There are a few periods in Western history as fascinating overall and perhaps as far-reaching as the Italian Renaissance.

This great rebirth of art, music, literature, and to be sure, architecture that began in 15th century Florence,

brought back the glory and profound human significance

of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Many art historians and architectural scholars

suggest that perhaps America too had a renaissance during the late 19th century, again, a rebirth

of classical style, cultural importance, and democratic dominance

that indeed brought this new fledgling country into a modern age. The so-called American Renaissance

was a long period depending on which historian you talk with. Many suggest it began with the great centennial exhibition in 1876 and ran all the way up to the

beginning of World War I in 1914.

And some argue it went even into the early 1920s.

The period we call the Gilded Age was part of this larger American Renaissance.

It was a period when America tried to adopt aspects of European culture and society,

and sometimes conscientiously and sometimes clumsily, blend them into a new vision and style uniquely our own,

something uniquely American.

Perhaps the greatest manifestations of the American Renaissance, and indeed one of its more

revolutionary expressions, took place in the world of architecture.

In cities across the United States, but nowhere

more than in New York City itself, imposing new citadals to culture, great and grand, were built

to show that America could now compete with Europe's great cultural history and show off

newly minted American money and financial power.

Ironically, a number of these strongholds showing off this new empire have been lost to history,

but those that remain have become some of our most treasured cultural institutions with respect for the past, but a definite eye

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