Join us as we head upstate to Mills Manor at Staatsburgh State Historic Site on Tuesday, October 3rd!
Majestically situated on the banks of the Hudson River, Mills House is a 25-room Greek Revival home built in 1832 by Morgan Lewis and his wife Gertrude Livingsgton that was eventually inherited by Ruth Livingston Mills, wife of noted financier and philanthropist Ogden Mills.
After completion of a remodel in 1896, the house had been transformed into a Beaux-Arts mansion of 65 rooms and 14 bathrooms. Its exterior was embellished with balustrades, pilasters, floral swags, and a massive portico. The rooms were furnished with elaborately carved and gilded furniture, fine oriental rugs, silk fabrics, and a collection of art objects from Europe, ancient Greece, and the Far East.
In 1938, the house and 192 acres were given to the State of New York by Gladys Mills Phipps, daughter of Ruth and Ogden Mills, and wife to Henry Carnegie Phipps, son of Henry Phipps and brother to Jay Phipps, owner of what is now Old Westbury Gardens. The majority of the home’s contents were left in place and donated to the State in 1970, shortly before Mrs. Phipps’ death.
Mills Mansion is emblematic of the great country estates built in the 19th and early 20th centuries to house America’s wealthiest families. It is an elegant example of the beautiful homes built by America’s financial and industrial leaders during the Gilded Age.
