It’s no secret that The Gilded Age’s Mr. And Mrs. Russell are inspired by the real-life Vanderbilts, including that mansion, which was designed by none other than Richard Morris Hunt. “The house you’re talking about was No. 660 Fifth Avenue, the home of William K Vanderbilt and his wife Alva,” says historian and author Keith Taillon, who recently published Walking New York: Manhattan History on Foot. (Side note: don’t miss the chapter on the Upper East Side that takes readers past some of the most gorgeous surviving Beaux-Arts mansions in New York.)

“The rise of industry (especially rail and steamships) helped aesthetic trends in Europe reach the United States much more quickly as the time required to cross the Atlantic shrank exponentially,” says Taillon of Beaux-Arts’ relationship with the Second Industrial Revolution. For the nouveau riche of the time, who were “less beholden to more conservative ways of the city’s older families,” adopting European styles was done with little regard for the old guard.

“The William K Vanderbilt home was not the first French-inflected building in New York, but it was easily the most eye-catching and extravagant up to that point (it was completed in 1883), and helped shift the city’s streetscape away from dour brownstone and toward lighter materials like limestone and marble,” Taillon explains. Prior to the emergence of Beaux-Arts, he notes that less ostentatious styles such as Italianate, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Federal—wrought in brick, brownstone, and sometimes marble—were the norm. When prompted to share his favorite detail of 660 Fifth Avenue, Alva’s grand housewarming party in 1883 comes to mind. “It was so over-the-top that it forever cemented the Vanderbilts as the unquestioned rulers of Gilded Age society (one guest, whose nickname was ‘Puss,’ arrived in a dress made of real white cat furs).”

Examples of Beaux-Arts Buildings

Musée d’Orsay

Originally designed as a railway station for the 1900 Paris Exposition, Musée d’Orsay is a Beaux-Arts icon, beloved for its grand clock and large arched windows that look out over the flowing river Seine. Admirers of this Victor Laloux building should also be on the lookout for details like stone garlands and classical pediments.

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal, as it stands today, was built in 1913 to replace a previous structure, and is considered one of the most magnificent examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City. Details such as Corinthian columns and symmetry cement the classical elements, while flourishes like the ornate facade with a Tiffany stained glass clock and the celestial ceiling in the main concourse drive home the extravagance.

Opéra Garnier

Also referred to as Palais Garnier, the Opéra Garnier is widely regarded as the most beautiful Beaux-Arts building in the world. The masterpiece was designed by Charles Garnier and is a visual feast, rich in Baroque and Renaissance ornamentation. Among its countless highlights is the marvelous staircase crafted in marble, which divides into two impressive flights of stairs.

The New York Public Library

When pressed to share his favorite Beaux-Arts structure still standing in New York City, Taillon nods to the main New York Public Library building on Fifth Avenue. “Not only for its stunning design by the firm of Carrere & Hastings, but for its embodiment of civic ideals: it is a stunningly grand structure built for the use and edification of the public, to represent the importance of a free exchange of knowledge.”