dispatch naval vessel in 1885. After a full career of serving her country she was

converted to a presidential yacht in 1892 with a “complete interior facelift.” As

mentioned before, the development and apparent necessity for presidential yachts

paralleled the evolvement of the richly opulent privately owned luxury yachts. The re-

decoration of the Dolphin, decorators were commissioned decorators who

copied many of the interior appointments of some of the well-known, and luxurious, private yachts of the day, particularly those of J. P. Morgan’s Corsair II, James Gordon

30 “Presidential Yachts” under Presidential Yachts, http://home.mchsi.com/~cbretvet/Yachts/Yachts.html (accessed October 26, 2009), paragraph 2. 31 Crockett, Special Fleet, 25. 230

Bennett’s Namouna, and J. J. Astor’s Nourmahal. The president’s saloon had a swinging, Tiffany-style lamp, and the bulkheads were covered with plush fabric. The sideboards, wardrobes, writing-desks, and cupboards were designed to recreate the style of the finest homes of the time. Draperies of silk and satin separated the president’s stateroom from the saloon. It was an impressive display of Victorian opulence. The kitchen and dining room aboard the vessel were designed to afford quests all the luxury they would enjoy at any White House gathering.”32

The , another naval purchase was assigned to “special services at the

Norfolk Navy Yard” in 1898 and re-fitted as a presidential yacht for Presidents

McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson. Used frequently for family outings, entertainment, hosting royalty and official occasions of state, the Sylph was used alternately with both the Dolphin and the in service to the president.33

The fourth presidential yacht was the Mayflower. She was the only presidential yacht that was originally designed as a luxury steam yacht. It was originally built for

Ogden Goelet in 1896. She was purchased by the navy in 1898 and refitted as a naval as war between Spain seemed imminent. She became a presidential yacht in

1905, serving presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding and Coolidge before she was decommissioned in 1929. Among her presidential interiors, her main saloon was

“a large room made homelike with gay colored chintzes on the chairs and davenports, and blue silk curtains at the portholes, and blue silk lampshades and cushions. In one corner there is a baby grand piano,”34 and outside of the White House, she was the

presidential possession that most intrigued the public.35 Throughout her career her main

32 Ibid., 30. 33 Ibid., 38. 34 Ibid., 51. 35 From an article published in the New York Herald Tribune, 1927 quoted in Crockett, Special Fleet, 47. 231 saloon was the scene for many diplomatic and social events, with many members of the world’s royal families and international delegations on board.36 An article in The Los

Angeles Times (August 6, 1905), declares that history was “made in the President’s cabin” when the Japanese and Russian peace envoys met on board the Mayflower for the

“preliminary ice-breaking Portsmouth Conference.” The peace conference and negotiations were heralded as successful.37

Three more crafts joined the presidential yacht register before they were considered too grand a luxury. Presidential yachts, like their royal yacht counterparts and luxury yachts of the upper class, were an expensive possession to maintain. The

Williamsburg was disposed of as an “economy measure” under President Eisenhower as was the Sequoia under President Carter. According to Carter the Sequoia was costing taxpayers $800,000 annually to maintain and the expense could not be justified.

Ironically, when Dan A. Kimball, Secretary of the Navy during the Truman

Administration, was asked how he could justify the great expense of maintaining and operating the presidential yacht his reply was, “I do not justify it. I just enjoy it.”38

Currently there are no presidential yachts serving the President of the United States. Fred

Crockett says that the demise of the presidential yachts has eliminated a mark of prestige with the office and that they “now remain only a fading symbol of bygone days.”39

36 “Presidential Yachts,” under Haze Gray & Underway Photo Feature: Presidential Yachts http://www.hazegray.org/features/yachts (accessed October 26, 2009), paragraph 2. 37 “History Made in President’s Cabin,” Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1905, l1. 38 Raymond H. Folger, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1953-57, Foreword to Crockett, Special Fleet, 9. 39 Crockett, Special Fleet, 11. 232

American Yachting Background and Cleopatra’s Barge

Before Presidential yachts, the American colonies were initially maritime cultures

located close to the sea side and river tributaries. Ships were used to navigate the

Atlantic Ocean and maintain supplies and military ties between colonies and founding

European nations. It was the Dutch who introduced yachting to America. Though records do not exist, the first use of yachts in the Netherlands probably had an early date, based on the nature of their sea-surrounded country.40 The Netherlands was a legendary

mercantile and trade center of Europe by the mid-seventeenth century and boasted of

more merchant ships than any other European nation. Because of this success many

merchants could afford to invest in pleasure craft. A common sight on the Zuider Zee,

surrounding bays and canals, these pleasure craft were originally named Jaght schips.

The title evolved to “yacht,” and referred “less to the design and equipment of a vessel

than to its exclusive use as a pleasure craft.”41 The largest of these Dutch yachts were in

the East India Company fleet.42 When seeking new colonies the Dutch brought with them the skills of building merchant trade ships as well as their attachment to pleasure craft. America was the site of one of those new colonies with headquarters in New

Amsterdam. Engravings of the New York Harbor as early as 1717 show jaght schips skimming the bay.43

40 Heaton, Yachting: A History, 17-30. Multiple sourced identify the Netherlands as the creators of jachts as pleasure craft. A fuller discussion is found in Chapter Six and the development of schooners. 41 Dixon Wecter, The Saga of American Society: A Record of Social Aspiration, 1607-1937 (Hew York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970), 448-49. 42 Heaton, Yachting: A History, 20. 43 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 79. 233

After the Dutch government was forced out of America by Great Britain at the

close of the seventeenth century, yachting continued, but not at the grand scale that the

Dutch had introduced. It was not until the nineteenth century that yachting in the New

World came into its own. The first prominent American yacht was Cleopatra’s Barge launched October 21, 1816 out of Salem, Massachusetts.44 It then was promptly ice

locked in the harbor until the following spring.45 The owner, Captain George

Crowninshield Jr. (1766-1817), was no stranger to the maritime trade, having followed in

his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps. Developing his career, he began as a captain’s

clerk and eventually commanded vessels in the West Indies and Far Eastern trade routes.

At age forty-nine, George Crowninshield Jr. inherited his father’s money; he had no

immediate family and had retired from the maritime trades.46 Notorious for indulging in

various amusements, it is not surprising that yachting became one of his interests.

The only extant evidence of Cleopatra’s Barge “interior designer” is the bill from

the shipbuilder, Mr. Retire Becket.47 The expense for the “lyre-backed, gold-fringed sofas cost $400, the chandelier $150. Soon the word was about that, in toto, he had spent

$50,000 on the yacht.”48 It is assumed that the shipwright and her owner were

responsible for the interior appointments of the yacht, because the profession of yacht

designer did not develop until the mid-nineteenth century. Among radically non-Puritan

44 Ibid., 78. 45 Alexander Laing, The American Heritage History of Seafaring America (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974), 105. 46 Ibid., 104. 47 Retire Becket was a noted shipbuilder in Salem, Massachusetts. Using only Crowninshield’s desire to “make her a fast ship and spare no cost,” the ship was readied for launch on Christmas Day, 1816 and sailed for the Mediterranean, March30, 1817. Laing, The American Heritage History of Seafaring America, 104. 48 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986), 34. 234

features were First Empire-style furniture for below deck, “she was breathtaking. Her

many cabins had the eye-popping luxuriousness of one of Charles II’s royal yachts”49 and

within her cabin saloons, visitors were astonished “with its crystal chandelier, its gild-

mirrors, its lyreback sofas, and its chairs upholstered in red velvet and gold lace.

The china, crystal, silver, and all the furnishings had been picked out by the owner.”50

Her interiors according to Reverend William Bentley included, “settees with velvet cushions, chairs with descriptive paintings, mirrors, buffets loaded with plate of every name, and the best glass and porcelain.”51 Another observer noted:

The beams of the ceiling are edged with a gilt beading and two ropes covered with red silk velvet twisted with gold cord are passed along, to take hold of when the vessel rolls. There are two elegant sofas, about the length of four chairs each, the seats of similar velvet; a border of gold lace on the edge and deep red fringe. The design on the back is four harps, the strings of large brass wire, and the wood mahogany and burnt maple.52

She was a seaworthy craft owned by a seafaring man indulging in a unique taste of luxury.

She set sail for her first oceangoing venture on March 30, 1817. While in

America, Captain Crowninshield delighted visitors aboard his yacht. News had traveled across the ocean telling of the regal interior appointments of Cleopatra’s Barge. She was hailed at every port with local authorities and curious guests. Some boarded for business, some for duty, but most came for the pleasure of witnessing American craftsmanship and wealth. Benjamin Crowninshield, the owners’ cousin and the yacht,s captain commented that his relative, referred to in a sarcastic manner as “His Lord,”

49 Ibid. 50 Laing, The American Heritage History of Seafaring America, 104. 51 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 81. 52 Ibid. 235

presented his letters of introduction to local dignitaries, entertained them handsomely on board, and then threw the ship open to all comers. The response was overwhelming. They begin to crowd on board at daylight and continue to press upon us till night. They must see the saloon; examine the buffet; hear the dissertation on bird’s eye maple; know the price of each article in America; take some wine and what with seasickness among the ladies, the strong and offensive odors of friars, beggars, and garlic, the company below is obliged to undergo a regular inquisition.53

The port call of the yacht to Barcelona recorded over 8,000 visitors, all bouncing

on and fingering the precious objects on board.54 The sailors were obliged to continually

clean, repaint, refit, repair and redecorate the furnishings of the yacht after each port-of- call. Cleopatra’s Barge made a lasting impression in Europe, and though luxury yachting was still fifty years away, she was far ahead of her time. Cleopatra’s Barge set

her own styles and introduced lavish living centered on the social scene of a yacht, a first

in the United States.55 She set the initial standard for what was to come. By the mid-

nineteenth century “Maritimo Villegature” or yachting had become an extremely

fashionable pastime, resulting in a lifestyle alteration for the summer and autumn social

activities. Instead of renting a villa while in Europe, many families such as American

industrialists, including the Henry Clay Frick’s family, chose to rent a yacht in Europe for

53 Laing, The American Heritage History of Seafaring America, 106. 54 Bill Robinson, Legendary Yachts: The Great American Yachts from Cleopatra’s Barge to (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1978), 24. 55 The reconstructed captain’s quarters and dining saloon of George Crowninshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge are located at the Peabody Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts. The dining saloon might have been the parlor of a New England ship owner’s mansion. It is a superb example of ship construction and luxurious interior appointments. After the cruise to the Mediterranean, Captain Crowninshield suffered an untimely death. Cleopatra’s Barge was stripped of her finery and auction off as a trading vessel. Her original purpose was restored however, as she served as the royal yacht for King Kamehameha I in the Hawaiian Islands. William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958), 30. 236

the social season. The objectives were to seek repose, escaping the “turmoil of [a] busy

life, its political incidents and all its worries.”56

Characteristics of the dawning age of luxury yachts included the formation of

numerous local yacht clubs, a great amount of new yacht building, and wagers for the

fastest yacht. As a new institution, luxury yachting beckoned quick response with no

regard to uniformity. Yachts were grouped together without consideration to length

overall, tonnage, sail footage, or keel versus centerboard. As a result classification and

measurement rules were needed to clarify and regulate races and regattas. This in turn

had an unspoken effect on social attitudes and status.

Yacht Measurement and Racing Rules

Noted American maritime historian, Howard Chapelle says: “The best way to

show the trends of yacht design is to follow the changes in racing rules and to discuss the

most distinguished yacht designers of each period in yachting history.”57 There was one

requirement that altered the design of yachts. It was the standardization of

measurements. This in turn, altered the racing rules. One of the main sporting proposes

of a yacht club’s existence was to host regattas and ensure that they were a fair

competition. The beginnings of yachting for pleasure and yachting for competition in

America are during the same era. In the early days of yachting, racing and cruising were

accomplished with the same yacht. Chapelle notes that, “adding to the importance of the measurement rules, yachting history has shown that the racer sets the fashion for cruising

56 Hebe Dorsey, Age of Opulence: The Belle Époque in the Paris Herald, 1890-1914 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986), 165. 57 Howard Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: Bonanza Books, 1985), 322-23. 237

yachts and when the racer is of a vicious type, so is the .”58 In fact, various Cup

challengers and defenders along with trans-Atlantic competitions were usually the

family’s luxury yacht. For example, as will be discussed in Chapter Six, both Galatea

and Coronet were designed first as luxury yachts, and then they accepted the challenge of

a competition. It is not until the America’s Cup became a fervent quest during the 1870s,

that yachts as racers and yachts as a luxury cruiser were differentiated.

The measurement rules began in the United States shortly before the America win in 1851.59 Yachts for racing became the new “toy” of the wealthy American man and

with the added momentum and confirmation supplied by the newly-created New York

Yacht Club; handicaps were created to equalize the competition between different yachts.

The motives for a fair competition required consistent enforcement of a standardized set

of racing rules based on conduct and equipment.

The original measurement using the Custom House Tonnage Measurement as a

guide was a comparison of displacement by either measuring the half-model or actually

weighing the yacht in a balance dock.60 Because the method was cumbersome, the

measurements were altered throughout the era to reflect accuracy and progression of

yacht technology. Later handicap measurements included tonnage, overall length, beam,

depth, sail area, and length at waterline.61 Since the New York Yacht Club set the

yachting “fashions” and standards for the rest of the country, other small and local yacht

clubs followed suit creating their own measurement rules. Challenges between clubs

58 Ibid., 305. 59 Ibid., 316. 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid. For further discussion pertaining to measurements and yacht handicaps see Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 316-17 238

caused confusion with classes of yachts and raised questions as to fair competition. In

the June, 1904 issue of Outing Magazine, John Hyslop, the “Official Measurer

Larchmont and Seawanhaka Yacht Clubs” addressed the inconsistencies of yacht

measurements.62 He begins his article stating that

There is, perhaps, no question of equal important, and of equally wide interest, in regard to which there is such variety and uncertainty of opinion as on that of yacht measurement, and it would, perhaps be difficult to name any other, where there is the same absence of agreement and clear perception of the scope and function, which it should be the office of a good rule to serve.63

His article discusses in detail the inconsistencies of yachting rules and measurements

throughout the American yacht club system. Using diagrams and algebraic calculations,

Hyslop addressed varying rules that concern water-line, speed, length and tonnage. Each

section detailed the discrepancies and met with a chiding comment. His remarks about

yacht displacement are an example:

taking under review the recent changes in the rules of four of our local organizations, in the order of their action – Larchmont and Seawanhaka Clubs simultaneously – N. Y. and Y. R. A. of Long Island Sound – and adding to some notice of the British Y. R. A., it may be stated that all of these, either directly or incidentally as the effect of their rules, take displacement into account in some degree, though the extent to which they do this differs widely.64

Resources of the time period such as The New York Times, Rudder, and Outing

Magazine, give accounts of a regatta, telling the reader that the race was under the

62 John Hyslop, “Yacht Measurement: Its Present Condition, and Review of Recent Club Action,” Outing Magazine, June 1904, vol. XLIV, No. 3, 360-64. John Hyslop was also a “very able amateur” that designed and constructed a centerboard cutter Petrel in 1876, a modified keel cutter, Volante in 1877 and two more cutters, Muriel and Yolande in 1878. Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 371. 63 Hyslop, “Yacht Measurement,” 360. 64 Ibid., 360-64. 239

“Larchmont Rule,” the “Seawanhaka Rule,” the “New York Rule” or any number of local

yacht club rules depending on the host club. Initiated by the New York Yacht Club in

1903, measurement rules eventually evolved into the “Uniform Measurements” and the

“Universal Rating Rule” that was adopted by all yacht clubs.65 Until the adoption of

uniform racing rules occurred, however, yacht designers were required to alter their

designs in order to accommodate the measurement requirements of clients from different

yacht clubs.66

One final observation from the Hyslop article confirms the prestige of the New

York Yacht Club and the discrepancy between yacht clubs rules and problems with agreeing on measurements. “NOTE: Since the foregoing was written the Atlantic Yacht

Club have made a change in their rule which briefly stated, may be said to bring them

into close accord with the rule of the New York Yacht Club.”67 The New York Yacht

Club had after all been racing its club boats under the Universal Rule since 1903.68

The Yacht Designer and Builder

During the Gilded Age, yacht designers and builders were part of an emerging industry, just as architecture and interior design were also in their initial stages of development. The profession of interior design is a by-product of architecture. The same

65 For further discussion pertaining to measurements and yacht handicaps see Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 316-17. For a discussion regarding the history of international racing and measurement rules see John Rousmaniere, “International Sailing Federation,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History II, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 255-257. 66 According to William P. Stephens “a movement was inaugurated for an international conference on the subject of uniform racing rules” in March 1905 to convene in London 1906. After a four-day conference, the Yacht Racing Association Rule was changed to include several details in regards to formulas, waterline lengths, girth multipliers and sail factors. William P. Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting (Brooklin, Maine: WoodenBoat Publications, Inc., 1989), 128. 67 John Hyslop, “Yacht Measurement,” 360. 68 Gregory O. Jones, Herreshoff – Sailboats (St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company 2004), 112. 240

development occurred for yacht designers; they evolved from the shipbuilding profession

also known as shipwrights. Both industries were fueled by desires of the elite Gilded

Age client. Architects and interiors designers gained favor through their arts and “as the

sport of yachting grew in strength and favor with the young century [19th], a distinct class

of yacht builders developed on the east coast; men of no education, but who by ancestry

and training knew the sea and boats.”69 Their method of construction was sometimes a

success and sometimes a failure, using a rule-of-thumb and a stereotypic model of a

successful yacht. They lacked the niceties of what many considered “abstract naval

science.” Events, however, changed the course of professional yacht building in the

United States.

The first event occurred in 1851 with the victory of the American schooner,

America over the fifteen yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron for the One Hundred

Guineas Cup that became known as the America’s Cup. The second occurred in 1856

with the publication of Yachts and Yacht Building, being a Treatise on the Construction

of Yachts, and Matters Relating to Yachts authored by an English amateur yachtsman,

Philip R. Marett. The book presented the idea of a yacht designer, referred to as a naval

architect, as a separate profession.70 Marett noted the shipbuilders possessed only

“imperfect knowledge of the theory of .”71 But for decades the work of designing, remained “in the hands of the professional builder.” The shipwright

69 W. P. Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer: First Paper – English Designers,” Outing Magazine, October 1901, vol. XXXIX, no. 1, 49-53. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing?Volume_39/outXXXIX01/outXXXIX01k.pdf (accessed August 10, 2007), 49. 70 Ibid., 51 71 Philip R. Marett, Yachts and Yacht Building, Being a Treatise on the Construction of Yachts, and Matters Related to Yachting, June 1856, as quoted in Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 77. 241

worked by “eye, following traditional models, or copying lines of sweet sailing vessels

they had known.”72 W. P. Stephens, an early yacht designer, discusses the initial phases

of the yacht designer, likewise observed that the “transition from the master shipwright to

the naval architect as the controlling mind in the production of a vessel has been a slow

and gradual process occupying the greater part of the past century, and in yachting it has

been even more tardy than in naval and commercial design.”73

The introduction of “yacht designer” as a profession demanded greater skills and attention to yacht technology on the part of the yacht builders. Although agitated by the introduction of yacht designing, “the builders really benefited in spite of themselves . . . as they were more compelled by degrees to give more attention to matters of design and to modern methods.”74 Gradually, yacht builders and yacht designers co-existed and

gained the attention of their wealthy clientele. There were two steps, according to W. P.

Stephens, however, that needed to take place before the Gilded Age of yachting could

launch into extravagance. The first was “the general adoption on the part of all

prominent builders of the accepted methods of planning and drafting; the second was the

separation of the two functions of designer and builder, through the recognition of the

professional yacht designer.”75 After reconciliation between the designers and the

builders, renown builders were sought out by both the designer and the client. Expert

builders were in demand because of their skill and perfection in building a luxury yacht.

Evidence of yacht builders’ successes were listed in popular press articles each season,

72Capt. Alan Villiers, Men, Ships, and the Sea (Washington, D. C.: National Geographic Society, 1962), 72. 73 Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer,” 49. 74 Ibid., 51. 75 Ibid., 52. 242

along with the accolades for yacht designers, architects and interior designers. For

example, the “Our Monthly Record: Yachting” editorial section of the March 1884

edition of Outing Magazine names nine yacht builders and their corresponding ship yards with the names of the owner and yacht followed by details of each yacht under construction that season. The section is placed between reports of yacht purchases and

club meetings.

The summary paragraph in M. Roosevelt Schuyler’s 1891 article in Outing

Magzine best summarizes the switch of rank granted to yacht builders within society. He

says, “enough has been said to indicate that evolution in yacht building is a branch of or

assimilated to social evolution rather than natural evolution.”76 They too melded into the

social scene and increased their numbers so that some of the master builders are well

known and “the list could be stretched into dozens with the names of others as capable.”77

Although the craft of shipbuilding dates to antiquity, the term “yacht designer” is a mid- to late-nineteenth century creation. The British yachting society was the first to implement the importance of yacht design versus yacht building. The need for scientific application to yacht construction, and subsequently performance, began with a series of articles and lectures. In 1872, in an appeal for the improvement of naval architecture,

Henry Higgins read an article at a conference for the Institute of Naval Architects that expressed that “up to present time the designs of yachts have been made by gentlemen who carry out the construction, working magnificently well, but who so completely guide

76M. Roosevelt Schuyler, “Evolution in Yacht Building,” Outing Magazine, April, 1891, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, 19-26, http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_18/ouyXVIII01/outXVIII01d.pdf#x (accessed August 24, 2007), 26. 77 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 307. 243

themselves by rule of thumb, and not by scientific knowledge, that it is really all a chance

as to how vessels turn out.”78 Throughout the 1870s and 1880s entreaties were made on

many fronts by several men to enhance the yacht construction with a yacht designer.

Evidence that yacht designer as a profession was not recognized is found in the yachting

publications. “Until 1886 no distinction was made between builder and designer in

Hunt’s Universal Yacht List [the premier British yachting publication]; in Olsen’s

American Yacht List the distinction between builder and modeler appears in 1875;

Manning’s Yachting Annual names only the builder. It is not until 1884 that Lloyd’s

Yacht Register (British) entered both designers and builders.”79 Prior to 1887, Manning’s

gave only the names of the builders, ignoring the designers; in early records the term

“modeler” was employed, that of the designer being unknown.80 American yacht owners

were either registered in the British Lloyd’s Yacht Register or in the Fox’s Yachting

Annual the first official summary of yachting.81 In the Fox’s initial publication of 1872, a

list of prominent yacht builders and designers, as there was no differentiation yet,

includes George Steers, Nathanial Herreschoff, and C. & R. Poillon,82 (all associated with

yachts studied in this dissertation). As will be discussed later in the chapter, Lloyd’s

Register of American Yachts was not published until 1903. The height of the yachting era

78 Paper read by Henry Higgins at the March 22, 1872 meeting of the Institute of Naval Architects, as quoted in Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 78. 79 Ibid., 83. 80 Ibid., 11. 81 Fox’s Yachting Annual was first published in 1872 by Edward Fox, the first American yacht broker. The contents of the booklet were listings of yacht clubs, yacht builders, sailmakers and yachtsmen. 82 The brothers C. and R. Poillon were shipwrights who specialized in the construction of yachts and pilot- boats; they had a shipyard and sawmill on the Brooklyn waterfront, later moving to Gowanus Creek. Their foreman, William Townsend, did most of their yacht designs. For a detailed list of their clients and all the yachts they constructed see wwwBy-The-Sea.com. Their importance and impact on yacht building is discussed in Chapter Six during the analysis of Coronet. 244 was in full celebration by the time the first yacht designer was recognized by the industry in the late1800s. Nevertheless, yacht designers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean strove to propel the profession, make amends where necessary to conduct business, and make names for themselves within the elite yachting groups. Schuyler observed:

We refer to the delight and satisfaction which one interested in such subjects derives from taking his drawing board and instruments, designing the vessel, figuring the centre of gravity of her proposed displacement . . . and all the multitudinous elements which enter into the construction of a boat, and which must be accurately adjusted between themselves on paper before a successful boat can be built. To make out specifications for the builder, to enjoy personal supervision of the actual construction of the yacht, to watch her grow as the carpenters, blacksmiths, riggers and sail makers fulfill their allotted tasks.83

The prolonged dispute between designer and builder coupled with the delayed acknowledgement and publication of designer names leaves extant records limited and sketchy in content. While most of the Gilded Age yachts can be traced to a specific shipyard, names of builders and designers are limited or not even known. Builders are identified with some yachts and no designers are mentioned. The converse also occurs; the designer name is known but builder names are absent. What is evident is that the yachts of well- known clients usually have a provenance of designers and builders. Some designers, such as Nathaniel Herreshoff, had his own shipyard. Other designers contracted building yards that offered the skills necessary to complete the design. The final analysis of yacht builders and designers occurs “when gazing upon the last graceful

83 Schuyler, “Evolution in Yacht Building,” 22-23. 245 creation of some noted designer swimming upon a summer sea”84 one realizes the expertise of the designer and the craftsmanship of the builder.

Yacht Designers 1819-1938

The most important designers of American yachts during the era of study were

George Steers, John Beavor-Webb, Edward Burgess, Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff. It was Steers, however, that set the standard for yacht design as a new and upcoming profession by happenstance.

George Steers, 1819-1856

As with any accomplished business man, yacht designers, as they will be referred to hereafter, were associated with their success record. Distinguished and speedy yachts gained the attention of the wealthy constituents. For Mr. George Steers, the first yacht builder in New York, his career began with the advent of American yachting and is considered the “first on the list, a shipwright (with all that the term implies) by birth and training, and the modeler and builder of war vessels, sailing ships, pilot-boats, and yachts.”85 George Steers began his yacht building career in 1838 just as

the evolution of the American can be said to have started in 1839-40 with the building of the 90-foot waterline schooner Onkahye [owned by the Steven’s brothers]86 . . . when the Onkahye was being designed, the sport of yachting was confined to New York and Boston, for only in these two cities were there men who had the wealth, leisure and interest or tradition conducive to owning pleasure craft.87

84 Ibid., 26. 85 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 48. 86 William H. Turner and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958), 33. The Steven’s brothers are considered a critical aspect in the development of yachting in the United States. They were a well renowned family of yacht and steam-powered designers living and sailing in Hoboken, . 87 Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 304-305. 246

Prior to this new design and Steers’ creativity, “yachts were not distinctive in form, but

were modeled after commercial and fishing crafts.”88

His close association with the Stevens brothers expanded into a commission for

Steers to design the Gimcrack, the luxury schooner of John Cox Stevens, who became the

founding Commodore of the New York Yacht Club.89 It was on board the Gimcrack July

30, 1844, that the New York Yacht Club was organized.

Steers came from a family of shipwrights, whose business was a small marine

railway, a ship house and naval war-schooners. Considered a “young mathematical

genius, George went to public school and helped in the boat shop where his father built small, fast craft for the gentleman yachtsman of the day. . . by 1838, he was creating the boats whose names are cornerstones of the history of American yacht design.” 90 He was familiar with theory, scientific principles, the practice of naval design, and employed it in his daily routine as a builder and designer. His initial design specialty was pilot schooners but his lasting fame is linked to his yacht designs. In addition to Gimcrack he designed over sixteen other yachts, familiar to yacht historians, including the famous

America.91

Two years prior to the America contract, which was initiated by his friend John

Cox Stevens, Mr. Steers had designed and modeled a pilot-boat, . It was a

marked contrast to his previous designs. Instead of the accepted and familiar designs of

88 Turner and Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, 31. 89 Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 308. 90 Melissa H. Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994 (Lyme, CT: Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc., 1994), 21. 91 Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 308-309. Examples of his yacht designs are the schooners Cygnet, Cornelia, Siren, Sybil, Norma and Haze; He also designed centerboard sloops Una, and Sylvia. Expanding his design expertise he also created keel sloops successfully; Ray, Sport and L’Esperance as examples. 247

American and English schooners, the “cod’s head and mackerel tail,” (the bow is bluff

and the stern is narrow) he designed her with a “long, hollow entrance and a relatively

short run.”92 Perfect timing and design ingenuity placed him “as a maker of yachting

history, both national and international, a turning point in yacht design, and a stimulus to

the sport on both sides of the Atlantic, the schooner America stands out prominently.”93

An account of Steers’ process is described in A.B.C. Whipple’s The Seafarers: The

Racers book, 1980.

Following the standard practices of the day, George Steers first whittled out a model, reshaping and refining it until he had precisely what he wanted. Then he took off the model’s lines and scaled them up to the full size of the yacht, bending wooden battens that he positioned on the mold-loft floor. Pacing back and forth over these outlines of the yacht-to-be, Steers would slide one batten in one direction and nudge another an inch or two the other way, moving them back and forth until he had exactly the right shape. He then nailed the battens to the mold-loft floor, and the yachtsmen began cutting timers to match.94

The successful design of America was based on his New York pilot-boat design.95 She was a “typical New York , though below, the mahogany sofas were covered with velvet and the decorations were Chinese white and gold. She was 101 feet, 9 inches long over all, 90 foot, 3 inch waterline, 23 foot extreme beam and 11 foot . She carried 5,263 feet of sail.”96 The precedence set by Steers’ inaugural yacht design of

92 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 7. 93 Ibid. 94 A. B. C. Whipple, The Seafarers: The Racing Yachts (Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books Inc., 1980), 35-36. An example of a model-loft floor can be found at the Main Maritime Museum located in Bath, Maine. 95 John Rousmaniere, “Yachting and Pleasure Sailing: The Battle for Weatherliness,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History IV, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 449. 96 Taylor and Rosenfeld The Story of American Yachting, 106. 248

America was still being discussed by yacht designers and maritime historians in the next century. W. J. Henderson points out that “the Cup was won by the famous old schooner

America in 1851, and for thirty years not a single vessel turned out for the express

purpose of sailing in a contest for the cup except Mr. James Ashbury’s second venture

Livonia97 . . . it was not, however, till 1885 that the designing of yachts to fight for the

Cup really began.”98 The article “America’s Cup” continues with a timeline of designers, yacht names and dimensions throughout the history to the 1899 Cup challenge between

Shamrock and Columbia.99

Steers success was acknowledged and applauded by four hundred gentlemen at a

feast in his honor, January 9, 1852. Shipbuilders and leading ship owners presented

Steers with goblets, service plates and two pitchers, one engraving read: “Presented to

Mr. George Steers. As a testimonial of respect for his mechanical skill [it] evinced in the

construction of the yacht “America.”100 The rest of the evening was regaled with toasts and applause including the United States President, Millard Fillmore, who “drank standing” and hailed the new celebrity with “A name beloved by twenty three millions of free people, and honored by uncounted millions longing to enjoy with us the sacred and intimable blessings: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Free Suffruge, and all the

97 The Livonia was an English cutter, built in 1871, “smart in brisk winds and a jump of a sea,” that challenged and was “the only Englishman that ever won a race in the series for the America’s Cup. 98 W. J. Henderson, “Influence of the America’s Cup on Designing,” Outing Magazine, vol. XXXVIII, no. 5 (August 1901). http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibraryOuting/Volume38_/outXXXVIII05/outXXXVIII05d.pdf (accessed August 24, 2007), 508. 99 The Shamrock was the first of three yachts that British Sir Thomas Lipton would use to challenge for the America’s Cup. None of Lipton’s yachts, Shamrock, Shamrock II or Shamrock III, won the Cup. The Columbia won the 1899 challenge and was designed by Nathaniel G. Herreschoff, of , Rhode Island. 100 “The Yacht America and her Builder. Dinner to Mr. George Steers,” The New York Times, January 10, 1852. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract/html, (accessed March 9, 2010), paragraph 2. 249

rights of man to self government.”101 Steer’s fame did not wane and his yacht design

and building business catapulted into great success and further victories. “From that time

forward [the design and triumph of America] his boats became the recognized superiors

in their respective classes. He built the and the Sybil for the New York Yacht

Club. The construction of these boats was followed by orders so fast that he was taxed

for time and facilities to fill them.”102

The significance and impact of Steers’ evolutionary designs was that “for over forty years, from the days of Mary Taylor and America, the accepted form for forebody

had been based on a very fine entrance, a hollow line . . .this form was common alike to

American and British designers, accepted as correct.”103 He combined his training, work ethic and dreams to produce a sweeping change in yacht design that met with the demands of the rising Gilded Age yachting industry. He engaged in designing and building steamships for the United States such as the Niagara (not to be confused with

Gould’s luxury yacht Niagara) and choosing not to limit himself to the confines of the

United States, he struck up a deal with the Russian Czar to produce “$1,000,000 worth of boats.”104

Unfortunately because of Steers’ untimely death, September 26, 1856, the Czar’s

boats were never produced. Forever revered in yachting society, a tribute in the March

29, 1896 edition of The New York Times declares: “International yacht racing has been

for years a contest of ideas upon yacht designing. The cup won by the America years

101 Ibid., paragraph 6. 102 “The America’s Designer: George Steers, the Famous Long Island Shipbuilder,” The New York Times, March 29, 1896. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract/html, (accessed March 9, 2010), paragraph 8. 103 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 151. 104“The America’s Designer,” paragraph 21. 250

ago, and since then the object of almost yearly contest, came to this country originally

because George Steers, the designer of the America, assorted new ideas as to the proper

construction of yachts.”105 It was George Steers that set the bar for the yachting designers to achieve and eventually surpass. His legacy continued when another

prominent designer re-worked his designs into very successful racers, Nathaniel

Herreschoff. George Steers revolutionized yacht design by discarding the round-apple

bows of the day in favor of a long-hollow entrance. Forty years later, N. G. Herreschoff

brought about another revolution by discarding the hollow bow and replacing it with a

convex curve, nick-named the “-bow.”106

John Beavor-Webb, 1849-1927

An Irishman by birth, John BeavorWebb grew up in an atmosphere of yachting at

Ryde, Isle of Wight. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, he began an engineering

career in London, while maintaining an interest in yachting which grew into a different

career.107 He owned and raced his own “fleet” of yachts while learning the craft of yacht

design. His first important commission as a yacht designer was Freda, 1879 but it was not until 1884 that he built his first racing yacht, Genesta, owned by Sir Richard Sutton

and destined to be an America’s Cup challenger, 1885. The following year, another

challenge was issued by Lieutenant Richard Henn, R. N. and Beavor-Webb was hired to design the Galatea. Although both yachts lost their challenges it was “the early training of Beavor-Webb as an engineer [that] was a great help to him as a designer. Wood was rapidly giving place to metal in yacht construction . . . in this work he had an advantage

105 Ibid., paragraph 2. 106 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 235. 107 Ibid., 407. 251

over rival designers educated solely as naval architects . . . the engineering in both

Genesta and Galatea was of a very high order, even down to minor details of hull, deck,

and spar metalwork specifically designed.”108 After moving to the United States, in

1885, he built a yacht designing business, gained the attention of J. P. Morgan. He was commissioned to not only design Morgan’s Corsair II, but Corsair III also, both yachts

larger versions of the previous Corsair.109 Considered among the largest steam yachts of

their day, A. J. Kenealy expressed the opinions of many when he admitted that,

I think I would endure all the annoyances inseparable from the lot of a millionaire just for the joy of calling the Corsair mine. I am not envious in the least, as a rule, but there is something about the “yachty” look of the handsome vessel that makes me covet her and want to steal her in spite of certain scriptural injunctions to the contrary. I know it is sinful, but I can’t help it.110

The craftsmanship of Beavor-Webb and elegant interiors of the Corsair’s were renowned for an overt display of wealth, “fabulous figures of millions.” Kenealy continues to comment that if Sir Thomas Lipton were to view the Corsair he would have to admit that the Americans knew how to build steam yachts, but that he may “find consolation in the circumstance that her grace and beauty were owing to the artistic eye of one of his countrymen, fort Mr. Beavor Webb, her designer, is also an Irishman.”111

The question might arise as to why an Irish yacht designer has a prominent place

in the research of American Gilded Age yachts. The same question was asked in 1896

108 Ibid., 408. 109 Ibid., 86. 110 A. J. Kenealy, “The New Yachts of the Year,” Outing Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, no. 3, June 1899. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_34/outXXXIV03/ooutXXXIV03g.pdf (accessed August 16, 2007), 246. 111 Ibid. 252

by R. B. Buchard, when trying to explain the reasons for the proposed yacht tax bill to the

yachting public because the bill “stirred up the wealthier class of yachtsmen and evoked

the enthusiasm of the builders and extreme protectionists.”112 The object of the bill was

to “check, both by tax and restriction of privileges, the spending of American money in

British ship-yards . . . the conditions under which Americans on pleasure bent luxuriate in foreign-built yachts” was probably the result of the publication that four American gentlemen, peers of J. P. Morgan, “Messrs. Eugene Higgins, A. J. Drexel, and Robert Goelet, are each building large steam-yachts in Scotland, which will involve an aggregate outlay of over a million dollars.”113 Burchard’s account for this foreign allegiance was that the “English ones are better as well as cheaper than in America . . .

[they] have neglected the vital element of scientific designing” and that even this legislation would not compel the “American Croesus to buy a make-shift yacht for his floating palace.”114

Although the tax alone would probably not “prevent the wealthy yachtsman from

placing his order where he felt that he could be best satisfied,”115 the bill was designed to support and protect the American yacht designer and builder. What the United States

Congress may have neglected to notice was the potential that America’s yachting elites preferred to align their social standings with European yachting dynasties. He continues to argue that the competitive racing spirit of the American designers had in fact produced

112 R. B. Buchard “Yachting,” Outing Magazine, Vol. XXVIII, no. 3, June 1896. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_28/outXXVIII03/ooutXXVIII03g.pdf (accessed August 10, 2007), 49. 113 Ibid. 114 Ibid. 115 Ibid. 253

a school of designers that were equal in number and ability with their English confrères,

but they were losing the bids for luxurious steam yachts.

Although Beavor-Webb had a proven track record as an expert yacht designer his

Irish nationality associated him with European savoir-faire; a convenience for wealthy

American’s searching for legitimate social confirmations. His adopted New York City

address placed him in close proximity to Boston, the yachting design headquarters of

Edward Burgess.

Edward Burgess, 1848-1891

The term “professional yacht designer” did not exist in the United States prior to

the 1880s. It was the yacht builder, or shipwright, that determined the shape of the

yacht’s hull and though he may be a skilled shipwright, the translation of an owner’s

desire was usually a result of "intuition, tradition and age-old rule-‘ol-thumb methods that

held sway over any orderly, scientific principles of design.”116 Yacht construction also

had to take into account the measurement rules of the owner’s yacht club membership(s),

as each had their own individual measurement rules. On the international racing scene,

yacht measurements differed between nations, making the uniformity more strained.

Regardless, yacht designers on both sides of the Atlantic proceeded with perfecting their craft and notoriety. Tied closely to the career of the British yacht designer John Beavor-

Webb, was the career of American yacht designer Edward Burgess.

Born into a wealthy merchant and ship owning family on Cape Cod, Edward

Burgess chose to pursue a career in entomology. His professorship at Harvard College was ended when “financial reversals overtook his father, and in 1883 he and his brother

116 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 72. 254

Sidney took a small office in Boston and announced themselves as yacht designers and

brokers.”117 A challenge for the America’s Cup was issued to the New York Yacht Club

in December 1884 from Sir Richard Sutton owner of Genesta and Lieutenant William

Henn, R. N. owner of Galatea, both yachts designed by John Beavor-Webb. The interest

in maintaining ownership of the America’s Cup was felt by yachtsmen up and down the

Eastern seaboard. A group of Boston yachtsmen, “determined that Boston should be

represented with New York in the defense of the Cup.”118 Burgess, although lacking

tried qualifications, had social position, Harvard training, membership in the Eastern

Yacht Club and “was intimately associated with Gen. Paine, J. Malcom Forbes, the

Bryants and other prominent eastern yachtsmen.”119 Funded by the wealthy Bostonians,

Burgess designed the Puritan. He “demonstrated that a racing yacht combining the best

qualities of both the British and American national types was superior to either model.”120 The 1885 America’s Cup defender had the “elements of the deep-hulled

British cutter and the wide-beam American sloop.”121 Contrary to British opinion, she

was “designed by a native-born Yankee . . . and her success carried with it the

instantaneous adoption of many principles of design which had thus far been opposed as

heterodox by American yachtsmen.”122 Although the New York crowd dubbed the boat

the “Boston bean boat,” Burgess celebrated the victory with a somersault on her deck

117 W. P. Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer: Part I – The American Designers,” Outing Magazine, November 1901, Vol. 39, no. 2, 223-228. http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_39/outXXXIX02/outXXXIX02.pdf (accessed March 11, 2010), 226. 118 Ibid.. 119 Ibid.. 120 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 38. 121 Ibid., 128 122 Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer: Part I,” 227. 255

after she defended the coveted Cup. It was the design of the Puritan that ushered in

“yacht designer” as a profession and into the vocabulary of the yachting industry. W. P.

Stephens validates this with his comment in 1901, saying, “The success of an American

who was pre-eminently a yacht designer and in no way a builder, who worked from a

design on paper and not from the cut model, clinched the long dispute in favor of the

trained designer and naval architect as first cause in the production of a vessel.”123

During his lifetime, Burgess-designed boats dominated the American yachting scene. For example he created 207 ships and yachts, three of which defended the

America’s Cup in his short seven-year career.124 His combination of innate design skills,

scientific background and consistent production of superior yachts made him a celebrity

in his own day. So much so, that the grateful citizens of Boston “presented him with a

new home and more than $30,000 in monetary gifts” in 1887.125 The gift and celebrity

status were both a result of the high profile America’s Cup win of 1885 and represented a

coup for the ever-present Eastern Yacht Club versus New York Yacht Club rivalry.

The ongoing inconsistency of yacht measurements and classifications were a

concern for Burgess. In 1890 he argued for regulated measurements saying: “If I were a

sort of yachting dictator, I would limit each class, not only by length, but by draught and

beam, and with a fair tax on sail let it go at that; but nobody seems to agree with me in

123 Ibid. 124 Robert McKenna, The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy (Camden, Maine: McGraw-Hill , 2001), 48. Edward Burgess was a Harvard professor of entomology that turned his hobby of yachting into a successful business. In 1885 he designed Puritan that defeated Genesta; in 1886 his Mayflower triumphed over Galatea and in 1887 he designed Volunteer that raced against Thistle. In both the 1885 and the 1886 contests, the competing designers were Edward Burgess’s, Puritan and Mayflower defeating J. Beavor- Webb’s Genesta and Galatea. 125 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 72. 256

this.”126 The frustration for yacht designers to accommodate individual club

measurement and requirements haunted all yacht designers. Kenealy says that although

seven years had elapsed since the Burgess quote “the effect of rules of measurement and

classification, besides the primary object of placing boats of different natural speed

capacities on a level, is to shape their build to suit the opportunities.”127

The Burgess era came to an abrupt halt when Burgess contracted typhoid fever

and died. “American yachting received as serious blow.”128 Harper’s Weekly, July 25,

1891 hailed his meteoric rise and brilliant yachting design genius in a memorial to his untimely death. “Burgess and American yachting are synonymous, for not a class nor a

change of any kind for the better had not emanated from this man . . . the entire history of

yachting affords no career, at once so brilliant [and] so brief.”129 Not only did he change

the shape of American yachts but how they were designed. His legacy and genius

continued with his son, W. Burgess who designed three Cup defenders in the

1930s, the Enterprise, Rainbow and .130 After Edward Burgess’ death his mantle

as America’s leading yacht designer passed on to another New Englander – Nathaniel G.

Herreshoff.

126 A. J. Kenealy, “Yachting,” Outing Magazine, May 1898, Vol. XXXII, no. 2, 195-197. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibraryOuting/Volume_32/outXXXII02/outXXXII01.pdf (accessed August 17, 2007), 197. 127 Kenealy, “Yachting,” 197. 128 Heaton, Yachting: A History, 133. 129 “Edward Burgess,” Harper’s Weekly, July 25, 1891. http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticle.asp (March 15, 2010), 564. 130 Taylor and Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, 112. 257

Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff, 1311848-1938

A contemporary of Herreshoff wrote, “No complete story of yacht design could be written without the mention of the American designer who has successfully defended the America’s Cup four times in succession, Nathaniel Green Herreshoff, of Bristol,

Rhode Island.132 Placing a twenty-first century perspective on the importance of

Herreshoff, Ed Holm’s points out that “Edward Burgess had sought to apply the orderly

discipline of science to the designing of racing craft; Nathaniel Greene Herreschoff, who

succeeded Burgess as America’s foremost yacht designer, brought to the profession the

cool, detached precision of a master engineer.”133

Not many yacht designers and builders can boast of the yachting legacy they

inherited. Unlike Nathaniel Herreshoff, they were exposed to boating and yachting

throughout their youth, but built their own empires from their own hard work and gifts of

design. His genealogy from his father’s immigration from Prussia in c.1790 includes

yacht designers, sea captains, sailing engineers, chemists and an ideal geographic

location, Bristol, Rhode Island, for the birth of a yachting mogul “ranking near, if not at,

the top of all the great yacht-building organizations in the world, The Herreshoff

Manufacturing Company is unique in every respect . . . its origin is unusual, its methods original, and its scope far transcends the conventional field of yacht-building.”134 His

father, a gentleman farmer, shared the common practice of owning small yachts. Nat or

131 Two noted yacht historians spell Nathaniel Herreshoff’s name differently. W. P. Stephens spells his name “Nathanael” and Chapelle uses the spelling “Nathaniel.” The originally spelling of the last name included a “c” until it was Anglicized from “Herreschoff” to “Herreshoff.” For current purposes, “Nathaniel Herreshoff” will be used unless if it spelled differently for a direct quote. 132 Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer, Part I,” 228. 133 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 73. 134 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 218. 258

“Natty” as close acquaintances referred to him grew up sailing the four Julia’s and

assisted his blind brother, John or J. B., as both the pilot and at the lathe, building yachts.

