Comments by "James Clendon" (@jamesclendon4811) on "This House" channel.

  1. A happy ending for this house, which escaped the wrecking ball. I think it's significant that it probably survived because it was "repurposed." It serves as a museum, but not just a museum of its own magnificence, but as a venue for the display of some of the Smithsonian's collection. There's a limit on how many mansions can be saved as museums just to show off what one particular millionaire built to show off his wealth--some can (Biltmore House, the Newport "cottages", a few others) but beyond that these buildings need to serve some purpose for the modern day if they are to avoid being demolished as useless white elephants.
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  2. Maybe this was just a more cynical viewpoint, but I often read that he thought that by paying his workers more they would then be able to afford to buy his cars. Thus he turned employees into potential customers.
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  3. That's one way of looking at it, and a rather ironic one. Jay Gould, the "founding father," is generally regarded as the most notorious and unscrupulous of the "Robber Barons" of his era. It's a long and complicated story, and it's probably unfair to judge him by modern standards, but as Wikipedia summarizes him: " an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the Robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century. Gould was an unpopular figure during his life and remains controversial".
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  4. Maybe others have mentioned this, but the building is currently closed while significant renovations take place. The project has been controversial (New York, after all) but the final plans shouldn't change the overall appearance too much. It is currently expected to reopen next year. Until then much of the art collection can be seen at the Frick Madison, in the onetime Whitney Museum building.
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  5. How appropriate. Their money came from railroads.
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  6. I love the look of this house. I hope you will also visit what is to me the most visually appealing of the surviving gilded age mansions--Westbury House/Old Westbury Gardens--on Long Island. It's beautifully maintained and open to the public. If the name doesn't ring a bell to some people they'll probably recognize it when they see it. It shows up frequently in movies and ads as the quintessential rich man's mansion, and I'm sure the fees those appearances generate contribute significantly to its upkeep.
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  7. The Phipps Estate is Old Westbury Gardens, right? In my opinion the most beautiful of all. Familiar to many because of its use in movies and commercials, it's maintained in beautiful condition and open to the public. I'm surprised it has never been featured on this channel.
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  8. Thank you for your gibberish.
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  9. Surely you know you misspoke. The site of the mansion is now the home of Congregation Emanu-el, not "Congressional." The temple is one of the largest synagogues in the world, and holds more people than St. Patrick's Cathedral down the street.
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  10. Maybe you`'ve heard the famous saying attributed to Sophie Tucker: "I`'ve been rich and I`'ve been poor. Rich is better."
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  11. I also thought building something like this for a 50th anniversary was a tad over-optimistic.
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  12. Named after their tennis instructor. (Actually: "Stan Hywet derives its name from its pre‐history, the site of an old stone quarry. It is pronounced “stan HEE’wit” and is Old English for stone quarry")
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  13. Well then, now that you've rendered the final word, let's just tear the freaking thing down.
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  14. If a family lives there is it not also their "home?" It's also a building, a dwelling, a residence, a domicile and no doubt others.
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  15.  @twistoffate4791  Yes, absolutely.
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  16. There's a lot of truth in that, but the personalities involved and the choices they made mattered too. The Vanderbilts spent all their money.. The Rockefellers gave a lot away but still have a lot left today.
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  17. Maybe if your nose wasn't so far in the air your hearing would improve. Ken pronounces library correctly, with both of its "r"s intact.
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  18. The Sculpture Garden of the Museum of Modern Art is hardly "nothing." It's part of a world-renowned institution, one of the jewels of New York City, much more significant than the large but rather mundane house that was torn down.
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  19. The front exterior of the house looks almost identical to several small-town railroad stations I used to see here in New Jersey. Most have been replaced or closed or demolished, but this house made me remember them.
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  20. He has mentioned in other videos that he relies on Public Domain photos. There may well be color photos which are covered by copyright and which he might have to pay to use. So financial and legal concerns preclude their use.
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  21. In my ignorant opinion, I think this house is far more beautiful than Biltmore. Biltmore is bigger, but I wonder which one cost more to build.
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  22. Crapped on all the guests, then flew too close to the chandeliers and expired, their tiny bodies falling into the elaborate coiffures of the elegant ladies below. At least that's what I hoped happened. Alternatively, they flew up to the ceiling where they nested in the decorative plasterwork and reproduced, their descendants living there happily to this day.
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  23. Sez who? Never heard either of those. I think it's most often pronounced Deel-ya. Ask Johnny Cash ("Delia's Gone").
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  24. It is still open to the public, but yes, to help pay for its upkeep (a million a year plus) it's rented out for any number of events. Films, TV shows, commercials, corporate events of all sorts, help keep the lights on and the furnace running. You can even have your wedding there. The National Trust can, and will, only contribute a limited amount. Everyone who bemoans the fact that so many historic mansions are torn down seriously underestimates how difficult and expensive it is to preserve them.
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  25. I'm surprised that all those commenters horrified that rich families with too much money spent big bucks on big houses didn't note that (some of) the Stokes adult children used one of their mansions for meetings of the Communist Party of America. Irony? Travesty? Poetic justice? Just some stuff that happened? What do you think?
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  26. She wanted the house to be used as a residence for the President of the US, and that is what it became (for a while), just not in the way she (or anyone else) expected.
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  27. Maybe they should have built a really really big log cabin.
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  28. According to imdb, Funny Girl used the Oak Grove estate in San Marino, CA
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  29. Only by Ken.🙂
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  30. That's OK. After your post and 10 previous ones saying the same thing everybody is aware of that.
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  31. My first thought of a house to suggest was Whitemarsh.
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  32. Unfortunately, we Americans weren't as lucky as Europeans, especially, who had German and British and American bombers in the twentieth century to periodically dispose of unwanted and outdated buildings.
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  33. Isn't Casa Encantada the "official" name of the Hearst Castle or maybe I'm thinking of some other famous mansion?
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  34. I thought it was a bit incongruous to accompany a crucifix with a tiger skin and a moose head. What would Jesus think of that?
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  35. Often more succinctly expressed as "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations."
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  36. He always pronounces it that way. I've learned to just overlook it and move on.
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  37. Hunh? What is different from what??
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  38. I think I heard that somewhere. Could it be in this post?
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  39. I guess that's one explanation--my first thought was the perils of strong drink. Just think, the artist was probably trying to be flattering--wonder what that nose was like in real life.
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  40. Those of us who like his videos have learned to overlook that and enjoy them anyway.
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  41. With the exception of the odd kidnapping and ensuing bank robbery here and there.
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  42. What a bizarre comment--where did you get that idea? You couldn't be more wrong, unless you consider extensive philanthropy, far-sighted support of the arts, art history and institutions, land preservation and environmental concerns to be pissing her father's controversial and arguably ill-gotten fortune away.
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  43. He uses public domain photos when possible and probably didn't find color photos not covered by copyright. Understandable.
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  44.  @ThisHouse  Yes you very wisely did, but don't expect people to read other comments before posting their own.
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  45. Did you watch the whole video? It said that since 2009 the house has been used as a private residence, and sometimes used as a site for filming--neither uninhabited nor languishing.
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  46.  @henrylivingstone2971  Well I guess now I know. Peace.
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  47. As if he didn't know that.
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  48. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I think the house, inside and out, is hideous. It's one of the few videos that you've shown that I kept hoping would end with the house being completely demolished.
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