Artistic Houses was published in 1883–84 by D. Appleton and Company of New York. It was subtitled Being a Series of Interior Views of a number of the Most Beautiful and Celebrated Homes in the United States with A Description of the Art Treasures contained therein. The first volume, consisting of two parts, appeared in 1883, and the second, also in two parts, appeared in 1884. However, these four parts were not equal in length or in the number of plates and houses included. In the first volume, part one contained 86 pages and 49 plates of 14 different houses and part two 98 pages and 51 plates of 19 different buildings. In the volume published the following year, part one consisted of 107 pages and 50 plates of 29 houses and part two 91 pages and 53 plates of 35 separate structures. In all, there were 203 photographs taken from the interiors of 97 buildings, all but two of them houses.
As the publisher had done so successfully with Picturesque America, Artistic Houses was sold only through subscription, the plate and text becoming the exclusive property of its 500 subscribers. The book was distributed over the two-year period in ten sections, each containing from 19 to 22 photographs. Printed in imperial folio size on thick, white woven matt paper and containing clear phototypes processed by the highly respected Gutekunst Company of Philadelphia, Artistic Houses represented a level of publishing lavishness appropriate for the houses it featured. Each photograph, approximately 7″ × 9″, was printed on light board measuring about 14″ × 20″. In a note accompanying the tenth and final section, the writer explained that the publication had been much more expensive and time-consuming than had been anticipated, citing as causes painstaking care, repeated takes of the photographer, owners who complained of poor angles from which their rooms had been shot and glass plates broken in transit. “Sometimes it has seemed as if the Fates themselves were in league against the appearance of a dilatory section.” Despite such proclamations of conscientious preparation, the majority of photographs were printed reversed, printed from the wrong side of the negative. An error of this magnitude is incomprehensible, particularly when we know that the plates were distributed in ten parts over a two-year period. It seems reasonable to assume that some of the owners whose houses were included in the first set of plates, for example, former President U. S. Grant and his wife, or Mrs. A. T. Stewart, widow of New York’s most influential dry-goods merchant, would have complained to the publisher that some of their rooms had been inaccurately publicized. There is no discernible pattern to the reversed photographs, though a higher percentage was printed correctly in the first volume than in the second. Only two of the 22 photographs in the last section have been identified as being correctly printed. The steps taken to determine whether a photograph in Artistic Houses was correctly printed will be discussed in the paragraphs explaining the differences between The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age and Artistic Houses.
The text was flattering, complimenting owners, architects and decorators for their roles in rescuing American rooms from the pre-Centennial dark ages of interior decoration and creating living environments reflecting the rising taste and artistic sensitivity of post-Centennial America. “The domestic architecture of no nation in the world can show trophies more original, affluent, or admirable.” Usually, the text addressed the rooms photographed, calling attention to the woodwork, the wall coverings, the materials used for the floors and ceilings, the hangings and the color scheme. It also contained references to specific paintings and sculptures within a room but did not identify carefully objets d’art which had been collected by the owners. This text paid less attention to furniture, rugs, ceramics, the plan of the house and its exterior style and appearance. The author referred to decorators and architects occasionally, but did not elaborate and wrote virtually nothing about the families who inhabited these interiors. As the series progressed, the descriptions became shorter, suggesting that the initial enthusiasm of both author and publisher was not sustained throughout the two-year period.
Today historians regard Artistic Houses as the best source of information and illustrations for the private town house in the major Eastern cities of the United States in the early 1880s. Published references to it in the nineteenth century, however, were rare. The major periodicals and art journals of the day did not review it, a failure which may be explained partly by the reaction of Art Age in May 1883. This journal published a facsimile of one of the pages from Artistic Houses describing rooms in the William H. Vanderbilt house in New York and commended Appleton and Company for the elegance of the typeface and layout. Referring to Appleton’s subscription scheme, the journal noted:
Their method of selling such works, however, prevents any but a very few privileged persons from becoming acquainted with them, and were it not for special concessions, the plates from their last work, Artistic Houses of this country, would not be given here, owing to the sedulous care with which any information concerning the work is kept from all but the canvasser in charge of its sale.