Although his years were only eight, he “profited by the instruction.” By twelve years of

age he was “taught to tale off the sections [of a model] and make out a table of offset.” 135

The success and confidence of the older brother was so intense that:

In 1862 Mr. John B. Herreshoff started a yacht-building yard in partnership with Mr. Dexter S. Stone, one of the most accomplished yachtsmen . . . Up to 1869 John B. Herreshoff and his partners turned off upward of two thousand sailing-yachts, often merely cat-boats and rarely above fifty feet in length, but of a thoroughly individual type and of a quality which carried the reputation of the blind yacht-builder of Bristol, Rhode Island, all over the world. If he consulted his tastes he would still be constructing sailing- yachts. But manifest did not intend his efforts to stop there.136

The Herreshoff yacht yard of the 1860s produced several yachts that served as personal

pleasure boats for the family’s outings and local races. With the addition of Nathaniel in

1870, the small yacht yard in Bristol was soon to be recognized as the premiere yachting authorities.

In 1866 Nathaniel Herreshoff entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(MIT) for courses in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in naval architecture.

During the interim between graduation and the foundation of the Herreshoff

Manufacturing Company, Nathaniel Herreshoff was employed by the Corliss Steam

Engine Company. His steam engine design, the Corliss beam engine, was exhibited at the Machinery Hall located at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 1876 and his

135 Ibid., 220. 136S. G. W. Benjamin, “Steam Yachting in America.” The Century Magazine, A Popular Quarterly. vol. XXIV, July 1882, 599. 259

level of expertise were an early indication of his mechanical genius. 137 His days were spent at the Corliss Company and for nine years, his evenings were spent at his brother,

J. B.’s boat works where “he assisted in designs, making models and lending a hand in

steam engine maintenance.”138 He became “an accomplished helmsman” and

completely re-designed the ancient hull design of a , which became “some of

the fastest ever built.139

The toll of “two jobs” was too strenuous and in 1871, Nathaniel joined the boat

works of his brother. On New Years Day, 1878 the brothers joined a business partnership

that would serve only clients that were “interested in and willing to pay for the very

best.”140 They “formed the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, designing and building

all classes of steam and sailing yachts and boats.”141 The Herreshoff brothers

had innovative business concepts that combined the yacht designing and the yacht

building at the same location, including sail manufacturing at the Bristol sight. Initially

concentrating on steamboat production, the firm eventually focused on sailing yachts

during the closing years of the nineteenth century.

The shift from the design and construction of fast power boats to sailing yachts

occurred in 1891 with the design and construction of the Gloriana, built for a 46-foot

class race. Instant and consistent success of the Gloriana (winning the next seven races)

altered the focus of the Herreschoff yacht yard, and wind driven yachts designed to race

and win became a trademark. Her cut-a-way profile was innovative in design and hence

137 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 221. 138 Gregory O. Jones, Herreshoff – Sailboats (St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2004), 19. 139 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 73. 140 Jones, Herreshoff – Sailboats, 26. 141 W. P. Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer, Part I,” 228. 260

increased her speed, much like her predecessor, America. The “Gloriana bow” was

tacked onto everything, including cat boats.142 The Gloriana success created a name

association of Herreshoff to outstanding yacht design and construction and perfection in

racing vessels was launched.

Nathaniel Herreshoff’s association with high status racing yachts fed into the

necessity for Gilded Aged yachtsmen to seek out his expertise. His Gilded Age claims to

yachting fame are the six yachts that defended the America’s Cup, 1893-1920. For

yachting enthusiasts and historians their names read as great monuments to yachting

history. “These are: Vigilant, 1893; Defender, 1895; Columbia, 1899 and 1901;

Reliance, the largest defender ever, in 1903; and in 1920.”143 He was known as

the legendary “Wizard of Bristol,” and was unequalled in his day.144 He owned the

esteemed position of prominence in the yachting industry and was considered “the most

significant designer and builder in yachting history [he] produced many important yachts,

pioneered in modern lightweight construction, and made important contributions to

yacht-racing measurement rules.”145

His level of unequaled competence, and high status led to commissions for individual luxury yachts. Review of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company

Construction Records archived at Massachusetts Institute of Technology details the initial

commitment of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, to “serve only clients that were

142 Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 342. 143 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 39. 144 Robert McKenna, The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy (Camden, Maine: McGraw-Hill, 2001), 161. 145 John Rousmaniere, “Nathaniel Herreshoff,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History II, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 141-142. 261

interested in and willing to pay for the very best.”146 The construction list is made into

two separate lists: entered chronologically by hull number, “Sailing Boats” (#’s 400-

1521) and “Steam and Power Boats” (#’s 1-935). After a quick surveillance of Cup

defenders, notice of prominent, wealthy citizen names reveal a lucrative “side” business

of luxury yachts: 1892, Navahoe, R. P. Carroll, owner; 1894, Niagara, Howard Gould,

owner; 1895, Veda, C. Vanderbilt, owner and Gloria, A. J. Drexel, owner;1899, Electra,

H. O. Havenmeyer, owner and Rainbow, C. Vanderbilt, owner; 1902, Trivia, H. S.

Vanderbilt, owner; 1907, Aurora, C. Vanderbilt, owner and , J. J. Astor, owner;

1911, Vagrant, H.S. Vanderbilt, owner; 1913, , C. Vanderbilt, owner; 1916, Shark,

J. P. Morgan, owner. The impressive client list was reflective of the social standing that

Nathaniel Herreshoff achieved amongst the pleasure gorged yachting society in both

America and in international waters. Advertising of the company was reflective of the

status the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company held in 1924: Boasting on the cover of

their publication:

For sixty years, Herreschoff yachts have been the aristocrats of the fleet. Their beauty, technical perfection of design, and craftsmanship, have been unapproached on either side of the Atlantic. Every Cup defender since 1893 has been designed and built by Herreschoff. Herreschoff now builds sail and power yachts of every size and sort, from their own designs or others with Nathaniel G. Herreschoff as chief consultant in design and engineering. Inimitable standards

146 Rudolph F. Haffenreffer (MIT class of 1895) negotiated archives from the HMC in 1946 during a voluntary liquidation. The Herreshoff archives were permanently deeded to the MIT collection in 1961. The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff collection is the largest body of yachting and marine engineering related materials in the Hart Nautical Collections at MIT. The majority of the materials date 1878 to 1945. Of particular interest to this research are the construction records that list 935 steam and power yacht contracts, 1868-1945 and the 1,121 sailing yacht contracts between 1883 and 1945. 262

of quality are followed in fashioning even the smallest craft.147

Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff was “an innovator, naval architect, engineer, inventor and brilliant sailor. Over a period of 72 years, he designed more than 2,000 craft and produced more than 18,000 drawings.”148 During the forty years that the Herreshoff

Manufacturing Company existed in Bristol, Rhode Island, the yard built 671 vessels149 building no fewer than “eight Cup winners – a colossal achievement in any terms” by the time the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company closed in 1934.150 No other designer held

the prestige of the industry as Nathaniel Green Herreschoff. His name is still revered in

yachting society.

The yacht designing history of Burgess and Herreshoff make a perfect circle

returning to their sons. The torch for both patriarchs was passed to their sons, W.

Starling Burgess and L. Francis Herreshoff, who inherited “yacht designing in their

blood.” W. Starling Burgess had started a design firm in Provincetown, Massachusetts

with A. Loring Swasey and Frank Paine. L. Francis Herreschoff joined them in 1920.

Although the partnership only lasted until 1926, while they were together it was “an elite

gathering of designers and a high-octane office,”151 all designers complimenting each

others skills. They introduced yachting designs for the twentieth century that initiated

147 Cover of Herreschoff Manufacturing Company’s promotional publication, Box/Folder Number HH.6103, 1924 archived in the Haffenreffer-Herreschoff Collection at MIT. 148 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994, 38. 149 John Rousmaniere, “Nathaniel Herreshoff,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History II, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 141. 150 Ranulf Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000 ( Toronto, ON: Warwick Publishing Inc., 2000),18. 151 Jones, Herreshoff – Sailboats, 141. 263

and propelled the R-, M-, Q- and J-class boats into racing history. Ironically, W. Starling

Burgess designed the 1930 and 1935 Cup defenders, both built by the Herreshoff yard.152

Both British and American shipyards began a feverish production of luxury yacht

building. As new yachts were completed and launched, newer technologies and aspirations were handed over to the shipwrights for more refined and up-to-date yachts.

The roster of competent yacht builders and designers is lengthy. Early builders, those that subscribed to the “rule ‘ol thumb” school such as John Willis Griffiths, laid the foundation of yacht design through the cut half model and extensive writing. He was “a very able designer and wrote a number of books on naval architecture”153 including A

Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture, of Theory and Practice Blended in Ship

Building, 1850, part owner and edited Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal, 1856-1858,

The Ship Builder, The Progressive Ship Builder and editor of The Nautical Gazette,

1874.154

Others such as Archibald Cary Smith were more intimately involved with the

yacht clubs and yacht yards. Beginning as an apprentice to Cap’n Robert “Bob” Fish in

1855, Mr. Smith “had produced almost every typed of yacht from the most diminutive

sandbagger to the largest sailing cruiser, and in addition had revolutionized the type for

which this country has long been famous – the large inland passenger steamer,”155 after a fifty-six year career.

152 Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships, 347. 153 Ibid., 282. 154 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 61. 155 Ibid., 98. 264

Some designers were extremely capable, such as William Townsend the

superintendent of the C. &. R. Poillon yard, but “whose identity is lost in that of his

employers.”156 What is evident is that the tally of yacht builders and designers grew in

proportion to the rise in Gilded Age yachtsmen’s quest. The social comparison venue

continued with a passion. It was imperative for most yacht owners to own the fastest and

the most elaborate yacht in the civilian fleet. The greater the demand for more luxurious,

faster and cutting-edge technology of the yacht owners, the faster the response was from

the yacht designers.

As previously mentioned, a review of the construction records for the Herreschoff

Manufacturing Company, only one yacht designer and builder during the era, reveals

hundreds of yacht owner names that never gained recognition but were wealthy citizens

of the Gilded Age. Likewise, yacht designers and builders dotted the East Coast from

Maine to Newport News, each with the task of creating yachts for their local geography,

some gaining fame, but not so for most.

Classification and Registration of Gilded Age Yachts

Newspaper and journal articles, popular press publications such as Rudder and

Yachting World and yacht club annual books informed the world, specifically Americans, of the social activities, calendars, and achieved yachting status that surrounded the Gilded

Age yachting society. Just as important was the improvement of technical and scientific publications for readerships to keep abreast of the technological advancements, areas of

maritime specialty and research. Several journals were established to report shipping

156 Ibid., 15. Among William Townsend’s luxury yachts that he designed are Norseman, Clio, Agnes, Peerless, Dreadnaught, Viking and Coronet.

265

news, movements, naval technology and operations, and maritime commentary. Of

particular interest to the Gilded Age yachting world was the Lloyd’s Register of Ships.157

A dedicated maritime journal, Lloyd’s Register of Ships began in the eighteenth century as a Maritime Classification Society.158 Its origin was a coffee house located in

London. Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House, near the waterfront, was frequented by

customers involved with the shipping industry. Verbal exchanges, gossip and voyage

stories among London merchants, ship captains and marine underwriters159 parleyed

across the table and Lloyd assisted in publishing an information sheet that shared

information, shipping disasters and news. As underwriting developed it became apparent

that a classification system to assess the quality and condition of ships was required in

order to accurately provide value when insuring the vessel. The first “Register of Ships”

was printed in 1764 and “contained details of the vessels owner, master, tonnage, date of

build, where built, and number of guns. It also gave a classification for condition of hull

and equipment.”160 The classification system ranked ships according to their degree of

risk: ship hulls were graded with letters, A, E, I, O and U, “A” being the best and ship

fittings such as masts, rigging and additional equipment were designated by a number,

“1” being the best. Standards were set for reliability if design, construction and

operation. As the list of ships increased, inspections were added to the catalog of

157 Jill M. Terrell, “Maritime Journals and Magazines,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History II, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 284. 158 Ibid., 282. 159 The signature of an underwriter pledged that if the ship was lost or did not return, a portion of the losses would be exchanged for a portion of the profit. 160 “Lloyds Register-PortCitiesSouthhampton,” under Lloyd’s Register. http://www.plimsoll.org/Registers AndRecords/LloydsRegisters/dafualt/asp (accessed February 23, 2010), paragraph 7. 266

services and requirements.161 Ship owners, sought the classification of “A1” which

signified “first or highest class.”162

Although there was a “well planned and complete volume” of yacht registration

issued in New York, 1874, all of the publications were local, as in yacht club annual

reports, and lacked national scope. They “confined themselves almost entirely to the larger yachts and clubs of the Atlantic seaboard, and appealing only to the owners of these yachts.”163 A separate classification for yachts was needed because the rankings

used by the Register were primarily for merchant class ships. In 1877, several “leading

British yachtsmen” requested a separate Yacht Register “after the same plan as merchant

vessels” extending their system to include “pleasure vessels, special rules being drawn up

to govern the construction of wood, composite and metal yachts.”164

For the first one hundred and thirty-nine years of publication, American ships and

yachts listed in the Register were clustered amongst group membership of British ships

and yachts. There was no distinction until a “group of American yachtsmen demanded”

the same yacht classification and publication. In 1902, the “committee decided to issue a

similar Register devoted exclusively to American and Canadian yachts.”165 It was in 1903

when the first Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts appeared.166 Its full title was Lloyd’s

Register of American Yachts: Containing particulars of Yachts, Yacht Owners, Yacht

161 “Our Key Areas of Business,” under Lloyd’s Register Group, http://www.lr.org/about_us/key_business_areas/ (accessed March 1, 2010), paragraph 4. 162 “Register of Ships,” under Lloyds, http://www.reach.net/~sc00198/Lloyds,htm (accessed March 1, 2010), paragraph 3. 163 n.a., preface to Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts, 1927 (Baltimore, MD: Waverly Press, 1927), no page. 164 Ibid. The 1877 British register was entitled Lloyd’s Register of Yachts. 165 Ibid. 166 Wecter, The Saga of American Society, 454. 267

Builders and Designers and Yacht Clubs of the United States and .167 In

alphabetical order, the register lists categories that include a yacht’s current and previous

names, builder, hull-type, rigging, sailmaker, where the sails were made, sail area,

registration, dimensions, designer and builder, place and date of launch, descriptions of

machinery, owner, and home port. The Register contains chapters on the American

Yacht Flags, Club Burgees and Private Signals, the Yacht Clubs of the United States and

Canada, and a List of Yacht Owners that includes addresses, clubs, private signals and yachts.168 For instance, the listing for J. P. Morgan includes his address, ,

New York, flag location in the index, a list of yacht club memberships, and his three

yachts, Corsiar, Navette, and Phryne with corresponding length at water line.169 For the ever-mindful and competitive American yachtsmen, publication of address location, yacht ownership and club membership proclaimed achieved social standing. Not only was yacht ownership published annually in the various yacht club annual reports, but now the ranking of private yacht ownership in America had the distinct validation of status level, prestige and wealth from London. In the mind and motivations of a Gilded Age yacht owner, nothing less than “A1” would suffice as it was another statement of elitism.

The original purpose of Lloyd’s Register was to standardize ship classifications and was a tool that used measurements as a gauge for insurance coverage. The Register continues to work “to enhance the safety of life, property, and the environment of the

167 “Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts 1903,” under Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts, http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/ShipPageImage.cfm (accessed March 1, 2010), paragraph 1. 168 “List of Yacht Owners,” Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts, 1927 (Baltimore, MD: Waverly Press, 1927), 387. 169 “Morgan, J. P.,” listed in the Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts, 1927 (Baltimore, MD: Waverly Press, 1927), 434. 268

sea.”170 The original function of the Register was, however, manipulated by private yacht

owners, to reflect and proclaim social status. By virtue of an owner’s name and their

yacht being listed in the Register they had already achieved social prominence. Social

status was assumed. Each year, the Register would list “A1” rankings for insurance purposes, which were turned by American social climbers into a boastful ceremony and social ranking, printed in black and white for all to witness and further consecrated by

European authorities.171

“Working” Textiles of a Sailing Vessel

Textiles have been used for decoration, adornment and as “working” fibers long

before Gilded Age luxury yachts appeared on the historical timeline. The focus of this

research is how textiles, used primary below deck, were a status symbol statement.

However, it cannot be overlooked that “working” textiles such as sailcloth, canvas,

cordage and lines, flags and pennants were an essential part of any sailing vessel, upon

which the very function of the ship depended.

Sails and Sail Cloth

Primitive man used boats of one sort or another for thousands of years before he

invented the sail.172 It is necessary for most non-engine equipped watercraft to be rigged

with sails as a means of propulsion. Paddling or rowing a ship was the first method of

propulsion which evolved into a sail of some sort to alleviate the physical labor required

to set the ship in motion. Sometime in the “fourth millennium BC came the breakthrough

170 “250 Years of Service,” under Lloyd’s Register Group, http://www.lr.org/about_us/LR250/ (accessed March 1, 2010), paragraph 1. 171 The historical listing of all ships and yachts can be found at Lloyd’s Register, “Register of Ships,” http://www.lr.org. 172 J. H. Parry, Romancing the Sea (Washington, D.C.: The National Geographic Society, 1981), 18. 269

that revolutionized maritime history and determined its course right up to the last century

– the invention of the sail.”173 It is speculated that early Egyptian mariners, because of

their unique waterway, the Nile, used palm-fronds erected on “boats for shade and

ornamentation. The Romans used hide and homespun cloth, as did the Vikings and

Phoenicians, and their sails were made in a number of panels sewn together by the

womenfolk.”174 The earliest evidence of Egyptian sails, linen woven from flax, is found on an Egyptian vase of c. 3500 B.C., showing “a long and slender vessel with a square sail

mounted on a pole mast steeped forward in the bows.”175 Rudimentary sails were

probably a “square or rectangle laced to a horizontal yard which, in turn, was fastened to

a mast set at right angles to the keel.”176

The science of sail-making is a knowledge that combines aerodynamics and

textile characteristics. The first addresses how the shape of the sail pulls the vessel

through the water based on wind direction and speed. The second identifies the strength

and weaknesses of individual fibers in different environments, specifically a marine

setting. According to R. M. Bowker and S. A. Budd “it is a great help to anyone who

makes sails to be conversant with the theory of sailing, for the real art of sail-making

must lie in the translating knowledge of sailing and sails to the sail loft floor.”177

Although sail making is based on fixed calculations, the knowing of what the sails are

173 Lionel Casson, “Sailing Ships of the Ancient Mediterranean,” in The Earliest Ships: The Evolution of Boats into Ships, ed. Robert Gardiner (Edison, New Jersey: Conway Maritime Press, 1996), 39. 174 Jeremy Howard-Williams, Sails (London: Adlard Coles Limited, 1968), 15. The size of the panels was directly related to the width of the looms. As width of looms increased, particularly during the Industrial Revolution, the width of fabric panels increased. 175 Casson, “Sailing Ships of the Ancient Mediterranean,” 39. 176 Parry, Romancing the Sea, 20. 177 R. M. Bowker and S. A. Budd, Make Your Own Sails: Handbook for the Amateur and Professional Sailmaker (London: Macmillan St. Martin’s Press, 1970), v. 270

doing and why,178 it is dependent upon the physical limitations of the vessel. The details

of styling are “to a large extent a matter of judgment and choice.”179 What is critical to

sail making is the “laying of the cloth, and the appreciation as to why it must be so

laid.”180

Pre-dating woven sails, the Celts among other early cultures used leather for their sails.181 Peter Marsden, a noted maritime archeologist, correlates excavated Celtic ships with a report made by Julius Caesar, on the ships of the Celtic Veneti. In addition to accurate descriptions of the Celtic Veneti merchant ships, Caesar includes an observation of their sails: “For their sails the Veneti used hides and soft leather” and that the Veneti

vessels were pure sailing crafts, with one mast and a single square sail and did not rely on

oars for propulsion.182 It was during Caesar’s first British campaign in late August 55 BC

that he became conversant in the Celts organization of coastal defense. His accounts of

the naval battles are detailed in both campaign and ship descriptions. According to

Caesar the leather sails were a hindrance for the necessary speed to ward off ramming

Roman warships.183

178Howard-Williams, Sails,18. 179 Bowker and Budd, Make Your Own Sails, xi. 180 Ibid., 5-6. 181 Detlev Ellmers, “Celtic Plank Boats and Ships, 500 BC – AD 1000,” in The Earliest Ships: The Evolution of Boats into Ships, ed. Robert Gardiner (Edison, New Jersey: Conway Maritime Press, 1996), 62 and 70. A Celtic grave monument located in Junkerath, Germany, dated second-third century A.D. depicts a leather sail. 182 Peter Marsden, A Ship of the Roman Period, from Blackfriars in the City of London (London: Guildhall Museum, 1967) quoted in Detlev Ellmers, “Celtic Plank Boats and Ships, 500 BC – AD 1000,” in The Earliest Ships: The Evolution of Boats into Ships, ed. Robert Gardiner (Edison, New Jersey: Conway Maritime Press, 1996), 70. Peter Marsden excavated a coastal sailing vessel from the Roman period in the Blackfriars area of London in 1962. The discovery of this ship corresponded precisely with Caesar’s description of Celtic ships in Brittany, c. 50 A.D., during his first campaign to Brittany. 183 Ellmers, “Celtic Plank Boats and Ships, 500 BC – AD 1000,” in 68-69. 271

Fragments of Viking sails, preserved from the Oseberg and Gokstad ships in

Norway show that the primary fiber used for sails in that culture was wool.184 The fiber

used to create the first sails in Mediterranean cultures, however, was flax that was woven

into linen, of which Caesar’s ships hoisted.185 It was these basic sail fibers and designs, through trial and error that “became the building blocks that turned boats into ships that would make a highway of the open seas.”186

Linen’s resistance to rot, its strength and ability to withstand tearing and easier

manipulation when wet made it the universal textile for sails from antiquity to mid-

nineteenth century. The drawback in using linen sails is that they do not hold their shape,

and stretch, therefore creating too much loft in the sail. For a square-rigger, this is of

little importance but “in fore-and-aft yachts, it should be considered.”187 The event that

clearly pointed out the deficiencies of a linen sail was the 1851 yacht race for the One

Hundred Guinea Cup (America’s Cup).

Flax that was produced into linen was not mass produced in America, just as it

was not in the Egyptian culture. The fiber of convenience was cotton. When the

schooner America showed up for the One Hundred Guinea Cup challenge, not only did

she have a newly designed hull, with “masts raked backward at a severe angle” but she

184 Erik Andersen, “Square Sails of Wool,” in Shipshape: Essays for Ole Crumlin-Pedersen (eds. O Olsen et al) (Roskilde 1995), pp. 249-270 quoted in Ole Crumlin-Pedersen, “Problems of Reconstruction and the Estimation of Performance” in The Earliest Ships: The Evolution of Boats into Ships, ed. Robert Gardiner (Edison, New Jersey: Conway Maritime Press, 1996), 116. 185 F. C. Fensham, “Linen” in New Bible Dictionary ed. Howard Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer and D. J. Wiseman, 3rd ed. (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004), 692. 186 Parry, Romancing the Sea, 21. 187 Bowker and Budd, Make Your Own Sails, 9. 272

was rigged with a mainsail, a boomless and a single jib, all well woven out of

cotton into duck canvas.188 Peter Heaton declares that,

One of the most revolutionary things about the America were her sails. At that time British sails were made from loose texture, hand-woven flax. They were cut very full and were loose-footed, that is to say they were not laced to a boom along the foot of the sail. In contrast to these, the America’s sails were made of close texture, machine- woven cotton [a result of the Industrial Aged power loom]. They were laced along the boom and were cut to set as flat as possible.189

The staple cotton fiber is spun into a more consistently even thread therefore

producing a more uniform cloth. It can be woven into a tighter weave, and the tighter the

weave the better the sail cloth. Cotton is a finer thread and is “woven more closely than flax, and so its advent meant a considerable advance in sail efficiency . . . Her cotton sails were much flatter than the baggy suits of flax on her rivals, thus making her closer- winded.”190 The combination of a new hull design and cotton sails made for a

resounding win, so much so that after the celebrated win, English yachts adopted cotton

sails191 and tagged their name “flat boards.”192

Sail technology soon sought out the finest cotton to be woven for sails. Gilded

Age yachtsmen wanted only the best, so it was of no consequence to import Egyptian

cotton for their inventory of sails, at a cost that was twice that of American cotton.193

During the golden age of private sailing yachts, “all the best yacht sails were made from

188 Lincoln P. Paine, “America,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History I, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 14. 189 Heaton, Yachting: A History, 139. 190 Howard-Williams, Sails, 40. 191 Ibid., 16. 192 Taylor and Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, 106. 193 Bowker and Budd, Make Your Own Sails, 9. 273

Egyptian cotton woven by sailcloth specialists.”194 Before synthetic materials were

incorporated into sail cloth with the development of , “lights sails were cut from

very lovely and very delicate cotton cloth”195 many which were lost during the yachting

season. It was the progression of Gilded Age yachts however, that incorporated new

technologies for propulsion. Relying on steam and diesel for vessel locomotion put an

end to the sight and sound of full sails harnessing the wind.196

Ropes and Cordage

Sails were only useful if rigged to the ship. While every home and factory made use of ropes, otherwise called cordage, it was the maritime industry that relied heavily on cordage and lines. Given the enormous sail dimensions required to move a ship and yacht, “the modern sailor or yachtsman can hardly imagine the amount of line that was consumed on a nineteenth-century sailing vessel.197 Every sail had to be edged all around

with bolt rope198, , lanyards and lines of every kind were required for hoisting

and keeping every sails taut.199 The ran up and down masts while the

held up lower masts and topsails. The heavy rope anchor cables, used

until after the Civil War when chain cable was introduced, consumed enormous amounts of fiber.

194 Bowker and Budd, Make Your Own Sails, 8. 195 W. H. , Steamers, Schooners, Cutters, and Sloops (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974), 110. 196 Sites that have historic sail lofts and sail makers can be found at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut and at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine. 197 Samuel Eliot Morison, The Ropemakers of Plymouth: A History of the Plymouth Cordage Company, 1824-1949 (Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1950), 5. 198 A is cordage that is sewn to the edge of the sail, normally sewn on the port side to distinguish the particular part of the sail being handled. Bowker and Budd, Make Your Own Sails, 130. 199 In a maritime context, “rope” refers to the manufactured material. Once it has been cut, sized, splice, or assigned a function aboard a boat or ship, it is referred to as a “line.” 274

Made of different textile fibers, the most common rope-making fiber was .

The process of spinning, twisting and laying the strands produced many varieties and ply

of rope, all required for the sailing of a yacht. If resistance to moisture was the necessary,

as was the case for anchor cables, the ropes were tarred, otherwise they were left “white”

for flexibility.200 As Morison poetically says, “If you consider the hull as a ship’s body

and the sails her means of locomotion, the ‘lines,’ as seamen called the ropes, were her

nerves and tendons.”201

Flags, Ensigns, and Burgees

Maritime history and yachting also includes the use of flags. From antiquity to modern times they were used to communicate authority, tactical maneuvers, allegiance to

a sovereign, the conditions of seaborne trade, and imparted information in regards to

technology of ship design at sea.202 The primary function of flag communication was for

ships that were too far from “hailing distance.” Through the use of flags, signals and

messages were sent from ship to ship and from ship to shore so that “the history of sea

flags is inseparable from general maritime history.”203 The development of special flags

for signals developed in the nineteenth century: flags for public or private ownership,

rank of officer in command, and yacht club membership were part of the new flag signal

system.

200 John H. Harland, “Ships Equipment: Cordage,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 687. 201 Morison, The Ropemakers of Plymouth: A History of the Plymouth Cordage Company, 6-7. A permanent historic cordage exhibit is located at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut. 202 Robert E. McCabe, “Flags: The Early Use of Flags at Sea,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History II, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 45-46. Mr. McCabe makes several references to flags being used by ancient seafaring cultures: The Book of Ezekiel, Athenian Themistocles, and the Peloponnesian War, and Chinese sea expeditions of the twelfth century. 203 Timothy Wilson, Flags at Sea (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1986), 10. 275

Painted silk flags with heraldic symbols for royalty and 100% wool bunting

remained the standard materials for British naval flags throughout the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries.204 Cotton would also have been used, but would not have

maintained its shape or color as well as silk and wool in a maritime environment. Silk

was an obvious choice for royalty as it was expensive and not readily available in

Western Europe until the 1500s. Silk also has a natural sheen to it when processed, and maintains vibrant colors. It therefore pronounces royalty and exclusivity by way of luster

and brilliant color. Wool is a stable fabric that would maintain both shape and color. Not

only was it used for flags and signals, but military uniforms were constructed using wool

because of its sustained “wear ability.”

Burgees are flags, usually triangular in shape, that are used to distinguish yacht

clubs. Created during the establishment of English yacht clubs, the burgee signals which

yacht club the yacht is registered with.205 The burgee became a source of status for

particular yacht clubs, The Royal Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club

specifically. The burgees from two yacht clubs announced to all that the yacht owners

had special social position because of their affiliation with the yacht club. The practice of

placing the New York Yacht Club burgee, in other key locations was a devise for

accentuating and proclaiming status. For instance, the New York Yacht Club burgee, a

navy blue triangle, crossed by a red stripe with a white star centered in the middle,

appears in frames mounted on the walls, on apparel and cushions scattered throughout

204 Wilson, Flags at Sea, 85. 205 Ibid., 44. 276

home and yacht saloons. The burgee continues its use as a form of communication,

stating social rank.206

Other flags that are specific to a yacht are the owner’s personal flag, usually

rectangular in shape, “flags or broad pennants of ‘flag officers’ of yacht clubs, private

racing flags and prize flags indicating races that have been won.”207 Flags of this nature

were further signals that legitimized the yacht owner’s social status. The privilege

ensigns of yacht clubs, and their burgees, were published in the annual yacht club reports

for members to be aware of appropriate flag etiquette. All yacht club flags and the

personal flags of yacht owners were also published in Lloyd’s Register of Yachts. Part of

the expense of outfitting a yacht was a full inventory of flags, ensigns, and burgees for

the yachting season.

A practice that is reserved for exceptional events is called “dressing ship.” It is a

custom dating back to at least the sixteenth century, when all available flags and pennants

are displayed in the standard and flying riggings for a special occasion.208 The James

Tissot painting Ball on Shipboard discussed in Chapter 4 is an example of “dressing ship.” The special occasion was a ball hosted on board one of the many luxury yachts at

Cowes Week. On board, every country’s standard is on full display and creates a very gladsome environment. Festive occasions such as a return to home port, visiting dignitaries, and regattas were events that were appropriate to dress the ship in all the colors and symbols of flags, burgees and pennants.

206 For further discussion about flags, burgees and pennants, see E. M. C. Barraclough and W. G. Crampton, Flags of the World (London: 1981). 207 Wilson, Flags at Sea, 45. 208 Ibid., 84. 277

The Industrial Age generated new wealth and the trend to participate in the noble

sport of kings took on a magnitude force. The luxury yachts were the perfect display of newly-acquired finances and the leisure time required to enjoy them. They became the ultimate expression of status.209 Bays, harbors and docks were graced with the elegance

of wealth found in the riggings and sails of schooners and steamers. Every aspect of the

yachting world was an opportunity to expose and boast of one’s social standing in society. Imported fabric for sails, prominent publication of yacht dimensions, and the

name of the yacht designer all advertised prestige and was another avenue to pronounce

wealth.

The progression of yacht design, technology, and mechanical innovations can be

divided into three phases throughout the Gilded Age. In the forthcoming chapters, each

stage, from full sail to transition to steam will be discussed and analyzed within the

approximate dates of 1870 to 1920. At each interval the yachts grew grander and the

stakes for wealth proclamation grew higher.

209 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 5. 278

Chapter 6: The Grand Schooner-Yachts of the Gilded Age

Yachting in the Gilded Age assumed a new and different social dimension from earlier eras. As it did so, there were also the accompanying transformations in yacht design that reflected both new maritime technologies and the pursuit of increased social status. There were three distinct eras in Gilded Age yacht design. The first was the period of the sailing schooner.1 And it is within this first category that Gilded Age sailing enthusiasts began to attach ideas of wealth and status to the sport, setting the stage for decades of opulence and competition, both nautically and socially. Two specific sailing vessels, the British yacht Galatea and the American vessel Coronet will be examined in this chapter. The following two chapters will address the further developments in yacht engineering and design.

During the eight decades between Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne and the first shots of World War I, yachting was pursued not only for pleasure, but also, for social status. It “was part of a wealthy and competitive society. The lavish splendor of the larger yachts throughout this period is something which will probably never be seen again.

It is also true that many of the shore-born activities of yachting during this period were

1 Chapters Seven and Eight will address the further developments, but the historical foundation was set in this era and requires detailed explanation. 279 closely linked with fashionable society.”2 During the Gilded Age yachtsmen combined their love of luxury, with the sport of racing and the leisure of cruising. Yachting in Great

Britain served as the inspiration for yachting in America. In England

yachting reflected social habits ashore so that throughout the Victorian and Edwardian periods there were constant wars between the old privileged, landowning, titled aristocracy and the nouveau riche who made their money out of industry or merchant ventures and were determined to move into the upper social circles. In America the social order was different, because there top society was mainly comprised of men who had made great wealth by their own initiative and, more important, were respected for having done so.3

Names of American men that had “made great wealth by their own initiative” are familiar

to historians as Robber Barons: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Gould, and Morgan,

among several. Because of their entrepreneurship and ambitions, the volume of

manufacturing in the United States quadrupled 1870 to 1900.4 The growth of sailing as a

sport, the prevalence of leisure and the wealth to support the luxury all came together on

and below the deck of a schooner-yacht.

The sport of sailing became so popular that Dixon Kemp, an English yacht

designer of the Gilded Age, wrote a two volume survey entitled Yacht and Boat Sailing

(1887). His purpose was to instruct yachtsmen in their choice of yacht, using personal

taste as a guideline. He also assumed that

the budding yachtsman who has been in the habit, perhaps, of spending a couple of hours every morning over his toilet, surrounded by luxuries of the upholsterers art – velvet pile carpet, satin cretonne, cheval glasses, water colour drawings,

2 Robert Simper, Victorian and Edwardian Yachting from Old Photographs (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1984), i. 3 Ibid., ii. 4 Susan Daley, “From the Coronet Office,” Restoration Quarterly, Spring 2005, 2 280

Dresden china – and perhaps a valet de chamber. The man who has been used to such luxuries as these must have a big schooner or yawl.5

Considered an authority of yacht design and a purveyor of good advice by his contemporaries, American yachtsmen took heed of Kemp's observations and invested in the elegance of a private luxury yacht. The professions of interior design and naval architecture were in their infant stages in the early Gilded Age. However, it did not take long for architects and shipwrights to create yacht interiors that became an extension and a reflection of the grand and stately mansions of their owners.

Yacht Interiors

An article, published in the early years of Gilded Age yachting, titled “Yachts and

Yachting” in Scribner’s Monthly, August 1872 refers to a yacht’s maintenance at “a yearly cost greater than the expenses of thousands of large households, and are often fitted up in a style of luxuriance unknown on shore.” The author continues the discussion of yacht expenses with “many of them [yachts] contain under the quarter-deck spacious saloons in which the tallest seaman can stand erect. They are almost invariably paneled in ebony, maple, or like costly woods, and upholstered and carpeted in velvet. Large mirrors, ample sofas, enticing lounges, and inviting easy-chairs form the furniture.”6 The article concludes with descriptions of state rooms that accommodate ten to twelve guests, pantries, patented cooking ranges designed specifically for yachts, electric bells for communication between crew, captain and owner and “to complete all, the larders and

5 Dixon Kemp, Yacht and Boat Sailing (1887) as quoted Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 63. 6 “Yachts and Yachting,” Scribner’s Monthly, August, 1872, 387. 281

wine-closets are usually filled with food fit for princes.”7 Clearly, the practice of

luxurious yacht interiors was evident in the early sport of yachting. What is not clear is

who initiated the completed interiors and supplied the materials. Records of workers and

the histories of the yacht constructions are sparse for this era.

Information regarding the interiors of the Gilded Age yachts, 1870 to 1920, is

available but fragmentary and difficult to locate. Descriptions vary in detail. Some

accounts are vast and mention minute detail, while other descriptions are only a passing

statement as to the interior accommodations, color scheme or textiles. Most accounts

pertaining to Gilded Age yachts emphasize the exterior, construction methodology, speed

and sail dimensions rather than the interiors of the boats. Mention of the interior

designers and consultants are even scarcer than the yacht interior descriptions. Maldwin

Drummand notes in, Salt-Water Palaces, (1980) that photographs taken of yachts draw

mainly on the exterior only and that the “interiors of these yachts have for years remained

unknown to most enthusiasts.”8 His book invites the reader “gently below, down the

carved companionway, to wander on rich carpets from saloon to stateroom.”9 But even

Drummand limits his survey of yacht interiors to royal vessels-of-state, exterior

dimensions, and primarily discusses British vessels. Few American yachts are included

and his comments of interiors are quotes with no further discussion.

A review of advertisements in Rudder, American Yacht List and Lloyds of

London, within the inclusive dates of this dissertation reveal that specific items were important to yacht interiors and that there were interior suppliers for various canopies,

7 Ibid., 387. 8 Maldwin Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), front dust jacket. 9 Ibid. 282

cushions, deck mattresses, maritime accessories and deck furniture. Not evident are advertisements for the extensive paneling, floor coverings, wall treatments, such as lincrusta,10 and fireplaces that were used extensively throughout the era aboard these

yachts.

There are probably several reasons why advertisements pertaining to yacht

interiors are absent from maritime publications of this time period. One is that the

products and items use on board the yacht may have been transferred from the house to

the yacht. Another reason may be that certain interior components were not considered a

specialty item. They would have been readily available in the marketplace and therefore

there was no need to advertise. Two other reasons are that the craftsmanship for a

specific job, paneling, upholstery, carpeting, and draperies, likely would have been

advertised only in local papers rather than in national and international publications with a focus on the new sport of sailing. Additionally, the positions of interior design and naval architect were in the process of being “professionalized,” and public awareness and availability were in their infancy.

Interiors of luxury yachts are evidence of and reflect Gilded Age glory and the quest for social status by the owners. The furnishings, textiles, and interior appointments used in luxury yachts reflected either the preferences of the owner or a devotion to

excessive consumption of material goods.

10 Lincrusta is a wall covering that was malleable to allow for artistic expressions in medallions, swags, and repetitive motifs. It best resembles paper mâche in substance. A very fine example of extant lincrusta application is in the foyer of The Clayton, the Henry C. Frick home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lincrusta was also applied to schooner interior walls, as was evident in Coronet during her reconstruction. 283

Clearly elegant interiors and advanced maritime technology were characteristics

of schooner-yachts during the Gilded Age. Analysis of interior design practices during

the early years of the Gilded Age suggests that: “The progress of [Gilded Age] design

cannot be described in one simple sequence, but can be thought of as a series of styles

evolving in parallel.”11 Combinations of the classic interiors of Greece and Rome, the

opulence and grandeur of the French Baroque and Rococo styles and mixtures of other

elements of French origin were arranged and re-arranged simultaneously to create the

desired affect of wealth and taste. Likewise, yachts were concurrently experiencing

technological advancements that also became expressions of wealth and status in a

conspicuous display of leisure. An article in The Century Magazine, 1897, explains the

phenomenon of yachting, science and leisure, stating, “With the exception of the bicycle-

trade, yacht-building has perhaps led in the expansion of industry to meet the outdoor

pleasure. Refinements in science and mechanics have added to the cost of the larger

yachts, and, have produced better boats for a smaller outlay.”12 Understanding the

illogical path of yacht development assists with the comprehension of yacht interior

sequences

Two of the high points of schooner development including their interiors were

attained in the building of Mohawk, 1875, and Ambassadress, nicknamed “The Astor

House” after the once famous hotel, two years later, the concealed motive in each case seemed to be the great American idea of “the biggest thing on earth” and “licking all

11 Charles Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home (London: V & A Publications, 1999), 9. 12 “The Pleasure of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century; A Popular Quarterly, July 1897, 469. 284 creation.”13 A description of the interiors of the ill-fated Mohawk, length overall (LOA)

121’, details interiors that could have been from a Fifth Avenue townhouse:

Main saloon 24 by 22 feet, headroom 7 feet 4 inches, finished in walnut, maple, mahogany and cherry – elegant bronze chandelier – sofas, lounges, chairs, sideboards, etc., in blue upholstery – mainmast paneled with mirrors – owner’s stateroom 17 by 14 – hot and cold water, fresh and salt – the judgment exhibited in the furnishing is most excellent, nothing violating the standard of good taste.14

Launched on September 19, 1877, Mr. William Astor’s schooner Ambassadress was the largest private sailing yacht built in America during this time period. Built by

David Carll at City Island, Ambassadress was constructed “just as were the great

residences on Fifth Avenue, merely to uphold the social positions of their owners.”15 Her

(LOA) of 146’2” allowed Ambassadress to boast of “elegantly designed staterooms and a dining saloon that could seat sixty,”16 among her other refined interiors. The owners,

William Astor, the heir to the Astor fortune17 and his wife Caroline Webster

Schermerhorn, whose elite group of the famous four hundred “represented the pinnacle of

13 William P. Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting: The 50th Anniversary Edition (Brooklin, Maine: WoodenBoat Publications, 1989), 36. For a complete discussion on the origins of the schooner-yacht and its historical background in American maritime history see Appendix B, figure 1. The fore-and-aft rigging and for a schooner-yacht is located in Appendix C. 14 Ibid. 37. The Mohawk was a schooner yacht built for Commodore William T. Garner, a textile magnate, in 1885. She had the unfortunate fate of being caught in an unpredicted squall with full sail set while at anchor and capsized. She rolled and took six persons, the owner, his wife and four crew members, down with her and they all drowned. 15 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 140. 16 Greg King, A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 234. 17 The John Jacob Astor original amassed a fortune in the fur trade. After the decline of fashionable fur from the Parisian couture houses, the Astor family invested in real estate, and principle shareholders with the Union Trust Co., the Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co., the Western Union telegraph Co., and several of the largest New York banks. “John Jacob Astor,” The National Cyclopedia of American Biography http://books.google.com/books?id=Ambassadres+yacht&output (accessed April 9, 2010), 1, 4. 285

acceptance”18 for aspiring social climbers, used their luxury yacht as an extension for

grand entertainment, the inclusion of the socially fashionable and the exclusion of what

Ward McAllister, Caroline Schermerhorn’s ally in propriety, commented were families

that were either at ease in a ballroom or made other families uneasy with their uncouth

behaviors and lack of a family pedigree.19

The Ambassadress was an extension of the first William Astor house located at

350 Fifth Avenue in New York City, the summer cottage, Beechwood on Bellevue

Avenue in Newport, and Ferncliff, the estate at Rhinebeck on the Hudson River, among

other real estate holdings. The interiors of the New York City brownstone after Stanford

White completed the remodeling included “heavily carved and fringed walnut chairs and

sofas, the plush upholstery, and the miniature forest of potted palms. . . three enfiladed

reception rooms with exquisite woodwork and painted ceilings. . .while the baronial dining room, paneled in carved oak and hung with Flemish tapestries,”20 is also found

aboard Ambassadress:

The main saloon is reached by a broad mahogany stairway and is one of the most elegant apartments that can possibly be provided on shipboard. Its dimensions are 22 feet by 24 feet, and it is furnished in walnut, maple, mahogany and cherry; furniture of a very elaborate description in the way of sofas, lounges, chairs, sideboards, etc., in blue upholstery, adorns the The carpet is Wilton; the mainmast from floor to ceiling is paneled in mirrors; the smoking room, aft of the saloon, is 11 feet by 17 feet, finished in maple and oak. . . the ornamentation, upholstery, furniture, and carpeting all blend in proper contrast and effect.21

18 Greg King, A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 38. 19Greg King, A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 38. 20 Greg King, A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 167-168. 21 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 347. 286

The primary motive for Ambassadresses’ construction was for the privilege of cruising and entertaining. For instance, an extensive tour along the coast of Florida, 1879, allowed Mr. William Astor the luxury of escape from the demands of business and social responsibilities.22

The Mohawk and Ambassadress precede both Galatea and Coronet, grand schooner yachts of the 1880s, which will be discussed in detail later in this chapter. The

Mohawk and Ambassadress are important as that they set the perimeters of fashionable and desirable yacht interiors for others. Another element of importance is who the owners of the Ambassadress were. Caroline Astor was the unchallenged monarch of

American social aristocracy. Without her approval and acceptance into the social clique of the elites, one’s family was always grasping for illusive social status. Taking note and recreating elegant and luxurious interiors of her homes and yachts was paramount to the social placement of ones family. Both Mohawk and Ambassadress set the standard for the yacht interiors that would follow.

The unprecedented wealth that occurred during the Industrial Age created a new item on the social agenda, that of leisure and the obvious display of it. “For centuries, leisure had been identified primarily with a “leisured” class, a group free of any obligation to work,”23 and the nouveau riche of the elite Gilded Age became that

“leisured” class. The open display of leisure practices, such as yachting, added an overt

luster to their ambience and “coveted” lifestyle. It was tinged with a golden aura. James

22 “John Jacob Astor,” The National Cyclopedia of American Biography http://books.google.com/books?id=Ambassadres+yacht&output (accessed April 9, 2010), 7. 23 Jessica H. Foy and Thomas J. Schlereth, eds., American Home Life, 1880-1930: A Social History of Spaces and Services (Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press, 1992), 145. 287

A. Garfield, the soon to be president of the United States commented at an address to a

Chautauqua assemble, in 1880, “We may divide the whole struggle of the human race

into two chapters: first the fight to get leisure; and then the second fight of civilization –

what shall we do with our leisure once we get it?”24 The Gilded Age yachtsman had an

answer to Garfield’s question: build a larger yacht to accomplish ostentatious leisure.

