Phantoms of the Hudson Valley: The Glorious Estates of a Lost Era

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0879516178, Hardcover)

A stunning architectural tour of 28 abandoned estates that loom as mysterious ruins along the Hudson River between New York City and Albany. Many of the now-faded mansions were designed by Stanford White, the premier architect of New York's gilded age, and were owned by such illustrious families as the Vanderbilts, Astors, and Whitneys. The author's evocative, sepia-tinted photos capture the architectural splendor of these once luxurious homes, as well as the ravages of time, from the houses' crumbling turrets and spires, porticos, columns, gargoyles, and weed-choked courtyards and gazebos, to their interior vaulted ceilings, spacious ballrooms, and huge, empty libraries. Paired with ghost stories and legends about the estates, this book is a haunting reminder of a bygone era and lifestyle.