Staatsburgh State Historic Site, Beaux-Arts mansion in Staatsburg, New York
Staatsburgh State Historic Site is a 65-room Beaux-Arts mansion in Staatsburg overlooking the Hudson River, with marble floors, marble-clad walls, and Belgian tapestries throughout the interior. The property spreads across the hilltop with gardens and grounds that reach down toward the river, offering views of the Catskill Mountains across the water.
The site began as a 25-room Greek Revival residence in 1832 on the Livingston family's rural estate. In 1895, architects McKim, Mead, and White redesigned the structure into a grand Beaux-Arts mansion, reflecting the changing tastes and wealth of its owners during the Gilded Age.
The mansion displays European and Far Eastern furnishings collected by Ruth Livingston Mills and Ogden Mills, revealing how wealthy families of the Gilded Age gathered art and objects from around the world. The rooms show their personal taste and the lifestyle choices that defined their era.
Visitors can tour the mansion rooms with guides and walk the grounds sloping toward the river, which offers shade from trees and open viewing areas. Comfortable shoes are recommended since the property is hilly and pathways vary in their condition.
The estate contains a coal-fired power plant near the Hudson River that supplied electricity to the mansion, one of the earliest examples of private residential power generation. Few visitors notice this industrial structure tucked away on the grounds, which powered the home's electric lighting system.
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