Evidence of yachting’s lure for leisure did not begin with the wealthy of the

Industrial Age. Regard for the affability of the first floating pleasure craft belongs to

Colonel Lewis Morris of Morrisania Manor on Long Island Sound. He is given credit for

building the first craft that sailed for pleasure alone in America. His choice of craft was a sloop named the Fancy, 1717, built while the Dutch were still in residence. 25 The

emotional appeal of the sea that attracts so many yachtsmen, may go beyond the pure

pleasure of sailing, however. In the foreword to his book, The Golden Pastime: A New

History of Yachting, 1986, John Rousmaniere recalls Thorstein Veblen’s book The

Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899. Rousmaniere says that there may be two motivations behind people voluntarily yachting with no regard to expenditure and Veblen may have a possible explanation to the ostentatious presentation of yachts and their interiors of the

Gilded Age. He states:

Simply put, yachtsmen and yachtswomen have been trying to impress other people, or have been searching for meaning in life, or have been caught ambivalently between the two. The best summary of the first reason is the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” which the American sociologist Thorstein Veblen invented and publicized… when they are highly visible and

24 Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, The Story of Chautauqua (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1929), 102, quoted in Jessica H. Foy and Thomas J. Schlereth, eds., American Home Life, 1880-1930: A Social History of Spaces and Services (Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press, 1992), 145. 25 Maldwin Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 105. 288

materialistic, leisure and consumption are tools whose sole purpose is to win the world’s esteem. “Esteem,” wrote Veblen, “is awarded only in evidence.” When it is simply conspicuous consumption, yachting is the gilded pastime: all flash and little substance.26

The conspicuous consumption of yachting as a “highly visible and materialist,”

form of leisure to gain the “world’s esteem” began with a flurry of building and the

increased use of naval architects, a rising profession. At first, the racing aspects of the

yacht were incorporated into the sleek design of the hull, the fore-and aft rigging

increased sail dimensions and the deck was created to enable swift movement of the crew

in order to gain speed and easy manipulation of the vessel to guarantee a victory at the

finish line. Below the deck of the same yacht, however, was an expression of opulent

home comforts, the surroundings of which mimicked the home environment ashore.

Every luxury that could be placed on board to maintain the appearance and satisfaction of the owner were employed. The marriage of racing and cruising were on board the same yacht. A review of the America is a good example. She was crafted in 1850 for the specific purpose of racing in international waters. The new, sleeker hull, and fore-and aft rigging that was raked were innovative designs that George Steers created for a racing

vessel. Below deck, though, she carried mahogany staterooms, velvet upholstered settees

and chairs, and a full larder of spirits with the intent for grand entertaining and

celebration.

Most yacht owners and club members followed the same regime of combining

both racing and luxury. It did not occur to them that a racing yacht could increase speed

26 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986), 5. 289

if the hull carried minimal loads and served only the purposes of the racing crew.

Another aspect of the yachting culture of the time period was that racing and cruising

events were combined during the yacht season. Owners, their family and guests lived

aboard their racing yachts, carrying added weight in the form of luxurious interiors. It

was about the centennial year, c.1876, of the United States that yachting gave evidence of

a new departure.

With increasing leisure, more money, and a higher appreciation of the mental and

physical value of the sport, there came a desire for blue-water cruising for long voyages.

These begot a taste for the sea life.”27 At the same time, the grand schooner yacht was

growing in length over all (LOA) allowing for grander interior appointments and larger

living spaces. Differences in the objective of the yacht became evident. A racing yacht

could no longer be a luxury yacht and have the hopes of winning the regatta. In an article

published in 1890, J. D. Jerrold Kelly, U. S. N. makes the argument clear: “An ideal

cruiser may be built, and, so far as the inexact science of naval architecture permits, a

capital racer be designed, but the best qualities of both can never be combined, because

of the compromises required by extreme development in any single direction.”28 And so, naval architects such as Edward Burgess and Nathanial Herreshoff began careers designing yachts with separate purposes: luxury yachts for private owners and America’s

Cup defenders for yacht syndicates.

27 J. D. Jerrold Kelly, “The Modern Yacht,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, August 1883, Vol. 0067, issue 399. http://digtal.library.cornell.edu (accessed September 17, 2009), 445. 28 J. D. Jerrold Kelly, U. S. N., “The Social Side of Yachting,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, September, 1890, 593. 290

The racing yachts referred to as “big-yacht racers” began in Great Britain from

the end of the eighteenth century until 1937, and in America from the 1880s until 1937.

In the United States the circuit for the big-yacht racers took place predominately “in the

East Coast states of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey and occasionally Maine.”29 It was imperative that the regattas took place within close

proximity of the metropolitan centers where most of the owners had business interests

that required frequent monitoring. As racing yachts became separate crafts from the

cruising yachts in design, the scene of yachting events literally changed. For instance,

“the principle event of the American yacht-racing season was the annual August ‘cruise’

of the New York Yacht Club. . . this week or ten-day event involved passage races from

port to port as well as major regattas at Newport, Rhode Island and Marblehead. . . the

fleet of sailing, cruising, steam and later motor yachts accompanied them [the big racing

yachts] in the journey to various ports along the coast.”30 The different objectives of the

yacht separated themselves from one another.

It was not an instantaneous delineation of yacht design, however. In his

discussion pertaining to Mohawk and Ambassadress William P. Stephens states that

Mohawk was “built for this double purpose [racing and cruising], Ambassadress was built

solely for cruising.” He goes on to say that during the early years of racing and cruising

“it is not possible to draw a distinct line between cruising and racing yachts; the fleet took

part in all the races of the New York Yacht Club was to be found between races cruising

29 John Leather, The Big Class Racing Yachts (London: Stanford Maritime Limited, 1982), 5. 30 Ibid., 6. 291

about , along the Sound, and to the eastward.”31 Like other changes, the new

technology gradually eased its way into general acceptance. Such is the case for luxury

yachts and racing yachts. American yacht owners insisted on surrounding their living

quarter with the luxuries of life and leisure aboard their racing yachts well into the late

1800s.

British Example of a Grand Schooner-Yacht

Galatea, the British America’s Cup challenger in 1886, and her British owners,

Lieutenant William Henn, R. N. and his wife, are important to this dissertation research because Galatea’s designer, John Beavor-Webb, had links to the American yachting scene including clients. And, of course, the1886 challenge for the America’s Cup was so unusual.32 In addition, the oldest, dated photograph of a yacht interior held in the Mystic

Seaport Museum photograph collection is that of Galatea, 1888.33 Her interiors are a perfect example of how wealthy American yacht owners were observing and incorporating the European opulence as their cue for their own display of elegance and

wealth.

Lieutenant William Henn, R. N. and Galatea

Her owners were members of the British social elite. William Henn, an Irishman

by birth “began his yachting in an open -rigged whale boat, in which he cruised

31 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 36. 32 Ranulf Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000 (Toronto, ON: Warwick Publishing Inc., 2000), 17. 33 Three albumen photographs, all dated 1888, of Galatea’s main saloon are in the collection at Mystic Seaport Museum. The first print shows a wide view of the main saloon interiors. The curator’s remarks are “Handwritten on print lower right: “Galatea”. Embossed on care lower left: “Cos & Currant” and lower right: “Torquay”. Galatea, built 1885, designed by Beavor-Webb, built. By John Reid & Co., Port Glasgow; raced in America’s Cup 1886.” The other two prints have a smaller field of vision, and show different angles of the main saloon. See Appendix D, figure 7. 292

around Ireland.”34 His estate located on Paradise Hill in County Clare inspired his

nickname “Paddy Henn the Bird of Paradise” to his close friends.35 He was a jovial and

genial person who took great joy in sailing and perfecting his yachting skills. While on

a cruise he met Miss Barthoemew, an heiress in her own right, while cruising with her

brother on a yacht of 10 tons. 36 They were both avid cruising sailors and their marriage

was inevitable and spent many years together cruising and living afloat. By the time that

he joined the Royal Navy in 1860, he and his wife had sailed some 49,000 miles in seven

years aboard the 80-ton yawl Gertrude.37

Lieutenant Henn’s first assignment in the Royal Navy was aboard the H.

M. S. Galatea as a midshipman, and “made the reputation as a young midshipman in chasing slavers on the Zanzibar coast. . . [he] was a good sailor and a good sportsman, but in no sense a racing man.”38 He remembered his days onboard the frigate Galatea as

very pleasant and enjoyable. His reputation secured him the second in command post for the Royal Society’s expedition that was sent to find Dr. David Livingstone in 1872.39

Three years later, he “resigned his commission with the Navy so that he could devote all his energies to sailing.”40 Still enamored with the sea, he was determined to cruise the

oceans permanently, and “for seven years he lived on board a small yawl, with his wife

and her pets, travelling some 50,000 miles.”41

34 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 56. 35 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 87. 36 Ibid. 37 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 56. 38 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 87. 39 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 56. 40 Ibid. 41 Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000, 17. 293

During this time period there were two classes of yachtsmen, those that raced and

“sailed too often less for their own satisfaction than to destroy by defeat the pleasure of

their rivals.”42 Lieutenant Henn and his wife fell into the other class of yachtsmen.

Those “whose quieter tastes lead them to long summer cruises – genuine lovers of

sailing, who occasionally enlist in regattas, as country gentlemen exhibit their best breeds

at agricultural fairs, less for personal gratification and the sake of rivalry than to maintain

the ancient reputation and glory of their associations.”43 Both classes enhanced yachting,

the first in popularizing it has a costly sport, the second in maintenance of a “pleasure

fleet.”

In the early days of yacht racing, there was no differentiation between the cruiser

and the racer. Both Galatea and Coronet, which is discussed later in the chapter, bear witness to this phenomenon. Not limited to these two examples, they were both luxury yachts and racers simultaneously. Designs for yacht racers had not yet been perfected nor separated from luxury yacht designs. Owners therefore were confined to combining

both functions. “These were the days when sportsman raced in big vessels piled high

with canvas and weighed down with the trappings of the good life. . . Such vessels

symbolized affluence.”44

Whether it was the desire for a larger living space or perhaps the eagerness for

advanced yachting technology, or the intrigue of yacht racing the Henn’s sought an

aspiring naval architect to design their new “home.” It was Mrs. Henn that had the new

42 “Yachts and Yachting,” Scribner’s Monthly, August, 1872, Vol. IV, No. 4, 386. 43 Ibid. 44 Capt. Alan Villiers, Men, Ships and the Sea (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1962), 379. 294 yacht built in 1884 and she chose for her designer John Beavor-Webb. It was Lieutenant

Henn, however, who “ordered [the] racing cutter to carry the name of his old ship,

Galatea.45 Accustomed to luxury cruising and opulent surroundings on shore, the Henn’s ordered a “90-ton racing cutter [that] was 102’7” overall, 87’ on the water-line and had a bean of 15’ and a draught of 14’. She carried 8,230 square feet of sail, no mean feat on a cutter.”46 She was “built of steel throughout, by John Reid & Co. of Port Glasgow,

Scotland.”47 On her launching day of May 1, 1885, “she stuck on the ways and laid over for a tide, taking on two tons of water [that she hauled] for her first season of racing.”48

It was a twist of personalities and ambitions that changed the destiny of Galatea while she was still in construction. Lieutenant Henn and his wife were planning a new

“residence,” but John Beavor-Webb was designing America’s Cup challengers.

Lieutenant William Henn’s challenge with Galatea in 1886 was probably more a result of the designer’s ambitions than those of the yachts stolid owner. J. Beavor-Webb, who had designed Genesta the previous year, and who had convinced himself that his second boat was faster, was determined to pursue this double attempt regardless of a great deal of advice to the contrary.49

As previously noted, Henn, although a lover of yachts and the sea, and a skilled sailor and yachtsmen, was not a racer and he “was no more qualified to challenge for the

America’s Cup than his compatriots, Lord Dunraven and Sir Thomas Lipton, both

45 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 56. The name Galatea originates from three characters in Greek mythology. The prominent myth is Galatia as the wife of Pygmalian, the king of Cyprus. Pygmalian fell in love with the ivory statute that he had sculpted. In answer to his desires, Aphodite brought her to life and they were married. 46 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 57. 47 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 408. 48 Ibid.,417. 49 Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000, 46. 295

landlubbers.”50 Whether the excitement as a contestant in the America’s Cup, or British

pride or coercion and misadvise, “in December, 1884, there came notice of a challenge

for the America’s Cup from Sir Richard Sutton, owner of the 80-ton cutter Genesta,

accompanied by a similar notice from Lieutenant William Henn, R. N., owner of

Galatea, a sister vessel.”51 There was no precedence for this challenge. The New York

Yacht Club

received notice of not one but two 1885 challenges or the America’s Cup. The British naval architect J. Beavor-Webb proposed consecutive races with two ninety-ton cutters he had designed – the Genesta, owned by Sir Richard Sutton and the yet-to-be-completed Galatea, under construction for Lieutenant William Henn, Royal Navy (Retired). Negotiations led to an amended plan: Sutton’s Genesta would race against an American defender in the summer of 1885, and if she failed to win the Cup, Henn’s Galatea would compete for it the next year.52

In re-telling the account Captain R. F. Coffin relates the yachting cultures elation when

New York Yacht Club members learned of the Genesta and Galatea challenge for the

America’s Cup. “Immediately all was excitement, not only among yachting men, but

among the general public. In fact, I think there was more interest taken in the affair by

persons outside of the New York club than by its members.”53

The reason for the heightened interest was in the interior appointments of the

yacht and the unusual on board guests. There was continual interchange of ideas between

America and Britain and the rivalry between the two sailing nations was great. Race

50 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 87. 51 W. P. Stephens, “The Evolution of the Yacht Designer: Part I—The American Designers,” Outing Magazine, vol. XXXIX, no. 1 (November, 1901). http://www.1284foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Outing?Volume_39/outXXXIX01/outXXXIX02/outXXXI0 2x.pdf (accessed March 11, 2010), 225. 52 Ed Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.), 128. 53 Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,” 129. 296

results showed that “the Americans had the edge over the British in sail, but when it came to comfort and grandeur the British designers and builders took the biscuit.”54 American

luxury yacht owners appointed their yacht interiors in a grand manner; however, they

were conscience of European influence on interior correctness and grandeur. Inquiry as

to the details of the new yacht gave evidence of Lieutenant Henn’s apprehensions

towards the race and the original intent of Galatea. His response on January 18, 1885

was:

I hope the New York Yacht Club will accept my challenge for the America’s Cup; for many years it has been my greatest wish to race for it, but it is only within the last few months that I have been in a position to send a challenge. I am building Galatea expressly for this purpose, and have no intention of racing her in England before taking her across the ocean. Galatea has been designed with a view to her being converted into a comfortable cruiser when her racing days are over, by reducing sticks and ballast.55

Galatea had become his new home and he and his wife lived aboard with every comfort.

Drummond writes: “On deck, everything was there that could be expected of a challenger

for the America’s Cup in the late 80’s [sic] of the last century. Below, however, it was

laid out like a Victorian house, the saloon more like a drawing room.”56 Her cabin

boasted of potted plants and the luxurious appointments included draperies, and leopard-

skin rugs. The Henn’s set sail for New York harbor via the Azores57 and in the “summer

54 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 119. 55 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 408. 56 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 56. 57 J. Beavor-Webb told The New York Times, July 28, 1886, that “he was no at all surprised at the non- arrival of the Galatea or at her no having been spoken by transatlantic steamships. Lieut. Henn, he said, had expressed his intention of going down by the Azores, and in all probability tarry thereabouts for a while if he found anything to interest him, there was no telling when he would arrive in this country. Then, again, having his wife with him, he would naturally sail easily and comfortably, and if he encountered heavy weather lie to until it was over.” 297

of 1886 American yachtsmen greeted the Galatea with mild consternation when they

found the lieutenant and his wife aboard with a retinue of dogs and a pet monkey.”58 The below deck interiors that greeted the American yachting scene was a menagerie of nick- knacks and animals: “They had, moreover, surrounded themselves with a museum of

Victorian bric-a-brac and a zoo consisting of several dogs, and a monkey named Peggy . .

. Galatea would have been better nicknamed the ‘Noah’s Ark.’ ”59 Not discouraged by the comments of the welcoming committee after arriving in the United States the Henn’s added a pet lemur.60 To add haute couture to the yacht’s image Peggy, a Maltese

monkey, “wore her own monogrammed sailor’s uniform and helped raise and lower the

sails.”61

The opulent clutter and such extravagances, which included animal-skin rugs, an

abundance of textiles, art work and fine china, that filled the main cabin of Galatea, were not unusual on the racing yachts of the wealthy.62 Philip McCutchan describes the irony

of grand clutter versus sleek racer:

The racing yachts of the late nineteenth century were in many cases – perhaps most – not just racers; much ‘gracious living’ went on aboard of them, and in the fine, spacious saloons, kings, presidents and the very rich were entertained to superb food and drink. Such a yacht was Galatea, a large-class cutter owned by a retired British naval officer, William Henn, which made an unsuccessful challenge for the America’s Cup in 1886. Her saloon was fabulous and, by today’s frugal standards, incredible: tiger skins lay atop expensive carpeting, cushions sofas and rich

58 A. B. C. Whipple, The Seafarers: The Racing Yachts (Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books Inc., 1980), 75. 59 Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000, 46. 60 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 133. 61 Ibid., 136. 62 Whipple, The Seafarers: The Racing Yachts, 77. 298

door hangings abounded, the walls were adorned with valuable pictures, just like any wealthy Englishman’s home ashore, and the exotic variety of plants stood in front of an ornate fireplace. In its time, none of this seemed incongruous – even on a racing yacht.63

A first-hand account by William P. Stephens, a noted yacht designer and author of the

Gilded Age, remarked in 1887 that Galatea was “fitted with literally all the comforts of a home; she had an elegant main saloon, the furnishings of which were left almost intact on racing days.”64 The plants were put ashore for the contest, but Mrs. Henn and the

animals remained aboard, discreetly keeping below while Galatea raced for the Cup.65

Mrs. Henn on board during a race was a novelty as she was the first woman to sail in an

America’s Cup race.66 Apparently “the most interesting features of the 1886

International races, it seems, were not the competition but the Galatea’s colorful and

congenial owners”67 and the grand luxury yacht took second notice.

When the America’s Cup challenge was announced in 1886 by Galatea owners

and designer, “General Charles J. Paine, of Boston, commissioned Mr. Burgess to design

Mayflower to beat Galatea.”68 Each design was reflective of her national type of the era

and her designer. “Galatea was the narrow and deep British cutter, while Mayflower was

the typical American sloop.”69 It was a contest for the best out of three races. Given the extra weight below deck, from the clutter, the heavy cruising furnishings, Mrs. Henn and

63 Philip McCutchan, Great Yachts (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979), 22. 64 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 87. 65 Whipple, The Seafarers: The Racing Yachts, 75. 66 Ibid., 77. 67 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 132. 68 Kenealy, A. J. “The Story of the New York Yacht Club.” Outing Magazine, May 1901. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_38 (accessed August 3, 2007), 22. 69 William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld. The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958), 110. 299

her pets70 and the great annoyance caused by the “inconsiderate crowding of pleasure

craft about the two competing vessels”71 there was doubt in the minds of the American’s and the yacht committee because “as a challenger for the world’s premier yachting trophy, Galatea did not exactly put the wind up the opposition . . .many American’s thought that her cheerful owner must be bluffing.”72 The first race, between the

Mayflower and the Galatea, took place on September 7, 1886, over the New York Yacht

Club course. Although the Galatea “blanketing and passing the Mayflower right on the line”73 made for a promising start she lost “the first two out of three races to another

Burgess-designed defender, Mayflower.”74 To the chagrin of the crew, captain and

owners, as the Mayflower passed the Galatea for a win, “only Peggy, the monkey,

seemed to know what to do, and leapt off along Galatea’s lengthy , determined to lower the sails.”75

Disputes occurred over spectator yachts and line violations causing a

disappointing end for the Henn’s. They stayed in America for another yachting season,

winning a few trophies76 and issued a racing challenge of their own: “The challenge of

Lieut. Henn to the American yachts to enter a race with his to Bermuda and back, which

the gallant English yachtsman issued in August last, was simply a neat little act of

70 W. H. Bunting, Steamers, Schooners, Cutters & Sloops (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974), 60. 71 “Yachting,” Editor’s Open Window, Outing Magazine, November 1886, http://www.afla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_09.outIX02/outIX02o.pdf (accessed August 30, 2007), 175. 72 Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000, 17. 73 W. J. Henderson, “The “America’s Cup,” Harper’s Weekly, July 20, 1889. http://app/harpweek.com/viewarticletesxt.asp (accessed July 6, 2009), 589. 74 Whipple, The Seafarers: The Racing Yachts, 75. 75 Rayner, The Story of the America’s Cup, 1851-2000, 46. 76 Ibid. 300

sporting diplomacy which the New York Yacht Club were shrewd enough to see into.”77

Mindful of his reputation for sportsmanship behavior the race was dismissed and their

life of cruising began, with travel details recalled in newspapers stories.

The Henn’s wintered in the Mediterranean, like many owners of large English yachts, and cruised to many ports throughout the world.78 Following Henn’s death in

1894, Mrs. Henn continued to live aboard the Galatea, “eventually sailing some sixty

thousand miles over nearly twenty-five years.”79 After her death, “Galatea was sold to a ship breaker, taken to the Summers & Payne Yard in , and the work of demolition was begun on January, 1912. Some of Galatea’s 60 tons of lead were used in of new yachts.”80

Galatea’s interiors are noteworthy because they reflect the typical wealthy

Victorian interiors of Great Britain and in turn caused notice with the American social

elite. The sumptuous and extravagant main saloon of the Galatea exuded the European

aura that validated the American aspirations. Written documentation, first-hand accounts

of her below deck appointments and photographic images supply concrete evidence for

interior research of early schooner yachts. Galatea’s interiors encouraged American

yachtsmen to achieve opulent yacht interiors of their own.

77 “Yachting,” Editor’s Open Window,175. 78 Bunting, Steamers, Schooners, Cutters & Sloops, 60. 79 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905, 136. 80 Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 420. 301

American Example of a Grand Schooner-Yacht

Rufus T. Bush and Coronet

The humble beginnings of Rufus T. Bush gave no indication of his eventual rise

to wealth as a very successful Gilded Age businessman. Born to a farming family in

Tompkins County, New York in 1840, the family re-located to Michigan in 1851, and re-

established the business of farming.81 In Michigan he attended both the Michigan

Agriculture School and graduated with honors from the Michigan State Normal School in

1861.82 While attending the Normal School he met Sarah M. Hall, who was also

attending the same institution and preparing to work in education.83 They were married

and upon graduation they both entered school teaching as a career. After two years the

Bush’s took their savings of $200.00 and moved to Chicago.84

His teaching experience in Michigan “settled two convictions: first, farming was

too slow a means of making money to be pursued by any man who can do better; and,

secondly, that teaching school is not a sufficiently profitable occupation for one who

looks forward to a time when he can surround his family with at least a comfortable, and,

if possible, a luxurious home.”85

Bush’s entrepreneurial skills emerged as he began by selling sewing machines.

His next business investment was to manufacture the sewing machines in Toronto where

81 Susan Daley, “Rufus T. Bush - Coronet’s First Owner,” Restoration Quarterly, Spring 2005, 2. 82 James Terry White, “Bush, Rufus Ter” in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, (1910), Vol. 14, Part 1. http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA102&dq=rufus (accessed March 23, 2010), 1. 83 Van Buren Denslow, “Prominent Citizens of New York: Rufus T, Bush,” Magazine of Western History, January 1891, 370-370. http://books.google.com/book?id (accessed March 23, 2010), 3. 84 Daley, “Rufus T. Bush,” 2. 85 Denslow, “Prominent Citizens of New York,” 2-3. 302

he eventually employed thirty employees.86 His moderate success profited him $12,000

and he was eager to branch into another business venture.

While in Toronto, he saw a coil of wire clothes-lines and bettered them by making

them retractable. His marketing concept was to have clergymen sell the retractable wire

clothes-lines to the women in their parishes. Van Buren Denslow’s comment in the

January 1891 edition of Magazine of Western History notes that “few good church-going

women, in the quarter of a million church parishes of the country, would esteem it other

than a privilege and duty to provide themselves, at a slight cost, with a perpetual clothes-

line, when, in so doing, they would increase the temporal rewards of a faithful pastor.”87

In 1867, Bush moved to New York, where he printed tens of thousands of catalogs and circulars and began his clothes-line business. Supply met demand and in five years the Bush savings account had increased to $30,000.88

Several other business investments, such as coal, and a notion and variety store,

were short lived, but the business venture that elevated Bush from upper-middle class to

wealthy elite was his introduction to Walter P. Denslow in 1870. Prior to meeting Bush,

Denslow had been operating a petroleum business with an inadequate supply of capitol.

He had developed a new process for refining oil, “and by diligent observation, more

nearly reduced the process of refining to a system.”89 Bush’s financial backing propelled

both of them into financial success and the two founded the Denslow & Bush

Manufacturing Company, 1871. The trademark names “Peerless” and “Premium Safety,”

86 Ibid.. 87 Ibid., 3-4. 88 Daley, “Rufus T. Bush - Coronet’s First Owner,” 2. 89 Denslow, “Prominent Citizens of New York,” 5. 303

of their refined oil gained them notoriety, both in the United States and aboard, and they

enjoyed great prosperity.90

The company’s fame and quality product brought them into conflict with

Standard Oil’s accumulation of oil wells in the late 1870s. Battles and public testimony

against Standard Oil in 1879 resulted in Bush and Denslow selling their firm to Standard

Oil.91 Rufus T. Bush had become a very successful businessman and now, he had a

larger bank account with increased leisure time.

Bush was known as a man that coupled ambition with a love for adventure.

During the Standard Oil time period, he had invested in an early steamer yacht named

Falcon. She was 106 feet long and the Bush family had made some fairly extensive coastwise cruises on the eastern seaboard of North America in 1884.”92 For a ruling class

of industrialists, of which Rufus T. Bush was one, and for whom New York was the

American business and culture center, a yacht was an invaluable statement of wealth and

status. Bush was known for his “marked taste for social amusements, for travel and for

literary recreation.”93 The Falcon served his amusement purposes with many excursions

down the bay, up the Hudson and the Sound, “with parties made up, largely of those

neighbors whom he had known longest—lunches on board and dancing at some rural or

seaside pavilion, had been his delight.”94

The drawbacks of early steam yachts were numerous, however. For Bush, “A few

voyages in the Falcon taught him that the vibratory motion imparted by the steam power

90 White, “Bush, Rufus Ter., ”1. 91 Daley, “Rufus T. Bush - Coronet’s First Owner,” 2. 92 Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 134. 93 Denslow, Prominent Citizens of New York,” 5. 94 Ibid., 5-6. 304

renders a steam yacht less restful than a sailing yacht, and that its mode of riding the

waves less graceful and natural.”95

His new status, that as a very wealthy man with free time on his hands, was a

dilemma that was reflective of the entire Gilded Age gentry. America was in a “world of

new wealth, new social barriers, and increasingly conspicuous consumption.”96 Money poured in from huge investments such as “railroads, steel, shipping, oil, insurance, coal, communications (telephones and telegraph)”97 all of which was protected under

extremely high tariffs. New wealth always spawns “new social distinctions and

stimulates high-stakes, hard not-to-notice competitions,”98 and Bush was no exception.

His adventuresome nature and his financial empire directed Bush to invest in a status

symbol demonstrating arrival to his newly acquired social rank: a luxury schooner-yacht.

Timothy Murray notes:

Sometime in the early 1880s Rufus T. Bush had a brainstorm. Why not build a yacht? Why not make it a big yacht? Rufus T. Bush was a New York millionaire; with that thought was born a vessel which has probably seen more newsprint devoted to her, felt more salt water under her keel, and known more of the vagaries of the world’s weather than any other yacht afloat today.99

Luxury yachts were an award to the upper echelon of society. Because of the

advancing technology and skills of the naval architect, schooner yachts could be a

relatively inexpensive investment with the high return of peer admiration. Bush desired a

95 Ibid., 6. 96[John Rousmaniere], “Coronet Interview,” Coronet Chronicle, Restoration Quarterly, Spring 2005, 1. 97 Ibid. 98Ibid. 99 Timothy F. Murray, “CORONET: Whither Away?” WoodenBoat, Issue 32, January/February 1980, 20. 305

capable and comfortable yacht in which to cruise the oceans of the world and one that was quiet.

In 1884, Bush sent out a “request for the design of a new schooner.” Designs from prominent shipyards and new naval architects came from “Bath, Maine; Boston,

Massachusetts; Mystic, Connecticut; and every builder on Long Island.” 100 After much

deliberation, the design team of Charles M. Smith and John Terry in Greenport, Long

Island were selected to design the new schooner-yacht, Coronet. The shipbuilders would

be the renowned C. &. R. Poillon Brothers located in Brooklin.

Coronet was the epitome of advanced design, a superb status symbol,

aesthetically pleasing above and below deck, and brought great pleasure to the Bush

family. She was "a beautiful, staunch and princely craft. Bush felt as safe on board of

her at sea as amid the serene rest of his Brooklyn Home.”101 To add to her aura, Bush

registered her with the New York Yacht Club in 1885. 102 Why Bush, out of character, issued a trans-Atlantic challenge with a $10,000 purse attached can only be speculation.

What is known is that Bush and Coronet sailed into fame March of 1887. Coronet’s

adventuresome career is discussed in detail later in this chapter.

C. & R. Poillon: Shipwrights

Bush contracted C. & R. Poillon in Brooklin, New York, famed for their yachts

and working vessels to construct Coronet in 1885. She was “modeled on the fast and

100 Harold Rosengen and Susan Daley, “The Search for the Builder’s Model,” Restoration Quarterly, Winter, 2005, 2. 101 Denslow, Prominent Citizens of New York,” 8. 102 “New York City Welcomes Coronet Home,” in Project Updates, Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 7. 306

able nineteenth century pilot schooners,”103 designed to cruise the world’s oceans in

comfort and style. When Rufus T. Bush was seeking a builder for his new yacht, C. & R.

Poillon shipbuilders had an established reputation for quality yachts. Evidently, Coronet

was modeled after the renowned pilot schooner design of the Poillon Brothers. Her LOA

was 133 feet, placing her in the grand schooner yacht classification and “she was rigged

with the long lowermasts and relatively short characteristic of pilot

schooners.”104

C. & R. Poillon played a strategic role in the history of American yachting. In

1861 the Poillon shipyard contracted with the Navy department to be one of six screw

of 507 tons each,105 because their shipbuilding skills were recognized as quality.

Review of the literature shows that not only were the Poillon Brothers involved with

United States Navy contracts, but were also closely involved with the America’s Cup

challenges as builders, suppliers or conducted repairs. Their reputation of distinct quality

as “builders for some of the largest schooner-yachts, coasting schooners and pilot-

boats”106 was acknowledged throughout New York City and vicinity. “C. &. R. Poillon

in Brooklyn, specializing in ship repairs and the building of pilot-boats, built the

schooner-yachts Meteor, , Dreadnaught, Peerless, Viking, , Clio, and the

sloop Coming.107 In 1873 and 1877 Ruby and Garnet respectively, were two half-

103 “Coronet History and Milestones,” under IYRS—Coronet History and Milestones. http://iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetHistoryandMilestones/tabid/195/Default.aspx (accessed March 18, 2010), paragraph 1. 104 Bunting, Steamers, Schooners, Cutters & Sloops, 32. 105 John H. Morrison, History of New York Ship Yards (New York: Wm. F. Sametz & Co., 1908), 157. 106 Stephens, Tradition and Memories of American Yachting, 401. 107 Ibid., 344. 307 square riggers that the C. &. R. Poillon shipyard built; the last square riggers in the

United States.108

Of the yachts, “Sappho was probably the best-known yacht modeled by the

William Townsend, for she as a Cup Defender and the subject of much controversy. She was built by the Poillon’s on speculation and was the largest schooner yacht that had been built at the time of her launch in [18]67.”109 Her original owner was the builder

Richard Poillon, a member of the New York Yacht Club, Sappho was registered with a

LOA of 136 feet would classify her as a grand schooner yacht.110 Her three wins against

the British , 1870 and 1872, brought recognition to the quality yachts that the C.

& R. Poillon shipyard was producing. Her continued performances throughout her career

“make her the most notable of a grand fleet of ocean cruising and racing yachts.”111

Sappho assisted in establishing C. & R. Poillon as notable yacht builders. The

superintendent of the yard, William Townsend also modeled and designed such large

yachts such as the Coronet, Norseman, Clio, Agnes, Peerless, Dreadnaught, Norma, and

Viking.112

108 Morrison, History of New York Ship Yard, 163. 109 Howard I. Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: Bonanza Books, 1985), 331. 110 Stephens, Tradition and Memories of American Yachting, 15. 111 Ibid. 112 Stephens, Tradition and Memories of American Yachting, 15. The Poillon’s did not limit their designs to the in-house skills of Mr. Townsend. The interconnectedness of the yacht builder and the yacht designers is demonstrated in Coffin’s, “The History of American Yachting,” 117. He states that “It was in the early part of 1878, that the keel schooner, was built at Brooklyn by the Poillon’s, from a design by Mr. A. Cary Smith.” Nannette Poillon, the great-great granddaughter of a founding Poillon, wrote that “Poillon Brother built, and in many cases also designed, many famous vessels of a variety of types from Civil War gunboats, transports, ferries, and screws to America’s Cup defenders, schooners, sloops, and steamers. All in all 175 vessels were turned out of the two yards in Brooklyn where 300 men were gainfully employed.” “C & R Poillon: 19th Century Brooklin Shipbuilders,” under C & R Poillon – Ship Builders, Shipwrights, Caulkers & Spar Makers. File ://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\BarnesL\Local%20Settings\Temporary%20Intern (accessed January 308

Long after the launch of Coronet, the C. & R. Poillon shipyard continued. An

advertisement for C. & R. Poillon appears in Captain Howard Patterson’s book Yachting

Etiquette: Courtesies, Discipline, Ceremonies and Routine for any and all

Circumstances, 1899.113 It reads:

C. &. R. Poillon, Shipwrights, Calkers and Spar Makers telephone numbers, address and location and Special attention given to Yacht Building and Repairing First Class Wharf Accommodations.

The Coronet

The most remarkable aspect about Coronet is that she still exists after more than

one hundred twenty years. During this 125 years she won the trans-Atlantic race against

Dauntless (1887), rounded Cape Horn on four occasions, circumnavigated the globe

twice, in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, sailed in all oceans save the ,

hosted kings, presidents, emperors and inventors, made three trips to the Mediterranean waters, sailed the west coast of Africa, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, Hawaii and journeyed on

the first joint American/Japanese scientific expedition, she still floats, as the author can

attest first-hand. She was the first American registered yacht to cross Cape Horn from

East to West in 1888.

In 1995, after an absence of ninety years, Coronet was brought back to her New

York Yacht Club roots on January 13, 2005. Her return was a result of the International

Yacht Restoration School’s plan to restore Coronet to her Gilded Age grandeur of 1885,

28, 2003), 1. For a complete listing of identified yachts and ships built by C. & R. Poillon Company, 1855/56-1902, see http://www.by-the-sea.com/articles/poillon.html 113 Captain Howard Patterson, Yachting Etiquette: Courtesies, Discipline, Ceremonies and Routine for any and all Circumstances (New York City: The New York Nautical College, 1899), viii. 309

re-registering her as a “member” of the New York Yacht Club. In 1995, the International

Yacht Restoration School acquired Coronet with the intent to restore her to her original

Gilded Age grandeur. Critical to her longevity was the quality of her construction

instigated at the Poillon shipyard.114 In 2005, Elizabeth Meyer, the founding chair of

International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) in Newport, Rhode Island and the original

project chair of the Coronet Project, noted that “Coronet is the oldest and most original

Victorian grand yacht in the world. She is a priceless historical artifact and a magnificent example of American design and engineering . . . and the last remaining American schooner yacht of her age, size, and degree of originality.”115 In 2006, IYRS conveyed

title of the boat to the Coronet Restoration Partners in San Francisco to complete the

restoration on IYRS’s campus in Newport, Rhode Island.

Most grand yachts of the late-nineteenth century, especially wooden hulls, have

either sunk, were grounded, driven under, broken up or simply fell prey to old age.

Coronet is living proof of the intrinsic value of a schooner-yacht artifact. She has the

unique opportunity to “educate” as to the design, construction techniques, the

surrounding culture and social history of her time period. The role of a luxury yacht from

the Gilded Age had as much to do with social performance as the ability to perform on

the water.

Coronet was built with the grandeur and auspices of a floating palace. Her six

luxurious staterooms could accommodate eight to ten passengers. She “typically carried

a crew of 10-12 hands, a first mate, a cook, a steward and a captain. The hands

114 [John Mecray], “The Birth of the Coronet Project,” Restoration Quarterly 2, Fall 2004, 23. 115 Elizabeth Meyer, “An Air of Greatness,” under Coronet Project. http://www.yachtcoronet.org/history.htm (accessed May 26, 2005), 1. 310

lived and ate in the forecastle, entered through a separate hatch from the deck. The

captain and mate berthed in the after cabin, also separated from the passenger spaces

amidship.” The importance of separate entrances and living quarters was reflective of the

social composition of the era. As noted in Chapter Two, pre-Haussmann buildings were

a synthesis of the Parisian social hierarchy: “the bourgeoisie on the second floor, civil

servants and employees on the third and fourth, low-wage employees on the fifth, house

staff, servants and the poor under the eaves.”116 The same delineation of persons based

on their social rank occurred on Gilded Aged luxury yachts. Just as wealthy American

home interiors reflected European lifestyle, so too the social ranking within American

society duplicated the European structure of social class. Servants and crew were not to

engage with owners and guests. Sometimes only separated by a wall or a drawn curtain,

this phenomenon necessitated creative design and camouflage below deck.

In keeping with the fashion of grand yacht interiors, Coronet accommodated the

wishes of her owner and was splendid above and below deck. “The Coronet had the luxe

of a fine home – but one that was meant to travel to faraway shores.”117 An account of

the original appointments is described by Captain Timothy F. Murray, who grew up on

Coronet when his father was the skipper, after her sale in 1905. Murray describes the

interiors of the Coronet as the gilded yacht from the Gilded Age on launch day, August

17, 1885:

As he strolled about the white pine deck on the day of her launch, Rufus Bush must have been pleased. Varnished

116 “Baron Haussmann: The Renovation of Paris,” under Haussmann: Renovation of Paris http://www.Haussmann’s_renovation_of_Paris.com (accessed July, 27, 2008), paragraph 3. 117 “The 1885 Schooner Yacht Coronet,” in IYRS—Restoration of Coronet. http://www.iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetRestoration (accessed March 18, 2010), paragraph 1. 311

teak stanchions complemented the brightwork118 of deckhouse, skylights, and railcap, all Honduras mahogany of extraordinary (by modern standards) density, beauty and closeness grain. Going below, he descended the main stairwell of polished marble, fan- shaped at its foot, past two newel posts crowned with brass lamps, through swinging doors with stained glass lights, into the spacious saloon. Finished in hand-carved panels of the same fine mahogany, and set off with handsomely engraved mirrors, the cabin was graced with a granite topped sideboard, a writing desk, a large table with matching chairs (over which hung a brass chandelier) and a piano. Around the sides extended upholstered settees for the further comfort of her passengers. And in cold weather an open tile fireplace would dispel the chill.119

Murray continued with a description of the four possibly five gangways that “led below-

decks where the same rich wood dominated the superb joinerwork”120 bragging of

curvaceous woodwork and etched mirrors in the main saloon. Apparently her interiors

closely followed the British example found in Galatea and the Astor’s Ambassadress (see

Appendix D, figure 9).

Throughout her career the "Coronet was the pride and joy of six more yachtsmen after Bush: Arthur E. Bateman (1890-1891); John D. Wing (1891-1893); Arthur Curtis

James (1893-1898); Fred S. Pearson (1898-1899); John I. Waterbury (1899- 1901); and

Louis Bossert (1901-1905),”121 each owner adding or subtracting to the interiors of

Coronet as the fashions of interiors or the technology changed.

Anxious to get underway, Bush took his new schooner-yacht Coronet on her “first

trial trip on May 22, [1886], out around the light-ship and back, with her owner and a

118 Brightwork refers to the varnished woodwork and metal topside that is to be kept polished. John G. Rogers, Origins of Sea Terms (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport, 1985), 26. 119 Timothy F. Murray, “CORONET: Whither Away?” 20-21. 120 Captain T. F. Murray, The Coronet Story: Conquering and to Conquer (Athol, MA: The Highland Press, 1998), 11. 121 “Coronet History and Milestones,” under IYRS—Coronet History and Milestones. http://iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetHistoryandMilestones/tabid/195/Default.aspx (accessed March 18, 2010), paragraph 4. 312 large party on board. She behaved very well, and fully comes up to the expectations of

her owner.”122 Encouraged by her performance and eager for an adventure, the first long- distance cruise was with his family across the Atlantic to the in

1886.123 Realizing that he had a very fine yacht, though designed as a cruiser, he beckons all yachts to a trans-Atlantic challenge, the third in the history of the New York Yacht

Club. Anyone was welcomed to best Coronet for a $10,000 prize.124 Caldwell Colt, the

son of the inventor of the Colt revolver, answered the challenge and on March 13, 1887

the Dauntless and the Coronet departed New York’s Lower Bay bound to Queenstown,

Ireland, the finish line for the trans-Atlantic race.

The Dauntless125 was a legend in her own right. She had a legacy of cup defenses and many ocean voyages, but “the most celebrated achievement in the career of

Dauntless was her ocean race against the schooner Coronet. . . the race has become historical. . . though Dauntless fought a brave battle the newer and larger vessel bore away the palm of victory.”126

122 “Yachting,” Amateur Sport, Outing Magazine, July 1886, http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_08/outVIII04/outVIIIo4p.pdf (accessed August 28, 2007), 501. 123 Susan Daly, “Rufus T. Bush – Coronet’s First Owner,” Restoration Quarterly, 4, Spring 2005, 3. 124 “Coronet History and Milestones,” under IYRS—Coronet History and Milestones. http://iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetHistoryandMilestones/tabid/195/Default.aspx (accessed March 18, 2010), 3. 125 The Dauntless was originally named Fleetwing. After the “famous dead-of-winter ocean race” of December, 1866 between James Gordon Bennett Jr.’s Henrietta, Pierre Lorillard’s Vesta, and George and Franklin Osgood’s Fleetwing. The Henrietta won, but Bennett purchased the Fleetwing for $65,000, refitted her and rechristened her the Dauntless. “Yachts and Yachting,” Scribner’s Monthly, August 1872, 387-388. It was the Dauntless, now owned by Caldwell H. Colt who answered Rufus T. Bush’s challenge for an ocean race with Coronet, March 1887. 126 Capt. A. Kenealy, “A Sea-Dog’s Yarn of Fifty Years,” Outing Magazine, August 1894. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_24/outXXIV05/outXXIV05p.pdf (accessed August 3, 2009), 397. 313

As both yachts were readying for the contest, W. J. Henderson described the

ultimate luxuries of a grand schooner yacht, Dauntless, and recalls that it is a fireplace

that is a true luxury when autumn winds come nipping along. I remember boarding the brave old Dauntless off Staten Island in a raw day in February, when she was making ready for her ocean race with the Coronet. She had been out beyond the Hook stretching her canvas in a nor’wester, and her deck was iced up as far aft as the mainmast. I tumbled below with a shiver, and dropped into an arm-chair before a neat white mantle-piece with a glowing grate fire under it. It was the essence of luxury.127

The same article noted that the newer yacht, Coronet, was “considerably larger in every

way than her rival, and of course a far more powerful vessel and therefore better adapted

for a winter passage across the Atlantic.”128 The description of Dauntless, a

contemporary of Coronet validates the common practices of interiors appointments of the

luxury schooner yachts of the mid- to late 1880s.

As was common practice the owner stayed ashore while his yacht competed.

“Watching” from New York, Mr. Bush, “did not cross the ocean, but Mr. John H. Bird,

who was for some years secretary to the New York Yacht Club, represented him in the

perilous passage.”129 Mr. Colt, of course, sailed on his yacht.

Gale force winds daunted both Coronet and Dauntless as they competed in a

winter sea. A portion of the Coronet logbook during the race is reprinted in the IRYS

Restoration Quarterly, Spring 2005. An entry from the on-board journal of March 14

shares the condition of the interiors of Coronet during “the violence of the gales: The

cabin formed a sight ludicrous in the extreme. All the handsome furnishings so greatly

127 W. J. Henderson, “The Luxuries of Yachting.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, June 8, 1897, 536. 128 Kenealy, “A Sea-Dog’s Yarn of Fifty Years,” 397. 129 Ibid. 314

admired while we lay in New York Harbour were removed as soon as we got outside, and

replaced with spare sails, spares, and cordage.”130 Although the waves would wash over

the deck and leaked into the bunks and the staterooms, the saloon “offered a sanctuary for

all.” This account relates that the luxury yacht and the racing yacht were one and the same. Unlike Galatea that had at least off- loaded the potted plants, Coronet stowed the

“handsome furnishings” and raced to the finish line.

The race was a phenomenal success for the Americans and caught the attention of club members and the public. The New York Times carried daily reports pertaining to the race. The March 27, 1887 headline reads, “The Two Yachts Sighted; The Coronet Ahead of the Dauntless: The Steamer SAALE passes them over 100 miles Apart and Nearly

1,900 Miles on Their Way.”131 The reporter continued, saying that the large schooner out in front was “under a full press of canvas, bound east, and driving like a white cloud across the sea.” The next day The New York Times devoted the entire first page to the racing story. It boldly reported that “Coronet is Over the Line; and Easily the Winner of the Great Race.”132 Coronet had won the race by fourteen days, nineteen hours, three

minutes and fourteen seconds. March 1887 made Rufus T. Bush and the victorious

Coronet famous as the article continued with “it is evident from her performance that she

is an extremely fast yacht and that she was very pluckily and skillfully handled.”