Since Appleton printed only 500 copies which were distributed to presecured subscribers, the firm did not need reviews for additional profits, and it may have even discouraged reviews to protect the privacy of the families living in these houses.
There was no author listed on the title page of Artistic Houses, and in the twentieth century the book has been identified by its title and publisher. Although we do not have absolute proof, we are quite sure that its author or principal author was George William Sheldon (January 28, 1843–January 28, 1914) and, consequently, will refer to him in our text as the author.
Sheldon graduated from Princeton in 1863 and served the following year as a medic in Grant’s army. From 1865 to 1870 he was a tutor in Latin and belles lettres at Princeton before moving to Union Theological Seminary in New York to teach Oriental languages. He evidently spent two years in England before returning to the United States to become the art critic of the New York Evening Post, a position he held from 1876 until 1882. Sheldon worked from 1884 to 1886 as drama critic and city editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser and from 1890 until 1900 in London as the literary adviser of D. Appleton and Company. Beginning in 1879 he published prolifically for the next decade, producing American Painters (1879), Hours with Art and Artists (1882), Selections in Modern Art (1885–86), Artistic Country-Seats (1886–87), Recent Ideals of American Art (1888), Ideals of Life in France (1890) and Woman in French Art (1890). All of these were published by D. Appleton and Company. He died at the age of 71 at his residence in Summit, New Jersey.
Varied evidence supports the conclusion that Sheldon wrote or was responsible for Artistic Houses. In Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1888), the Dictionary of Authors (1892), the American Art Annual (1914) and the New York Times obituary (January 30, 1914), he is cited as the author of the books listed above as well as Artistic Homes, which was dated 1882. Though the title and date are incorrect in these four biographical sketches, this would appear to be an error of transcription rather than of attribution. The text format of Artistic Houses is identical to that of Artistic Country-Seats, which Sheldon wrote three years later. Furthermore, the writing styles in both are similar, and the later publication, which includes several houses published in the earlier work, contains phrases and even paragraphs found in Artistic Houses.
The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age retains all of the photographs published in Artistic Houses but not the original text. The text of the present edition contains an introductory essay concerned with those who lived in these houses, their wealth and their interest in art, written by James Turner and Arnold Lewis, and captions for each of the illustrations, written by Lewis and Steven McQuillin. The captions include most of the valuable information in Sheldon’s descriptions plus biographical comments on the house owners and their families, references to the houses published in the late nineteenth century, further comments on the paintings and sculptures displayed, the present condition of the houses and, where possible, specific locations. The new text contains short histories of several of the more significant or unusual houses. Although Sheldon did not include illustrations of exteriors of the residences in Artistic Houses, in this new edition photographs or drawings of numerous exteriors illustrate both the introductory text and the caption section.
In order to utilize this format effectively, the arrangement of the photographs in the original has been changed. However, the alphabetical list of illustrations includes the order of photographs in the original work. As mentioned, many of the plates in Artistic Houses were printed in reverse. Only 62 appear to be correct while 107 appear to be reversed; 34 of the photographs remain undetermined. The primary clues within the photograph verifying the correct or reversed condition were clocks, pianos, works of art and lettering on inscriptions and titles on bookbindings. External evidence has been found through careful reading of the original descriptions, from plans and illustrations of the rooms published elsewhere and from owners currently living in the houses.
The following illustrations, printed reversed in the original edition, are here reproduced correctly: 8–12, 27–37, 39, 41, 44, 47–49, 52, 55–57, 59, 63, 64, 66, 67, 71–74, 81–83, 94–96, 98, 99, 101–104, 109, 111–113, 119–121, 126, 128, 130, 131, 133, 137, 138, 143, 147, 148, 153–164, 166–174, 176–178, 180, 181, 183–189, 191–197, 199, 200, 203. The proper orientation for the following photographs has not been determined: 6, 20, 38, 46, 53, 54, 65, 68, 69, 75, 78–80, 86–93, 97, 100, 110, 127, 129, 132, 134, 135, 142, 182, 190, 198.