The 48-acre summer home for prominent New York City attorney and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Hodges Choate, provides a glimpse into the Gilded Age lifestyle. Its 44-room gabled mansion, designed by renowned architect Sanford White, overflows with antique furnishings and priceless artifacts from the family’s travels in Europe and the Far East. That influence can also be found in the 10 acres of surrounding formal gardens with panoramic views, fountains, sculpture, and themed plantings, the result of a 30-year collaboration between Choate’s daughter, Mabel, and landscape architect Fletcher Steele. Walk down the Art Deco-style Blue Steps. Considered one of the most famous built landscapes in America, it is a series of deep blue fountain pools, flanked by four flights of concrete stairs and white birches.
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Gilded Age Splendor in the Berkshires
The 48-acre summer home for prominent New York City attorney and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Hodges Choate, provides a glimpse into the Gilded Age lifestyle. Its 44-room gabled mansion, designed by renowned architect Sanford White, overflows with antique furnishings and priceless artifacts from the family’s travels in Europe and the Far East. That influence can also be found in the 10 acres of surrounding formal gardens with panoramic views, fountains, sculpture, and themed plantings, the result of a 30-year collaboration between Choate’s daughter, Mabel, and landscape architect Fletcher Steele. Walk down the Art Deco-style Blue Steps. Considered one of the most famous built landscapes in America, it is a series of deep blue fountain pools, flanked by four flights of concrete stairs and white birches.