130 “The Third Transatlantic Race, March 12-28, 1887,” From the Logbooks, Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005. 131 The New York Times, “The Two Yachts Sighted; The Coronet Ahead of the Dauntless,” March 27, 1887. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html (accessed March 31, 2010). 132 The New York Times, “Coronet is Over the Line; and Easily the Winner of the Great Race,” March 28, 1887. http://quert.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html (accessed March 31, 2010). 315

Being an astute business man “at the conclusion of the race, Bush immediately

put Coronet up for sale for $150,000 – $80,000 more than he had paid to have her built

just two years earlier.”133 The race became a hallmark for both Bush and Coronet,

regaled often in the model room of the New York Yacht Club.134

Several years later, under the ownership of Arthur Curtis James, 1893-1898, she

continued to be cruised extensively, including The Amherst Expedition that set

sail on August 9, 1896 and took the passengers and scientists on a journey to Esashi and

Yokohama, Japan to “observe the sun’s totals obscuration.”135 James placed the schooner

at the disposal of Amherst College with the college’s astronomer, David Peck Todd,

“mounting his second expedition to northern Japan to view a total eclipse of the sun and

Coronet transported members of the expedition and all of their scientific equipment from

San Francisco to Japan and back again, covering over 45,000 miles by the time she

returned to her base in New York.”136

On board was Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd, the astronomer’s wife. She kept a narrative of the expedition and described Coronet as “white, schooner-rigged, carrying every sort of sail, and as airy as a bird. . . and, indeed, when this cloud of canvas is spread to a brisk wind, the Coronet is a thing of beauty indescribably.”137 In her account she

133 Daly, “Rufus T. Bush,” 3. 134 The important connection between the New York Yacht Club model room and the yacht races is stated in A. J. Kenealy’s article, “The Story of the Yacht Club,” May 1901. He mentions the full models of both Coronet and Dauntless that are currently displayed side-by-side in the model room. His comment is, “another great ocean contest is recalled by a model of the schooner Coronet. . . which bent Dauntless in a race across the Atlantic . . . the model room is impressive when it deals with the glorious past.” Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” 20. 135 Mabel Loomis Todd, Corona and Coronet (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898), title page. 136 John Summers, The Schooner Yacht Coronet: An Air of Greatness (Newport, RI: International Yacht Restoration School, 1999), 11. 137 Todd, Corona and Coronet, 3. 316

also makes brief comment as to the interior appointments of Coronet. Her descriptions of

the main saloon reflect the same observations as the preceding quote of Tim Murray’s.

Her comment in regards to the lack of engines and coal bunkers result in “all the space is

available for living quarters,”138 a noted difference between sail and steam yachts that

will be discussed in later chapters. She added that the tiles for the open stove are red and

that the walls in one stateroom are “done in velvet, the other [stateroom] in satin

brocade. With four other rooms, each artistically furnished, ten or twelve guests are

luxuriously accommodated.”139 Clearly the expedition passengers enjoyed a luxurious

passage. Unfortunately for the expedition, it was a cloudy day, and an eclipse was not

observed.

Sometime between her launch, August 1885, and a change of ownership, Coronet

received an interior facelift. White interior paint was used to cover the wood, and then

gold gilt designs and medallions were stenciled onto the surface. It changed her interior

aura.140 A first hand account written eleven years after Coronet’s launch, by George

Spalding the lone passenger that sailed with Captain Crosby from New York to San

Francisco in 1896, describes the main saloon as:

Just forward from the wheel and binnacle and the short skylights over the captain’s and first mate’s cabin, one looks down the handsome balustrade leading to the large saloon and guests’ staterooms. The saloon runs forward to the main- mast. It is very spacious, about eighteen feet each way, hand- somely furnished in mahogany, with a ceiling [overhead] of

138 Ibid. 139 Ibid., 4. 140 During the early portion of the restoration, the author had the privilege to go aboard when the bulk heads had been taken down to the white paint and gold gilt layer, before it was permanently removed. The entire interior of the saloon was white and trimmed in gold gilt. Age and layers of paint and varnish had faded the gold gilt, but it was still evident. The entire interior of the saloon was white and trimmed in gold gilt. 317

white and gold, [emphasis added] and luxuriously upholstered with lounges, running the whole length, and ten or more plush- covered chairs suitable to place about the large table. Above the table is the capacious skylight that fills the room with mellowed brightness. The handrail of the stairs curves away from marble steps and the saloon is carpeted with heavy Brussels. There are book-racks well stored with the latest works of travel and fictions, lockers and sideboards; a folding desk, a Chickering piano, and a tiny tile open-grate fireplace with brass trimmings and chimney piece. Generous light is furnished in the evening by a large central chandelier and side lamps along the sofas.141

His account continues with the “spacious staterooms” that included a bathroom with a

standing tub and the owner’s suite, occupying the full starboard side was “furnished and

decorated with tasteful opulence. . . a cretonne-covered divan,” was built-in across the

cabin from the bed, “which was built in, is of full width, and has the finest mattress and

pillows.”142 Inside the houses “it is apparent why the name “Gilded Age” is so

appropriate. Everywhere gold sparkles. The houses are filled with the most exotic and

richly ornamented decorative and fine arts. The interior furnishings were made and

gilded in Europe (French makers were preferred).143 The gold gilt found aboard Coronet

demonstrates transference of home interior practices to yacht interiors. The interior

fashions of the time extended to all environments that housed families of wealth. In her

Gilded Age day, not only was Coronet considered a very large yacht, she was

acknowledged as a grand schooner-yacht, with sleek elegance and swift performance.

In 1905, Coronet was purchased by The Kingdom, a non-denominational religious

organization based in Shiloh, near Durham, Maine. Coronet remained in the ownership

141 George Spalding, Coronet Memories: Log of the Schooner-Yacht Coronet on Her Off-Shore Cruises from 1893 to 1899 (London: F. Tennyson Neely, 1899), 214. 142 Murray, The Coronet Story, 11. 143“The Business of Leisure: The Gilded Age in Newport,” Newport Historical Society, Summer 1989, 124. 318

of The Kingdom, from 1905 until 1995, and was used for global missionary endeavors.

Voyages included Palestine, Egypt, the Caribbean, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Tahiti,

Australia and western Africa.144

Her lengthy service, however, caused some disrepair and she was anchored in

Maine. After laying up for approximately a decade, Coronet was hauled to the

Donaldson’s yard in South Portland, Main in 1946. Technological advances required her to be changed from sail to diesel: the marble staircase was removed to make room for the engine room that housed the added diesel engines, the large deckhouse aft was shortened, her rigging was altered to a triangular mainsail and the brightwork on the deck was removed. Her original semi-circular skylights that allowed light to shine below deck were also removed to make way for the engines.145

Although she was built for cruising, the descriptions of the Coronet’s interiors are

limited to personal journal entries of several of her trans-world expeditions, and

newspaper articles. Textile descriptions identify red, pink, and green velvets, and satin

brocade. Velvets and satin were a typical fabrics used in homes of this era. Velvet not

only spoke of opulence, but was the most comfortable fabric available, “as well as the

fabric that best personified the nineteenth-century idea of the home as a haven.”146 Part of Coronet’s restoration is the research of and the re-creation of the interiors and textiles that were on board her inaugural launch. As she has been taken down to her bulkheads,

144 “Coronet History and Milestones,” under IYRS—Coronet History and Milestones. http://iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetHistoryandMilestones/tabid/195/Default.aspx (accessed March 18, 2010), paragraph 6. 145 Murray, “CORONET: Whither Away?” 20-21. 9 Robert Dillon, “What Yachting Costs.” The Outing Club. Outing Magazine, March 1889, vol. XIII, No. 6, 557. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_13/outXIII06 (accessed August 3, 2007). 10 Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,” 25. 319

bits and pieces of the original ship have been discovered along with gilding and textiles found in nail holes. Her story demonstrates “a symbol of the gilded age, an exuberant time in American history when a grand yacht was a symbol of great fortune and success than joined its owner’s coterie of elegant domains: the townhouse on Fifth Avenue, the summer cottage in Newport.”147

Paul Miller, a noted Gilded Age scholar and the curator of the Newport

Preservation Society, gave a presentation entitled “The Evidence of Yacht Interiors.” He

speculates that the interior design of the Coronet was completed by Stanford White.

Coronet was designed and constructed just as the novae profession of interior design was

gaining recognition, but at the time when the interiors were still largely managed by the

architect. Stanford White was commissioned to design the interiors of Namouna, James

Gordon Bennett Jr.’s palatial yacht, 1890.148 Although there is presently no

documentation, one can witness evidence of White’s aesthetic interiors found at his

Newport Casino and the Isaac Bell House both in Newport, Rhode Island. According to

Miller, it was common for architects of Stanford White’s status to include the completion

of yacht and Pullman car interiors in the commission of their client’s primary and

secondary residential interiors. Many correlations of motifs, architectural nature of built- in furnishings, and mahogany paneling reserved for dining saloons, aboard the Coronet, are reflective of the McKim, Meade & White architectural firm. In a private conversation

with Nanette Poillon, (May, 2004) the great-great granddaughter of the Coronet’s

147 “The 1885 Schooner Yacht Coronet,” in IYRS—Restoration of Coronet. http://www.iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetRestoration (accessed March 18, 2010), paragraph 1. 148 Stanford White’s association with Namouna will be discussed in Chapter Seven. 320

shipwrights, also speculated that Stanford White is a strong as the interior

designer for the Coronet.

Distinctive features from on shore homes, such as polished woods and paneling

were borrowed to establish interiors below deck that exemplified wealth and a high

standard of comfort. Grandiose objects, that included luxury schooner-yachts with

consciously embellished interiors, were required for the ostentatious display of the

wealthy population that appeared on the Gilded Age stage. Added wealth resulted in an

increase of leisure that became “a serious business for in many social activities they were

working hard to maintain or advance their social position, hoping to enter into the exclusive inner circle. . . .families with newly made fortunes who were driven by the ambition of making it into the upper reaches of “Society.”149 The men in their financial

arenas and the women, who were tending the affairs of the family, were “united in the

single goal of advancing the family’s position in “Society.”150 A very visible united front

for the family was the building and accumulation of residences and extended spaces of

the house: a luxury yacht and a parlour car. The air of rich comfort and elegance

pervaded the upper-class society, regardless of their environments. Mansions and yachts

were considered equal environs both requiring exquisite taste and expensive interiors: trophies of social rank.

149 “The Business of Leisure,” 98. 150 Ibid., 102. 321

Photographic Analysis of House Parlors and Yacht Main Saloons

Sporadic mention of yacht interiors is usually sandwiched in a commentary as to

the yacht’s dimensions, speed, shipwright and owners details. Newspaper articles

recounting social events mention in passing, interiors details of yachts as they were in

harbor or were launched as if they were an addendum to the story.151 Photographs of

yacht interiors are rare, especially during the schooner-yacht era. Lack of light and

motion of the yacht inhibited the ability to take photographs.

An examination as to whether or not transference of comfortable living

accommodations, specifically textiles, from the mansion ashore to the luxury yacht below

deck is the purpose of this photographic analysis. The strong cultural, social and yacht

sporting ties between the United States and Great Britain urge a comparison between

British and American parlors and British main saloons to American main saloons.

Discussion of common textile practices and differences between parlors of homes

and yacht saloons will follow. Where possible, efforts have been made to compare the yacht and private residence of the same owner. However, in some circumstances photographic evidence of either the private residence or of the yacht main saloon of the yacht owner does not exist. In such cases, the analysis has used a typical residence or yacht saloon of a type consistent with the social economic status of the owner of a luxury yacht.152

151 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 120-21. 152 The ideal size of the photograph to be analyzed is 8” x 10.” Depending on the archival source, some photographs can only be enlarged to a dimension that maintains its resolution for analysis. For this reason some photographic images may be smaller in size.

322

British Parlours

In haute couture as well as home interiors, the British court gave acknowledgement to the French court as the leaders of fashion and design. Adopting their design trends, two accepted style revivals of the time dominated interiors and textile weaves: Rococo and Gothic. The Rococo Revival occurred during the Second Empire of

Napoleon III, 1845 – 1870s. Its inspiration was based on the eighteenth century French

Rococo. Its curvilinear lines and “feminine grace make it suitable for parlors, drawing rooms and boudoirs.”153 The Gothic Revival began in the early nineteenth century and

gained momentum so that by the 1850s through the 1880s it was known as the High

Victorian Gothic Revival. Characteristic of the High Victorian Gothic Revival were very

bold geometric forms, with elements of Italian, French, German and other medieval

styles intermixed within the architecture and interiors.154 Both revivals occurred

simultaneously in Great Britain and the United States, and at times, within the same

interior space.

It was the Rococo Revival that was firmly established as the preferred style of the

nouveaux riches by the mid-nineteenth century because of its association with the French

court. The rich ornamentation and curvaceous lines of the Rococo era were evident

throughout the European upper classes. The photographic example used for British

parlors is from the home of Robert Herrick a coal-mining magnate. Photographed by

Bedford Lémere in the 1880s, these sumptuous drawing room furnishings were installed

153 Harwood, May and Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design, 181. 154 Ibid., 126. 323

in Beaumanor Park, Leicestershire by William Railton155 (see Appendix D, figure 10).

The textiles that are displayed in this drawing room include the fire screen, carpet,

numerous pillows, a settee, foot stool, upholstered barrel backed chairs, side chairs, a

prominent tète te tète sofa, and textile adornments such as fringe, tassels, braid, and

buttons. Except for the textile adornments, each use of a textile has a specific function.

The fire screen aids in protection from the fire in the fireplace; the chairs, settee and tète

te tète sofa are for comfort in seating and used for reading, performing needlecraft

projects, and the company of others; the carpet covers the floor and adds insulation;

footstools provided comfort for tired feet; pillows soften the seat. The textiles used,

however, serve another purpose than function alone. They exceed the mere performance

of functionality and step into the realm of extravagant and elegant.

The selection of fibers and fabrics that were used indicates the social status of the

owner and their intent to convey that position to all that entered the drawing room. The

silk satin used for the two tufted barrel chairs is woven with an intertwining floral pattern.

The seats is not tufted but the arms and back are overly upholstered and tufted creating a

chair that would engulf the “visitor” surrounding them in luxurious silk.

The use of fringe adds to the cost and is therefore a statement of high fashion and extends

around the hem of the seat.

There are four side chairs with arms that are visible in the room. Each chair has

an embroidered seat and back and are within a Rococo frame of light color or gilt. The

155 Jeremy Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau (New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1987), 14. 324

wide seat opening allows for ease of entrance and exit and excess of fabric from clothing.

Embroidery was viewed as a necessary virtue for women of the household. Executing perfect needlecraft skills was taught and admired within all social circles, the upper class

expanding their skills to crewel, needlepoint, and counted cross-stitch among others. The

fire screen is possibly a product of one of the women who live within this house. The embroidered seats for the side chairs were probably manufactured, but lend the

acknowledged attributes of goodness associated with the morals of an upstanding

Victorian home. The exquisite craftsmanship adds to the extravagance of the room

environment and relates upper social status level.

The predominant four-seated tète te tète sofa, placed in the middle of the room

and in front of the fireplace is upholstered with silk satin that has a woven pattern of

large, circular, floral medallions running the width of each seat. The pattern resembles a

typical Rococo motif and the fabric denotes upper class. The shape of the seat is so

unusual; it suggests a custom ordered piece of furniture. This adds extravagance to the

room, conveying social status of the owner. Unique to this piece of furniture is the braid

and fabric covered buttons that run through the center of the arms and back of tête te tête

sofa within a seam line. The embellishments of uniformed fabric covered buttons that are

attached to the top of the braid add opulence to the piece of furniture.

The carpet in the room is an overall dark color, probably woven from wool. It

covers the entire room and has a woven border that is approximately two feet in depth

with large medallion motifs. The central portion of the carpet is a repetitive pattern of

small intertwining flowers in a lighter hue and resembles the English pattern “Cadora,”

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1870-1910, as cited in the Nylander book Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic

Buildings.156 The function was to cover the floor and add insulation. The aesthetics,

however, serve another purpose. The darkness in color enhances the gold frames of the

side chairs and their embroidered backs and seats. It adds to the luxuriousness of the

room and conveys social status of owner. The carpet pattern also reflects the wall paper

pattern on a smaller scale and completes the overall color scheme and Rococo ambiance

of the room. Of note is the damask-patterned wall paper used in this room. Damask-

patterned wall papers of this time were generally imitations of the previous silk damask

textiles that had adorned the walls of nobility and aristocracy. Re-created in the Rococo

Revival, the wallpapers mimicked expensive textiles from the previous Rococo era.

Pillows, which are either made from a needlecraft or are combinations of velvet

and silk satin fabrics, are scattered on the settee and the tête te tête sofa. Silk tassels of

about three to four inches in length are purely decorative and demonstrate the cultural

taste of the owner.

British Yacht Example: Galatea

The second style that was prevalent at this time was the Gothic Revival.

According to Jeremy Cooper, “the actual style in which the Victorians indulged

themselves might change from Rococo to Gothic, but the purpose tended to remain the

same – exuberant display. . .in their own drawing rooms.”157

Bruce Talbert, an interior designer in London, published a guidebook in 1869 by

Birbeck that was titled Gothic Forms Applied to Furniture, Metal Work and Decoration

156 Jane C. Nylander and Richard C. Nylander, Fabrics & Wallpapers for Historic Buildings (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005), 148. 157 Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor, 15. 326

for Domestic Purposes. “Regarded as the leading designer of interiors”158 from the

1860s to 1881, he fully supported the Gothic revival in home furnishings. After his death, unpublished pencil illustrations were published in book form by John O’Kane of

New York in the 1880s under the title, Fashionable Furniture. Touted as “a unique series of elegant designs [and] the genius whose pencil mainly lifted English Furniture into the improved position it now occupies,”159 drawing room illustrations displayed

portières, upholstery, and carpet that have the geometric designs characteristic of Gothic

revival. Another example of a Gothic revival illustration by Theodore Howard (1881) is

reprinted in the Jeremy Cooper book.160 His rendering for The Limes of Dulsich also

demonstrated the elaborate use of portières, fringe and Gothic geometric shapes and

motifs prevalent during the time period (see Appendix D, figure 11).

Such resources were available during the interior designing stage of the Galatea.

The textiles on board Galatea when Beken took the photographic image, c. 1888,

included draperies, portieres, throw rugs, velvet cushions, table covering, pillows, carpet,

animal skins, lace, tassels and trims.

The portières aboard Galatea are hung on either side of the fireplace and are a

clear representation of Gothic Revival textiles (refer back to Appendix B, figure 4).

Probably made of woven wool, a Gothic geometric pattern is woven into the fabric and

demonstrates craftsmanship of high quality. The dark trim, which is triangular in shape,

158 Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor, 95. 159 B. J. Talbert, Fashionable Furniture, New York c. 1880, quoted in Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor, 95. 160 Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor, 95. 327

is dyed to match the color of the portière. It is a decorative statement and adds to the

beauty of the saloon, and in turn the social status of the owner.

The portières may possibly be used for privacy and insulation, but the way in

which they are tied back give a more decorative finish than one that is functional.

Swaged up into a Bishop Sleeve arrangement with silk cordage, they puddle on the hearth

and are surrounded by potted plants. This design treatment requires additional fabric and

because of that, it implies a higher social status. The tassels are dyed to the same color as

the portières and the monochromatic color scheme adds elegance to the overall

presentation of the portières. Approximately six inches in length, they are purely

decorative and aid in the opulence of the saloon, enhancing the social status of the owner.

An example of Gothic Revival textiles used for portières in an American home that

resembles the portières fabric on Galatea is found in the drawing room of the George W.

Childs Bryn Mawr house. The same motifs and repetitive pattern of geometric and floral designs are found in both (see Appendix D, figure 12).

Velvet is used for the cushion located on the built-in settee. Not only did velvet display a lavish interior that bespoke French interiors, but it had proved to be durable, comfortable and provided insulation in mansions. 161 In addition, velvet visually added a

plush texture to the décor. For the cold marine environments, velvet proved to be an

ideal fabric for the same reasons. A dark velvet, tufted cushion with braid in the seam

line runs the entire length of the built-in settee. The workmanship appears to be of high

quality. The function is for comfortable seating, but the use of silk velvet and the braid

denote a higher social status.

161 Fabrizio de’ Marinis, Velvet (New York: Idea Books, Inc., 1994), 61. 328

Possibly functional, the draperies may give privacy from portholes and add

insulation during cool marine evenings. The draperies, of what appears to be a heavy

textile woven from wool, are mounted on either side of the saloon and end at the top of

the built-in settee. Although woven with a geometric Gothic Revival pattern, it is not the

same pattern as found in the fireplace portières and provides another dimension of Gothic

patterning in the saloon. The fringe at the hem adds to the ambiance of the saloon.

A table-covering completely overlays the dining table. It appears to be woven from

cotton and has a printed dark border with a design running the length of the

fabric. It serves both the purpose of a table cloth and the fashionable practice of covering

tables with expensive fabrics. See Appendix D, figure 13 for an example of table

coverings.

The flooring for the saloon is comprised of throw rugs. The bottom rug probably

woven from wool fibers covers the saloon floor, but ends about one foot from the built-in settees and is trimmed with fringe. The exquisite pattern of the rug coupled with the pattern of the portiere and draperies was a high Victorian interior fashion practice and conveys opulence to the saloon

The most unusual floor coverings are the two leopard skin rugs thrown on the floor. Their purpose is to enhance the appearance of the saloon and add a note of exotic to the owner’s social status. Placing animal skins on the floor was a common practice among the wealthy as will be discussed in the next section. Another throw rug is placed at the threshold of the entry that leads to a passage-way. It is a long-haired animal “shag” rug that gives a the touch of the colorful and bizarre to the overall look of the saloon.

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This particular rug is reflective of one of the pillows that is lying on the settee. It too is a

long haired animal fur. The added embellishments of lace, tassels, and fringe all add to a level of high status to the saloon of Galatea and her colorful owners the Henn’s.

American Parlors

Both the Rococo and Gothic Revival interior design practices that were common

in Great Britain were also occurring in wealthy American homes. The Rococo Revival

was one of the supreme expressions of mansion interiors in the United States during the

Gilded Age. When discussing the American expression of interior decorating during the

Gilded Age, Meyric Rodgers states that “The successful industrialist and his imitators

dressed up their homes on the borrowed finery of historic modes, often strongly

scrambled, which mattered not at all as long as the results were either sticking and

opulent or at least romantically quaint.”162 Combinations of fabrics, motifs, and color

schemes from different eras could result in a dizzying amalgamation of confusion.

The example of an American Parlor that is used in this discussion is based on the

style of Louis XIII, and reflects early Italian Renaissance on French Design. The

Newcomb house was located at 683 Fifth Avenue, New York and was built by McKim,

Meade and White in 1881-1882 (see Appendix D, figure 14). Horatio Victor Newcomb was the son of the president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and he began his

life in comfort. After succeeding his father as head of the railroad, he moved from

162 Meyric Rogers, American Interior Design: The Traditions and Development of Domestic Design from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1947), 139. 330

Louisville to New York in 1881 and became the president of the United States National

Bank. 163

The interiors of the Newcomb New York Fifth Avenue house were strongly

influenced by European precedents and are lavishly furnished with intricate details

creating a uniformed Rococo Revival style, the basic color scheme was pink, salmon and

light blue.

Textiles are used in bold statements particularly with the portières. Hanging on the entry way to the library and into another room, the portières are not only on a grand scale within the drawing room, but observation of photos from other rooms adjacent to the drawing room, i.e., library and conservatory, show every entryway is draped with portières. Each entry appears to have double hung portières. That is an enormous

expenditure in portières fabric. Swaged and heavily draped, they appear to be velvet in

color and fabric. Silk chording is used for the tie backs and each portière has two twelve

inch tassels made of silk. In addition to the tie backs and tassels, the portières are

trimmed in braiding and fringe, adding to the visual weight of the draping. The

workmanship appears to be of very fine quality. The function may be to control air

drafts, but these are an extravagant and opulent use of overwhelming volumes of fabric

used to state the social status of the owner. According to the photographer notes, the

color of the fabric for the draperies was “pink plush and pale blue plush.”164

163 G. W. Sheldon, Artistic House (New York: D. Appelton, 1883-1884). Reprint, Arnold Lewis, James Turner and Steve McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age: All 203 Photographs from “Artistic Houses” (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987), 90. 164 Ibid., 90.

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The carpet was woven in England, and was salmon in color. Most likely woven from wool it ran the full length of the rectangular room, its borders were three to four feet in depth and add a refined Rococo pattern to the room. The carpet appears to be very well made and the location of the weaver indicates to any visitor that the owners take pride in their ability to order from England, a European association.

The upholstery used for all of the chairs and settees is velvet. The original fiber that was used to produce velvet was silk and fine velvet producers of this time period would have used silk also. Established as a refined fabric for nobility, it transferred easily to the Rococo Revival interiors.

The barrel chairs are tufted velvet in a light color. They are overstuffed and give the appearance of extravagant comfort. The low side chairs have no arms and are also tufted velvet. On each of these chairs, a fringe, approximately four inches deep, has one inch tassels at the top of fringe, alternating in light and dark colors.

One side chair with no arms has a seat and back of velvet. It is the only chair like it in the room and has an exquisite textile pattern that encircles the seat. Its uniqueness adds to the extravagance of the room.

There are two love-seat settees. Both are tufted velvet with a wicker-like inset that is approximately four inches deep and encircles the full frame of settee. The arms and back of the settees are tufted velvet and like the chairs, have the four inch fringe with the one inch tassels at top of fringe, alternating in light and dark colors. The tufted velvet upholstery is very plush and the added velvet tufted arms and back are very “deep” in

332 upholstery. The wicker/rattan set-in is an extravagant addition to the settee and it appears to match the wicker work trim that is around the small table in the middle of the room.

There are two embroidered screens, both on an easel, and set at the entry way to the next room in front of the portières. They both have a dark background, the left hand design is a floral arrangement and the right hand screen is an urn with flowers. They are a decorative addition and communicate the owner’s social status. Their placement indicates that they are a prized possession and may be the craftsmanship of a member of the household.

An exotic accent is the tiger-skin rug spread out on the floor in front of the fireplace. Several photographs in The Opulent Interiors have drawing rooms with animal skins either in the floor, draped over the back of seating arrangements or the banister of a staircase. Associated with pure extravagance, it is reflective of the leopard skins in

Galatea’s main saloon. This practice is an obvious transfer of a mansion item to a luxury yacht, both used as statements of social status.

The drawing room was the principle room of the house and the Newcomb house was no exception. Articles in this example have a European pedigree, such as the carpet, and are combined with a European past, the Rococo, to state plainly that the Newcomb family was members of the American elite.

American Yacht Examples: Coronet and Magic

The use of velvets as an upholstery and drapery fabric was part of the Rococo

Revival. Colors of deep reds and greens “were used widely to create dramatic and

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absorbing atmospheres.”165 According to personal accounts written on board Coronet

velvets that were crimson, green and pink in color were used throughout the yacht,

including the main saloon.

It is unfortunate that the only known interior image of Coronet is a double

exposure of the main saloon (refer back to Appendix D, figure 9). The image clearly

shows that there is a table covering

that appears to be functional, but it was also common practice of the time to cover tables

with heavy textile coverings. What is not clear is the weave nor any possible patterns.

The image shows the back of one of the velvet upholstered chairs and it appears

smooth in texture probably woven from either wool or silk. They were described in

George Spalding’s first hand account, 1896, as plush-covered chairs

The Brooklin Daily Eagle described the interior of the main saloon as

“upholstered with red and blue tufted silk plush . . . and the ceiling is finished in white

and gold . . . and are called the blue and old gold rooms, from their upholstery and toilet

parts. . . with the panels filled in with plaited satin, blue or gold to match the

furnishings.”166 Mabel Todd Loomis also recounts that the interiors included pink and

rose colored velvet walls and upholstery, and satin brocades.167 First hand accounts that

describe the use of fashionable velvet in what was considered the appropriate colors allows for speculation that the interiors of Coronet were similar to other luxury yacht interiors.

165 Marinis, Velvet, 64-65. 166 Brooklin Daily Eagle, March 21, 1886. From a list of interior descriptions received from John Summer, curator of Coronet project, summer 2001. 167 Todd, Corona and Coronet, 3-4, 26, 27, 374. 334

As an example, Magic, built in 1857 as the first defender of the America’s Cup

was refitted in the early 1880s. The photograph, though not dated, shows her new

interiors and the use of extensive textiles (see Appendix D, figure 15). A smaller luxury

yacht than Coronet by forty-three feet, she still had a luxurious main saloon. Tufted

velvet cushions, perhaps in a rose-color, like those described in Coronet are placed on

both built-in settees in the main saloon of Magic. The table covering is time period

appropriate for both the image of Magic and Coronet. It is a floral print on a dark background and resembles the damasquette English pattern “Mares” that was one- hundred percent silk and created c. 1880.168 In the early days of luxury yachting and the

Gilded Age, it would not have been inappropriate for yacht owners to use household goods that had been ordered in Europe on their yachts. As the extravagance of yacht interiors progress through the Gilded Age, items, textiles included, were ordered specifically for the yacht, as will be discussed in the next chapter.

Just like Coronet, Magic also had a fireplace and “over the fireplace the decorations include cutlasses and large size horse pistols, while the table is decorated with a magnum of champagne.”169 Similarities between the interiors of Magic and

Coronet can be observed and speculation made in terms of possible textiles used aboard

both.

Other evidence displaying the extent of the Bush’s social status and cultural

awareness can be found in the photograph. For instance, the chandelier is clearly

extravagant, the newel posts at the foot of the marble staircase are ornamented with gas-

168 Nylander and Nylander, Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings, 179. 169 L. Francis Herreshoff, An Introduction to Yachting (White Plains, New York: Sheridan House, 1963), 74 335

globed lights, the mahogany carved paneling adds luster and elegance to the main saloon

and the etched mirrors and the stained glass doors can be found in the interiors of

Newport summer cottages such as Chateau-sur-Mer that was redesigned by Richard

Morris Hunt to reflect the Rococo Revival.170 Although the photograph lacks a clear picture of the textiles on board, other aspects of the photographs show extravagant

appointments of Coronet’s interior that can equate to mansion and luxury yacht interiors.

Discussion

Analysis of the previous parlors and main saloons demonstrate common uses of

textiles in both. Portières, carpets, tufted velvet upholstery, throw rugs, animal skins,

draperies, pillows, foot stools and table coverings all appear in the home parlors and the yacht main saloons. Additionally, evidence of the prevailing interior design style used in the homes appears in the main saloons. The portière and drapery fabric used in Galatea’s main saloon reflect Gothic Revival textile weaves found in both British and American parlors.

The display of animal skins is found in both as are table coverings. Tufted velvet chairs and settees that are evident in parlors are unmistakable visible in the main saloon of Galatea and in the descriptions of Coronet. The use of velvet for upholstery, as in the case of the ten “plush-covered” chairs of Coronet, was not only high fashion but, “the saloon of a decent-sized luxury yacht was expected to be no less comfortable than rooms in the owner’s mansion ashore.”171 Based on the photographic evidence of schooner-

yacht mains saloons, the transference of interior design practices employed at the home to

170 Harwood, May and Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design, 188. 171 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New Yachting History, 82. 336 the yacht main saloon seems to be an appropriate assumption. Other household items, such as fireplaces, mirrors, chandeliers, pianos, and large dining tables support the argument that expensive textiles from the houses were also used as an expression of high society interior design.

These yachts represent a time of grand expression of a grand society through the medium of a luxury schooner-yacht. Lifestyle dictated that the yacht interiors follow a prescribed standard of living. They also reflected the accustomed interiors of their many mansions and those of their peers and served as a statement of their owner’s placement within their upper class society. They also assisted in their owner’s social climb and successful peer comparison. A bigger, faster more opulently decorated yacht equated arrival in the upper echelon of society. Typical to the Gilded Age mentality was the conscious combination of aesthetics, science and technology.172

Improved engineering and the introduction of steam propulsion to a sailing vessel altered the concepts of exhibition of wealth and status. New technology meant adoption of a new kind of yacht, the transitional steam yacht, to demonstrate maintained power and social prowess.

172 Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home, 46. 337

Chapter 7: The Auxiliary-Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age

After the Gilded Age era of yachts with only sails, the second era of luxury yachts and yacht design was that of the auxiliary steam yacht. One result of this development was the differentiation between racing yachts and cruising yachts. Designed to use both sail and steam, as part of the emerging technology of the era, the auxiliary-steam yacht decisively promoted cruising and opulence as an extravagant expression of social status.

The Transition from Sail to Steam

The additional weight of luxury interiors that was characteristic aboard cruising yachts, promoted the separation between luxury yachts and racing yachts. Additionally,

“the men who were knocking about stormy seas in strong breezes wanted comfort and safety more than speed.”1 Racing yacht design focused on the necessities for acquiring speed to win races. Comfort was secondary to speed. Cruising yachts, on the other hand, promoted extravagance and opulence especially in the interior furnishings. The embodiment of high society customs and practices were transferred from shore to sea, such that when cruising took place, it “was [a] rather majestic affair . . . . Stewards, crews, expert captains coddled the ‘amateurs’ on board. Blue blazers and white

1 J. D. Jerrold Kelly, “The Modern Yacht,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, August 1883, Vol. 67, issue 399. http://digtal.library.cornell.edu (accessed September 17, 2009), 442. 338

enrobed the scions of the family yacht. What a life!”2 What made such luxurious cruising

possible was the introduction of steam to power the sailing craft.

The technology of yachting, the advancement of naval architect training and the

organization as a sport were rapidly changing in the new era of steel, steam and industrial

development. Schooner-yachts were valued for their grace, beauty, and quiet passage,

but had limitations. One difficulty was that the reliance on wind “always placed a

limitation on the course that a vessel could steer. She could only sail a course which the

wind direction allowed.”3

Steam in America, as a successful form of propulsion was introduced by the John

Stevens family in 1804 with the creation of the nation’s first steamship navigation line.

In1807, Robert Fulton founded the North River Steam Boat service that navigated along the Hudson River.4 In 1829, capitalizing on the new maritime technology and potential

for a grander display of prosperity, Cornelius Vanderbilt began to build luxuriously

appointed steamboats and his business offices that were headquartered in New York City,

were prominent and used interior décor that expressed his success. He organized the

Dispatch Line that steamed “up the Hudson to Albany and on Long Island Sound to

Norwalk and New Haven, Connecticut, Providence, and Boston.”5 Steam powered

vessels quickly transformed shipping and transportation, affecting both commerce and

sport. The added engine power allowed for an increase in the size of the ship and the

2 Tony Meisel, “Introduction” to Yachting: A Turn-of-the-Century Treasury (Secaucus, NJ: Castle, 1987), 7. 3 Peter Kemp, The History of Ships (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003), 123. 4 Benjamin W. Labaree, et al., American and the Sea: A Maritime History (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1998), 203. 5 Jerry E. Patterson, The Vanderbilts (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,1989 ), 19, 339

tonnage. Edward S. Jaffray commented on his firsthand experience on board steam yachts declaring:

The great truth is gradually dawning on the minds of yachtsmen that steam is a perfect motive. Steam yachtsmen can go where they please and when they please, and, what is more important, they know when they will get back. 6

Schedules were more reliable with steam and there was less reliance upon favorable

weather conditions than with craft restricted solely to sails.

As with the introduction of any new technology, people favored and others

opposed auxiliary-steam. The “oft-debated question of whether the owner of a steam

yacht was really a yachtsman at all”7 became a subject of conversation at clubhouses and

shipyards. The traditional viewpoint among yachtsmen favored retaining sail as the

accepted means of yachting. McCutchan summarized the debate and attitudes observing:

In the early days, steam as a means of propulsion was much frowned upon: no sensible person would go to sea in a vessel without sails, and those who used auxiliary steam could not strictly be considered gentlemen. Steam meant coal, and coal and smoke were dirty.8

Another example in favor of sail was an anonymous writer in 1874 who expressed,

Rightly or wrongly I always considered yachting as the noblest kind of sport; in fact as the only , thoroughly commendable form of it. In horse racing, hunting, shooting and in the various forms of athletic diversion, rowing included, there is too much brutality.9

Those who approved the pursuit and development of steam locomotion were in search of

“the latest advances in rigs and hull forms, sails and go-fast gadgets [that] preoccupied

6 Edward S. Jaffray, “American Steam Yachting,” Outing Magazine, April 1886, 10. 7 W. J. Henderson, “The Luxuries of Yachting,” Harper’s Weekly: A journal of Civilization, June 8, 1897), 536. 8 Philip McCutchan, Great Yachts (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979), 47. 9 “A Strangers Note Book in America,” June 13, 1874 in New York Yacht Club scrapbook 13, page 14. 340

the sailor of the 1890s. . . [there was a] constant search for greater ease of handling and moiré comfort.”10

Schooner-yachts were easily maneuvered in and around other boats and docks, but when yachts began to exceed 300 tons, maneuvering became difficult and a safety hazard. The solution was an “‘iron ’ or auxiliary-steam engine.”11

Dixon Kemp noted:

the principle advantage of a steam yacht over a sailing yacht is, leaving cost out of the question, that she can make passages or traverse the sea in the weather that is the most agreeable; that is, in calms and smooth water, when the sailing vessel would be lying helpless, and those on board half suffocated with the heat and stagnant air. In a calm twenty-four hours a steam yacht of moderate I. H. P. can reel off 240 miles. . .whilst the sailing yacht would be waiting for a breeze.12

Convenience and certainty increased with the advent of the auxiliary-steam engine.

While the steam yacht could not compete with the sport and recreation of a sailing yacht, it had other advantages. Among the advantages was the ability to add great weight when fitting out the ship and furnishing it with such things appointments as marble, fireplaces, expensive woodwork, pianos and substantial textiles below deck for extended cruises. Kemp noted that if the wealthy were “determined to spend two or three months afloat because it is the fashion, he, too will get a yacht to his taste; but she will probably be a large steamer.”13

10 Meisel, “Introduction” to Yachting, 7. 11 Maldwin Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 66. 12 Dixon Kemp, A Manual Yacht and Boat Sailing, 9th ed. Chapter XXV, “Steam Yachting” (London: Horace Cox, 1900), 1. http://books.google.com/books?printsec=fromntcover&id=LflOAAAAYAAJ&output=text&pg=PR5 (accessed March 31, 2010). 13 Kemp, Yacht and Boat Sailing (1887), quoted in Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 63. 341

The term “auxiliary-steam” described the new yacht that combined sails and

smoke stacks. Following the Civil War, steam yachts were a popular choice among the

yachting aristocrats, but it was with hesitation that the owners and designers produced

yachts that were purely steam powered. “They usually carried enough of a sailing rig to

get them home in case the steam failed.”14 Additionally, the perfection of the steam

engine opened the way to almost limitless comfort and grandeur. By the close of the

nineteenth century, yachtsmen were commissioning floating palaces hundreds of feet

long and “furnishing them in a style that made even Cleopatra’s barge seem pedestrian by

comparison.”15 The luxury of yachting was revolutionized by creating yachtsmen that

were independent of wind and time, and opened the “possibility of possessing an Atlantic

liner of his own.”16

Always keeping the image of high status in the forefront of business and social

motivations, the development and ownership of auxiliary-steam yachts maintained the

aesthetic appeal of interior furnishings that were in harmony with the “demand of space

restrictions, weight limits, deck heights, hull shapes and engine configurations.”17

Although the interior boundaries were limited by the shape of the hull, the increased size of an auxiliary-steam yacht allowed for more extreme luxury interiors. The “saloons were enriched with gold leaf and massive carvings . . . and think carpeting to add comfort and deaden the sound of engines.”18

14 William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld ( New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958), 36. 15 John Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, The Seafarers (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), 17. 16W. J. Henderson, “The Luxuries of Yachting,” Harper’s Weekly: A journal of Civilization, June 8, 1897), 535-536 17 Charles Newton, Victorian Design for the Home (London: V & A Publications, 1999), 15. 18 Kemp, The History of Ships, 152. 342

An 1890 article, “The Social Side of Yachting,” described the main saloons of

two unnamed steamer yachts that were with the cruising flotilla on opening day of the

New York Yacht Club yachting season. It noted that the first had a saloon that was

thirty-one feet wide and eighteen long; its floor is a mosaic of hard-woods, and the sides and ceiling are wainscoted and paneled with polished native woods, and finished in an enamel of white and gold. A carved mantle and fireplace face the entrance. . .and in every available spot rugs, tapestries, pictures, cabinets, lamps, the hundred and one accessories of the most opulent homes, accentuate the warmth of color.19

Similarly, the second steamer’s main saloon was flanked by two carved stairways with

brass chandeliers decorated in the Persian style. . .the mantel, paneled in carved old English oak, is supported by dolphins, and the nickel grate is fitted in a recess tiled with blue and silver. . .every nook and corner is crowded with the artistic fruits of taste, travel and money. 20

The article continues with a full description of the separate “ladies saloon forward” that

includes wainscoting molded into squares, beveled mirrors, crystal chandeliers, highly

polished hard-wood floors, an upright piano and the sides draped with cretonne.21

Publicity coverage of the yachts of the social elite was not uncommon, especially in the

New York City newspapers. When yachts were launched, descriptions such as the one above were often given in the sporting magazines and specialty yacht publications.22

The New York Yacht Club and other high profile yacht clubs delayed acceptance

of auxiliary-steam yachts as contenders in their club sponsored regattas. Jay Gould, a

19 Charles Eliot Norton, “The Social Side of Yachting,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, September, 1890, 600. 20 Ibid., 601. 21 Ibid. 22 The New York Herald, July 17, 1888 refers to the Unquowa’s “after cabin will be finished in mahogany, and the saloon located forward, in mahogany and lighter woods.” The Boston Herald, July 17, 1888 also states that the interior fittings of the Sapphire deckhouse, companionways, aft and midship will be in mahogany. 343

prominent and influential businessman, launched his palatial Atalanta, an auxiliary-steam

yacht, on April 7, 1883. In the November 1886 edition of Outing Magazine, Captain R.

F. Coffin, called it the “finest yacht ever built in this country.”23

Yacht Club Acceptance of Auxiliary Steam Yachts

The official acceptance of auxiliary-steam yachts by yacht clubs paralleled their

acceptance by members of the yacht clubs and others. For example, after launching

Atalanta, Jay Gould was rejected for membership by both application to the Eastern

Yacht Club and the New York Yacht Club, the latter citing in part his “robber baron notoriety.”24 Gould, reacting to the rejection, organized the “American Yacht Club, to

consist principally of owners of steam yachts, and to which, in time, all owners of steam

yachts must inevitably be attracted.”25

It was anticipated that the growth of steam-yachting would eventually have regattas that were as numerous and popular as those for sailing-craft. Eventually, however, the nature and size of the ship and the weight of the engines and increased luxurious interior appointments usually inhibited a successful race for speed. Instead, auxiliary-steam yachts gained favor as a “symbol of wealth and leisure that appealed to many rich men of the nineteenth century.”26 Jaffray, in 1886, stated that there was “every indication that it [auxiliary-steam yachting] is destined in the near future to be the leading style of yachting in American waters.”27 If auxiliary-steam yachting was going to be an

23 Captain R. F. Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,” Outing Magazine, November 1886. http://www.aafla/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volime_09/outIX02/outIX02f.pdf (accessed August 3, 2007), 129. 24 Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (London, Harvill Press, 1999), 206. 25 Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,”128. 26 Kemp, The History of Ships, 152. 27 Jaffray, “American Steam Yachting,” 31. 344

accepted social activity, it was hoped that the yacht clubs would initiate and sponsor their own yachting class regatta. In August 1884, the American Yacht Club hosted its first steam yacht race, over the course from Larchmont to the entrance of New London harbor, a distance of about ninety-two miles.28

Social Acceptance of Auxiliary-Steam Yachts

Increase of size and improvements of the auxiliary-steam yachts assisted in the

growth and acceptance of them as true yachts. Every opportunity for a magnificent

display of wealth, faultless beauty and social status encouraged the development of larger

yachts. Their size and ability to sustain heavy seas made gave them the power to develop

into fine ocean-going yachts such as “Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt’s Alva, Mr. James Gordon

Bennett’s Namouna, Mr. William Astor’s Nourmahal and Mr. Jay Gould’s Atalanta. For size, seaworthiness and luxurious appointments they cannot be surpassed.”29 Jaffray

added the smaller class yachts Electra, Corsair I, and Stranger to the previous list because they too have “ample dimensions, and the large saloons and state-rooms . . .[and] combine all the qualities necessary to make them the perfection in comfort and pleasure.”30 The possibility of private trans-Atlantic travel drew the association of

wealthy Americans closer to European aristocrats, strengthening both familial ties and

social consciousness. The auxiliary-steam yacht answered the desire for speed and lavish

comfort while at sea. Both “the large cruising yacht and the racing vessel blossomed side by side and both could be seen in Cowes Roads, bracing themselves for high

28 Coffin, “The History of American Yachting,” 129. 29 The author writing under the pseudonym of Sinbad the Sailor, “Prospects of the Yachting Season,” Outing Magazine, March 1890, 440. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume- 15/out/outXV06/outXV06g.pgf (accessed August 10, 2007). 30 Jaffray, “American Steam Yachting,” 13. 345

entertainment and keen competition. Steam was playing an increasing part in this

flowering.”31

J. Pierpont Morgan, 1837-1913

Some personalities are difficult to describe. J. P. Morgan’s personality is

complicated and frequently self-conflicting. Morgan was an astute businessman with

ruthless practices, but was also a devoted father to his three daughters and son. Intent on moving society forward and introducing technological innovations, he never built a new home but instead chose to remodel his entire real estate holdings. Born into a wealthy family, his personal drive and social expectations led him into the social regime of high society events, and yet he frequently left New York City on adventures and business trips to Europe, Egypt, and Africa. An avid collector of art, manuscripts, and medieval artifacts, Morgan established a renowned personal collection while simultaneously supporting the new Metropolitan Museum of Art both financially and with donations of art.

Biographer Jean Strouse noted that Morgan “devoted most of his career to financing America’s railroads and industrial corporations (including U. S. Steel, General

Electric, International Harvester, and AT&T), and to monitoring the country’s emerging capitol markets.”32 With an ever-growing fortune, and as one of America’s wealthiest

people, Morgan searched for new ways of demonstrating his wealth. In his private and

domestic life, he expressed status and prestige through his houses and yachts.

The New York City Brownstone: 219 Madison Avenue

31 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 63. 32 Jean Strouse, “J. Pierpont Morgan: Financier and Collector,” in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Winter 2000, 4. 346

Morgan’s business investments and financing secured a very comfortable lifestyle for himself and his family. In 1869, the Morgan family, which included three children and two nursemaids, first moved uptown across the street from William Henry

Vanderbilt’s Fifth Avenue mansion (the son of the then current commodore of the New

York Yacht Club). Eager to assume a more extravagant surrounding, the Morgans hired the Herter Brothers to furnish the new house.33

Like his contemporaries, Morgan was eager to emulate European styles and tastes. His prominence in civic activities and institutions added to his image of being grandiose although impenetrable. Elevated recognition and an increased income required a larger house than they had on Fifth Avenue and the Morgan’s moved to a brownstone at

219 Madison Avenue. The association with the Herter Brothers was re-established when the house was too small and old for their tastes. Instead of leveling the house and beginning again, redecoration and modernization was the answer to their dilemma. Mrs.

Morgan selected fabrics and color while her husband was in charge of the layout, furniture and architectural design. After two years of remodeling, “The Morgan home was comfortable and cluttered, furnished with rugs, heavy mahogany furniture, and gilt- framed pictures crowding one on top of the other.”34

Cragston in the Hudson Highlands

Travel and sailing were an intricate part of the Morgan family’s lifestyle.

Biographer Ron Chenow refers to Morgan as having a “vagabond nature,” and as a

33 Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (London: the Harvill Press, 1999), 141. 34 Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1990), 32. 347

person who “was too restless to be a member of the landed gentry.”35 Often, the family went to exotic locations. One such trip in 1871 included visits to England, Germany,

Austria, Switzerland and a privately chartered boat to sail up the Nile River.36 Before

their departure, however, the Morgan’s purchased a large 368-acre working farm named

Cragston in the Highland Falls region on the Hudson River.

Redecoration began immediately, changing the large wooden farmhouse built in

1859 to an English country estate, affectionately referred to as “Pierpont’s new barony.”37

A July 1, 1894 article in The New York Times titled “J. Pierpont Morgan’s Summer

Home; Beautiful Cragston, in the Hudson, New Highland Falls,” told readers about the rambling estate, the kennels for his award winning collies, tennis courts, horse stables, the greenhouse unsurpassed by any, and the Beverly Dock, a Revolutionary War relic that had accommodated “[Benedict] Arnold, the traitor, [and] is now known as Morgan’s dock.”38 In the house, flowered chintzes, Mrs. Morgan’s choice, were adjacent to Persian

rugs, Mr. Morgan’s selection.

As extravagant as the household furnishings were it was “Pierpont’s boats, [that

were] more impressive than his homes, [and] were the real monuments to his wealth.”39

It took little impetus for Morgan to become a luxury yacht-owner when the rest of

fashionable New York was seeking title of the same, “for his splendor shown at sea.”40

35 Ibid.80. 36 Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, 145-46. 37 Ibid., 147. 38 “J. Pierpont Morgan’s Summer Home; Beautiful Cragston, in the Hudson, New Highland Falls.” The New York Times July 1, 1894. 39 Chernow, 80. 40 Ibid. 348

Commodore Morgan and the New York Yacht Club

A highlight in Morgan’s life was his being elected to serve as the Commodore of

the New York Yacht Club. Elected in February 1897 with Corsair II as the club’s

flagship, he served until 1899.41 His membership in nineteen different New York men’s

clubs was an overt effort to maintain his image and social class standing and the club that

received most of his attention was the New York Yacht Club. While in office he offered

Morgan Cups for races42 and “was the financial backer and head of the syndicate that

ordered Columbia”43 which defended the America’s Cup in 1899 and 1901. After his term as Commodore, the club greatly benefited from his generosity. When a new club headquarters was a necessity, Morgan bought the plots of ground needed for the new building.44 Recording the purchase, the “Yachting” editorial in the Outing Magazine,

January 1898 issues announced that “Commodore J. Pierpont Morgan on November 17th

transferred to the New York Yacht Club the property on the north side of West Forty-

fourth street,”45

Morgan and Corsair I

While still in London, after the family Mediterranean tour of 1882, Morgan wired

William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia writing that he would like to buy the 185-foot

yacht,46 Corsair.47 She was “the largest, most technically sophisticated yacht in the

41 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986), 110. 42 Chernow, The House of Morgan, 80. 43 Gregory O. Jones, St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing Company, 2004), 74. 44 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 114. 45 H. Percy Ashley, “Yachting,” Outing Magazine, January 1898, 415. 46 Chernow states that Cosair I was 165 LOA, The House of Morgan, 53. 349

United States, with schooner rigs, graduated screw propellers, compound two-cylinder

engines, rakes stacks, and elliptical sterns.”48 She was also the “most elegantly

appointed: the main saloon in Corsair’s forward bulkhead had black and gold silk

upholstery, quilted plush divans, twin sideboards, and a tiled fireplace.” To add to the

aura of his new yacht, Morgan joined the New York Yacht Club, registered his new

luxury “toy,” and she became the second largest yacht in the club’s fleet.49 He then built

a large dock at his Hudson River estate and often cruised up the Hudson to his mansion

on the river. For recreation, he soon spent “most of his free time that summer cruising

the East Coast with parties of friends.”50

Corsair II

The late 1880s and early 1890s witnessed an explosion in yachting activities. An

increase in wealth, the rise of specialized yacht designers and builders, and the social

status associated with yacht clubs combined with innovative yacht engineering made

yachting the premier sport of the Gilded Age gentry. The New York Yacht Club’s yacht

register had expanded from twenty-nine boats in 1882, during the time of Corsair I, to

seventy-one boats in 1890.51 Each addition was more elegant and opulent and an

increase in size and dimensions reflected the owner’s ability to finance it. Soon,

Morgan’s delight and pleasure associated with yachting inspired him to expand his personal yacht fleet.

47 The lineage of the Morgan yachts all have the same name. For purposes of knowing which Corsair is being discussed, tradition has added Roman numerals after each one to make distinctions; Corsair I, Corsair II, and Corsair III. The Corsair of 1882 is referred to as Corsair I. 48 Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, 207-206. 49 Chernow states that Cosair I was 165 LOA. The House of Morgan, 53. 50 Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, 206. 51 Ibid., 288. 350

Morgan ordered a second Corsair in May 1890. As his “fortune had more than doubled after his father’s death, and his pleasure in Corsair [I] had exceeded his high

expectations,”52 Morgan commissioned a young yacht designer named J. Frederic Tams

to create a new 241-foot yacht,53 “weighing 560 tons, with single screw, triple-expansion

engines, 2000 horsepower, wide wooden decks, striped awnings, two masts, auxiliary

sails, a gilt clipper bow, black hull, and a gracefully sweeping sheer.”54

Tams in turn hired J. Beavor-Webb to design the hull and engines, changing the

1880 Corsair I version of an iron hull to the 1891 Corsair II version using a steel hull. It

was a good example of contemporary yacht engineering and technology combined with

the sail technology of ancient travel. His transitional steam yacht carried “vestigial

masts, which were used to mainly ‘dress ship’ by flying rows of multicolored signal

flags”55 (see Appendix E, figure 16).

Morgan’s two requirements for the yacht were that the Corsair II would not be

too large to impede turning around on the Hudson River in front of his Cragston mansion, and second, that the new Corsair replicate his first yacht, Corsair I, but be more massive. Tams’ first-hand account states that Morgan handed Tams his checkbook with explicit direction to “withdraw until you are stopped.”56 Apparently there were no

restraints on Tams withdrawal of funds to create the new yacht.

52 Ibid. 53 Melissa H. Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844-1994 (Lyme, CT: Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc., 1994), 40. 54 Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, 289. 55 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 110. 56 Quoted in Strouse, Morgan: American Financier. 289. 351

The holdings of Corsair II did not disappoint its owner nor family members. For

the visual and passage pleasure of those aboard there were “two staterooms, a bath, and a

large dining saloon with oak paneling and banquettes upholstered in dark green plush.

There were six more staterooms aft, including Morgan’s, each with it own bath.”57

Details of the interiors that Jack, Morgan’s son, wrote to his mother included “little places to put your watch at night, sponge hooks in the bathrooms, real fireplaces, wardrobes in every room, full sets of ‘Corsair’ china, glass, silver and linen, a storage room for trunks, and steam heat. You cannot imagine anything more splendid in the way of construction, or tasteful in decoration.”58

Morgan used his yacht to entertain royalty, conduct business and meetings, and

serve as a “floating home” in New York City. The prominent presence of Corsair II on the New York City waterfront promoted competition for larger yachts between other

Gilded Age yachtsmen, such as James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who will be discussed later in the chapter.

Morgan and Corsair III

Morgan’s time spent on board Corsair II came to an abrupt halt when “In 1898, over heated protest, the navy conscripted Cosair II for use in the Spanish-American

War.”59 When news came to Morgan of how his beautiful yacht Corsair II had become a

dismantling project by the Government “he is reported to having said, ‘I never want to

57 Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, 289-90. 58Jack Morgan correspondence to Francis Morgan his mother, after the inaugural sail to Cragston from New York in October 1891. Quoted in Strouse, Morgan: American Financier, 290. 59 Chernow, The House of Morgan, 80. The Morgan’s, J. P. and his son Jack, fiercely protested the Spanish-American War . the United States Navy took no heed and bought Corsair II for the sum of $225,000, transformed her into a gunboat and rechristened her Gloucester. Damaged in the Battle of Santiago, Morgan kept a piece of the splintered mast. 352

see her again.’ He at once sent for her designer, J. Beavor-Webb. . . and commissioned

him to design another, and a larger Corsair, to be ready early in 1899.”60

Morgan promptly ordered new furnishings to accommodate his new yacht,

increasing inventories to recreate the yacht he had loved.61 So fastidious were Morgan’s

plans that the carpet was the same rug pattern and had to be custom-woven since the mill

had gone out of business.62

On launch day, the New York Herald noted that “The Corsair was handsomely decorated and . . . the new yacht is a credit to her designer and to the builders of her hull.

The aim was to produce a vessel larger than the original Corsair, but to preserve, so far as practicable, the lines and the rakish yachty appearance of that craft, which Mr. Webb has succeeded in doing to a marked degree.”63 The launching was attended by

distinguished guests, spectators and yachting magazines if the day and attention was

given to its design and extravagant appointments of the yacht. Outing Magazine

reported:

A description of Corsair has already been given in OUTING, but the bald dimensions of a yacht, giving details of materials convey no idea of the vessel’s beauties. Like a gorgeous sunset a fine yacht must be seen to be properly appreciated. Her picture cannot be appropriately painted in words no matter how brilliant the writer.64

60 Yachting: Of Interest to All Who Love the Sea, Our Search Light, June, 1898, 9[?]. 61 For a complete list of fine china and crystal purchases “For Steam Yacht ‘Corsair’” see the invoices from A. B. Daniel & Sons, Manufacturers of China and Glass June 12, 1901; July 29, 1903; February 23, 1909; May 5, 1910; May 22, 1911; June 21, 1912 and the Tiffany & Co. invoice of June, 1897. D. Daniell , A. B. Sons, art dealers, B2 85E Box 6, 1896-1919 and 1310, Bill for Invitations, stationary etc. for Corsair, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City. 62 Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime, 112. 63 “New Corsair is Launched,” New York Herald, Tuesday, December 13, 1898 in New York Yacht Club Scrapbook 31. 64 A. J. Kenealy, “The New Yachts of the Year,” Outing Magazine, June 1899, 320. 353

Staterooms were finished in white enamel and gold, and the main saloon was completed

in American quartered oak.65 Chernow summarizes:

Cosair III was an even more megalomaniacal affair, a modern pharaoh’s tomb. Like a lover mourning his dead mistress, Pierpont reproduced, at fantastic expense, the carpeting and other details of Cosair II. Measuring over three hundred feet at waterline and requiring a crew of seventy, this black-hulled oceangoing ship was built on an altogether new and more garish scale.66

In fact, the LOA of Corsair III was three hundred-four feet, a sizeable sixty-one feet longer than Cosair II.67

As previously stated Morgan took great interest in his personal surroundings, but

instead of creating new spaces, he built upon established foundations as witnessed in his

homes and yachts. New foundations and houses were not a part of Morgan’s personality.

Renovations of previous homes were recreated to produce environments that suited his

personal tastes at the New York City brownstone located at Madison 219, Cragston, and

the two English houses that he had inherited from his father. So too, the designs for his

yachts were not initiated by him but instead retained the same deck plan and were then

gradually improved, incorporating new technology and expanded grandeur and opulence.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II, 1845-1899

Cornelius Vanderbilt II came from an industrial maritime family. His

grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s successful steamboat lines established the family as

high society Gilded Age members. Cornelius Vanderbilt I’s astute and cunning business

decisions throughout his career secured his position as a powerful transportation and

65 “New Corsair is Launched,” in New York Yacht Club Scrapbook 31. 66 Chernow, The House of Morgan, 80. 67 Harrington, The New York Yacht Club: 1844 -1994, 40. 354

railroad magnate. He successfully built the New York Central and the Hudson River

railroads.68

The senior Vanderbilt’s first love, however, was with the sea. He worked on

ferries and schooners and, while still a young man, began his own passenger steamboat

transport line between Staten Island and Manhattan,69 This business served as the

foundation for his paddle-wheel steamboat business on the Hudson River. Understanding

the importance of business competition he furnished his paddle steam boats with

luxurious accommodations setting a new standard of elegance for public spaces.

Vanderbilt then transferred these interior appointments to his private yachts for “his own

enjoyment, which in size, beauty, speed, and comfort, far surpassed anything known

before.”70

Eager to be accepted among the blue-bloods of New York society, Vanderbilt joined the New York Yacht Club and “the first steamer that flew the Club’s [New York

Yacht Club] burgee was the paddle wheel steamer North Star, [owned by] Cornelius

Vanderbilt; [it was] a yacht only by courtesy.”71 Launched in 1853, her ostentatious

interiors surrounded Vanderbilt and his family on their sail to Europe. Signaling a

change in American consumer behaviors, the “luxury of the North Star and the

68 Alexis Gregory, Families of Fortune: Life in the Gilded Age (New York: The Vendome Press, 1993), 46. 69 Ibid., 39. 70 Wayne Craven, Gilded Mansions: (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 84. 71 A. J. Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” Outing Magazine, May 1901, 20. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_38/outXXXVIII01/outXXXVIII01c.pdf (accessed August 3, 2007). In the mid-1830s Vanderbilt was referred to as “Commodore,” which was simply an honorary title and had no connection to the Commodore rank with the New York Yacht Club. 355

willingness to spend lavish amounts on oneself for pure pleasure had hardly been know in

America previously.”72

Rousmaniere notes that this first North Star, had a main saloon furnished with elaborately carved “Louis XV [style] rosewood chairs and sofas, padded with velvet cushions. Another huge cabin the reception saloon, held a sprawling sofa that seated 20 people.”73 Craven describes the detail of the upholstery pattern used for the chairs as

“green velvet worked with bouquets of flowers, offered comfortable seating.”74 The

Vanderbilt family grew accustomed to extensive real estate holdings, international travel, art collections, carriages, and luxury yachts as an expected lifestyle.

In a twist of family fortunes, the bulk of the $100 million estate was not left to

Vanderbilt’s son but to his grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II. He in turn continued accumulating wealth, properties, and a personal fleet of yachts. His first auxiliary-steam yacht was purchased in 1903 and renamed her North Star75 after his grandfather’s famous vessel.76 With a length overall of 256 feet, the North Star II (the II was not added by

Cornelius II, but by others in order to differentiate the two North Star’s) the drawing room was twenty-six feet long.77

72 Craven, Glided Mansions, 85. 73 Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, 88. 74Greg King, The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York: A Season of Splendor (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 232. 75 Built in Barrow, England in 1893 and designed by W. C. Story, the yacht was originally named Venetia. E. B. Schock, “North Star,” The Rudder, March 1907, 181. 76 Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 257. 77 Ibid., 257. 356

The Breakers

To design the interiors of North Star II, Mrs. Alice Vanderbilt used the

precedence the family had used in designing the interiors of their Newport summer

cottage, The Breakers and the Fifth Avenue Mansion. European decorating firms were

responsible for the interiors of both.

The Paris decorating team, Allard and Sons working through their New York City

Fifth Avenue studio, created the Venetian style Morning Room and Music Room, and

Richard Bouwens Van der Boyen created interiors in his Paris studio that were built,

dismantled and then imported and installed at The Breakers.78 His inspiration for the

Italian Renaissance interiors of the Grand Room was the Paris Opera house interiors.

Red French cut-velvet upholstery and draperies added sumptuous grandeur to the ambiance of the Hall.79 The textiles of European artisans, and their interior creations

made the desired association that the family sought with European aristocratic history.

Fifth Avenue Mansion

In 1879, the Vanderbilt’s purchased a lot in New York City on the corner of 57th

and Fifth Street for a new house. The first phase of the construction was completed in

1882 under the architectural design of George B. Post. Christian Herter, the interior

designer for the Vanderbilt family had retired, so John La Farge was hired to design and

acquire the interiors for the Fifth Avenue mansion.

Family competition to be society’s grand dame sparked between the Vanderbilt

wives, Alva and Alice. A “social poker game” gave way to expansions on the Cornelius

78 Ann M. Benway, draft, “The Breakers,” Newport County Preservation Society, n.d., 13. 79 Gregory, Families of Fortune, 118. 357

Vanderbilt II house and construction began soon after a ball that Alva held at their Petite

Château.80 The grand salon, an expansive drawing room, was part of the 1884 expansion.

La Farge created the room using Louis XVI inspiration and contracted Jules Allard et Fils

to perform the work in Paris. Craven noted that “the grand salon reflects the intentions of

an American industrialist millionaire to forge an association between his family and Old

World aristocracy by means of a newly manufactured interior and its furnishings.”81

Vanderbilt II and North Star II

As previously noted, Mrs. Vanderbilt relied on the decorators that were

simultaneously building and decorating The Breakers and the Fifth Avenue mansion

when it was decided re-decorate the interiors of North Star II. An article in the March

1907 issue of The Rudder describes the interior of the North Star II drawing room as “this

room is finished in the same manner as the owner’s stateroom, having crimson silk panels

set off by pure white woodwork. The room contains a beautiful open fireplace at the

forward end, writing tables, desks, bookcases built into the room, lounges, etc.”82

The interiors were draped with silk made in France, including wicker baskets

lined with pink silk.83 To guide guests about the interiors of the yacht, the handrails were

ropes of velvet.84 Although Mrs. Vanderbilt was a “poor sailor. . . she insisted that it be

fully equipped for entertaining. . . . the sheets were of the finest Irish linen and the blankets French, bound in silk.”85

80 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 133-46. 81 Ibid.,146. 82 Schock, “North Star,” 181. 83 Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 257. 84 Ibid. 85 Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 258. 358

The Vanderbilt’s used the yacht extensively. Lengthy travel included excursions

to Naples, Germany, Russia, and England for the yachting events at Cowes, with a guest

list honoring Edward VII, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II.86 The interiors were truly fit for a king. The final commission of the North Star II was to serve as a for the British during World War I.

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. and Namouna

One other auxiliary-steam yacht is significant for this study because its documentation identifies who designed her interiors and because of its association with

American architects and interior designers. The Namouna, built in 1882, was owned by

James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the publisher of the New York Herald. When commenting on the Namouna in his article, “Steam Yachting in America,” S. G. W. Benjamin noted:

But probably no steam-yacht ever built has merited more attention than the Namouna, completed in the spring of 1881, for Mr. James Gordon Bennett, by Messrs. Ward, Stanton & Co., of Newburg-on-the- Hudson. In the Namouna, Mr. Bennett has successfully endeavored to surpass the sumptuousness and convenience of every known yacht.87

The specific motivation was to surpass J. P. Morgan’s yacht Corsair II in every aspect.

The Namouna’s LOA was two hundred forty-seven feet, exceeding Corsair II by six

feet.88

Notably, two American interior designer firms were commissioned to design and

execute the interiors of the Namouna (see Appendix E, figure17). The first was Stanford

White of McKim, Mead & White, who was to oversee the project.89 This architectural

86 Philip McCutchan, Great Yachts (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979), 57. 87 S. G. W. Benjamin, “Steam-Yachting in America,” Century Magazine, July 1882, 603. 88 Eric Hofman, The Steam Yachts: An Age of Elegance (Tuckahoe: New York, 1970), 44. 89 Amelia Peck, Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900 (New York: 359

firm dominated New York’s Gilded Age as one of the elite architectural firms of the late

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.90 White commissioned Louis C. Tiffany & Co.,

Associated Artists “to decorate some of the ship’s interiors and furnish mantelpiece

mosaics, glasswork, and textiles, including thistle-patterned silk damasks.91 In an article written by S. G. W. Benjamin he describes the interiors of Namouna and the designer’s creations:

The glasswork throughout the vessel [was] executed by Louis C. Tiffany & Co., Associated Artists, but the general direction of the interior decorations of the Namouna was assigned to McKim, Meade & White. The harmonious arrangement of colors in this saloon and the elaborateness of the carvings make it the most elegant cabin ever seen in a ship, at least since the time of Hieron and his famous yacht. . .Fairylike in form. Oriental in the splendor of her decorations, and cosy and comfortable as an old English home in the plan of her appointments. . . We now come to the cabins par excellence which are of great beauty and interest. . . stepping over the waxed and inlaid floor, we enter the grand saloon, an apartment twenty-four feet in length, extending entirely across from one side of the ship to the other and sixteen feet in width, -- a room of spacious dimensions for a private yacht. . .Exquisite hangings, in which the interwoven thistle is wrought in silk and gold. . . of delicate turquoise blue, in square panels. . .the floor is inlaid with elegant designs in colored woods and is warmed in the center by a costly rug of Oriental pattern.92

Although the designer of the thistle pattern is not known, the textile was a product of the

Tiffany firm when Candace Wheeler was in charge of the textile designs for the firm.93

One textile that Wheeler did oversee, presumably for the Namouna, was an embroidered hanging titled The . It represented a “yellow-haired mermaid coquetting with a

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2001), 121. 90 See, Leland M. Roth, McKim, Mead & White Architects. New York: Harper & Row, 1985 for a history of the firm and its significance. See 111 and 312 for comments on Namouna and C. T. Barney’s yacht Invincible. 91 Peck, Candace Wheeler, 121. 92 S. G. W. Benjamin, “Steam-Yachting in America,” Century Magazine, July 1882, 604-606. 93 Peck, Candace Wheeler, 122. 360

large fish,”94 embroidered on a blue tapestry cloth. Important to the Namouna account is

that it represents a change in yacht design. For now the construction and design are no

longer left to the shipwright and builder. The professional services of an architect and an interior designer were called upon to complete the interiors of a luxury yacht (see

Appendix E, figure 18).

Photographic Analysis of House Parlors and Yacht Main Saloons

A fashionable flooring material prior to the late-nineteenth century included the wooden inlaid patterns of marquetry that had originated in Persia, and parquetry, a seventeenth century French wooden floor design that incorporated blocked geometric shapes.95 Carpets, a highly decorative expression of an expensive textile, developed from hand-knotted piles to manufactured carpets with the inventions of the Jacquard,

Axminister and Gripper looms. Persian and Indian designs and motifs were among the fashionable designs for American carpets. Pomegranates, paisley, stylized floral, fern and palms were among the sixteenth century Persian scrolling motifs. Heraldic and

classical wreath motifs were popular in England, and in France, the carpets were of a more delicate floral nature rendered in soft, muted colors.96 All of these carpet designs

appeared in the parlors and main saloons of the Gilded Age elites and were a very visible

demonstration of their wealth and culture.

It was a common occurrence for expensive pieces of furniture from different eras

to be grouped together in a grand room signifying a family lineage of culture and taste.

94 Transcript of Candace Wheeler during the “Wheeler vs. Tillinghast” case , April 25, 1882, quoted in Peck, Candace Wheeler, 122. 95 Judith Miller, The Style Sourcebook: The Definitive Illustrated Directory of Fabrics, Paints, Wallpapers, Tiles, Flooring (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Change, 2000), 350-351. 96 Ibid., 366. 361

Furniture collections linked with mementos of travel made for a mélange of Victorian

clutter.97 The Morgan drawing room at the Madison Avenue brownstone “has a

Pompeian inspiration with its columns combined with a flavor of Japan and Persia.”98

Morgan Drawing Room

J. P. Morgan did not require a trendy address or a fashionable Fifth Avenue

mansion for his home. His family credentials firmly established him in the upper

echelons of society. Their entertainment schedule included the Vanderbilts, Fricks, and

Astors, yet their primary motivation was for a comfortable living space. The move to the

brownstone house in New York instead of a Fifth Avenue mansion was reflective of his

non-concern. The interior design expertise by Christian Herter of Herter Brother’s

Interiors altered the interior décor of the brownstone into a magnificent mansion fit for a

financial baron such as Morgan99 (see Appendix C, figure 3).

The first quality that Herter noticed was that the distinguishing feature of the room was its length. Capitalizing on this characteristic, Persian rugs were used to accentuate this feature.100 The center rug had a design of small woven geometric shapes.

On either side of the center a border runs down the length of the rug. Within the border

there is a wide band that has a circular motif and on either side of the center band there

are two additional borders, both with repetitive patterns. The side carpet runners have

the same designs and borders; they too run the full length of the room.

97 Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home, 73. 98 Arnold Lewis, James Turner and Steven McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987), 141. 99 Lewis, Turner, and McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors, 144. 100 Lewis, Turner, and McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors, 147. 362

Several side chairs and armchairs are placed throughout the room for comfort in

seating. They can be moved so that conversation is not dictated by the placement of the

chairs. According to George William Sheldon, the original author and photographer of

Artistic Houses, “the chair coverings were black accented with gold thread.” 101 Analysis

of the photograph shows a matched set of three chairs, upholstered in dark velvet and are

placed in a cluster opposite each other in the room. The matched set of three chairs implies social status and enhances the design of the room.

Two heavily upholstered chairs are in the center of the room. One chair has no side arms and is upholstered in a dark colored fabric, presumably velvet. The back appears to be heavily patterned with embroidery. The other chair located across the rug has the same upholstered fabric, but with the addition of elaborate fringe on the hem of the chair. The bottom of an stool located near the fireplace can be seen across the room and appears to have a matching fringed hem.

In the upper right hand corner of the room is either a settee or a chaise lounge.

Added to the room for additional seating or relaxation, it is upholstered in very plush, dark velvet, and may be tufted. Large light colored contrasting braid is in the seam line and the corner of the upholstery has a light colored tassel to add decoration and emphasis.

Although not visible in the photograph, “Herter chose cherry plush, also highlighted with

Persian embroidery.”102

A very intricate throw is placed on the settee. It is a woven cover with what

appears to be fringed hem of approximately five to six inches in length. It has an

101 Ibid. 102 Ibid. 363

intertwining serpentine design along the borders. The center is a rectangular design

bordered by a thin stripe of a darker pattern.

The draperies that open to the street are swaged with tiebacks. Constructed from

what appears to be a heavy fabric, their purpose is to control light and drafts, but because

of the heavy fabric used, it also drapes with body and exudes greater elegance. There

may be an under curtain of lace or crisp white muslin, but the light from the photo makes

it difficult to analyze. Fringe runs the length of the back drapery and the cornice appears

to be trimmed with fringe also. The added fringe and possible lace enhances the

appearance of the room and argues for the social status of the owners.

Stunning interior decorations in the room are the textile hangings. There may be

an entry into another room behind one of the hangings, based on the placement of the

side chairs to either side of it. They are not swaged but drawn closed to display their full beauty. They were woven in Japan of silk and have “gold thread elaborated with Persian embroidery . . .”103 The angle of the photograph does not allow the viewer to see if the

hanging is woven into one piece or if sections of fabric are sewn together. Regardless,

the final appearance has strips of different designs running horizontally. Design bands

that alternate in dark and light colors of approximately four to five inches each, create

the top border. The next alternating band, at the level of the wainscoting, begins the

second border application; they are made with the same fabric as the borders at the top.

The middle section is constructed of dark colored panels with a “feather” pattern embroidered on the surface. The bands of lighter color throughout the hanging appear to

have a pattern either printed or embroidered on it. The dark color appears to be velvet or

103 Ibid. 364

a heavy wool fabric. The embroidered design on the darker color appears to be exquisite

in design and workmanship. Apparently, there is a matching set of textile hangings on the

far wall as a reflection of the same textile hanging is seen in the mirror over the top of the

mantle. These textile hangings are displayed as art objects and for the satisfaction and viewing pleasure of guests and owners. They are an overt expression of opulence and elevate the social status.

Table covers with what appears to be lace trims are on the small side tables located in the center of the room. One appears to be a Battenberg lace and the other is a smaller pattern that is indiscernible. Added as a decorative accessory, lace trims were still produced by hand but were being manufactured by machine in Europe and the

United States by 1885.104

Sheldon’s first response when seeing the Morgan drawing room was one of

“restrained elegance [and the] room emitted an aroma of perfect taste.”105 Every object

and every textile was in place to demonstrate the social status that the Morgan family

assumed (see Appendix E, figure 19).

Corsair II

The sport of yacht cruising was an activity that Morgan relished. Although

business meetings and grand entertainment were conducted onboard, the interiors of the

main saloon depict a cruising environment that is neither stiff nor unpleasant. Holm’s

104 Jane C. Nylander and Richard C. Nylander, Fabrics & Wallpapers for Historic Buildings (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005), 159 105 Lewis, Turner, and McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors, 147 365

states: “Although she cost $350,000—the equivalent of $10.5 million today [1999] – the

big yacht was furnished comfortably rather than lavishly.”106

Paneled in dark wood, the textiles add richness to the ambiance of the saloon. The

carpet, presumably wool, has a woven light colored pattern that is small in size and set

against a dark background. The small pattern resembles the English “Flower Garden”

pattern that was originally designed by William Morris in 1879.107

The upholstery used for the built-in settees, pillows and bolster pillows appears to be dark velvet with a lighter colored pattern woven every three to four inches. Within the design there are at least four different motifs that resemble heraldic insignias in the repeated pattern. The pattern resembles a reproduction of a fifteenth century Italian damask design that was reproduced in France c. 1885-1900.108 The square and the

bolstered pillows add a stately, sophisticated look to the saloon, especially with the added

braids and silk tassels.

The textile, perhaps 100% cotton, covering the dining table has a dark background

with a floral design. The vertical repeat of the pattern runs in the warp direction. A

contrasting stripe in a lighter colored pattern is twelve inches from the hem. A border of

a different print pattern appears to be 1twelve inches deep along the hem. It may be an

indigo discharged block print and has interlocking geometric motifs in its pattern.

Adding visual beauty to the room it also protects the table.

Since “every respectable household had one” the piano in both the home and the

saloon was important socially, and “was used for entertaining guests as well as the

106 Ed Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age; 1880-1905 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 58. 107Nylander and Nylander, Fabrics & Wallpapers for Historic Buildings, 176. 108 Ibid. 366

family; playing the piano was a polite accomplishment, especially for the daughters of the

household.”109 Morgan’s daughters were possibly some of the pianists that sat on the

piano stool to play the piano in the main saloon. This piano stool with crossed wooden

legs and a woven seat “is typical of the folding yacht stools of the nineties in both

America and Britain”110 The on the piano stool appears to be a companion

print to the table covering. If this folding stool was used outside on the deck, then it

would need to be durable and weather resistant.

An indiscernible fabric is mounted in the skylight over the saloon. It runs on a

track and is pulled back in pleats to control the outside light in the room. It is an added

touch of convenience for the guests and owners (see Appendix E, figure 20).

Vanderbilt Grand Salon/Drawing Room

To most wealthy Americans the “Rococo style suggested grandeur and opulence

and seemed essentially French, the French being perceived at the time as European

leaders in style. The style had resonance because it represented the France of the pre-

Revolutionary nobility, and so had a historic dimension which further sanctified it.”111

The Rococo style was the basis of standard furnishings and decorations for rising upper

class drawing rooms and was considered avante garde. By the 1870s, the “splendors of house interiors that had belonged to members of the French court of the 18th century had

reached an almost mythological status”112 and were imitated throughout Europe and

109 Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home, 24. 110 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 114. 111 Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home, 73. 112 Ibid. 367

America. The Cornelius Vanderbilt II grand saloon was the epitome of French court reproductions (see Appendix E, figure 21).

The large grand saloon uses the two wool rugs to define the space in the room.

The rug in the center of the room has a diamond weave in the center with a light background. Inside each diamond is another design that appears to be a floral weave.

There are four different floral motifs used inside the diamonds. A border of five panels are attached, the center panel is widest with two panels on either side. Three different designs are represented in the panels. A light colored fringe outside the border appears like an egg-and- pattern that is about two inches in length and borders the entire carpet.

The second carpet, in the foreground, has an oval motif. Within the design circles with flower and geometric shapes are woven inside them. The border has four panels.

The middle panel has a circular weave and repeats the pattern of designs in each circle found in the center oval. The outside border has the appearance of an egg-and-dart pattern.

Visible in the photograph is an assortment of nine side chairs and armchairs.

Each chair is upholstered in various patterns of what appears to be woven silk damask.

All but one has a light background. Each pattern is a combination of flower arrangements, and curvilinear lines. Some chairs have larger flowers, such as the wide chair in the front of the photograph, but most have small flowers in the weave. The single armchair that has a dark background is located behind the bureau and has a continuous floral repeat pattern. Each chair has a gilt frame.

368

A “sleigh” framed seating bench is unusual in shape and fabric. Its silk damask

fabric has a light background with a floral design that is in the shape of a cornucopia

showering a splay of flowers. The frame is gilt.

There are two settees located in the room, but the predominate piece of furniture

is the tète te tète located in the center of the room. Used for conversational seating, it has

two end seats and a love seat on either side, to accommodate eight guests. Encased in a

gilt frame, it is upholstered in silk damask the fabric has a light background with a pattern

of large flowers throughout; they appear to be either a rose or peony; sprays of flowers in

an asymmetrical pattern complete the design. Grandiose in size, it dominates the room.

Some of the side chairs may have the same upholstery, creating a unity in the design of the room. The added accessories of small printed table coverings, pillows, lampshades and what appears to be an animal skin rug adds to the opulence and grandeur of Louis

XVI grand saloon

Cornelius Vanderbilt II and North Star II

The opulence of the North Star II was rivaled only by Morgan’s Corsair and

Bennett’s Namouna. The main saloon of the North Star II has three rooms that

interconnect. For this study, one angle of the series of photographs is analyzed (see

Appendix C, figure 6).

Located next to the open fire grate is an armchair that is upholstered in silk

damask. The design on the seat is of a basket with a floral design, surrounded by a

curvilinear weave of leaves, smaller flowers, and vines. It resembles the “Mary Todd

Lincoln” damask (French c. 1750-1800) whose pattern is owned by an American textile

369

manufacturer, Scalamandre.113 Adjacent to this chair is another armchair that is

upholstered in a silk fabric with a striped background and flowers are running in the warp

direction.

The throw rug, spread in front of the open grate fireplace, has a white background

with a geometric pattern of squares. In each square has a design inside of it. Some of the

patterns have medallion motifs and others have a botanical theme. The main function

seems to be for protection, especially since the original Breakers burned to the ground

prior to the purchase of North Star II. The pattern adds visual dimension to the room

because the carpet is a solid color and has no pattern.

The predominant features in the main saloon are the panels of red silk fabric that

are approximately two feet by four feet and are spaced evenly throughout the drawing

room. Framed in white, they add dramatic color to the walls and their primary purpose is

to convey only opulence to the room and the social status of the owner.

Added room accessories such as pillows that are on every seat in the saloon,

fringe- hemmed lampshades with floral wreaths on top, and luxury items that were

admired and collected “especially the small and charming ceramic figures,”114 finish the

interiors of the main saloon(see Appendix E, figure 22).

Discussion

Textiles used in homes and yacht saloons during the era of auxiliary-steam yachts,

continued to be an expression of high social status. Textiles from distant lands were an

important addition to the interiors of the homes and yachts of J. P. Morgan and Cornelius

113 Nylander and Nylander, Fabrics & Wallpapers, 69. Scalamandre was a very high-end family-owned weaving mill located in New York City. 114 Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home, 72. 370

Vanderbilt II. Obvious transference of home interiors occurred with both the Morgans

and the Vanderbilts and it is apparent that both owners stayed true to their interior design

and furnishing preferences. Both homes and yachts were exquisite statements of fine

interiors, but each is excellent in its own style (please refer back to Appendix C, figures,

3, 4, 5, and 6).

As an example, the large rug pattern found in the Morgan’s drawing room looks very similar to the rug pattern found in Corsair II. Instead of finely woven silk damask

fabric that was characteristic of the Rococo revival, the Morgan’s chose to decorate their

interiors with velvet and small patterned wool carpets. Styles are drawn from Persia,

Japan and the Italian Renaissance.

The Vanderbilt’s were involved with the social dictates of the fashionable French

Rococo revival style. The textile expressions used in their grand salon are of silk damasks, curvilinear lines, gilt frames and bolder patterns from the French Rococo style.

On board the North Star II, silk damask upholstery and curvilinear lines were imitated throughout the main saloon. The use of red, silk panels of fabric, mounted on every wall with no other additional surface embellishments, except for the white frames, was an overt declaration of wealth and status.

Auxiliary-steam yachts expanded the social activity of cruising in many aspects because the yachts, were larger allowing the interiors to become larger and more expansive. Although the worth and nobleness of a steam yacht was originally debated, by the end of the century, “the tide began to turn irreconcilably. Steam engines were

371

more reliable and men to run them were more available. Iron and steel were taking over from wood as the prime building material for ships.”115

115 Robert Shipley and Fred Addis, Schooners (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 1991), 53. 372

Chapter 8: Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age

Steam yachts are the third era of Gilded Age luxury yachts. Reserved for the

rarefied few, the owners of steam yachts during the Gilded Age embraced the new

technology, using their yachts as a platform to proclaim their financial power and social

status.

The schooner-yacht and the rigging associated with a traditional sailing vessel

influenced the exterior silhouette of steam yachts for the majority of the era. Hesitant to

abandon the appearance of a schooner-yacht, “clipper bows, , jibs, masts with

yards, and counter sterns decorated with gilded trailboards and counters were retained,”1 to compete with steam power that resided in smokestacks with billowing black smoke from the coal fires below deck. It was an odd visual combination, but that did not affect the expansion (the LOA) of steam yachts. Steam yachts continued to increase in size with elaborate furnishings as each member of the social elite attempted to out-do their colleagues.

The turn-of-the-twentieth-century brought with it stream-lined steam and diesel powered vessels that boasted colossal dimensions, meant to be envied by all who viewed them from the distant shore. These palatial yachts were floating palaces that were as elaborate and elegant as most of the owners’ Fifth Avenue mansions ashore. They

1 Erik Hofman, The Steam Yachts” An Era Of Elegance (Tuckahoe, New York: John De Graff, Inc., 1970), 5. 373

represented a period of great prosperity for those who were fortunate enough to amass

great wealth.

Social striving, status competition, jockeying for position, and showmanship to

European nobility, all characteristics of the Gilded Age industrialist, were demonstrated

when William K. Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s brother purchased the Valiant to

replace the previous luxury steam yacht, Alva. Vanderbilt commissioned a leading house

in Paris to decorate her twenty staterooms, salon, and library in elegant Louis XIV style.

Unpublished notes quoted by Hofman describe her interiors:

The salon, Louis XIV in style is paneled in fine grained French pine resembling English poplar, in white enamel with a gold finish. Every foot of the walls is of high relief, carved paneling of solid wood. At one end is a rich toned Steinway piano. Slender chairs, settees and a sideboard are Chippendale in design, with inlaid brass and upholstered in crimson silk velvet. The stained glass dome of the salon rises to the upper deck.2

The description continues with draperies of rich rose-colored flowered silk, an unusual flowered green silk, specially made Tyncastle tapestry, walls that are paneled with a light blue overstripe and floral designs in French silk, upholstery in a rich cream colored background and floral designs of French silk, portières draped with silk fabric, and dark blue carpets that cover over one-hundred feet in passageways.3 By the time the last

Chippendale chair and the Steinway piano were hoisted aboard, William Vanderbilt had

spent a million dollars.4

There is speculation that the excessive furnishings, elaborate interiors and textiles

were a ploy by Vanderbilt to assure the British nobility that the Vanderbilt family was a

2 Quoted in Hofman,8. 3 Ibid., 8. 4 Ed Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 1880-1905 (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 64. 374

superior entity and worthy of wedding vows between their daughter Consuelo and the

Duke of Marlborough. Regardless of speculation, Valiant remained in Vanderbilt’s

ownership until 1910 and was as comfortable as she was luxurious, even after the

wedding.

In addition to grandiose construction and European furnishings of steam yachts,

“American millionaires still felt culturally compelled to build castle-like homes and

import furnishings from Europe.”5 Home interiors of this time period continued to reflect

collections of costly possessions. Swifter international travel, by way of either super-

luxury liners or personal yacht, gave expeditious access to a world marketplace of goods.

Commodities, in turn fed into the competitive nature of the elite to create the grandest

and most exquisite interiors. New York residents adorned the interiors of their Fifth

Avenue mansions and their Newport summer cottages with souvenirs, art work, and

imported textiles.

For example, the coal baron couple, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Berwind owned The Elms,

located on the fashionable Bellevue Avenue in Newport. After a visit to London and

admiring the architecture of Buckingham Palace, they hired Horace Trumbauer to design

their home. He was inspired by the Château d’Asnières near Paris, but achieved some of

the “salient characteristics: of the British Palace.6 Completed in 1901, the drawing room

was painted white and furnished with French furniture “an amalgam of Louis XIV

5 W. H. Bunting, Steamers, Schooners, Cutters & Sloops: Marine Photographs of N. L. Stebbins taken 1884 to 1907 (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974), 6. 6 Wayne Craven, Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 304. 375

through Louis XVI.”7 While touring Europe the Berwind’s employed several agents to

procure a large collection of art and antique furnishings to complete the house. After

spending several million dollars to complete the interior furnishings, both French and

British, the Berwind’s returned to a housewarming party that they had also left

instructions to plan.8

Rosecliff, another grand turn-of-the-century summer cottage was owned by Mrs.

Hermann Oelrichs, renowned for her eighteenth century interior appointments and

spectacular events, both in New York and Newport.9 Battle for the top of the social pyramid led to the creation of Rosecliff that was inspired by the Grand Trianon at

Versailles. Not having the “leviathan budget of Alva Vanderbilt,” Mrs. Oelrichs hired

Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White “who was capable of creating sumptuous effects without spending prodigious amounts.”10 The result was a masterpiece that was

French Revival inside and out. Elegant French chandeliers, French carved fireplace with a rich ornamented overmantel, and the stunning “white or white gilt interior [that] marked

the shift in taste from the colorful deeper tones of the era of Louis XIV to the lighter

mode of Louis XV.”11

These two examples of home interiors were designed for the summer cottages, a

retreat for the summer season, away from New York City. The summer season, perhaps

six weeks, was just as much a fashion showplace as the Fifth Avenue mansions in New

7 Michael C. Kathrens, Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 163. 8 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 305. 9Ann Benway, “Rosecliff,” A Guidebook to Newport Mansions, (Hong Kong: Fort Church Publishers, Inc., 1984), 70-79. 10 Kathrens, Newport Villas, 173. 11Craven, Gilded Mansions, 295. 376

York. Grand society proprieties and etiquette were firmly in place and dictated the

decorum of mansion interiors were every bit as important as family and business

relations. The drawing room of William C. Whitney, who made his millions in the

streetcar business, had walls that were “covered with a figured crimson velvet; for this

room alone Vitall Benguiat had supplied some two hundred yards of Renaissance fabric. .

.the furniture, acquired in Paris, was mostly Henri II or Italian Renaissance.”12 A

member of the New York Yacht Club, Whitney selected interiors as a widower, with the

assistance of Stanford White. Anxious to maintain his social position after mourning the

death of his wife, he re-decorated the house and stepped back into society, hosting an after-the-opera ball that was attended by the Astors and several Vanderbilt families as well as other elite families (see Appendix E, figure 23).

The Standardization of and Preference for Steam

When auxiliary-steam yachts were first introduced, they were considered garish and vulgar by yacht club members and enthusiastic yacht journalists. Editors of yacht sporting magazines issued warnings that “steam was going to replace sail and that yacht racing was only going to last for a few more seasons.”13 The dawn of the new century,

however, brought a prosperous economy to America, and, “at least for the flotilla of

capitalists who had benefited so handsomely,”14 a steam yacht boasted of grand financial

success. Recognition that a primary motive for the expansion of steam yacht construction

12 Craven, Gilded Mansions, 282. 13 Robert Simper, Victorian and Edwardian Yachting From Old Photographs (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1984), iii 14 Llewellyn Howland, III, “The American Megayachts,” Maritime: Life and Traditions, Fall, 2001, 31. 377

was for increased speed,15 allowed the steam yacht to move away from being viewed as

vulgar to become a highly sought fashion.

Acceptance of steam yachts into the fleet of the yachting community was evident in prominent social and maritime events. For instance, when the writing about the trends of steam yachting in 1901, S. W. Barnaby made an argument in favor of steam: “On the roll of the Club today are the largest and most magnificent steam yachts in existence.

The cruising schooner on which the Club once prided itself has given way to steam. Sails are too slow for the rapid life of the twentieth century.”16

Further evidence that steam yachting was becoming the new standard of design

occurred at Cowes Week during the last year of King Edwards reign in 1910. Socially

prominent and wealthy Americans were in attendance. It was perhaps the

greatest gathering of classic Victorian steam yachts and old, great racing yachts that it had ever had. The water was packed with steam yachts, the most outward signs of success, their black or white hulls thick with the gold-leafed gingerbread that was for these ships the same bluff and bluster their masters wore on their yachting caps.17

The new dimensions, including extended LOA’s, of the steam yachts dwarfed

what had been considered mammoth during the era of luxury schooner-yachts. For

example, the Vanadis, owned by C. K. G. Billings, had a 160-foot long promenade deck

that was the width of the yacht leading to all the spacious rooms blow deck and her

interior fittings and accommodations “had reached a standard of luxuriousness and

15 S. W. Barnaby, “The Trend of Steam Yacht Building,” (1901) quoted in Tony Meisel, Yachting: A Turn- of-the-Century Treasury (Secaucus, New Jersey: Castle, 1987), 239. 16 A. J. Kenealy, “The Story of the New York Yacht Club,” Outing Magazine, May 1901, 20. 17 Tim Madge, Royal Yachts of the World, (Surrey, United Kingdom: Thomas Reed Publications, 1998.), 120. 378

excellence of construction that left little to be desired, even by the most fastidious millionaire.”18 Because of these developments, a preference was established for luxury steam yachts.

The same phenomenon that had occurred during the previous eras of luxury yachting also prevailed during this era; larger yachts were pursued and then lavish interiors followed. The initial investment was sizeable, for instance, J. Gordon Bennett

Jr.’s Lysistrata cost $625,000,19 but the expenses mounted since larger steam yachts required a larger crew, and coal was an expensive addition to the cost of yachting and cruising. The interior fittings for steam yachts followed the same occurrence for Fifth

Avenue mansions and private real estate holdings all over the globe: fine interiors with little regard to cost.

Cruising with local club members and international trips to Europe and the

Mediterranean were fashionable adventures. The Vanderbilts, Bennetts and Morgans were among many that indulged in lengthy voyages, and living on board became home for their owners and guests. Accustomed to extravagant interior furnishings ashore, the steam yacht furnishings received the same attention as the owner’s home. For comfort and luxury on board “the big steam yachts were hotels afloat; most of them had central staircases like a smart London hotel or a transatlantic liner, with service to match. It was a life of splendor, sometimes splendor-run-mad, always at an astronomical cost.”20

18 Reginald Crabtree, The Luxury Yacht From Steam to Diesel (New York: Drake Publishers, 1974), 66. 19 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 70. 20 Philip McCutchan, Great Yachts (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979), 66. 379

The competition among the wealthy elite for the most extravagant steam yacht did not go unnoticed. Articles in yacht sporting magazines then called attention to the abundance of expensive textiles found on board the fleet of steam yachts:

There seems to be no limit to the luxury and comfort that may be found in a steam yacht these days. . .A steam yacht now is a palace afloat. Every conceivable comfort can be found on board. The fittings are the most artistic that can be procured. There will be on suite of rooms finished in the style of Louis VIX,; the dining saloon will be decorated in the Renaissance style, or in Rococo or Colonial. The music room will be Italian, the smoking room in Flemish or early English, and the saloon in Byzantine or Venetian. The furniture will be made specially for the yacht and will match the apartment for which it is intended, and the draperies and hangings, too, will be the most costly that money can buy.21

Drawing rooms in New York City, Newport and the Hudson Highlands, to name a few, all reflected the influence of European interior design styles. Those same styles were found on board the luxury steam yachts, reflecting a continuance of the owner’s social status.

American Examples of Steam Yachts

Much to the dismay of sailing purists, steam yachts became the preferred means of travel for American businessmen. The difficult and continual commute between New

York City and Long Island Sound and Newport and other locations on the eastern seaboard was alleviated with steam yachts. Private ownership offered convenience for commuting and freedom for a speedy escape at one’s command. For example, the crew of Lysistrata remained in stand-by mode as they were never sure when her owner, James

Gordon Bennett, Jr., a man of impulsive nature, “would receive five minutes of

21 Arthur F. Aldridge, “Croesus and His Steam Yacht,” Yachting, May 1907, 284. 380

instructions to make a voyage of many days, several weeks or even months.”22

The December 1903 issue of The Rudder W. P. Stephens acknowledged that

the type if steam yacht most in demand by American yachtsmen at the present time is very different from the early wooded steam yachts. . .a comparatively high service speed. . . is at least demanded by business men who take their pleasures at high pressure and may want at any time to get from Newport to Wall Street in less time than train connections would permit.23

High speed travel was not the only consideration when having a luxury steam yacht as

one’s disposal. Stephens continued in regards to the requirements of comfort while on

board the yacht. He noted:

At the same time, when free from business for the moment, they expect on board a yacht the same comforts in the way of space, light and ventilation and many of the same luxuries of cuisine and household service that they would enjoy at a city club or hotel or a private home. There is no appreciation of even that very easy form of roughing it which is entailed on an ocean cruise of the average British steam yacht . . . but the luxurious conditions of modern city life must be duplicated afloat.24

Naval architects and engineers altered their designs to meet the owners “need” for

increased speed and attended to the engineering details that were required to produce a

faster steam yacht. They also took into account the expectations of larger and more commodious spaces for comfortable accommodations for owner and guests.25 Taking the

engineering requirements and the desire for spacious living environments together “the

steam-yacht embodies the height of luxury in aquatic pleasure, for she is the most

22 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 129. 23 W. P. Stephens, “The Steam Yacht Hauoli,” The Rudder, December 1903, 604. 24 Ibid., 606. 25 Ibid., 606. 381

elaborate and expensive of marine toys.”26

Meanwhile social comparisons both in America and overseas were a common

practice throughout the American Gilded Age yachting eras and “a steam yacht became

something of a status symbol, a great many were built. The desire to display evidence of

personal wealth crossed the Atlantic to Europe, where many rich men followed the

American fashion. . . were always fitted out with luxury; saloons were enriched with gold

leaf and massive carvings.”27 Numerous American and British members of the socially

conscience yachting fraternity clambered for the newest expression of wealth and status.

Where once steam yachts had been shunned they were accepted and preferred, so much

so that “in 1907 there were eight yachts over 300 feet long in the New York Club roster.

The largest was James Gordon Bennett’s Lysistrata at 314 feet.”28

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. and Lysistrata (1900)

Not satisfied with his palatial floating palace Namouna, Bennett had a larger, more expansive and luxurious steam yacht constructed. Designed by the prominent

British architect George Watson, the Lysistrata had “enormous reception rooms, dozens of cabins, and a hundred-member crew, the 314-foot vessel represented luxury on a scale virtually beyond any other ship known at the time.”29 Among her amenities, were “large

26 W. J. Henderson, “The Luxuries of Yachting,” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, June 8, 1897), 536. 27 Peter Kemp, The History of Ships (New York: Barnes & Noble books, 2002), 152. 28Bill Robinson, Legendary Yachts: the Great American Yachts from Cleopatra’s Barge to Courageous (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1978), 90. 29Alexis Gregory, Families of Fortune: Life in the Gilded Age New York,: The Vendome Press, 1993), 170. 382

reception rooms and saloons bedecked in mahogany, satinwood, and cherry, a tiled

Turkish bath, and hot and cold bathing rooms with a masseuse on constant duty.”30

Based on her gross tonnage, Lysistrata was the largest privately owned steam yacht. Her

interiors were considered the most luxurious, comfortable, and commodious yacht of her time.31

Bennett was but one luxury steam yacht owner that desired larger

accommodations while living on board. After the trial trip from San Francisco to

Panama, D. C. Jackling, owner of the steam yacht Cyprus built in 1913, wrote to Cox &

Stevens, yacht builders, a letter requesting the cost of extending his yacht an addition

thirty-one feet. He writes:

Now that I am completely satisfied at this point and as I find that Cyprus is actually not large enough for my permanent requirements, I feel that it would be good business, if possible, to lengthen her and make her such a vessel as I shall always be satisfied with. . . Will you, therefore. Immediately take up with me the question of lengthening Cyprus to provide such extra space as I may require and advise me as to the cost of the alterations, and give me your opinion on the whole matter? (Signed) D. C. Jackling.32

After a successful expansion the LOA of Cyprus was expanded to 261 feet and 6 inches

with an added stack for ventilation.33

30Gregory King, The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York: A Season of Splendor (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,2009), 233. 31 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 129. 32 “Steam Yacht Cyprus,” The Rudder, March 1914, 103. Jackling’s letter to Cox & Stevens is reprinted in this issue of The Rudder. 33 An article and photograph in the December 1914, issue of Popular Mechanics, told of the yacht’s extension, noting that the yacht was the largest personal steam yacht on the West Coast. “Lengthening the Steam Yacht ‘Cyprus’’ Popular Mechanicss (December 1914), 805. 383

Articles describing steam yachts and their extravagant furnishings were frequent,

after their acceptance into yachting society. Each account seemed more grandiose than

the previous story.

Eugene Tompkins and Idalia

Thomas Fleming Day discussed the interior of the steam ship Idalia in the March

1900 issue of The Rudder. He notes that “The subject of good interior decoration is

almost inexhaustible,” but continues to describe her in detail. When describing the main

saloon he observed:

The interior of this house is of the empire order, finished in red mahogany , with brass ornaments applied in the panel work, and in the soffits of the deck beams between which the ceiling is painted in a rich olive tone, relived by a gold beading. Around the after part of this saloon runs a broad seat with heavy plush cushions. . . In the forward part is the smoking room. . .this part of the saloon can be shut off by curtains. . .Rich green curtains hang at the windows.34

The Louis XV main saloon was down another deck and had walls fitted with white

mahogany and satin wood, with gold ornaments in relief. The broad transoms were

upholstered in old rose satin damask on both the starboard and port sides. Each corner of

the saloon has beaded glass cabinets. The ceiling was painted in an old ivory color, and

between the deck beams the panels were a delicate green. The curtains at the port holes

are old rose and light green.35

Colonel E. H. R. Green and United States

Steamer yachts became more phenomenal, more behemoth in size and exquisite

interiors as time progressed through the era. The later steamers were “extraordinarily

34 Thomas Fleming Day, “Steam Yacht Idalia,” The Rudder, March 1900, 70. 35 Ibid., 72. 384

comfortable and luxurious vessel whose appeals even to hard-bitten sailors were obvious.”36

During the fall of 1916, Colonel E. H. R. Green decided that he needed a floating palace to cruise the eastern seaboard and the Gulf Coast. A shopping trip located United

States, a 255-foot steam yacht, considered so luxurious that if the “view of the water through the windows one would seem to be more at home in some luxuriously fitted house than afloat on a yacht. The furnishings, too, rather suggest the house than the steamer,”37 fittings being not utilitarian but expressions of art. A tour walking on the very effective “salt-and-pepper velvet carpet one with a black border,”38 brings one into

“the drawing room [that] is of the period of Louis Quatorze. The color scheme is red and gold, the furniture being gold and the upholstery red. An Italian marble table stands in the center of the room, and the hangings are red and gold silk velvet. . . two groups of three windows, each group in its overdraperies being treated as one,”39 and glass doors treated with dainty lace. The United States was the most complete and up-to-date yacht that was afloat in 1917. Gielow & Orr, the builders responsible for the reconstruction and fitting-out neglected nothing to create a stem yacht that had “many comforts and conveniences that are missing in the best appointed homes.”40

The enthrallment and romance with the steam yachts continued through the end of the decade. The 1920 drawing room of the Lyndonia, a 240-foot steam yacht owned by

36 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986), 82. 37 “United States, Colonel E. H. R. Green’s Palatial Yacht,” The Rudder, August, 1917, 513. 38 Ibid., 513. 39 Ibid., 517 40 Ibid.,520. 385

Cyrus H. K. Curtis was a cabin that one could “loaf in effetely, is in the simple treatment

of the William and Mary Period, with walnut predominating in the settees, sofas, lounges,

and other panaceas of lounging.”41

Howard Gould, 1871-1950

Howard Gould, a son of Jay Gould, the railroad tycoon and cunning financier,

was a successful industrialist and speculator in his own tight and inheriting his father’s

business tact and ingenuity became a large holder of railroad securities.42 He, like his

brother George was a yachting enthusiast. His membership in numerous yacht clubs,

such as the Atlantic, Seawanhaka-Corinthian, Larchmont, New York Yacht Club and

American Yacht Clubs and several in England and Ireland for example, gained authority and recognition for him in yachting and club circles.43

The Gould Houses

Gould married Viola Katherine Clemmons in 1898 and they purchased a lot on

Fifth Avenue above East Seventy-second Street and began construction on a large

house.44 They lived in the same neighborhood as the Astors and the Vanderbilts, and

socialized with the upper crust of New York society, frequently.

Desiring a country estate, the Gould’s purchased undeveloped land in 1900 near the present day Sands Point, Long Island and began construction on Castle Gould whose design was based on the Kilkenny Castle located in Ireland. The architectural firm Hunt

& Hunt designed the mansion completing construction in 1904, at which time Mrs. Gould

41 Robinson, Legendary Yachts, 94. 42 AGregory, Families of Fortune, 57. 43 Arthur F. Aldridge, “The Costliest of Sports,” Munsey’s Magazine, July 1901, 515. 44 Jerry E. Patterson, Fifth Avenue: The Best Address (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1998), 174. 386

decided that the castle did not suit her. The next house, named Hempstead House was competed in 1912. The main residence was a massive 225- foot long, 135- foot wide

English Tudor manor style mansion with three floors, forty rooms and an eighty foot tower. It was the definition of opulence and extravagance on Long Island’s Gold Coast.

Unfortunately, the couple separated in 1909 and Mrs. Gould did not have the pleasure of enjoying the surroundings or the luxurious interiors.45 There are no extant photographs

of interiors of either house.

Gould and Niagara

Taking the lead from his father, Jay Gould, and his grand auxiliary-steam yacht

Atalanta, Howard Gould gravitated to sailing and the yachting activities that surrounded

the sport. His upcoming marriage encouraged a yacht building project that dwarfed other

pre-nuptial gifts. The 272-foot Niagara was a wedding gift to Miss Katherine

Clemmons they intended to spend their honeymoon on a lengthy cruise.46

For her part, she had the pleasure “of transforming a yacht into a real home

afloat.”47 Newspaper and sporting publications were captivated by the progress of

Niagara, closely following every step. The New York Herald noted Mrs. Gould’s role in

the preparation of Niagara. The article said:

In this task of finishing and fitting the Niagara the excellent taste of Mrs. Gould is everywhere conspicuous. Aided by Mr. Gould, she laid out the interior to scale, which arrangement was never changed. Then she selected the woods, draperies, and carpets and fixtures of the numerous rooms. . . the result is a ship comfortable

45 “Castle Gould and Hempstead House,” under Gould Castle, Hempstead House. http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/gould.htm (accessed March 30, 2010), paragraphs 1-3. 46“An Ideal Pleasure Craft is the Steamyacht Niagara,” New York Herald, October 16, 1898. Located in the New York Yacht Club scrapbook, no. 31. 47 Maldwin Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 121. 387

and homelike, and with harmonizing appointments that may well serve as models in this wise.48

An American made vessel, “Mr. Gould designed the yacht himself; that is, he

made the interior plans and then had his naval architect the details.”49 Her final

design and alterations made by the builders Harlan & Hollingsworth, of Wilmington,

Delaware, incorporated the “highest and latest developments of yacht architecture, including features which cannot fail to give valuable cues to our rivals across the pond.”50

It was Gould’s fiancée that christened Niagara and she was under-weigh.51

After her successful launch, The Rudder issue of April 1898 had an extensive

article titled “Niagara,” in which details of her engines, horsepower, electrical plans, and

her refrigeration plant were discussed. The only reference to the use of textiles was her

“awnings from one end to the other of the ship, together with side screens, bridge

awnings, weather cloths, coaling screens, house covers, and all the other details in canvas

usual for such a yacht.”52

Unlike most steam yachts, there are numerous photographs of her interiors, which

allow one to view the opulence, extravagance and every nuance of a life of luxury was on

board Niagara. A perfectly fitted dark room on board afforded Gould, an enthusiastic

amateur photographer, the luxury of developing photographs while on his voyages

around the world.53 Niagara was fitted with staircases, fireplaces and a thirty-six-foot-

48 “An Ideal Pleasure Craft is the Steamyacht Niagara,” New York Herald, October 16, 1898. Found in the New York Yacht Club “Scrapbook,” no. 31, no page. 49 “Steam Yacht,” Yachting: A Magazine of Sport and Recreation on Water Salt and Fresh, January-June, 1907, 287. 50 Our Search Light, Yachting, February 1898, 10. 51 New York Journal, May 7, 1899. located in New York Yacht Club scrapbook no. 31. 52Thomas Fleming Day, “Niagara,” The Rudder, April 1898, 142. 53 Aldridge, “The Costliest of Sports,” 515. 388

wide Renaissance Revival drawing room.54 Referred to as the social hall in articles, the

cabin was “finished in African mahogany and upholstered in dark green. This will

always be found a favorite room. Doors open on either side on deck while big windows

afford plenty of opportunity of looking around in bad weather.”55 Tucked away at the

end of the room was an “orchestrion equivalent to a band of eighteen pieces furnishes

music for dances, or plays the latest songs and instrumental compositions,”56

(see Appendix E, figure 24).

A. J. Drexel II, 1865-1934

A. J. Drexel II was born into a long-established Philadelphia banking family.57

His father was an American financier, specializing in “flotation’s of government bonds,

railroad organization, mining development and urban real estate.”58 In 1871, he became a

became a business partner with J. P. Morgan forming a successful banking company

known as Drexel, Morgan & Co in 1871.59 Additionally, he and his brothers established

another banking firm in Paris called Drexel, Harjes and Company.60 Before his death, in

1893, A. J. Drexel Sr., established the in 1891. It was within this

financial environment and legacy that A. J. Drexel II began his business career.61

48 Holm, Yachting’s Golden Age, 67. 55 “An Ideal Pleasure Craft,” New York Herald, October 16, 1898. New York Yacht Club ”Scrapbook,” no. 31, no page. 56 “An Ideal Pleasure Craft,” New York Herald, October 16, 1898. New York Yacht Club “Scrapbook,” no. 31, no page. 57 Charles R. Morris, The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2005), 27. 58 “Anthony Joseph Drexel,” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.britanica.com/EBchecked/topic/171488/Anthony-Joseph-Drexel (accessed March 30, 2010). 59 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 131. 60 “Anthony Joseph Drexel,” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.britanica.com/EBchecked/topic/171488/Anthony-Joseph-Drexel (accessed March 30, 2010). 61 Biographical information on A. J. Drexel II is not well documented or readily available, however, there is a great deal of information available regarding their luxury steamer Margarita. 389

Steam Yacht Era Drawing Room – Beacon Hill House

Information regarding the homes of A. J. and Margarita Drexel were not readily

available and photographs of the interiors of their homes were not found. A financially

successful contemporary of theirs, and a yachting enthusiast was Arthur Curtiss James. It

is his drawing room that will be analyzed for one of the steam yacht era home interiors.

Not as well known as the Vanderbilts, the Goulds, or the Morgans, Arthur Curtiss

James eventually controlled more rail stock than any of them. His father was a partner

with the Phelps Dodge Corporation, and assisted in the development of coal and iron

mining in North America. In 1907, Arthur Curtiss James became the sole heir to a

twenty million dollar estate. By 1920 “he was the largest holder of railroad shares in the

country—then valued at over $300 million.”62

He had a passion for the sport of yachting. He served as the Commodore for the

New York Yacht Club from 1909 to 1910, and instead of following in the path of his fellow yachtsmen he chose to become a certified captain. The New York Herald, on May

7, 1899 announced:

Mr. Arthur Curtiss James, N. Y. Y. C., has just received a master’s license from the United States local inspectors which will allow him to navigate and command his new sailing yacht Aloha to any quarter of the globe. Mr. James had expressed his determination to handle Aloha as a sail vessel almost exclusively, only using steam in case of calm.63

James was a dedicated cruiser and the Aloha was a bark-rigged auxiliary-steam yacht that

sailed and steamed to the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, West Indies, Iceland, Faroes,

62 Kathrens, Newport Villas, 258. 63 “May Command His Own Craft,” New York Herald, May 7, 1899. Located in the New York Yacht Club Scrapbook, no. 31. 390

Norway, Panama, England and Scotland.64 He also owned a schooner-yacht by the name of Coronet. He was the captain for the Amherst Eclipse Expedition in 1895 to 1897.65

He and his wife Harriet Eddy Parsons owned the Beacon Hill House on

Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island. Two “broad sets of doors led [from the great hall] into a drawing room finished in Louis XV style, with French walnut boiserie surmounted by

an elaborately molded plaster ceiling cove,”66 (see Appendix E, figure 25).

Drexel and Margarita

By 1900, there were many new millionaires ready to join the ‘club’ of luxury yacht owners, Drexel being one of them. Drexel had three yachts by the name of

Margarita, the most lavish of the three was the yacht designed in 1900 by the Scottish designer, George Lennon Watson,67 and considered one of his finest designs. With a

LOA of 323-feet “she was the most luxurious of many luxurious yachts of the era.”68

Mindful of his social rank and affiliations with Morgan, he made sure that his new yacht could boast of larger and finer qualities than his social class competitors. Arthur F.

Aldridge wrote that Margarita was

perhaps a little more up to date than the Valiant, and is as luxuriously furnished as a floating palace can be. French, Italian, and the English artists decorated the yacht throughout, and it is said that the cost of the vessel was about a million dollars. The Margarita has not been in American waters yet, but those who have seen her abroad say that she is a marvel of beauty and luxury.69

64 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 18. 65John Summers, The Schooner Yacht Coronet: An Air of Greatness ( Newport, RI: International Yacht Restoration School, 1999), 11. 66Kathrens, Newport Villas, 257. 67 Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 130. 68 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, 131. 69 Aldridge, “The Costliest of Sports,” 514. 391

The electric lights convincingly enhanced the interior décor, 70 so that she resembled an antique-filled mansion instead of a private steamer yacht designed with all the accoutrements of a luxury liner that were made available for the owner and guests, in the thirteen staterooms.71 Her exquisite hallmarks were her interior appointments. The

drawing room was designed with grandeur:

A Louis XV-style salon boasted paneled walls rich with elaborate boiseries below a coffered ceilings whose details were picked out in gilt; carved sofas and chairs, upholstered in floral brocade, were gathered around a marble mantelpiece. . .it was a symphony in Louis XVI-style rococo.72

The drawing room carpet cost £3 a yard in England, and “the side windows light up the

white and gold decorations of this cabin, the light tint of which is carried through the silk

curtains and other draperies,”73 and part of the owner’s eccentric personality added a garden with real roses growing over trellises as part of her original décor.74

The deck plans of Margarita flaunt a “telescopic” dining table that comfortably

seats fourteen. The dining table is flanked by two sideboards, two built-in couches, a

piano, a swing table and an organ. From the dining room the doorways lead through the

companionways to the children’s playroom and four of the thirteen staterooms, each

completely appointed with appropriate interiors.75 She was a magnificent work of naval architecture, engineering and interior design, (see Appendix E, figure 25).

70Gregory, Families of Fortune,170. 71 Crabtree, The Luxury Yacht, 67. 72King, The Court of Mrs. Astor, 235-36. 73 “Drexel’s New Yacht Here,” The New York Times, September 13, 1896. http:// www.query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html (accessed November 24, 2009), paragraph 8. 74Robinson, Legendary Yachts, 89. 75 Hofman, The Steam Yachts, figure 4, 10 392

Photographic Analysis of House Parlors and Yacht Main Saloons

The Elms, Drawing Room

Because there are no extant photographs of the Gould’s homes, The Elms, owned by Mr. And Mrs Edward J. Berwind, previously discussed in the chapter, will be used as an example of a drawing room that would have resembled the Gould’s socio-economic level and life style.

The drawing room at The Elms mixes styles of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis

XVI. According to Buie Harwood, an author of Architecture and Interior Design From

the 19th Century (2009), that combination was the correct interior design expression during this era. One of the reasons for this amalgamation is that it gave a “visible tie to earlier French monarchs,”76 and displayed culture and taste of the owners.

Three matching arm chairs, with open arms, are in the drawing room and are

upholstered on the back and seats of the chairs. The background is a light hue and has a

darker floral boarder that circles the seat and the outside perimeter of the seat back. The

seats are difficult to see, but the back upholstery design has two figures, a male and

female, dressed in period costume placed on the center back.

A settee placed at the back wall and in between two of the armchairs also has a

light background fabric with a darker floral border around the seat and the back. The

upholstery on the back of the settee has a colloquial scene of two figures on the left hand

side, another figure sitting on what appears to be an extended tree trunk, and an

indecipherable form in between the figures. The upholstery for the three arm chairs and

76 Buie Harwood, Bridget May and Curt Sherman, Architecture and Interior Design Form the 19th Century (Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009), 198. 393

the settee appear to be from the same fabric, probably woven from silk, creating a matching suite of furniture.

A large upholstered arm chair is placed perpendicularly in front of the massive marble fireplace. The upholstery has a light background and a darker floral print that has a swaged ribbon design across the front of the seat. The center back has a design but is indecipherable. There appears to be a matching upholstered chair across from the described chair, creating a symmetrical arrangement in front of the fireplace.

The rug, that leaves a border of parquet floor around the room uncovered, has what appears to be a narrow border. The center of the rug has a curvilinear, elongated shield design. Inside the shield are curved forms, perhaps flowers, and a dark and light striped object with a rod that appears to be a scepter. There are no fabric coverings on the marble topped sideboard or the marble mantelpiece (see Appendix E, figure 26).

Niagara

Although the Rosenfeld collections of interior photographs are numerous for the

Niagara there were none taken of the main saloon. The music room, however leads from the main saloon in an open floor plan and would have been an extension of the main saloon. For the photographic analysis of the Niagara, the music room will be used.

At the end of the cabin’s wall is a Welte organ that was constructed specifically for Niagara. On either side of the organ are built-in settees both with dark, tufted velvet pads. There are several large, square pillows that are placed on the settees. They appear to be made of velvet.

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Two large circular tables in the music saloon are placed opposite each other.

Both tables are covered with a solid colored square table covering, whose points touch the floor. The table coverings are trimmed with a band of either ribbon or a lighter fabric, approximately two inches wide. About an inch below the ribbon band is a fringed trim about three inches wide. Both the ribbon band and the fringe are lighter in color than the table covering.

Four windows have swaged draperies on either side of each window. They are dark in color. There are two foot stools with a very padded pillow are on top. The pillows appear to be made from dark velvet. A prominent tassel hangs from each corner and a trim is sewn in the pillow side seams. Both the tassels and the trim are a lighter color than the velvet.

An x-framed chair is placed at the end of the built-in settee. The pad on the seat appears to be tufted velvet. There are four lighter hued tassels hanging from each corner.

The carpet covers the entire cabin. There appear to be no seams and it is lighter in color than the upholstery. Portières divide the music saloon from the companionway.

They are swaged and dark in color (refer back to Appendix E, figure 24).

Beacon Hill House Drawing Room

The opulent layering of window treatments that was characteristic of Louis XV revival style is present in the Beacon Hill House. In the one window that has outside light, there is a light colored fabric swaged open with a panel of the same fabric shirred in a Venetian draped. A lambrequin with three panels of a light colored fabric in a

395

scalloped shape has a dark embroidered pattern on each panel. The embroidery pattern is

in a shield or heraldic shape.

A suite of furniture includes two arm chairs and a settee. The fabric is a light

color and there are floral patterns that are on each seat. The backs of each of the chairs

and the settee have pictures woven into the fabric. The chair backs can not be seen, but

the settee back has an image of a country scene with a farmhouse, animals, and people.

One dark, square pillow is on the seat of the settee.

Two side chairs are in the room for added seating. The seats are upholstered in what appears to be velvet. One of the chairs has a piece of striped fabric thrown over the

back of the chair. The pattern is alternating in dark and light striped, the lighter color has

an embroidered floral pattern running in the direction of the warp.

On the parquet floor are three white animal skin rugs. There appears to be a table

covering on the marble top side-board (refer back to Appendix F, figure 25).

Margarita

The enormous drawing room on board Margarita “with its rich carpeting,

graceful sofas, and massive desk, was one of the most splendid living spaces aboard any

ship. All of the upholstery used on the furniture is the same. It is a light colored fabric,

probably silk, with a woven diamond shape made from small flowers or ivy. Inside each

diamond is a floral bouquet.

The suite of furniture includes a possible settee. Since it is facing away from the

viewer and is partially in the image, a clear distinction to its length is difficult to discern.

There are two side chairs with upholstered balloon backs, an arm chair and a piano stool.

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The carpet is light in color with large and small floral arrangements. It appears

that there is a central floral arrangement with a side arrangement that comes from the side of the carpet into the center. The small floral patterns are scattered throughout the weave of the carpet, leaving large space of the light background showing. A note is that one of the side chairs has a deck hook underneath the seat to secure it to the deck if placed

outside.

On the bureau is a table lamp. The lampshade is lace with a scalloped hem. It is

gathered around the top of the frame and appears to have a fringe type trim at the very top

of the lampshade. There is a window treatment on the one window, but because of the

glare from the outside light a description can not be made. Curiously, there is a sole

tassel that is hanging from the ceiling, whose purpose may be to call for a steward’s

assistance (see Appendix E, figure 28).

Discussion

The predominate theme for home and steam yacht interiors at the turn of the last

century was still the Rococo Revival with an emphasis on Louis XV design. The

characteristic S-curve of the furniture is seen in the frames of the chairs and settees in

both the drawing rooms and main saloon. Fabrics of silk velvet and damask were still

used, but what is seen in the home parlors is different from what had been used

previously. Instead of an all over pattern, the upholstery for seating has colloquial scenes

woven into the backs of the chairs and settees. Tufting is not as prevalent and the

upholstery therefore, appears to have a smoother line.

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Instead of several individual pieces of furniture in varying styles and sizes upholstered with complimentary fabrics, suites of furniture are now in vogue. The furniture arrangements have changed to matching settees and two arm chairs, usually upholstered in the same fabric. Tète-te-tête’s are no longer seen in the home parlors.

There is a larger expanse of space in both the home parlors and the steam yacht main saloons. Instead of the large rugs or runners that had been used in other luxury yachts, the Goulds chose wall to wall carpeting to cover the floor. Carpets and upholstery continue to use curving floral motifs throughout the design.

The main saloons on board the yachts continue to use wood paneling to cover the cabin walls. The new fashions of the late Rococo revival in home parlors, however, are white walls with curvilinear applied plaster designs and with gold accents. There are fewer accessories on table tops and mantles, and bric-a-brac is no longer seen in the drawing rooms or the main saloons. The use of expensive materials, splendid decoration and rich colors are still presented but the overall theme is more streamline in presentation because the heavy ornamentation is no longer in fashion.

The interiors that Mrs. Gould selected for Niagara, however, are not of the

Rococo revival, but instead an expression of the Renaissance revival. The interiors reflect the massiveness of Renaissance furnishings. The chair, tables and foot stools all lack the curvilinear lines that are in the Rococo design. Instead they are solid in structure and have a more geometric silhouette. The fabrics, instead of the floral motifs of the

Rococo revival are dark, solid velvets. Tassels and braids and the use of a portière are reflective of the Renaissance, not the Rococo revival.

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Both the Renaissance and the Rococo revivals were in vogue simultaneously.

Although the predominate interior theme was that of the Rococo revival, the selection of

interior decoration was always a reflection of the owner’s preference as long as it still

maintained social prestige.

The Rise of the Diesel Engine

The first hint of the decline of steam power actually occurred in 1885, but the pre-

occupation of owning and parading a steam powered yacht was such a passion, that the

hint went unnoticed. A small article in Forest and Stream, December 31, 1885 made the

announcement that “A New Gas Engine. The New York Petroleum Gas Engine Co., has

erected a two-story factory at Brown Place. . . The hulls of the boats will be built by Mr.

William Kyle. For small cruisers, or for yachts, it is likely these will become very

popular.”77 Not many took heed to the announcement and stayed their course of

luxurious steam yacht building and designing.

At the height of steam yachting extravagance, a world event occurred that forever

altered the course of the continued, unbridled pursuit of maritime opulence. The

assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in 1914 brought the

world a catastrophic event, the effects of which had not previously been experienced.

The sport and luxury of yachting, was forced to take a “holiday while its young crews marched back and forth in Europe, and died in the muddy fields of Flanders.”78

The war had decisively ended the Indian summer of the Gilded Age decadence in the

most terrible way imaginable. Things would never be the same again. The pre-war

77 William P. Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting: The 50th Anniversary Edition (Brooklin, Maine: WoodenBoat Publications, 1989), 231. 78 Madge, Royal Yachts, 122. 399

innocence of halcyon days, racing in the Solent during the Cowes Regatta, the summer

cruising season around Long Island and Newport would revive in part, but the heady mix

of elegance and opulence of earlier times were now days gone by.79 Instead of

languishing on board the deck, most of the luxury yachts were offered or commissioned

for war service of some sort by one of the governments involved in the Great War.

Ross MacTaggart suggested three other reasons for the decline in steam yacht use

and construction. The first was that during the 1920s steam was replaced with diesel.

Engines required less space and so accommodations could increase in size, but the

phenomenon that occurred is that the length over all decreased, and in turn smaller, more

affordable yachts were constructed for the moderately wealthy classes. The middle

classes joined the yachting circles and clubs, thus eliminating the exclusivity that had

been held so tightly by the upper echelon. Secondly, private airplanes and automobiles

with accessible roads became a new avenue for adventure and expenditure, and re-created

the distance between social classes. And finally the Great Depression ended dreams of

luxury yachts and bank accounts.80 Rousmaniere adds that “these beautiful behemoths

would finally bring on their own demise by becoming so enormous (and so enormously

expensive) that the worldwide Depression in the 1930s would render them obsolete – arrogant artifacts of a vanished age.”81 Consumer goods are sensitive to the fluctuations

79 Madge, Royal Yachts, 126. 80 Ross MacTaggart, The Golden Century: Classic Motor Yachts (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001), 16-17. 81 John Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, The Seafarers (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), 17. 400

of the business cycles. Large luxury yachts are particularly vulnerable to the vacillating

nature of financial institutions: “the larger the yacht, the greater the sensitivity.”82

Diesel engines became the source for pleasure craft after World War I.83

The diesel engines occupied a smaller space than steam engines thus allowing ample

room for living and sleeping accommodations on a vessel far smaller than a steam

yacht.84 Articles soon began to cover the rise of diesel and motor luxury yachts. For

instance, the August 1908 issue of Yachting introduces its readers to the interiors of motor boats. The subtitle reads: “How the Cabins of Power Craft are Divided and

Furnished—Luxury vs. Practicability.”85 The article begins by noting: “the internal

economy of a motor boat allows for much more freedom in its arrangement than that of

any other typed of craft,”86 and then described the arrangement of the saloon as being

dependent upon the intended use of the owner and guests. This was the case because,

both the main saloon and sleeping quarters were within the same space. If the side boards and buffets are placed in the four corners, then the cabin “may at night be shut off by curtains sliding on rods and converted into miniature sleeping apartments, more commodious that the average Pullman car berth.”87

However, soon, LOA’s for diesel yachts returned to the grand lengths of the

steam yachts of the previous era. The January 1926 issue of Motor Boating covers a

story about the 171-foot motor yacht built for D. P. Davis, declaring that it “Will be the

82 Howland, III, “The American Megayachts,” 31. 83 William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld The Story of American Yachting Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958), 83. 84 Hofman, Steam Yachts, 18. 85 K. E. Treadwell, “Motor Boat Interiors,” Yachting, August 1908, 73. 86 Ibid., 73. 87 Ibid., 74. 401

Last Word in Yacht Design and Construction.”88 By 1929, the private luxury yacht dimensions and grandeur of the steam yacht era were transferred to the diesel yacht. An

extreme example is the diesel yacht Orion with a LOA of 333-feet. She was designed

“primarily for extended ocean cruising [and she] is exceptional in many ways. She has

an unusual number of living and lounging rooms and many features found only on ocean

liners, such as swimming pool, gymnasium, and exceptional refrigerating facilities.”89

The interior images that accompany the article show the same care for luxurious

accommodations as have been previously seen on steam yachts. In particular, the dining

salon is “exceptionally attractive, with large French windows.”90 Luxury yachting

continued to be a rich man’s sport, but now, once again, it was wrapped in a new

package.

88 “New Motor Yacht for D. P. Davis,” Motor Boating, January 1925, 92. 89 “Orion—The Largest Diesel Yacht in the World,” Yachting, November 1929, 50. 90 Ibid., 50. 402

Chapter 9: Conclusion

The purpose of this dissertation has been to study the relationship of home

interiors to yacht interiors as a social status statement during the Gilded Age, 1870-1920.

The study specifically focused on the use of textiles as a symbol of their wealth and cultural taste. The Gilded Age was a time of anxious competition among the wealthy

families of America. Acceptance and admittance into the inner social circles of the elite

was based on the accumulation of and conspicuous flaunting of possessions and

affiliations. Strict social decorum was adhered to so that membership into the posh upper class would follow.

Luxury yachts became an expression of wealth and status. The luxuries of the mansions ashore were extended to their floating palaces. Every convenience and comfort

that was in a mansion, a Fifth Avenue house or a Newport summer “cottage” eventually

found its way to the interiors of the yacht. Both environments served as a reminder to

social peers of a family’s esteemed position in society for the larger the yacht and the

more extravagant the interior appointments, the higher the ranking in the social orders.

Conspicuous consumption and leisure were measurements of social position.

A primary objective of the American social elites was to emulate, and mimic

European aristocracy wherever possible. European possessions such as apparel,

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architecture, and interiors became a perfect platform to proclaim ones level in society.

The use of European interior designers, European textiles and the transport and reconstruction of European interiors became a trademark of one-up-manship among the upper classes. Even yachting was an import from Europe. The success of the American yachting industry and culture became so prevalent that it eventually gained the attention of yachting societies in Europe, and the innovations of American yacht technology was adopted in Europe.

Social customs also took on the flair of European inspiration. The British parlor and the Parisian salon were soon “imported” into the social milieu of American homes.

The parlor also known as the drawing room set the stage for opulent expressions of wealth, and culture. Textiles, in the form of carpets, draperies, upholsteries and table coverings were an extremely important component. Tied intrinsically to the use of textiles was the historic association to power and wealth that was demonstrated in the possession of beautiful fabrics.

The parlor was the social headquarters of the family. The décor of this room best reflected the image that the family desired the public, in particular their social peers, to view. On board their luxury yachts the parlor and all that it stood for was transferred to the main saloon. The two locations, though separated by water, performed the same function: to promote the wealth and social status of the family by way of extravagant interiors and appointments, in particular textiles.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the social atmosphere was somewhat relaxed.

Yes there were social classes, but the marked pursuit of social ranking remained rather

404

calm. During the Gilded Age the introduction the first High Society occurred. A

complete abandonment of reserved consumption also happened. Accumulation of

possessions, mansions, and travel experiences took on grand proportions.

Association with European interiors was part of the social identity of the

American upper class. Names such as Eastlake, and Morris were synonymous with

European culture and taste. Their textile designs and decorating philosophies influenced

the American self concept and were used as guidance for their own interiors.

American architectural firms and designers such as Richard Morris Hunt, McKim,

Mead & White, Tiffany & Company, and Elsie de Wolfe took their cues from leading

European architects and designers, and transported European design concepts to

American expressions. American drawing rooms assumed the interior decorum of

English Renaissance, Italian Renaissance and in particular French Rococo. As luxury

yachts became a common possession, the home drawing room transferred to the main saloon of the yacht, usually using a European motif.

The functional purpose of the yacht’s main saloon was to serve as a gathering

place on board for socializing and entertainment. The early schooner-yachts also used

the main saloon as the dining saloon. The overt use of textiles in mansions ashore to state

wealth and status were also used on board the yacht. Portières, French damask

upholstery, silk velvets, imported carpets and rugs and exotic table coverings were

common place in a yacht saloon. Nuances such as lace, braids, fringe and tassels were

that were part of the home interiors were incorporated into the overall design of the yacht

saloon.

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The social purpose of the yacht’s main saloon was to advertise the status of the family. Grand entertaining of nobility, dignitaries and upper echelons of international society was a common practice among yachtsmen. A well appointed yacht interior validated the social rank of the owner to the illustrious guests onboard. The luxury yacht became the perfect avenue for the owners to assert their social position. Expensive, imported textiles confirmed the social rank.

Reaching and maintaining exclusivity from the lower social classes was a pursuit of many of the wealthy. In order to attain that goal, social clubs, such as yachting clubs were established with strict membership admittance codes. The premier yachting club in the United States was and remains the New York Yacht Club. Chartered in 1844, its membership roster was a who’s who in the upper social circles. Club events and activities such as regattas and balls became social events that, if invited, proclaimed social status because of ones affiliation with the yacht club. Newspapers and popular press published the roll call of each event, giving tacit validation of attendee’s social rank.

Surrounding auxiliary businesses and art forms participated in promoting the exclusivity of the yachting. Images of yachting activities, yachtsmen and yachts began to appear in popular press editions such as Harpers, Scribner’s, and Century. Sporting magazines such as Yachting, The Rudder, and Outing covered the technological advances of ships, shipbuilding, and the sport of racing. Ephemera with yachting themes, such as tobacco cards, calendars with images of yachts, and postcards contributed to the chic sport of yachting.

406

Photography of yachts, exposed society to the beauty and elegance of a yacht at full sail or the excitement of a race and reinforced the separation of social classes. Yacht owners took pride in the photographic portraiture of their yachts and sought out renowned photographers, such as Beken, Rosenfeld and Stebbins to capture the essence of their yachts.

Yachting and yacht clubs have their roots in European tradition. The Dutch introduce pleasure crafts, jaghts, to the British royalty and the American colonists. The advancement of the sport of yachting with the English noble gentry was adopted by the

American wealthy citizen. Royal yachts influenced the desire for members of the wealthy class to own a luxury yacht and decorate the interiors that mimicked Royal interior appointments. This in turn served as an association with European nobility.

The invitation to participate in a European yachting event, the One Hundred Guineas Cup race, inspired Americans to strive for yacht racing excellence. The American win catapulted the sport of yacht racing and luxury yacht ownership into a frenzied pursuit.

Shipbuilding had maintained the same procedure for centuries. The America’s

Cup defense promoted the advent of faster and larger yacht design. No longer a rule-of- thumb craft, naval architecture, using mathematics and engineering became a fashionable profession for the yachting elite. Specific yacht designers established themselves as the best in the industry, and yachts designed with their name became vogue. Steers, Burgess,

Beavor-Webb and Herreschoff to name a few yacht designers, established themselves as the finest, and luxury yacht owners sought out their expertise for exquisite design and bragging rights.

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Three eras of yachts are found within the Gilded Age time period. The first is the schooner-yacht. Known for its rigging and sail arrangements, it propels through the water by way of wind and sail. In the beginning, racing yachts and luxury yachts were the same vessel. Because they were used for both purposes the interiors were decorated with the amenities of a home parlor. The two schooner-yachts that were examined,

Galatea and Coronet showed that the extravagant interiors found in the home parlors were transferred to the interiors of the schooner-yacht saloon. Velvets fabrics, portières, and fine crafted table coverings, common parlor textile appointments are present in

Galatea and Coronet. In addition, the Gothic Revival style is clearly evident on board

Galatea as seen in the fabric weave of the portières, table covering and draperies.

The second era was the auxiliary-steam yacht. Technology combined with yacht cruising, the new social status activity, and larger yachts became the new high status symbol. A combination of steam and sail were married together to create an odd looking yacht. It had both masts and steam stacks.

Gilded Age financiers such as J. P. Morgan and Cornelius Vanderbilt II not only established their business empire, but they increased their display of power through the ownership of a larger yacht. Auxiliary-steam yachts such as Cosair II and North Star II were enormous in size and elegant in interior expressions of textiles. Morgan chose to use textiles to complement the mahogany paneled interior of his main saloon and

Vanderbilt selected French Rococo interiors that imitated the interiors of his Fifth

Avenue mansion. Both used textiles to express their position in the business and social worlds.

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The last phase of Gilded Age yachting were the steam yachts. No longer bound

by wind and sail, the steam yacht designers used technological developments to build

behemoth yachts. Interiors of these yachts were expansive. The level of elegance and

opulence reflected in the interior decoration was beyond any previous era.

The English Renaissance was one of the interior styles that some Gilded Age

wealthy preferred. Such is the case with the Harold Gould family. Niagara interiors are

a perfect example of English Renaissance style. Massive, dark furniture and dark velvet

upholstery embellished with tassels and braid, and table coverings hemmed with ribbon

bands and fringe exemplify the English Renaissance. They apparently preferred this

elegant style as they also built a “Castle” and a mansion named “Hempstead.” Based on

the names of their mansions, their yacht has the same interiors as is presumed was in their mansions.

Another very fashionable interior style on shore was Rococo revival, but with an

emphasis of the Louis XV time period. Walls were white and furniture upholstery

matched creating suites of furniture instead of individual pieces. The same interior application is true of Margarita. Suites of furniture have the same diamond-shaped

upholstery, the carpet is characteristic of Louis XV design with floral motifs and the

massive marble fireplace all represent the same interior design that was in mansions

ashore.

Suggestions for Future Studies

This study analyzed how textiles were used to express social status on board the

three different styles of yachts during the Gilded Age. Through the use of photographs,

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both of drawing rooms ashore and main saloons of yachts, it is evident that Gilded Age

yachtsmen transferred the luxurious home interiors to the yacht’s cabins.

As stated in the first chapter, most of the photographic records of yachts is of the

exterior of the yacht, usually at full sail. Few photographic images exist, especially

during the first era, the schooner-yacht. As the time period of the Gilded Age progresses,

more interior images are available, but still not in proportion to those taken of the

exteriors. A cumulative record of yacht interiors, their designers, the owners and interior construction does not exist. A suggested study is for a documentation of interior photographs of Gilded Age luxury yachts.

While conducting this research it became evident that interior analysis of the

Pullman cars, also related to home interiors has not been evaluated. It would be beneficial to add documentation and analysis of another mode of transportation and how textiles were incorporated into the interiors and used as statement of social status.

Lists tabulating the names of yacht owners fill pages at the Haffenreffer-

Herreshoff Collection and the Blunt Library at Mystic Seaport Museum. Other than these records, there is no other information as to who they were or what impact, if any, they had on society through the avenue of owning a luxury yacht. Information as to who these owners were would increase the body of knowledge about who the client was and how they affected the Gilded Age yachting industry.

Lastly, a review of the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection of yachting photography and documents that are archived at MIT need to be correlated with other extant materials in other archival storage locations such as the photos at Mystic Seaport

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Museum. In doing so, perhaps some of the questions regarding who the interior designers and installers were, .and how they acquired the fabrics may be answered.

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Wallace, Ann. Arts & Crafts Textiles: The Movement in America. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs-Smith Publisher, 1999.

Wecter, Dixon. The Saga of American Society: A Record of Social Aspiration, 1607- 1937. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970.

Weinberg, H. Barbara. Childe Hassam: American Impressionist. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004.

Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence. 1920. Reprint, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, Inc., 2004.

Wharton, Edith and Ogden Codman, Jr. The Decoration of Houses. 1897. Reprint, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1978.

Wheeler, Candace. Principles of Home Decoration with Practical Examples. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, February 1903. The Project Gutenberg eBook # 14302, release date December 8, 2004. http://gutenberg.cs.uiuc.edu1/4/3/0/14302/14302-h/14302-h.htm (accessed March 3, 2009).

Whipple, A. B. C. The Seafarers: The Racing Yachts. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books Inc., 1980.

Whiton, Sherrill, and Stanley Abercrombie. Interior Design & Decoration. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002.

Wilson, Kax. A History of Textiles. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979.

Wilson, Timothy. Flags at Sea. Annapolis, ML: Naval Institute Press, 1999.

Wing, Paul. Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years. Nashua, NH: Transition Publishing, 1996.

Wood, Christopher. Tissot: The Life and Work of Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1902. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1986.

Woodman, Richard. The History of the Ship: The Comprehensive Story of Seafaring from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Guildford, CT: Conway Maritime Press, 2002.

434

Wright, Gwendolyn. Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1981.

Wright, Julia McNair. Complete Home, (1879) quoted in Asa Briggs, Victorian Things. Gloucestershire, Great Britain: Sutton Publishing, 2003.

Wright, Sarah Bird. Edith Wharton’s Travel Writing: The Making of a Connoisseur. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Reference Books

Harmuth, Louis. Dictionary of Textiles, 2nd enlarged edition. New York: Fairchild Publishing Company, 1920.

“The National Cyclopedia of American Biography.

New Bible Dictionary. edited by Howard Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer and D. J. Wiseman, 3rd ed. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, 4 vol. edited by John B. Hattendorf. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Paasch, Henry. Paasch’s Illustrated Marine Dictionary. New York: Lyons and Burford, reprint ed. 1997.

Rickards, Maurice. The Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator, and Historian. Edited and completed by Michael Twyman with the assistance of Sally de Beaumont and Amoret Tanner. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Magazine Collections

Burgee and Pennant (1894-1895) The Rudder (1885-1920). Yachting (1898-1908) Magazine Illustrated (1898) Journals and Magazines

Ahlfeld, Jane and Jenny Bennett. “Getting Started in Boats: Small-Boat Sailing Rigs.” WoodenBoat, Number 212, January/February 2010, tear-out supplement, 1-8.

Aldridge, Arthur F. “Croesus and His Steam Yacht.” Yachting, May 1907.

______. “The Costliest of Sports.” Munsey’s Magazine, July 1901. 505-516.

435

“Amateur Sport—Yachting.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. July 24, 1897, vol. XLI, no, 2118. 745-746. http://app/harpweek.com/viewartivcletext.asp?webjotsfile=hw1897724000066%2 Ehtm&xp (accessed July 1, 2009).

“The Amherst Eclipse Expedition: To Japan and Back, 1895-1897.” Restoration Quarterly 2, Fall 2004, 4-5.

“An Ideal Pleasure Craft is the Steam Yacht Niagara.” New York Herald. October 16, 1898. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook #31, 67-69.

Ashley, Ray. “From the Helm.” Mains’L Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History 40 (Summer/Fall 2004): 2-3.

Ashley, H. Percy. “Yachting.” Outing Magazine, January 1898, 415-416.

Barnaby, S. W. “The Trend of Steam Yachting.” Outing Magazine, September 1901[?], 239-245. In Tony Meisel, ed. Yachting: A Turn-of-the-Century Treasury. Secaucus, New Jersey: Castle, 1987.

______. “The Trend of Steam Yacht Building.” Outing Magazine, September 1901, 667-673. http:www.aafla.org:8080/verity_template/jsp/newsearch_result.jsp (accessed August 30, 2007).

Batchen, Geoffrey. “Individualism and Conformity: Photographic Portraiture in the Nineteenth Century.” The New-York Journal of American History LXVI, no. 3 (Spring/Summer, 2006): 10-27.

Beecher, Mary Anne. “Towards a Critical Approach to the History of Interiors.” Journal of Interior Design, Theory, Research, Education, Practice 24, no. 2 (1998): 4-11.

Benjamin, S. G. W. “The Evolution of the American Yacht.” The Century Magazine, A Popular Quarterly, July 1882, vol. XXIV 30: 350-367.

______. “Steam Yachting in America.” The Century Magazine, A Popular Quarterly. vol. XXIV, July 1882: 598-607.

______. “Steam Yachting in America.” The Century; A Popular Quarterly. August 1882, Volume 24, Issue 4. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa- cgi?nostisid=ABP2287-0024-160 (accessed March 4, 2009).

______. “Ocean Steamships – 1882 – Crossing the Atlantic in the Late 1880s.” Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXIV, New Series Vol. II, October

436

1882. http://www.gjenvick.com/SteamshipArticles/1882-OceanSteamships-html (accessed June 25, 2009).

Bertonccini, John. “A Seaman’s Encounter with the ‘Dam Idle Rich.’ ” Mains’L Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History 40 (Summer/Fall 2004): 9.

Buchard, R. B. “Yachting.” Outing Magazine, Vol. XXVIII, no. 3, June 1896, 49-52. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_28/outXXVIII03/ooutXXVII I03g.pdf (accessed August 10, 2007).

Burns, Sarah Lea. “Rituals of Relaxation: The Visual Culture of Leisure in Gilded Age America.” The New-York Journal of American History LXVI. No. 3 (Spring/Summer, 2006): 28-37.

Burns, M. J. “Haul Aft the Flying Jib Sheet.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, October 7, 1893, front cover.

The Burr McIntosh Monthly, “Yachting Number,” Vol. 2, no. 6 (September 1903).

“The Business of Leisure: The Gilded Age in Newport,” Newport Historical Society, Summer, 1989, 97-126.

Carll, M. Allison and Robbie G. Blakemore. “Historic Research Methodologies for Discovering Black Contributions to the Building Trades and Decorative Arts.” Journal of Interior Design, Education and Research 14, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 15- 20.

Casto, Marilyn. “Victorian Women’s Roles and the Concept of Home as Expressed Through Aesthetics.” Journal of Interior Design, Education and Research 14, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 37-44.

Coffin, Captain R. F. “The History of American Yachting, From 1859 to 1870.” Outing Magazine, July 1886, p. 393-407. http://www.aafla.org/SporytsLibrary/Outing/Volume_08/outVIII04 (accessed August 3, 2007).

______. “The History of American Yachting.” Outing Magazine, November 1886, p. 117-131. http://www.aafla/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volime_09/outIX02/outIX02f.pdf (accessed August 3, 2007). “Cornelius Vanderbilt.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. January 20, 1877. vol. XXI—No. 1047, 46.

437

“Coronet Corner: What’s New with America’s Most Historic Yacht,” Restoration Quarterly 22, Summer 2001.

“Coronet Interview.” Coronet Chronicle, Restoration Quarterly, Spring 2005, 1, 6.

“Coronet Logbook,” Restoration Quarterly 2, Fall 2004, 8.

“The Coronet Project Breaks Ground for Coronet Hall,” in Project Updates, Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 7.

“Customary to Separate the Success of Yacht Cruises.” Amateur Sport, Harper’s Weekly, August 21, 1897 http://app/harpweek.com/IssueImagesView.asp?titleId=HW&volumeId=1897&is sueId=08 (accessed September 18, 2009).

Daley, Susan. “Rufus T. Bush – Coronet’s First Owner,” Restoration Quarterly, 4, Spring 2005: 2-3.

______. “From the Coronet Office.” Restoration Quarterly, Spring 2005.

Day, Thomas Fleming. “Niagara.” The Rudder, April, 1898, 139-142.

______. “Steam Yacht Hildegarde.” The Rudder, December 1898, 386-394.

______. “Steam Yacht Idalia.” The Rudder, March 1900, 65-72.

Denslow, Van Buren. “Prominent Citizens of New York: Rufus T, Bush.” Magazine of Western History, January 1891, 370-370. http://books.google.com/book?id (accessed March 23, 2010).

Dillon, Robert. “What Yachting Costs.” The Outing Club. Outing Magazine, March 1889, vol. XIII, No. 6, p. 556-557. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_13/outXIII06 (accessed August 3, 2007).

Dresser, Daniel LeRoy. “The New Seawanhaka “One-Design” Class.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. November 13, 1897, 1137ad-1138a. http://app/harpweek.comviearticletext.asp? (accessed September 18, 2009).

Duffy, Henry J. “Telling Art: The Art Collections at Lyndhurst.” Nineteenth Century: Magazine of the Victorian Society in America, Fall 2005: 3-9.

“Edward Burgess.” Harper’s Weekly, July 25, 1891. http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticle.asp (accessed March 15, 2010), 564bc.

438

Emerson, Edwin Jr. “New York’s New Public Library.” Harper’s Weekly December 11, 1897. http://app.harpweek.com/viewartictext.asp? webhitsfile= hw18971211000037%2Ehtm&x (accessed September 18, 2009).

“The Ethics of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century; A Popular Quarterly, February 1896, Vol. 51, Issue 4. http:// digtal.library.cornell.edu /cache (accessed September 17. 2009).

Filler, Martin. “Red, white and Tiffany blue.” The Magazine Antiques, March 2009, 27-30.

Fleming, E. McClung. “Artifact Study: A Proposed Model.” Winterthur Portfolio 9, 1974: 153-173.

Frangiamore, Catherin Lynn. “The Story Wallpapers Tell,” Historic Preservation October-December, 1975.

“Furniture and its Decoration in the Renaissance.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine LIV, no. CCCXXIII (April, 1877): 41-44. Cornell University Making of America, file:///C:Documents%20and%20Settings/Lynn%20Barnes/My%20 (accessed July 1, 2008).

Gilfoyle, Timothy J. Review of The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896, by Sven Beckert, Reviews in American History 30, (2002): 279-87.

Gilmore, Matthew. “Washington, D.C.: The Local History of the National City.” Perspective of History: The Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association 122nd Annual Meeting, January 3-6, 2008.

Gockel, Paul W. “John D Spreckels’ Venetia.” Mains’ L Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History 40 (Summer/Fall 2004): 14-20.

Goldsmith, Elizabeth. “The Introduction of Domestic Technology in the White House from 1800 to 1952.” Journal of Interior Design: Theory, Research, Education, Practice 21, no. 2 (1995): 30-38.

Goss, Cynthia. “Richard Anderson: Documenting Coronet,” Restoration Quarterly: A Quarterly Publication of International Yacht Restoration School, Newport, Rhode Island, Fall, 2004, CC-4, 6-7.

439

Hart, Joseph C. The Romance of Yachting: Voyage the First. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1848. Critical Notes in American Whig Review, January 1849, volume 9, issue 13. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text- idx?c=amwh;idn0=amwh0009-1 (accessed August 19, 2009).

“Helenita.” The Rudder, April 1909, 219-222.

Henderson, W. J. “Influence of the America’s Cup on Designing,” Outing Magazine, vol. XXXVIII, no. 5 (August 1901), 508-512. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibraryOuting/Volume38_/outXXXVIII05/outXXXV III05d.pdf (accessed August 24, 2007).

______. “The Luxuries of Yachting.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. June 8, 1897.

______. “The “America’s” Cup.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. July 20, 1889. Under HarpWeek – Electronic Access to Harper’s Weekly. http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18890720000096%E htm&xp (accessed July 6, 2009).

Howland, Llewellyn III. “The American Megayachts.” Maritime: Life and Traditions, 12 (Fall, 2001): 30-43.

“History of the Detroit Yacht Club: The Best Yacht Club in the World,” Watermark II, Detroit, Michigan: The Detroit Yacht Club, 2001.

“Howard Gould’s Steam Yacht Niagara.” Yachting, March 1898, 21.

Hyslop, John. “Yacht Measurement: Its Present Condition, and Review of Recent Club Action,” Outing Magazine, June 1904, vol. XLIV, No. 3, 360-364. http www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing?Volume_44/outXLIV03/outXLIV03p.pdf (accessed August 1, 2007).

Hyde, Sidney. “Yachting.” Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science and Art. August 1870, Volume 16, Issue 32. http://digital.library.cornell.educgi/t/text-idx?c=putn;idno=putn0016-2 (accessed August 19, 2009).

Jackson, Tom. “Coronet.” WoodenBoat, September/October, 1999, 45.

Jennings, Jan. “Object * Context * Design: The State of Interior Design History, An Introduction to the Thematic Issue.” Journal of Interior Design, Theory, Research, Education, Practice 24, no.2 (1998): 1-3.

440

Jepson, George D. “Great Lakes Schooners: The Heartland Sails into the Industrial Age.” Wooden Boat, May/June 2009.

“John Rousmaniere Coronet Interview,” Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 1.

“The June Races of the New York and Seawanhaka Yacht Clubs.” Harper’s Weekly, June 29, 1889 under HarpWeek – Electronic Access to Harper’s Weekly. http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18890629000008%E htm&xp (accessed July 6, 2009).

“The ‘Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse’ ” Harper’s Weekly, 1897.

Kelley, J. D. Jerrold, U. S. N. “The Social Side of Yachting.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, September 1890, Vol. 81, no.484, 503-607.

______. “The Modern Yacht.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, August 1883, Vol. 0067, issue 399. http://digtal.library.cornell.edu (accessed September 17, 2009).

Kenealy, A. J. “A Sea-Dog’s Yarn of Fifty Years.” Outing Magazine, August 1894, 388-404. http://www.aafla.org/:8080/verity_template/jsp/newsearch/search _ result.jsp (accessed August 3, 2007).

______. “The Story of the New York Yacht Club.” Outing Magazine, May 1901, 13-25. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_38 (accessed August 3, 2007).

______. “The New Yachts of the Year.” Outing Magazine, June 1899, 245-52. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_34 (accessed August 16, 2007).

______. “The New Yachts of the Year.” Outing Magazine, June 1899, 319-26. In Tony Meisel, ed. Yachting: A Turn-of-the-Century Treasury. Secaucus, New Jersey: Castle, 1987.

______. “Yachting.” Outing Magazine, May 1898, 2, 195-197. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibraryOuting/Volume_32 (accessed August 17, 2007).

______. “A Sea-Dog’s Yarn of Fifty Years,” Outing Magazine, August 1894, 24, 388- 404. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_24/outXXIV05/outXXI V05p.pdf (accessed August 3, 2009).

______. “The Great August Cruise,” Outing Magazine, August 1899, 383-388.

441

Keyser, E. T. “Cooking on Board the Cruiser.” Yachting, July 1908, 26-27.

Killeen, John B. “Steam Yacht Pantooset,” The Rudder, May 1903, 253-59.

King, Janine. “Twentieth-Century Furniture as Precedent: Creating Dialogue Between History and Design in Furniture Design Studio.” Journal of Interior Design: Theory, Research, Education, Practice 24, no. 2 (1998): 33-45.

Kolbert, Richard M. “Publish & Perish: Printed Ephemera and Social History,” from Books at Iowa 55 (November 1991). http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec- coll?Bai/kolbert3.htm (accessed October 13, 2009).

Kosto, Kathryn Clippinger. “ ‘Some work . . . to be kept’: Textiles and Memories of Victorian Domesticity,” The Dublin Seminar for New England Folk Life Annual Proceedings, entitled “Textiles in New England II: Four Centuries of Material Life,” ed. Peter Benes. Boston: Boston University Press, 1999, 173-94.

Kovel, Terry. “When Furniture Became a Status Symbol, Stylish Pieces Were Built,” Dominican Republic, January 18, 2009.

Ledes, Allison Eckardt. “Candace Wheeler, Designer and Reformer – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,” Magazine Articles (Oct. 2001). http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cawh/hd_cawh.htm (accessed February 10, 2009).

“Lessons in Yachting.” Amateur Sport, Harper’s Weekly, July 24, 1897 http://app/harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw1897072400006652 Ehtm&x (accessed September 18, 2009).

“The ‘Livonia.’” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. July 15, 1871, vol. XV.— No. 759, 647 and 649. http://app/harpweek.com/viewartivcletext.asp?webjotsfile=hw18710715000041% 2Ehtm&xp (accessed July 1, 2009).

“Luxury and Comfort Afloat.” Yachting, February 1926, 71.

MacTaggart, Ross. “The Heyday of the Steam Yacht.” Mains’ L Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History 40 (Summer/Fall 2004): 4-13.

McArthur, Benjamin. Review of Gilded City: Scandal and Sensation in Turn-of-the- Century New York by M.H. Dunlap, Reviews in American History 30, no. 3 (September 2002): 406-11.

442

McCaffery, Lloyd. “Coronet in Miniature: The Making of a Ship Model,” Restoration Quarterly 5, Summer 2005, 4-5.

McCoy, Nannette Poillon. “Bush’s Choice: A Yacht that Bucked Trends,” Restoration Quarterly 5, Summer 2005, 2-3.

______. “The Shipyards of C. & R. Poillon,” Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 4-5. McHugh, Andrea E. “Built to Last: 100 Years Young,” Newport Life, Summer 2006, 46-47.

McMillen, Earl III. “Freedom,” Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 7, 9.

[Mecray, John?]. “The Birth of the Coronet Project.” Restoration Quarterly 2, Fall 2004, 2-3.

Munhall, Edgar. “Elsie de Wolfe: The American who Vanquished Victorian Gloom.” Architectural Digest, January 2000. http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/legends/archive/dewolfe_article_01 2000?pri (accessed March 23, 2009).

Murray, Captain T. F. “Coronet: Wither Away?” WoodenBoat, Issue 32, January/February 1980.

Museler, Chris. “Big Boats, Big Luxury,” Newport Life Magazine, City Guide 2005, vol. XII, no. 3.

Nelson, Henry L. “Some New York Clubs.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, March 15, 1890. http://app.harpweek..com/viewarticletext.asp? (accessed October 5, 2009).

“New Motor Yacht for J. P. Davis.” Motor Boating, January 1926, 92.

“New York City Welcomes Coronet Home,” in Project Updates, Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 7.

“Newport’s Brilliant Summer Fête.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. August 21, 1897, under HarpWeek –Electronic Access to Harper’s Weekly. http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18970821000002%E htm&xp (accessed July 8, 2009).

Nicholson, L. E. “Lest We Forget: Coronet,” WoodenBoat, March/April. 1981, 76-82.

______. “The Coronet Project” WoodenBoat March/April, 1981, 82.

443

“Of Interest to All Who Love the Sea.” Yachting, February, 1898, 9-11.

“Orion—The Largest Diesel Yacht in the World.” Yachting, November 1929, 50.

“Personal.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. November 17, 1877, paragraph 1.http://app.harpweek..com/viewarticletext.asp? (accessed July 6, 2009).

Phillips, Linda. “Vastly Victorian,” Newport Life Magazine, City Guide 2005, vol. XII, no. 3.

“The Pleasures of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century Magazine; A Popular Quarterly, July 1897, volume 54, issue 3. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text=idx?c=cent;idn0=cent0054-3 (accessed August 19, 2009).

Price, Jay. “Producing Photographic Histories.” Museum News: The Magazine of the American Association for State and Local History, Autumn 2005.

Prown, Jules “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method,” Winterthur Portfolio (Spring, 1982).

“Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Review of the British and Foreign War-Ships at Portsmouth, June 26.” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. July 10, 1897. http://app/harpweek.com/viewartcletext.asp (accessed September 18, 2009), illustration p. 689.

“Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee-The Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert Passing Between the Lines,” Harper’s Weekly, July 10, 1897 http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18970710000003%2 Ehtm&xpath (accessed September 18, 2009).

Reed, Roger G. “Paris in the New World: Arthur Gilman’s Vision of American Architecture.” Nineteenth Century; Magazine of the Victorian Society in America, Spring 2003: 19-29.

“Repairs and Maintenance: Over the Course of 120 Years, Coronet has Required Both Routine Maintenance and Major Repairs to Keep Her Aloft,” Restoration Quarterly 5, Summer 2005, 8.

“The Restoration of and Coronet: A Mystic Seaport-International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) Joint Program,” Wind Rose July/August 2005.

444

Robertson, Cheryl. “Related Objects: The Family Stuff of Victorian Interiors.” The New- York Journal of American History LXVI, no. 3 (Spring/Summer, 2006): 56-63.

Schmiechen, James A. “The Victorians, the Historians, and the Idea of Modernism.” The American Historical Review 93, no. 2 (April 1988): 287-316.

Schock, E. B. “North Star.” The Rudder, March 1907: 181-85.

Schuyler, M. Roosevelt. “Evolution in Yacht Building.” Outing Magazine, Vol. XVIII, no. 1 (April, 1891): 19-26. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_18/ouyXVIII01/outXVIII01d .pdf#x (accessed August 24, 2007).

Shanks, Wm. F. G. “Yachts and Yachting.” Scribner’s Monthly, an Illustrated Monthly for People, August 1872, volume 4, issue 4. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=scmo;idno-scmo0004-4 (accessed August 19, 2009).

Simmel, Georg. “Fashion.” The American Journal of Sociology 62, no. 6 (://May, 1957) 541-58. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002- 9602%28195705%2962%3A6%3C541%3AF%3E2.0CO%3B2-2 (accessed January 31, 2008).

Sinbad the Sailor [pseudo.]. “Prospects of the Yachting Season.” Outing Magazine, March 1890, 440. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume- 15/out/outXV06/outXV06g.pgf (accessed August 10, 2007).

Spectre, Peter H. “The Maine Schooners,” WoodenBoat, March/April, 1981, 32-43.

“Steam Yacht Cyprus,” The Rudder, March 1914, 103-105.

“Steam Yacht Iolanda; A Twin-screw Yacht Whose Arrangement and Fitting Render her the Latest Thing in Luxuriously Appointed Craft,” Yachting, October, 1908, 214- 215.

“The Steam-Yacht ‘Namouna.’” Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. May 6, 1882, Vol. XXVI-No. 1324, 276-278. http://app/harpweek.com/viewartivcletext.asp?webjotsfile=hw18820506000025% 2Ehtm&xp (accessed July 1, 2009).

“Steam Yachting.” Yachting, May 1907, 284-289.

445

Stephens, W. P. “Small Yachts and Yacht-Racing – 1897.” Amateur Sport, Harper’s Weekly, (October 9, 1897) under HarpWeek – Electronic Access to Harper’s Weekly. http://app.harweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18971009000091%2E htm&xp (accessed July 8, 2009).

______.“The Evolution of the Yacht Designer: Part I – The American Designers.” Outing Magazine, vol. XXXIX, no. 1 (November, 1901): 49-53. http://www.1284foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Outing?Volume_39/outXXXIX01/ outXXXIX02/outXXXIX02x.pdf (accessed March 11, 2010).

______.“The Evolution of the Yacht Designer: First Paper – English Designers.” Outing Magazine, vol. XXXIX, no. 1 (October, 1901): 49-53. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing?Volume_39/outXXXIX01/outXXXIX 01k.pdf (accessed August 10, 2007).

______. “The Steam Yacht Hauoli.” The Rudder, December 1903, 604-610.

Stewart, George A. “International Yachting in 1893.” The North American Review, July 1893, volume 157, issue 440, 88-95. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=nora;idno=nora0157-1 (accessed August 19, 2009).

Summers, John. “Mr. Bush’s New Schooner Yacht: Creating a New Coronet,’’ Restoration Quarterly, March 2000, 1-8.

Temple, Stephen. “Using Fundamentals of Description: A Foundation for Historical Inquiry.” Journal of Interior Design: Theory, Research, Education, Practice 24, no. 2 (1998): 46-54.

“The Third Transatlantic Race, March 12-28, 1887,” From the Logbooks, Restoration Quarterly 4, Spring 2005, 8.

“Tim Murray: Coronet Interview,” Restoration Quarterly 5, Summer 2005, 1, 6-7.

Treadwell, K. E. “Motor Boat Interiors: How the Cabins of Power Craft are Divided and Furnished—Luxury vs. Practicability.” Yachting, August 1908, 73-76.

Turpin, John C. “Omitted, Devalued, Ignored: Reevaluating the Historical Interpretation of Women in the Interior Design Profession.” Journal of Interior Design: Theory, Research, Education, Practice 27, no. 1 (2001): 1-11.

“United States, Colonel E. H. R. Green’s Palatial Yacht.” The Rudder, August 1917, 513-520.

446

“Viator, a Ninety-foot Gasolene Yacht,” Yachting, September 1908, 156-158.

Warren, Thomas Robinson. “Yachting in Blue Waters.” Harper’s New Monthly Weekly, November, 1877, Volume 55, Issue 330.

Whitney, Caspar. “Amateur Sport,” Harper’s Weekly, August 21, 1897 under HarpWeek—Electronic Access to Harper’s Weekly. htpp://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18970821000099%2 Ehtm&xp (accessed July 8, 2009).

“Yachting,” Amateur Sport, Outing Magazine, July 1886. http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_08/outVIII04/outVIIIo4p.pdf (accessed August 28, 2007).

“Yachting,” Editor’s Open Window, Outing Magazine, November 1886. http://www.afla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_09.outIX02/outIX02o.pdf (accessed August 30, 2007).

“Yachting,” Our Monthly Record, Outing Magazine, March, 1884. http://www.la84foundation.org/sportsLibrary/Ouying/Volume_05/outV06/outV06 q.pgf (accessed May 6, 2008).

“Yachts and Yachting.” Scribner’s Monthly. August, 1872. Vol. IV, No. 4, 385-98.

Yarnall, James L. “Souvenirs of Splendor: John La Farge and the Patronage of Cornelius Vanderbilt II.” The American Art Journal, 26, No. 1/2 (1994), 67-105. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1594594 (accessed July 1, 2009).

Newspaper Collections

New York Herald (1898).

Newspaper Articles

“A. J. Drexel’s New Steam Yacht.” New York Herald, December 14, 1898. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook #31, 116.

Aldridge, Arthur F. “Uniform Yachting Rules; Englishmen Meet an American Committee and Talk the Matter Over.” The New York Times, December 26, 1897, 4. http://www.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html (accessed December 1, 2009).

“The America’s Designer: George Steers, the Famous Long Island Shipbuilder.” The New York Times. March 29, 1896. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract/html? (accessed March 9, 2010).

447

“The Annual French Ball.” . March 9, 1890.

“Arthur C. James, N. Y. Y. C., Has Obtained a Master’s License.” New York Herald, May 7, 1899. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook #31, 295.

“C. Vanderbilt Gets Mansions and Art; Property worth $6,000,000 Reverts to Him by Grandfather’s Will on Death of George W.” The New York Times. March 10, 1914. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9905EFDC133EE733A25753C1 A9659C946596D6CF# (accessed February 25, 2008).

“The Cape May Cup.” The New York Times. August 31, 1894, pg. 4. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed January 22, 2010).

“Coronet is Over the Line; and Easily the Winner of the Great Race,”The New York Times. March 28, 1887. http://quert.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html (accessed March 31, 2010.

Cotter, Holland. “A Golden Age, Gobbled up in the Gilded Age,” The New York Times, September 18, 2007, under “Art Review.” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/arts/design/18remb.html?th&emc=th (accessed September 18, 2007).

“Defender Breaks Down.” The New York Times. August 3, 1895, pg. 4. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf (accessed January 22, 2010).

“Drexel’s New Yacht Here: Margarita Arrived From Glasgow Yesterday Morning.” The New York Times, September 13, 1896, pg. 7.

“For the Brenton’s Reef Cup: The Navahoe Made a Good Race to Cherbourg Breakwater.” The New York Times. September 13, 1893, pg. 2. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed January 22, 2010).

“The French Salon.” The New York Times. October 28, 1905. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res (accessed April, 15, 2008).

Garner, Dwight. “The Mogul Who Built Corporate America.” The New York Times, April 28, 2009, under “Books of the Times.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/books/29garn.html?_r=1&th&emc=th (accessed April 29, 2009).

“The Goelet Cup.” The New York Times. August 13, 1893, pg. 4. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf (accessed January 22, 2010).

448

“History Made in the President’s Cabin.” The Los Angeles Times. August 6, 1905, l1.

“Howard Gould and His Bride on the Niagara.” New York Journal, May 7, 1899. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook # 31, 294.

“Howard Gould in His Office on Board.” New York Journal, May 7, 1899. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook # 31, 295.

“Howard Gould’s Niagara: The Largest Pleasure Craft Ever Built in the United States.” The New York Times, February 29, 1898, 1. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res (accessed November 24, 2009).

“Improved Parlor-car service Between New York and Atlantic City.” The New York Times, January 27, 1888. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf (accessed April 15, 2008).

“J. Pierpont Morgan’s Summer Home.” The New York Times. July 1, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C00E2DF1730E033A25752C0A 9619C94659ED7CF (accessed February 28, 2008).

“The Kaiser’s Yacht Arrives in Port.” The New York Times. February 13, 1902, pg. 1. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf (accessed November 3, 2009).

“Launch of the Corsair.” The Sun (New York). December 13, 1898.

“The Magic Sails To-day.” New York Herald, December 17, 1898. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook #31, 116.

Morris, Errol, “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire; Use of Historical Photographs” The New York Times, July 10, 2007, under “Opinion,” //morris.blogs.nytimes.com (accessed, July 10, 2007).

“New Corsair is Launched,” New York Herald, Tuesday, December 13, 1898 in New York Yacht Club Scrapbook 31.

“The Ocean Yacht Race.” The New York Times. March 29, 1887. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed March 31, 2010).

Salit, Richard. “All Ashore.” The Providence Journal. April 29 2004.

“The Sapphire.” The Boston Herald. July 17, 1888.

“Schooner Atlantic wins Cape May Cup.” The New York Times. September 13, 1904. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstact.html? (accessed January 22, 2010).

449

“Society Flocking to town for Winter Season; National Horse Show to be Social Rendezvous This Week, Ice skating Fad on the Increase, Smart November Weddings. Plans for Debutantes, Some Interesting Engagements.” New York Times. November 7, 1915. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B07E7DE113CE733A25754C0 A9679D946496D6CF (accessed February 25, 2008).

Stiles, T. J. “The First Tycoon.” The New York Times, April 29, 2009, under Book Excerpt. http://www.nytimes.com/209/04/29/books/chapter-first- tycoon.html?ref=books&pagewa (accessed April 29, 2009).

“Tarrying at the Azores: J. Beavor-Webb’s Explanation of the Non-Arrival of the Galatea,” The New York Times. July 28, 1886. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract/html? (accessed March 10, 2010).

“The Third Corsair.” The Sunday Herald (Boston). December 18, 1898.

“This Yacht had $300,000,000 After Her Launch.” New York Journal. December 1s, 1898.

“The Two Yachts Sighted; The Coronet Ahead of the Dauntless.” The New York Times. March 27, 1887. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html (accessed March 31, 2010).

“The Unquowa.” The Boston Herald. July 17, 1888.

“The Yacht America and her Builder. Dinner to Mr. George Steers.” The New York Times. January 10, 1852. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract/html? (accessed March 9, 2010).

“Yacht Coronet in a Blow.” New York Herald, December 17, 1898. In New York Yacht Club scrapbook #31, 116.

“Yachting – the Sport of Kings: Description of the Nature Study Picture Given Free with Today’s ‘Tribune.’ ”The Chicago Tribune. May 16, 1902.

“Yachts and Yachting.” New York Times (1857-Current file); May 23, 1870; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1951-2006), 5.

“Yachts on the Stocks. What the Sagamore is Like Inside.” The New York Times. March 18, 1888.

450

Yost, Mark, “Glories of the Gilded Age: Household Goods of Tiffany, Lalique and Fabergé, Symbols of Irrational Exuberance,” The Wall Street Journal, Saturday/Sunday, December 20-21, 2008.

Internet Resources

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“Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann,” n.a. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/mapping- paris/Haussmann.html (accessed July 27, 2008).

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Boles, Jennifer. “Elsie de Wolfe and the Jose Iturbi House.” House and Garden, May 2007. http://thepeakofchi.blogspot.com/2007/04/elsi-de-wolfe-and-jose-iturbi- house.html (accessed July 22, 2009).

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“Capturing Poseidon: Photographic Encounters with the Sea,” under Peabody Essex Museum. http://www/tfaoi.com/newsmu/nmus124b.htm (accessed November 4, 2009).

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Davis, Kay. “Class,” under Class and Leisure at America’s First Resort: Newport, Rhode Island, 1870-1914. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/davis/newport/class/upper_newport.html (accessed July 28, 2009).

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“Designing Domesticity: Decorating the American Home Since 1876,” under “Designing Domesticity: The House Beautiful.” http://www.personal.kent.edu/~swajda/designing_domesticity2.htm (accessed April 2, 2009).

“Elsie de Wolfe.” Elsie de Wolfe: Biography from Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/elsie-de-wolfe (accessed March 3, 2009).

“Famous Interior Designers Series – Elsie De Wolfe.” Famous Interior Designers Series – Elsie De Wolfe. http://www.southlondoninteriorsdesigners.co.uk/Elsie-De- Wolfe.html (accessed March 3, 2009).

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Finamore, Daniel. “The Yachting Photography of Willard B. Jackson” under Peabody Essex Museum. http://www/tfaoi.com/aa/6aa/6aa359.htm (accessed November 4, 2010).

452

Friend, David. “Vanity Fair: The One-Click History,” under Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/vintage/oneclickhistory (accessed December 8, 2009).

Halsall, Paul. “Modern History Sourcebook: Thorstein Veblen: Conspicuous Consumption, 1902.” Internet Modern History Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1902veblen00.html (accessed January 31, 2008).

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“House Proud: Nineteenth-century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection.” Cooper-Hewitt exhibition, August 12, 2008-January 25, 2008. http://cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/fall-design/House-Proud/ (accessed September 17, 2008).

Kamiya, Gary. “The Mad Carnival of Vice and Frivolity: A Brief History of Salons,” from Salon: A Brief History of Salons. http://www.salon.com/archives/welocme/history.html (accessed April 15, 2008).

Leather, John. “The Building of the Terpsichore, 1919-1920.” http://www.lulworth.nl/print/print.php?id=1255 (accessed October, 28, 2008).

Lenman, Robin. “Marine and Nautical Photography,” Information from Answers. http://www.amswers.com/topic/marine-and-nautical-photography (accessed September 14, 2009).

“Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts 1903,” under Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts. http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/ShipPageImage.cfm. (accessed March 1, 2010).

“Lloyds Register-Port Cities Southhampton,” under Lloyd’s Register. http://www.plimsoll.org/Registers AndRecords/LloydsRegisters/dafualt/asp (accessed February 23, 2010).

Meyer, Elizabeth. “An Air of Greatness,” under Coronet Project. http://www.yachtcoronet.org/history.htm (accessed May 26, 2005).

453

Morris & Co., “History of William Morris.” http://www.william- morries.co.uk/history1.aspx?P=4 (accessed January 29, 2009).

“Morris Rosenfeld” from Mystic Seaport Rosenfeld Collection https://www.rosenfeldcollection.com/index.cfm (accessed October 26, 2009).

“Morris Rosenfeld (1885-1968)” from Photographer – Morris Rosenfeld, Department of the Navy http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/arttopic/photgphr/photog-r/m- rosnfd.htm (accessed October 26, 2009).

Naval Vessel Register, “Overall Length,” NAVSEA, Philadelphia, Shipbuilding Support Office. http:/www.nvr.navy.mil/def_ol.htm/p1.pdf (accessed June 18, 2007).

Orme, Edward B. “A History of The Illustrated London News,” under A History of the ILN. 1986. http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/historyofiln.htm (accessed December 8, 2009).

“Our Key Areas of Business,” under Lloyd’s Register Group. http://www.lr.org/about_us/key_business_areas/. (accessed March 1, 2010).

“Overview” under The Royal Yacht Squadron, http://www.rys.org.uk/da/11662 (accessed May 2, 2009).

Paris: City of Lights. “The Background to Parisian Salons.” http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/host255-s01/paris homework/Background.sal (accessed April 15, 2008).

“Parlor Games.” http://www.victoriaspast.com/ParlorGames/parlor_games.htm (accessed March 23, 2009).

Poillon, Nannette. “C & R Poillon: 19th Century Brooklyn Shipbuilders, updated November 2002.” By-the-Sea: The On-Line Boating Magazine. Found in: C & R Poillon _ Ship Builders, Shipwrights, Caulkers & Spar Makers. File://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\BarnesL|Local%20Settings|Temporary %20Intern (accessed January 28, 2003).

Post, Emily. “The Well-Appointed House.” In Etiquette, chapter XII, 1922. http://www.bartleby.com/95/12/html (accessed August 16, 2005).

“Presidential Yachts” under Haze Gray & Underway Photo Feature: Presidential Yachts http://www.hazegray.org/features/yachts (accessed October 26, 2009).

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“Presidential Yachts” under Presidential Yachts http://home.mchsi.com/~cbretvet/Yachts/Yachts.html (accessed October 26, 2009).

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Renner, James. “C. K. G. Billings.” http://www.hhoc.org/hist/billings.htm (accessed July 2, 2007).

______. “Fort Tyron Park.” http://hhoc.org/hist/ftp.htm (accessed July 2, 2007).

Robinson, Warren T. “Yachting in Blue Waters.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, November, 1877, Vol. 0055, Issue 330, 865-872. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cache/c/8/4/c84007f0fb15b7066f643ba719d239d 3/harp00 (accessed June 25, 2009).

“Rosenfeld Collection” under Mystic Seaport the Museum of America and Sea. http://www/rosenfeldcollection.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=rosenfeld.imageDetail &mykey (accessed November 24, 2009).

“The RYS & Yachting” under History-RYS & Yachting http://www.rys.org.uk/index.php? (accessed January 26, 2010).

Rusch, Barbara. “The Secret Life of Victorian Cards,” from The Ephemera Society of America. http://www/ephemerasociety.org/articles/victoriancards.html (accessed October 13, 2009).

Shakespeare, William. King John. Guttenberg Project Edition. http://www.netlibrary.com/nlreader.dll?bookid=1011500&filename= Page_19.html (accessed June 28, 2007).

Shuckhart, Lindsay. “New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta: 154th Annual Regatta – How we got Here From There” under New York Yacht Club – History. http://nyyc.org/history/articel_25 (accessed November 4, 2009).

“The Social History of Postcards in Beverly,” from Beverly, MA website. http://www.weirsbeach.com/Largejpgs/postcardhistory.html (accessed October 15, 2009).

Spiro, Lisa. “A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes,” under A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes. http://cnx.org/content/m13784/latest (accessed October 26, 2009).

455

“Stereograph (photography)” under Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/565632/stereograph (accessed October 26, 2009).

Talbot, Steve and David Snowdon, “The History of Cartophily,” http://www.stevetalbot.com/cards/history.php, December 11, 2002 (accessed November 24, 2009).

“The Yacht America” under The Yacht America: The Royal Yacht Squadron, http://www.rys.ord.uk/da (accessed May 2, 2009), paragraph 4.

“The Schooner Yacht Coronet: America’s Most Historic Yacht,” In Schooner Yacht Coronet – News. http://www.yachtcoronet.org/index.aspx (accessed July 2, 2007).

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“Yacht of Presidents: The USS Sequoia” under RoadTrip America-Presidential Yacht U.S.S. Sequoia http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/ussequoi.htm (accessed November 3, 2009).

Artifacts

Yacht Coronet. International Yacht Restoration Society, Newport, RI.

Archival and Unpublished Materials

“The Beken Archives.” http://www.beken.co.uk/gallery-examples.htm (accessed September 14, 2009).

Benway, Ann M. Draft. “The Breakers.” Newport County Preservation Society, n.d.

Biltmore Company Archives. Asheville, NC.

de Wolfe Correspondence. The Frick Collection. Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archives. Frick Art Reference Library. New York City, New York. Box16, Folders 2 and 5.

Frick Correspondence. The Frick Collection. Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archives. Frick Art Reference Library. New York City, New York. Box 16.

J. P. Morgan, Jr. Papers. Archives of The Pierpont Morgan Library. New York City, NY.

456

Miller, Paul. “The Evidence of Yacht Interiors,” Newport, Rhode Island, n.d.

Morgan/Frick Correspondence. The Frick Collection. Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archives. Frick Art Reference Library. New York City, New York. Box 17, Folder 5.

Mystic Seaport Museum. Albumen Print Collection. Mystic Seaport Museum Curatorial Department, Mystic, CT.

Mystic Seaport Museum. Rosenfeld Photograph Collection. Mystic Seaport Museum Curatorial Department, Mystic, CT.

Pierpont Morgan Papers. Archives of The Pierpont Morgan Library New York City, NY.

York Yacht Club. Scrapbook Collection. New York City.

Media

Hickey, Matthew P. “Presidential Movers.” Modern Marvels, DVD. Executive Producer Don Cambou. Produced by Actuality Productions, Inc., for The History Channel; A & E Television Networks, 2004.

IYRS, International Yacht Restoration School. “Coronet” VHS NTSC format.

Other

Advertisement in Art Interchange II (September 27, 1883). Quoted in Amelia Peck and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 1875- 1900. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2001.

“Coronet,” The Importance of Restoration, International Yacht Restoration School 2004 Annual Report.

“Fancy Ball Costumes,” Alias Costumier (London), ca. 1890. Color advertising placard (Author’s collection).

Goodman, Arthur Jule. Illustration. Newport 1891, “With the Yachts of the New York Yacht Club: Embarking for a visit to the Yachts From the Float of the New York Yacht Club, at Newport,” The Illustrated American, August 20, 1892, [10].

International Yacht Restoration School. “Accommodation Plan: 1885 Schooner Yacht “Coronet.” May 13, 1999.

457

Martinez, Daniel A. “Hidden Images: Rare & Forgotten Views of the Pearl Harbor Attack.” Lecture at the Naval War College, Newport, RI, January 12, 2008.

Rousmaniere, John. “A Dream of Yachts.” The New York Yacht Club Newsletter. Fall 2001, Vol. 14-3.

“The 1885 Schooner Yacht Coronet.” In IYRS — Restoration of Coronet. http://www.iyrs.org/AboutUs/Projects/CoronetRestoration (accessed March 18, 2010).

“The Early History of The Illustrated London News,” under The Early History of the Illustrated London News. http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_yers/earlyhistiln.htm (accessed December 8, 2009).

“The History of Postcards,” from History of Postcards ~ Postcard History~ Postcard Museum ~ The Origins of Postcards. http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/historyofpostcards.htm (accessed October 15, 2009).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Special Exhibitions. “Candace Wheeler: The Art and Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900.” http://www.metmuseum,org/Candace_Wheeler/Wheeler_more.htm (accessed February 10, 2009).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Special Exhibitions. “Wheeler: Pioneer in the Textile Industry and Interior Design Profession.” http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Candace_Wheeler/Wheeler_more.htm (accessed February 10, 2009).

Yachting: Of Interest to All Who Love the Sea, Our Search Light, [no location]June, 1898, 9[?].

“Your Visit to Biltmore House,” Visitors Brochure, Ashville, NC: The Biltmore Company, 2007.

Zerner, Henri, introduction, James Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1902: A Retrospective Exhibition. Providence, RI: Rhode Island School of Design, 1968.

Unpublished Dissertations and Theses

Aldrich, Megan Brewster. “The Crace Firm of Decorators, 1868-1899.” Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto (Canada), 1989.

458

Auslander, Leora. “The Creation of Value and Production of Good Taste: The Social Life of Furniture in Paris, 1860-1914.” Ph.D. diss., Brown University, 1988.

Beecher, Mary Anne. “A Place for Everything: The Influence of Storage Innovations on Modern American Domesticity (1900-1955).” PhD diss., The University of Iowa, 2003.

Bell, Alison Kay. “Conspicuous Production: Agricultural and Domestic Material Culture in Virginia, 1700-1900.” Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 2000.

Bliss, Ann Victoria.“ ‘Fixing’ the Family: The Function of the Family Photograph in Albums and Literature.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Davis, 2006.

Boehm, Mary Dutton. “Herter Brothers and the William H. Vanderbilt House.” Master’s thesis, The Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Parsons School of Design, 1991.

Bratton, Daniel Lance. “Conspicuous Consumption and Conspicuous Leisure in the Novels of Edith Wharton.” Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto (Canada), 1983.

Butler, Darrel Norman. “Everything in the Furniture Line at A. W. Moore and Son’s: A Case Study in Material History.” Ph.D. diss., The University of New Brunswick, 1991.

Campion, Martin Clare. “The Gilded Age in American Historiography.” Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1970.

Caron, Barbara Ann. “American Victorian Furnishings Textiles as a Vehicle for Understanding Lifestyle and Meaning: A Case Study of the Library and Reception Room in the Alexander Ramsey House.” Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1991.

Corrigan, Karina Helen Hiltji. “Edith Blake Brown and the Rise of Professional Interior Design.” Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 2001.

Cresanti-Dakins, Therese Marie. “Social Comparison Theory: A Revision and Clarification (Self-esteem, Personal Evaluation).” Ph.D. diss., State University of New York at Albany, 1997.

Dowlar, Lawrence. “The New Idealism and the Quest for Culture in the Gilded Age.” Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1974.

Formanek-Brunell, Miriam. “Guise and Dolls: The Rise of the Doll Industry and the Gender of Material Culture, 1830-1930.” Ph.D. diss., Rutgers State University of New Jersey, 1990.

459

Friedman, Brian Jason. “An Historical review of the life and works of an Important Man: Leon Festinger.” Ph.D. diss., Carlos Albizu University, 2000.

Futter, Catherine Lenoir. “Museums of Household Art: The Interiors and Furniture of Herter Brothers, 1865-1906. (Volumes I and II).” Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1993.

Garfinkle, Charlene G. “The Design and Decoration of the Woman’s Building at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition—Architecture, Exterior Sculpture, Stained Glass, and Interior Murals.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1996.

Garrett, Elizabeth W. “Entertainment of the Most Beautiful Kind: The House of William and Harriet Aiken, 1833-1860.” Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, May 2005.

Hearst, Kathryn P. “Phoebe Apperson Hearst: the Making of an Upper-class Woman, 1842-1919.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 2005.

Howard, James Murray. “Richard Morris Hunt: The Development of his Stylistic Attitudes.” Ph.D. diss. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1982.

Hull, Elizabeth Arnold. “Family Pictures ‘Out of Place’: Race, resistance, and Affirmation in the Pope Family Photographic Collection, 1890-1920.” Ph.D. diss., The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006.

Hunter, John Bradford. “Boston and its Maritime World, 1790-1850: Trade circuits, Proto-Industrialization and the Historical Geography of Shipbuilding in New England.” Ph.D. diss., The Pennsylvania State University, 1999.

Hyland, Matthew Gantert. “Montpelier: The History of a House.” Ph.D. diss., The College of William and Mary, 2004.

Jacob, Kathryn Allamong. “High Society in Washington During the Gilded Age: Three Distinct Aristocracies.” Ph.D. diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1986.

Joseph, Antoine. “Class Formation in the Gilded Age.” Ph.D. diss., The University of Chicago, 1983.

King, Dianne Connors. “At Home on Millionaires’ Row: A Study of the Mistress – Servant Relationship, 1870-1917.” Master’s thesis, Case Western Reserve University, 1991.

460

Kuncio, Elaine Will. “Relic Furniture in Victorian America.” Master’s thesis. University of Delaware, 1993.

Lorentz, Gerald Francis. “Bristol Fashion: The Maritime Culture of Bristol, 1650-1700.” Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1997.

Malon, Patricia Evelyn. “The Growth of Manufacturing in Manhattan, 1860-1900: An Analysis of Factoral Changes and Urban Structure.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1981.

Martin, Jay C. “Sailing the Freshwater Seas: A Social History of Life Aboard the Commercial Sailing Vessels of the United States and Canada on the Great Lakes, 1815-1930.” Ph.D. diss., Bowling Green State University, 1995.

Miyake, Kunitate. “Social Comparison, and Level and Stability of Self-Esteem: Self- Esteem Management Through Social Comparison.” Ph.D. diss., University of Rochester, New York, 1993.

Nacy, Philip Kellett. “The Actor’s Image: Reading Representations in Nineteenth- Century American Theatrical Photography. Ph.D. diss., University of Missouri, 2005.

Patterson, Eric Haines. “The Most Stately Mansions: An Analysis of the Social Functions of Domestic Architecture Among the Affluent in American in the Later Nineteenth Century and A Discussion of the Manner in Which Edith Wharton, Henry Blake Fuller and Theodore Dreiser Interpreted the Domestic Architecture of the Affluent as a Social Artifact in Fiction.” Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1977.

Ray, Lawrence Allen. “Victorian Material Culture in Memphis, Tennessee: The Malory- Neely House Interiors as Artifact.” Ph.D. diss., The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1988.

Regan, John Ward. “The Carriage Trade in Gilded Age America.” Ph.D. diss., State University of New York, 2000.

Rice, Ralph A. “A Guide for the Identification and Research of Victorian Furniture in Six Historic House Museums in Texas.” Ph.D. diss., North Texas State University, 1984.

Rosenfeld, Jason. “The Salon and The Royal Academy.” Ph.D. diss., Marymount Manhattan College, 2004.

Ryan, Barbara T. “Uneasy Relations: Servants’ Place in the Nineteenth-Century American Home.” Ph.D. diss., The University of North Carolina, 1994.

461

Schlichting, Mary Murphy. “A Summer Salon: Literary and Cultural Circles in Newport, Rhode Island, 1850-1890.” Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1992.

Scobey, David Moisseiff. “Empire City: Politic, Culture, and Urbanism in Gilded-Age New York.” Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1989.

Shelangoskie, Susan. “Transmitting the Home: Photography, Telegraphy and Victorian Domestic Narratives.” Ph.D.. diss., The University of Utah, 2005.

Silverman, Debora Leah. “Nature, Nobility, and Neurology: The Ideological Origins of ‘Art Nouveau’ in France, 1889-1900.” Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1983.

Somers, Renee Dara. “The Gilded Age Spaces, Actual and Imagined: Edith Wharton as a Spatial Activist and Analyst.” Ph.D. diss., University of Rhode Island, 2003.

Stephens, Suzanne. “Tenacious Beauty: The shifting Role of Aesthetic Criteria in Architectural Criticism, 1850-1915.” Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 2002.

Sterngass, Jon. “Cities of Play: Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island in the Nineteenth Century.” Ph.D. diss., The City University of New York, 1998.

Thomas, Marty Jean. “Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of Leisure as Interpreted by Veblen Scholars.” Ph.D. diss., The Pennsylvania State University, 1999.

Twigg, Reginald J. “Domesticating American Identities: The Rhetorical Dimensions of the Nineteenth-Century Decorative Arts.” Ph.D. diss., The University of Utah, 1997.

Volk, Victoria Loucia. “The Biltmore Estate and its Creators: Richard Morris Hunt, Frederick Law Olmstead and George Washington Vanderbilt.” Ph.D. diss., Emory University, 1984.

Woodward, Marie Lee, “Elegance, Sobriety and Hypocrisy: The Edwardian Era and the Sway of the Grand Saloon.” Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University, 1992.

Wright, Terri K. “The Upper Circle: The History, Society and Architecture of Nineteenth-Century Cairo, Illinois.” Ph.D. diss., Southern Illinois University, 1988.

462

APPENDIX A Chapter One Tables

Figure 1 ...... Martinez Grid

Figure 2 ...... Photographic Image with Martinez Grid (Galatea)

Figure 3 ...... Photographic Data Grid Collection and Table of Textile Codes (Galatea)

463

Appendix A, figure 1 Martinez Grid

464

Appendix A, figure 2 Photographic Image with Martinez Grid (Galatea)

465

Appendix A, figure 3 Photographic Data Grid Collection

(data collected from photographic image of Galatea)

466

Appendix A, figure 4 Table of Textile Code Abbreviations

Abbreviation Identification Abbreviation Identification of

of textile textile

C Carpet Tap Tapestry

D Draperies Bra Braid

U Upholstery Bed Bed

P Portières TC Table Coverings

TR Throw Rug SK Animal Skins

Pil Pillow L Lace

FR Fringe TB Tie Back

T Tassels M Miscellaneous/specific identification

467

Appendix A, figure 5 Research Data

Page 1 of 3

468

Appendix B

Discussion of Primary Sources

Primary sources are items that are created by the producer or the user within

the time period of production.1 The primary sources used in this study include

original photographs, yacht logbooks, ship manifests, voyaging notes, ship models,

objects from yachts, The Rudder, Yachting, The Yachtsmen, newspaper articles,

autobiographies, diaries, journals, commercial documents, inventories, extant

furniture and textiles, sea chanties and scrimshaw. The Lloyds Register of British and

Foreign Shipping, Yacht Register, the Manning’s Yacht Register, the American Yacht

List and the New York Yacht Club Membership books not only listed and described

the register of yachts, but were a social register of yacht owners. Multiple yacht

ownership meant multiple listings of the owner’s name, which in turn was a social

status statement. Yacht half and full models that grace the walls and hallways of the

New York Yacht Club Model room added to your social mystique. In addition, house

drawings, architectural drafts, deck- and floor-plans and elevations of period homes and yachts are considered primary sources.

Objects from pervious societies have an inherent value in that they share

information that the written word can not. They reflect a society’s existence.

Material culture as it pertains to this dissertation adopts Jules Prown’s definition as

cited in the spring 1982 Winterthur Portfolio:

1 Jenny L. Presnell, The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Student, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 92 2 Jules Prown, “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method, Winterthur Portfolio (Spring, 1982): 1-2. 469

Material culture: the totality of artifacts in a culture; the vast universe of objects used by humankind to cope with the physical world, to facilitate social intercourse, to delight our fancy, and to create symbols of meaning.2

The evidence of tangible things makes it difficult to refute their existence and the surrounding culture that embodied them. In light of the important role that material objects play in this historical analysis, the schooner yacht, Coronet, extant objects of other yachts and structures of homes such as The Clayton, Rosecliffs, The Breakers,

The Marble House and The Elms and their extant furnishings are also primary

sources. Understanding and integrating these primary sources with secondary sources

will assist in a more balanced analysis and assessment of Gilded Age social status as

reflected in yachts interiors.

Discussion of Secondary Sources

Secondary sources base their analyses and interpretations on primary and

other sources.3 Books, journal articles, secondary photographs, unpublished theses

and dissertations, reference works, maritime history and technology, interior design

history, architecture, sociological studies are examples of secondary sources cited in this dissertation.

Classic examples of scholarly publications such as William P. Stephens’

Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, 1989, and Howard I. Chapelle’s The

History of American Sailing Ships, 1985, exist in the fields of maritime history that

3 Jenny L. Presnell, The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Student (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 93.

470

detail the progression of yacht history and designs. The History of Interior Design,

2000, by John Pile and A Documentary History of American Interiors: From the

Colonial Era to 1915, 1980 by Edgar deN. Mayhew and Minor Myers, Jr. are examples of scholarly publications in the field of interior design and decorative arts.

Numerous unpublished dissertations and theses as they apply to the social structure of the Gilded Age, historic houses and furniture companies are included in the secondary sources. These works will be used to enhance and support the evaluation and analysis of primary sources.

The following list is among the archival resources in which there is ongoing research that is being conducted, that has been or will be used for this dissertation:

New York: New York Yacht Club, library and yacht models Morgan Library New York Historical Society Frick Art Reference Library South Street Seaport Museum The Museum of the City of New York Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art Pennsylvania: The Clayton Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Village Blunt Library, Mystic Seaport Research Library, Rosenfeld Collection Ships: Charles W. Morgan, , Rhode Island: Newport Historical Society, The Preservation Society of Newport County, Redwood Library and Athenaeum International Yacht Restoration School of Newport Museum of Yachting, Newport Naval War College Museum Harbor Court, summer residence of New York Yacht Club Hereschoff Marine Museum and Library Museum of Newport History The Breakers The Elms The Marble House

471

Rosecliff Chateau-sur-Mer Kingscote Isaac Bell House Maine: Maine Maritime Museum and library Penobscot Marine Museum Stephen Phillips Memorial Library, Penobscot, MN Massachusetts: USS Constitution Museum Marine Museum at Fall River, Inc. Middlesex Canal Museum, Lowell New Bedford Whaling Museum, Peabody Museum in Salem Plimoth Plantation Museum North Carolina: Biltmore Somerset Place Ohio: The Elizabeth M. MacDonnell Memorial Library, Lima, OH Great Lakes Research Archives and Library, Bowling Green University Illinois: Chicago Maritime Society Delaware: Winterthur West Coast: Coquille River Lighthouse, Bandon, OR Maritime Museum of San Diego Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, CA Pt. Loma Promontory Museum, San Diego, CA The Empire Cottage, Grass Valley, CA

472

Appendix C Schooner-Yachts: Origins, Rigging, and Historical Background

In order to fully understand the development of the schooner within yachting circles, a clarification of “rig,” “spar,” and “sail” is necessary. Rigging refers to the arrangements of sails and the types of spars used to support the sails. The term comes from the Old Norse rigge, which translates “to arrange or prepare.”1 Spars are the

poles that are used to secure the sails. They hold the sail in its various shapes and

vary from horizontal, such as the boom, bowsprit, gaff, and yard, diagonal, such as

the sprit, and vertical, such as the mast(s).2 There were no set numbers of masts for

classification of a schooner. The range during the Gilded Age was from two to seven masts. As previously mentioned, it is the rig that is paramount in sail boat classification, not the number of masts.

John G. Rogers’ comment about “sail” is “hardly needs a definition either as a noun or a verb.”3 But, further inquiry reveals that there are numerous types of sails,

depending on where they are located on the ship and what their function is. Working sails, the principle sails on the mast, light sails, sails that are made of a lighter weight

cloth and usually set in lighter winds or races, a would be an example, and

1 John G. Rogers, Origins of Sea Terms (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985), 144. 2 E. D. Smith and T. R. Moore, Sailing Language Dobbs Ferry, NY: Sheridan House, 2000), 11. 3 John G. Rogers, Origins of Sea Terms (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985), 150. 473

specialty sails, those that are used for special situations, such as storm , are

all defined by how they are joined to the ship according to the rigging and their

function.4 Rigging in turn followed the primary function, work, cruise and race, of

the boat. The rigging classified the type of ship. “Throughout the history of sail it

has been the rig that has distinguished different classes of vessels—that his has

continued to be true in spite of perversities of naval usage, such as the ship-rigged

‘sloop.’ ”5 The peculiarity of a schooner is its rigging: “a sailing vessel of two or

more masts, the prevailing rig of which is fore-and-aft.”6 The term fore-and-aft is in

reference to the ‘sails’ normal position along the centerline of the ship as opposed to

square-rigged vessels on which the sails were usually across the centerline.”7 In

1874, when schooner yachts were beginning to appear in the elite American yachting

social scene, R. M. Ballantyne describes the rigging and sails of a schooner in his

book Man on the Ocean as:

the most elegant and, for a small craft, the most manageable vessel that floats. Its proportions are more agreeable to the eye than those of any other species of craft, and its rig is in favour with owners of yachts . . . distinctive peculiarities are, that it carries two masts, which usually rake aft . . . its rig is chiefly fore-and-aft . . . of the two masts, the after one is the main-mast. The other is termed the fore-mast. The sails of a

4 E. D. Smith and T. R. Moore, Sailing Language Dobbs Ferry, NY: Sheridan House, 2000), 12-14. 5 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 194. Ships could change their classification by changing their rigging. Laing uses the example of the Dash, an 1812 topsail schooner used as a cargo carrier and blockade runner out of Portland, Maine during the war. Originally rigged as a schooner with square topsails on the foremast and a gaff topsail on the main mast, she was re-rigged in 1814 to include four cross yards on her foremast and an enlarged gaff topsail to re-classify her as a . 6 John G. Rogers, Origins of Sea Terms (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985), 152. 7 Robert Shipley and Fred Addis, Schooners (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 1991), 5. 474

schooner are -- the main-sail and the gaff on the main-mast; the fore-sail, fore-top-sail, and fore-top-gallant-sail (the two last being square sails), on the foremast. In front of the fore- mast are the , the jib, and the flying-jib; these last are triangular sails.8

See Appendix I for an illustration showing a schooner rigged, fore-and-aft.

The fore-and-aft rigging of the boat pre-dates the nomenclature. A review of

several sources reveal a debate as to the dawning of the schooner, but they all agree

that through the process of trial and error, fore-and-aft rigging had its “origins in the

Netherlands before 1620 and described a small boat rig that later came to be used in

England and her colonial waters. . . Hulls were typically fine, so schooners were relatively fast, could sail close to the wind, and required small crews for their size.”9

The earliest known example of a vessel setting a fore-and-aft rig is the two-masted

Dutch “small craft described as shallops, carrying fore-and-aft canvas on two masts, were in use around the year 1600.”10 The earliest know illustration appears to be an

ink drawing by the Dutch artist Rool, dated 1600, “in which the Burgonmasters of

Amsterdam are disporting themselves on their yacht.”11 Before 1628, single-masted

boats, later to be called sloops, were in use at the same time as the two-masted

8 Robert Michael Ballantyne, Man on the Ocean: A Book About Boats and Ships (1874; repr., (LaVergne, TN: BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009), 119. 9 Richard W. Unger, “Schooners,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 503. 10 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 199. 11 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 13. 475

shallop. Alterations in rigging created the bowsprit12 intended as support for the line and the forestay sail. According to Alexander Laing, an authority and author of sailing ships and marine history say that there is

Pictorial evidence that the schooner had been developed by the Dutch not later than 1678 and that the small vessel with the schooner’s essential structure and standing rigging was used by them at least thirty and perhaps fifty years earlier . . . All early pictures that I have seen of the forerunner-schooner, and of the eventual Dutch schooner itself, show a little vessel acting in concert with the larger ones.13

The pictorial evidence that he is citing is a sketch, made by an anonymous artist- cartographer on location, of the capture of the Loki in the Moluccas and Celebes, an island group located in current eastern Indonesia, in 1652 by former Governor Arnold de Vlamingh van Outshoorn. The schooner depicted has all of the “requisite sail sets,” that would classify her as a fore-and-aft rigged boat.14

There are two qualities of a schooner rig that make her a very desirable vessel, either as a working schooner or just as the pleasure schooner yachts. The first is that

“she could sail close to the wind, and therefore, her trips were faster.”15 That seakeeping quality was favored giving the fore-and-aft rigs “the ability to move

12 E. D. Smith and T. R. Moore, Sailing Language (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Sheridan House, 2000), 11. The bowsprit is the fixed spar that runs horizontally out from the bow of the boat to increase area of headsail. 13 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 200. 14 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 197. 15 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 70. 476

almost directly (within 15 to 20 degrees) into the direction of the wind.”16 The

second desirable characteristic is that she required a smaller crew. The attractiveness

of small crews made her less expensive than the “square-rigged counterparts, while carrying the same amount of cargo”17 for a working schooner. A luxury schooner

yacht added the weightiness of interior appointments, and a full larder for

entertainment.

Other European countries, especially Great Britain, copied and often varied

the fore-and-aft , creating adaptations for specific waterways and function of

boat. Development resulted in larger two-masted vessels, with gaff sails in both

masts, the cutter’s square sail on the foremast, and square topsails on both masts.18

Europeans improved and created specialized versions of two-masted vessels, like the and the schooner, into the nineteenth century, because that served effectively in coastal or short distance trades.19 They could best be described as a “schooner rig, though the term did not come into use until many years later, having been coined in the United States.”20

Not only did the term “schooner” originate in the United States, but “there is credit

enough for the young colonies that became the United States in their pragmatic

further development of a handy rig which the Dutch seem to have employed around

16 Robert Shipley and Fred Addis, Schooners (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 1991), 5. 17 Robert Shipley and Fred Addis, Schooners (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 1991), 5. 18 Peter Kemp, The History of Ships (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2002), 110. 19 Richard W. Unger, “Ships and Boats: Sailing Vessels,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, III, ed. John B. Hattendorf (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 686. 20 Peter Kemp, The History of Ships (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2002), 110. 477

the world. . . It was the American contribution to make the schooner a free agent of

the sea. Her dimensions were increased and her rig expanded to include square sails

aloft.”21

The Origination of “Schooner”

There is debate as to the origination of the term “schooner” and its meaning.

One source says that the word schooner is to have come from an old Scottish word meaning skipping over the water.”22 Arthur H. Clark cited the derivation of the word from the Dutch ‘schoon’, taken from a Dutch-Latin dictionary published in 1599, meaning “beautiful, fair, lovely.”23 Still, another source says that “‘scoon’ is believed

to be an early English and New England word for scud, which means ‘to see.’”24

These definitions taken together assist to explain the accepted oral tradition account of the origins of the word “schooner.” As previous discussion has shown, similar arrangements of fore-and-aft sails had existed in various forms for over a century in several locations throughout the world. The word ‘schooner’ is attributed to a chance remark made by a spectator at the launch of a two-masted vessel in New

England in about 1713.25 Gloucester, Massachusetts was the specific location and the

21 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 200. 22 Robert Shipley and Fred Addis, Schooners (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 1991), 11. 23 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 17. 24 John G. Rogers, Origin of Sea Terms (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985), 152. 25 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 13. 478

shipwright was Captain Andrew Robinson.26 The American origin of the word

“schooner” is an account of a launching day in 1713 of a fore-and-aft rig. It is recorded by on Cotton Tufts, Esquire as follows:

I was informed (and committed the same to writing) that the kind of vessels called schooners derived their name from these circumstances; viz. Mr. Andrew Robinson of that place, having constructed a vessel which he masted and rigged in the same manner as schooners are at this day, on her going off the stocks and passing into the water, a bystander cried out, “Oh, how she scoons.” Robinson instantly replied, “A scooner let her be.” From which time, vessels thus masted and rigged have gone by the name of “schooners”; before which, vessels of this description were not known in Europe or America.27

Hearsay passed the story on, culture chose to believe its quaint charm. One of the reasons this story prevails is because it is found in the popular press literature of the day and is retold as only the truth. For instance, S. G. W. Benjamin writes in the

Century Magazine, July, 1882:

The year 1713 was a great era in American naval annals. In that year, Captain Andrew Robinson built the first schooner ever seen. . . The new rig came into wide acceptance. Only eight years later an old chronicler Dr. Moses Prince, wrote of Captain Robinson: “This gentleman was first contriver of schooners, and built the first of that sort about eight years since; and the use now made of them, being so much known, has convinced the world of their convenience beyond other vessels, and show how mankind is obliged to this gentleman for this knowledge.28

26 Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 124. 27 Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 124. 28 S. G. W. Benjamin, “The Evolution of the American Yacht,” The Century Magazine, A Popular Quarterly, July 1882, 350. 479

According to Dr. Moses Prince, Captain Andrew Robinson is a hero for single- handedly changing the course of maritime history. The authority of the Gloucester

story, however, is questioned in John G. Rogers book Origins of Sea Terms, 2000,

when defining the term “schooner.” His research claims that

one authority refutes this story, pointing out that a Dutch map of the New England coast dates 1657 showed a body of water called Schoone Havn, possible now Plum Island Sound, near Newburyport, Mass., the connection of the terms being obvious. . . the evidence is that the rig with which we are familiar is an American refinement.29

Regardless of the true American origin of the term “schooner” what is evident

is that “there is no record in a Marine Dictionary, a Merchant’s Inventory or

commercial record of any kind of the word “schooner” having been used prior to

1713.”30 Arthur H. Clark writing in 1904 also “stated that no marine use of the word

‘scooner’ had been found prior to 1713”31 Apparently, the story coincides with the

adoption of the new term for a fore-and-aft rig. Peter Heaton, a British author,

claims that “America is, and always has been, famous for her schooners,”32 and she

can evidently lay claim to the name change of fore-and-aft rigs to “schooner.”

Working Schooner versus a. Schooner- Yacht

To dispel confusion a small discussion of the differences between a “working

schooner” and a “schooner yacht” is needed. The distinction between working

29 John G. Rogers, Origin of Sea Terms (Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985), 152. 30 Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 124. 31 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 17. 32 Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 124. 480

schooners and schooner yachts is no accident. As already stated, the two distinctive

attributes of the schooner, speed and small crews, were a desirable quality for both schooner yachts and working yachts. The Dutch created schooner’s that were

designed for pleasure, however, “since 1700 they have carried every conceivable

cargo.”33 Working schooners were prolific up and down the eastern seaboard because

the two- and three-masted schooners could easily freight cargo, required fewer sailors

and could be worked in and out of harbors much easier than square-rigged craft. The

increasing trade with the West Indies and the rapidly expanding fishing industry made

schooner as very popular choice for a working vessel.34 The necessity for larger freight capacity and an ever nagging competitive desire for an increase in speed of delivery, required designers to increase

not only the number of masts but their height as well. . . When the three-master had been pushed to what most builders regarded as its ultimate economical size – about 800 tons – a trial was made of a four-mast schooner-rig in a converted steamer. Soon afterward, in 1880, the first schooner designed as a four-master was launch at Bath: the W. L. White. . .it should be noted that while the addition of a fifth, a sixth , and in one instance a seventh mast was being tried, the tonnage measurement for each class of schooner was also increasing.35

Freight of timber, coal, grains, cotton and even Christmas trees were common cargo.

Photographs of the Boston, New York and Chicago piers during this time period

show working schooners, row after row, with bowsprits cantilevered over the dock,

33 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 12. 34 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 19. 35 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 205. 481

most of them three-and four-masted.36 Of specific importance to this research is the relationship between transportation magnates, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt I,

Cornelius Vanderbilt II, and Andrew Carnegie who used working schooners to transport commodities or passengers on Great Lakes and along the eastern seaboard.

They may have had private, luxury schooner yachts for personal use but they depended on working schooners in their businesses.

The working schooner continued its important role in cargo transportation throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, widely used in fisheries and

coastal trade until 1920s,37 they sailed side-by-side with the more technologically advanced steam vessels. The Great Depression was the demise of the working schooner trade that had cruised up and down the eastern seaboard freighting “bulk cargo like wood, stone, fish, and coal.”38

Historical Background of the American Schooner

Review of shipping development of technology and function reveals that

“Yachting history proves that the evolution of yacht-design has not been a logical and

36 Two hundred and eleven pages, many with multiple photographs of New York’s maritime history, are documented in Harry Johnson and Frederick S. Lightfoot’s book Maritime New York: In Nineteenth-Century Photographs (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980). Of particular interest is a photograph by Ben Kilburn looking north from Pier 11, Old Slip and South Street. The image is filled with schooner rigs with a raised deck schooner in the foreground. The caption reads, “Sail still flourishes in 1885.” Schooners played an important role in the rise of two industries that were critical in Chicago’s development: lumber and grain. In 1871, “more ships arrived in Chicago than in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston and Mobile combined.” Theodore J. Karamanski and Deane Tank Sr. Images of America: Maritime Chicago (Chicago, Illinois: Arcadia Publishing, 2000), 16. The caption of an image of the Lucia A. Simpson reads, “The most common type of sailing ship to visit Chicago during the 19th century was the three-masted schooner,” 18. Another image says that the wharfs and slips of the west side lumber district were a “veritable forest of masts,” 29. 37 Labaree, Benjamin W. and others, America and the Sea: A Maritime History (Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 1998), 64. 38 Peter H. Spectre, “The Maine Schooners,” WoodenBoat, March/April, 1981, 33. 482

a steady series of improvement; not only is this true of racers, but also of cruisers . . .

the effect of the “Universal Rules” on both racers and cruisers again illustrates the

relations of measurement rule to trend of design.”39 Analysis of interior design

practices during the early years of the Gilded Age also divulges the same pattern:

“The progress of [Gilded Age] design cannot be described in one simple sequence, but can be thought of as a series of styles evolving in parallel.”40 Combinations of the

classic interiors of Greece and Rome, the opulence and grandeur of the French

Baroque and Rococo styles and mixtures of other elements of French origin were

arranged and re-arranged simultaneously to create the desired affect of wealth and

taste. Likewise, yachts were concurrently experiencing technological advancement

and used as an expression of wealth and status in a conspicuous display of leisure.

An article in The Century Magazine, 1897, explains the phenomenon of yachting,

science and leisure, stating, “With the exception of the bicycle-trade, yacht-building

has perhaps led in the expansion of industry to meet the outdoor pleasure.

Refinements in science and mechanics have added to the cost of the larger yachts,

and, have produced better boats for a smaller outlay.”41 Understanding the illogical

path of yacht development assists with the comprehension of yacht interior

sequences.

39 Howard Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: Bonanza Books, 1985), 352. 40 Charles Newton, Victorian Designs for the Home (London: V & A Publications, 1999), 9. 41 “The Pleasure of Yachting,” Topics of the Time, The Century; A Popular Quarterly, July 1897, 469. 483

As previously stated, the Dutch mariners named their small pleasure crafts jaght schip’s which translates “hunting ship.”42 The connection to hunting indicates that the vessel was considered “fast and swift,”43 and was built of light construction whether it was for pleasure, merchant or naval purposes.44 It is from this Dutch term that the English word “yacht” is derived from. In addition, there is little doubt that the Dutch contributed more to the development and creation of the fore-and-aft- rigged ship, later to be named the schooner, than any other nation in the world.45

Jaghts had long been used as a comfortable way of getting about in that country surrounded by canals and shallow waterways. As Tim Madge says, “The Dutch used small boats the way the rest of Europe used horses.”46 When the Dutch States-

General gave a beautiful fifty-two foot jaght to King Charles II, 1660, in celebration

of his return to the throne in London, yachts and the sport of yachting were

42 The word jaght is a derivative of jaghen which means ‘to tow with horses, to pursue or to hunt.’ Richard Woodman, The History of the Ship The Comprehensive Story of Seafaring from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Guildford, CT: Conway Maritime Press, 2002), 73. The association of hunting and ships can be identified with other Dutch word associations: jaght hond (hunting dog), jaght peerd (hunting horse), and jaght horen (hunting horn).William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton- Century-Crofts, 1958), 26. 43 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 113. 44 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 14. 45 Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 25. 46 Tim Madge, Royal Yachts of the World (Surrey, United Kingdom: Thomas Reed Publications, 1998), 12. 484

introduced to the English court.47 The King christened his first yacht Mary after his

“dear sister” who was married to William of Orange of the Netherlands.48

It is Charles II and his enthusiastic adoption of yachting, which furthered the acceptance and establishment of yachting as a status symbol. In Europe the aristocracy amused themselves with expensive sports such as horse racing, and hunting, but the English court promoted the new diversion, cruising yachts and yacht racing49 so that among the British nobility, “fine horses and fast yachts indicated an appreciation of the importance of more genteel pursuits.”50 It is to Charles II “that we owe a greater and lasting debt for having introduced both cruising yachts and yacht racing to England.”51 In Salt-Water Palaces (1980) Maldwin Drummond summarizes the influence of Charles II on his contemporaries and the yachting world that would evolve:

Charles II and his friends demanded a high standard of comfort and decoration. Inevitably their ideas came from experience ashore. They wished to repeat their land surrounding afloat and this has been a requirement for most large yachts ever since. This means that the moment the eyes leave the deck in favour of what likes below, the emphasis should change, if possible, dramatically. The contrast was important. Above deck, nearly all fittings and fixtures were designed for a marine purpose, working in a sea environment, while below success was achieved

47 Romola and R. C. Anderson, A Short History of the Sailing Ship (Mineola, New Work: Dover Publications, Inc., 2003), 149. Known as the Restoration, Charles II returned from The Haig to London on board his new jaght. 48 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986), 15. 49 Tim Madge, Royal Yachts of the World (Surrey, United Kingdom: Thomas Reed Publications, 1998), 28. 50 Greg King, A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), 37. 51 Tim Madge, Royal Yachts of the World (Surrey, United Kingdom: Thomas Reed Publications, 1998), 28. 485

by denying that such a rough elements could exist at all so near at hand. The owner’s praise was reserved for those naval architects and designers who brought the astonished guest instantly ‘ashore’ when he went below by creating the atmosphere of some solid, finely decorated and well-equipped country house in Wiltshire, the Dukeries or New England, well out of sight of the sea. 52

As will be discussed later, Lt. William Henn, R. N. certainly achieved the ideal with

his America’s Cup challenger Galatea, 1886, as did the American Gilded Age

yachtsmen of the social elite.

The status and privilege associated with fast and luxurious jaghts, in England

constituted a new name and identity for the craft. The word ‘yacht’ came to mean any craft used for pleasure,53 which will eventually pervade the American vocabulary,

and be re-defined as a craft that promoted conspicuous leisure. “All had an avowed

purpose: to represent in physical form the essence of their owners in a way that the

bricks, stones and mortar of land-built palaces cannot. For ships move, and it has

been the stately progression of these vessels across the seas that [had] come to

symbolize the power and glory of the state,”54 or as in the case of the extremely

wealthy American yachtsman, a representation power and glory.

The American yachting culture owes its origin and encouragement to

England. In an article titled “Yachts and Yachting,” an anonymous writer of 1872

stated that “In fact the sport has never flourished out of England and America. It is

52 Maldwin Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces (New York: The Viking Press, 1980), 120. 53 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 14. 54 Tim Madge, Royal Yachts of the World (Surrey, United Kingdom: Thomas Reed Publications, 1998), 10. 486

no exaggeration to say that the “manliest and most useful of sports” is exclusively an

Anglo-Saxon pastime, and that Anglo-Saxon is the only race which seeks health and

pleasure on instead of in the water.” 55 For his example for on versus in the water, he cites the French who “bathe, but seldom go yachting.”

Throughout the American primary and secondary literature, a nod of recognition and thankfulness is given to the English as the primary source of yachting and its surrounding sport and luxury in the United States. They set the standard for the American yachting culture and society. The first criterion was that Great Britain was a European beacon of aristocracy and nobility. For the Gilded Age social structure, ranks of privilege in America could not compete with titles in Europe.

Second, royal yachts such as Mary and Victoria and Albert were examples of the finest interiors on board a water palace. Third, the Royal Yacht Squadron established the necessity of an organization that one, promoted the esteemed sport of yachting and secondly, governed the racing regulations giving prestige and rank of high social status to the members.

Americans embraced the British yachting milieu and re-fashioned it to meet the specific needs of the American yachtsman. In an 1886 article titled “Yachting,” another author explains the American yachting skills to the world of yachting:

American yachtsmen established an enviable reputation for pluck and courage in pursuit of yachting as a sport, when they startled the yachting world several years ago by entering three American yachts in a grand ocean race across the Atlantic in December . . .the race cost five lives, and it amply sufficed to show to the yachting world that

55 “Yachts and Yachting,” Scribner’s Monthly, August, 1872, Vol. IV, No. 4, 390. 487

our Yankee yachtsmen were in no respect wanting in all the characteristics of manly pluck and courageous seamanship in yachting which marks the English yachting fraternity.56

An important component that encouraged the luxury of yachting in the United

States was the acceptance and refinement of the schooner. The origin of the schooner

has been traced, by marine historians, to the Netherlands in the “seventeenth century,

as well as Scandinavia57 and the Mediterranean. Whatever its origin few will argue

that the schooner reached its highest form of development in colonial North America”

58 and extended through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After the schooner’s

migration to American, pictorial harbor views such as the Burgis and Roberts

illustration of the Boston harbor, 1722, depicting a schooner with the three requisite

sails of a schooner, or an engraving of the Charleston harbor crafted by Roberts,

1739. It contains the same two types of vessels as the Burgis and Roberts illustration:

basic schooner and a topsail sloop.59 The schooner, with its fore-and-aft rigged sails

first constructed in colonial America, “proved effective and popular due to their

speed, ability to sail close to the wind, and small crew requirements.”60 Additionally,

they were very inexpensive to construct and therefore became a very popular working

56 “Yachting,” Editor’s Open Window, Outing Magazine, November 1886, http://www.afla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_09.outIX02/outIX02o.pdf (accessed August 30, 2007), 175. The yacht race that the article is referring to was a trans-Atlantic race December 1866 between Henrietta, Fleetwing, and Vesta, the Henrietta being the victor, after thirteen days, twenty-one hours and fourteen minutes. 57 The oldest extant sailing vessel was “used for burial at Oseberg on the west coast of the Oslo Fjord,” building dates c. 815-820 A.D. Arne Emil Christensen, “”Proto-Viking, Viking and Norse Craft,” in The Earliest Ships: the Evolution of Boats and Ships ed. Robert Gardiner (Edison, New Jersey: Conway Maritime Press, 1996), 79. 58 Robert Shipley and Fred Addis, Schooners (St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 1991), 11. 59 Alexander Laing, American Sail: A Pictorial History (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1961), 200-201. A sloop is a one-masted boat with a mainsail and jib, and often a square topsail. 60 Robert McKenna, The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy (Camden, Maine: McGraw-Hill, 2001), 328. 488

and pleasure craft.61 British schooners, also in colonial American harbors, may have carried square sails. If the square sails were absent then the reference to the vessel was fore-and-aft schooner. American schooners on the other hand were

“automatically deemed to be fore-and-aft rigged.”62 Although the schooner was not an American invention it “came into prominence as an American rig, well suited for coastal trade.”63 Howard I. Chapelle states that the Royal Navy built numerous “full- line schooner” and that there are a number of plans that can be found in the Admiralty files. He goes on to say that at present, 1985, there is only one plan of a sharp pre-

Revolutionary American built schooner, which is example enough to prove that the schooner existed during colonial America. He ends his discussion by stating that schooners developed “gradually during the eighteenth century, by the time of the

Revolution the schooner was in such general use as to be the most numerous of all classes of carrier.”64 By the early 1800s schooner construction, adaptation and adoption was widespread from Maine to Charleston and according to Peter Heaton, the United States has always been famous for her schooners.65 The schooner became the ideal American yacht for working and pleasure.66

61 Labaree, Benjamin W. and others, America and the Sea: A Maritime History (Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 1998), 64.

62 David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 99. 63 Capt. Alan Villiers, Men, Ships and the Sea (Washington, D. C.: National Geographic Society, 1962), 245. 64 Howard I. Chapelle, The History of American Sailing Ships (New York: Bonanza Books, 1985), 71. 65 Peter Heaton, Yachting: A History (London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1955), 124. 66 Charles G. Davis identifies two principle types of schooners in his pamphlet “Rigs of the Nine Principle Types of American Sailing Vessels” (Salem, MA: Peabody Museum, 1989). The first is the Topsail 489

In order for the schooner to move out of the realm of working class to leisure

class, however, a spark was needed for the American version of the golden pastime.

A blend of money, leisure, security, status-seeking, and competitiveness that had

stimulated the growth of yachting in Britain to progress to the level of opulent luxury

was also needed in the American social circles. The flint for that spark was the

remarkable Stevens family of Hoboken, New Jersey whose family enterprise was the

“trans-Hudson steam ferry and ferry service between New York City and

Philadelphia.”67 If the reader will recall, the New York Yacht Club was organized in

1844 on board the Gimcrack, the luxury schooner of John Cox Stevens.

Boats and water were plentiful in America, and the blend of money, an increase in leisure, status-seeking families and competition were all in place. What the popularity of American yachting needed was the inspiration and leadership of the

Stevens family of Hoboken, New Jersey to launch yachting into a category all by

Schooner that is a “two-masted vessel, the mainmast of which has a fore-and-aft mainsail and gaff topsail identical to those of an ordinary schooner. Both masts are made in two spars, but the lower foremast is a little shorter than the corresponding spar of the mainmast, and the topsail is a little longer.” The second principle American schooner is the “Three-Masted Schooner.” This schooner is a “vessel of two or more masts, fore-and-aft rigged. The fore- and are suspended from gaffs and laced to the booms on the foot of the sails. The most popular type. . . could be handled by a captain, mate, cook and four men, but the earliest type was a two-masted vessel, and in modern times the number of masts was often increased. In the present century on seven-masted schooner was built.” The seven-masted schooner was the Thomas W. Lawson, 1902, LOA 395 feet. 67 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986), 59. 490

itself.68 From personal necessity, the Stevens brothers created faster and sleeker crafts, which met their ferrying needs from Hoboken, New Jersey to New York City.

Unlike previous yachts whose designs were based on commercial and fishing boats, the Stevens yachts were distinctive in hull form, rigging and character. They were applying mathematical principles and scientific inquiry into the building of American yachts, the fore-and-aft rig.69 Spied by other members of the wealthy classes located

in New York and Boston, soon other schooner yachts were appearing on the Hudson

Bay and the Boston Harbor. In Boston, numbers grew from six or seven yachts

measuring over thirty feet in the 1850s to about fifty of the larger yachts by the late

1860s. This growth went hand-in-hand with the booming big ship-building industry

that was beginning in New York City in the 1800s.70 Yachts, naval architecture and

technology combined to create an easy access to luxury yacht ownership. An

invitation for a healthy international competition from the Royal Yacht Squadron,

1851, ignited the yachting passion in the elite American yachtsmen, and serious yacht

racing was pursued.

The Civil War brought a halt to the formal yachting activities, but on May 31,

1865, the New York Herald ran a column pertaining to the opening of summer resorts

and announced the yachting season, just six weeks after the war ended. It began:

68 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting ((New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986), 59. 69 William H Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958), 31-2. 70 William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958), 31, 33. 491

The war is over and everybody is prosperous. Yachting – the most expensive, the most healthful and the most delightful of amusements – has experienced a decided revival, and the enter- tainments to be given by the New York Yacht Club will fitly usher in the summer season. For four years the yachtsmen have been almost asleep, and now they are waked up and will begin to realize their dreams. New members have infused new energy and vitality into the club, and the old members are bestirring themselves with all their original vim and vigor.71

Regattas, yachting festivities and balls all resumed their place on the social calendar.

There was an explosion of enterprise and post-Civil War yachting was a different pastime than what had preceded in the early 1800s. On the cusp of the Gilded Age,

yachting became grander and “more flamboyant sometimes even outrageous in style

and ambition. This was in keeping with the post-war period itself. . . unlike the

“Golden Ages” of ancient Greece and the Renaissance, this one seemed superficial

and glittery, committed more to style than substance, and especially to the style that

only money could buy.”72

The Industrial Revolution generated new wealth. It also sparked a desire to

display wealth in an overt manner, a luxury yacht. What followed was the

“development of yacht clubs, allowing owners to moor their pleasure craft in

convivial splendor, and saw yachting spread to American were prodigious fortunes

were being accumulated.”73

71 William H. Taylor and Stanley Rosenfeld, The Story of American Yachting, Told in Pictures with Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958), 36. 72 John Rousmaniere, The Golden Pastime: A New History of Yachting (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986), 70. 73 John Rousmaniere, The Luxury Yachts, The Seafarers (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), 17. 492

Yachting as a display of luxury and leisure sport came about because of massive acquisition of wealth post Civil War and the Industrial Revolution in America, and the schooner yacht led the way.

493

APPENDEX D The Grand Schooner Yacht Saloons and Parlours

Figure 6 ...... Schooner-Yacht Fore-and-Aft Rigging

Figure 7 ...... Galatea, Mystic Seaport Museum Photographic Archive

Figure 8 ...... Galatea Main Saloon Interiors

Figure 9 ...... Coronet Main Saloon Interiors and Deck Plans

Figure 10 ...... Robert Herrick House, British Parlour

Figure 11 ...... Gothic Style Interior Illustrations

Figure 12 ...... Gothic Revival Style Portières Example

Figure 13 ...... Table Covering Example

Figure 14 ...... Horatio Victor Newcomb House, American Drawing Room

Figure 15 ...... Magic Main Saloon Interiors

494

Appendix D, figure 6 Schooner-yacht Fore-and-Aft Rigging Plan

Sail Plan for Morwenna David R. MacGregor, The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to Present, 121.

495

Appendix D, figure 7 Galatea, Mystic Seaport Museum Photographic Archive

Cox & Durant [?], “Interior of Main Saloon of Cutter Yacht Galatea,1888,” Albumen Print Collection, 81.94.4. Mystic Seaport Museum. 496

Appendix D, figure 8 Galatea Main Saloon Interiors

Galatea Main Saloon Interiors, Mystic Seaport Museum, Rosenfeld Collection

497

Olin, J. Stephens, II, All This and Sailing Too: An Autobiography, 48 and 49.

Appendix D, figure 9 Coronet Main Saloon Interiors

Coronet, Main Saloon, International Yacht Restoration School, archive photograph collection 498

This plan show Coronet’s accommodations as they are thought to have been at the end of the 19th century. International Yacht Restoration School, Coronet Project

Appendix D, figure 10 British Parlour, Robert Herrick drawing room

Jeremy Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau, 14.

499

Appendix D, figure 11 Gothic Style Interior Illustrations

“Ole English,” Bruce Talbert, 1865 Jeremy Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor : From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau, 95.

English Interiors, Theodore Howard, 1881 Jeremy Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Décor: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau, 95. 500

Appendix D, figure 12 Gothic Revival Style Portières Example

George W. Childs house, drawing room, G. W. Sheldon, Artistic Houses (New York: D. Appelton, 1883-1884). Reprint, Arnold Lewis, James Turner and Steve McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age: All 203 Photographs from “Artistic Houses,” 177.

501

Appendix D, figure 13 Table Covering Example

Arnold Lewis, James Turner, and Steven McQuillian, The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age, 177.

502

Appendix D. figure 14 Horatio Victor Newcomb House, American Drawing Room

Horatio Victor Newcomb house, drawing room G. W. Sheldon, Artistic Houses (New York: D. Appelton, 1883-1884). Reprint, Arnold Lewis, James Turner and Steve McQuillin, The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age: All 203 Photographs from “Artistic Houses,” 90.

503

Appendix D, figure 15 Magic Main Saloon Interiors

Magic main saloon L. Francis Herreshoff, An Introduction to Yachting, 74

504

APPENDIX E Auxiliary-Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age and Parlours

Figure 16 ...... Auxiliary-Steam Yachts

Figure 17 ...... 1882 Harper’s Weekly Illustration of Namouna Main Saloon

Figure 18 ...... Candace Wheeler, Textiles Designed for Namouna

Figure 19 ...... Morgan House Drawing Room, 219 Madison Avenue

Figure 20 ...... Corsair II Main Saloon Interiors

Figure 21 ...... Vanderbilt Grand Salon, Fifth Avenue and 57th Street

Figure 22 ...... North Star II, Main Saloon and Dining Room

505

Appendix E, figure 16 Auxiliary-Steam Yachts

Corsair II, at full dress ship, Philip McCutchan, Great Yachts, 63

505

Vanadis, auxiliary-steam yacht, Bill Robinson, Legendary Yachts: The Great American Yachts from Cleopatra’s Barge to Courageous, 50. Appendix E, figure 17 1882 Harper’s Weekly Illustration of Namouna Main Saloon

506

Appendix E, figure 17

The Main Saloon drawn by C. A. Vanderfoof Harper’s Weekly, May 6, 1882 New York Historical Society

507

Appendix E, figure 18 Candace Wheeler, Textiles Designed for Namouna

Thistle Designed Textile for Namouna Amelia Peck, and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art of Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900, 120.

508

“Mermaid” Designed Textile for Namouna Amelia Peck, and Carol Irish, Candace Wheeler: The Art of Enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900, 120.

509

Appendix E, figure 19 Morgan House Drawing Room, 219 Madison Avenue

Arnold Lewis, James Turner, and Steven McQuillian, The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age, 146

510

Appendix E, figure 20 Corsair II Main Saloon Interiors

Maldwin Drummond, Salt-Water Palaces, 114

511

Appendix E, figure 21 Vanderbilt Grand Salon, Fifth Avenue and 57th Street

Wayne Craven, Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society, 147.

512

Appendix E, figure 22 North Star II, Main Saloon and Dining Room Interiors

Jerry Patterson, The Vanderbilts, 258.

513

North Star II Main Saloon W. B. Schock, “North Star,” the Rudder, March 1907, 182.

North Star II Main Saloon W. B. Schock, “North Star,” the Rudder, March 1907, 182.

514

North Star II Dining Saloon Rosenfeld Photographic Collection, Mystic Seaport Museum

515

APPENDIX F Steam Yachts of the Gilded Age and Parlours

Figure 23 ...... William C. Whitney Drawing Room

Figure 24 ...... Niagara Music Saloon and Rosenfeld Interior Images

Figure 25 ...... Arthur Curtis James, Drawing Room, Beacon Hill House

Figure 26 ...... Margarita Deck Plans

Figure 27 ...... The Elms Drawing Room

Figure 28 ...... Margarita Main saloon Interiors

516

Appendix F, figure 23 William C. Whitney Drawing Room

Wayne Craven, Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society, 282.

517

Appendix F, figure 24 Niagara Music Saloon and Rosenfeld Interior Images

Bill Robinson, Legendary Yachts: The Great American Yachts from Cleopatra’s Barge to Courageous, 9.

518

Niagara, Dining Saloon Arthur F Aldridge, “Costliest of Sports,” Munsey’s Magazine, July 1901,509

Music Saloon Aft Saloon Rosenfeld Photographic Collection, Mystic Seaport Museum

519

Appendix F, figure 25 Arthur Curtis James, Drawing Room, Beacon Hill House

Michael C. Kathrens, Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935, 259.

520

Appendix E, figure 26 Margarita Deck Plans

Erik Hofman, The Steam Yachts: An Age of Elegance, 10

521

Appendix E, figure 27 The Elms Drawing Room

Michael C. Kathrens, Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935, 166.

522

Appendix E, figure 28 Margarita Main Saloon Interiors

Left Hand Side, John Rousemaniere, Luxury Yachts, 104.

523

John Rousemaniere, Luxury Yachts, 104 (right hand side).

524