Old money houses: Due to their rich history and great inheritances, old money can afford to have pretty decent homes. As they stay within the same family for many years, an old money home has to match some key characteristics.
Apart from antique furniture, you may find quiet luxury to have a distinct sense ofimpeccable craftsmanship and references to the antique. So, let’s jump into this article about what makes a house old money as well asdifferent types of old money houses.
Get to know more about old money families in my recent article.
What makes a house old money
Generally, old money houses have a couple of things in common. Accordingly, one of the key characteristics is lots of spaceas well as high qualityandmany rooms. Additionally, ornaments, big stone walls, and remarkable and timeless designs are crucial. You don’t want to feel like in asmall townhouse, don’t you?
Apart from that,antique furnishings and a reserved lifestyleare characteristics of old money houses. They often belong toexclusive social circlesand prioritize privacy and understatement. Ahuge estateis just as important as decorating every room with uniqueold money decor.
If you want to find out more aboutold money circles and societiesand conglomerates of old money families and their houses, check out this article.
Essentials of old money homes
Typically, those old money houses will have a quite huge estate with lots of space to do all kinds of activities and most and foremost a huge, beautiful garden. This garden most of the time separates the old money building from the street covering it from noises as well as unwanted viewers wanting to know what happens inside those huge walls.
Sometimes, you may even find a driveway for cars to enter as the estates are mostly fenced. Also, you will not want to leave your luxury car on the street, won’t you? Those not only look pretty luxurious and elegant but also are very practical.
Apart from the outside, the interior design should match the overall old money aesthetic. Therefore, Quiet Luxury uses grand staircases, stucco, lots of natural lighting, as well as carefully chosen decor to give off an elegant aesthetic.
To get to know more about old money interior design, check out my recent article here.
Prominent examples of old money houses
Now as we know about the features and essentials of old money houses, let’s look at some prominent examples to verify those thesisses.
1. Villa Balbianello
This stunning building located at Lake Como represents old money like hardly any other house. Built in the late 18th century on the site of a Franciscan monastery, it has changed its ownership several times in Italian families. Nowadays, it is used as a Museum to feature its last owner, Guido Monzino’s art collection.
With its iconic terraces and gardens, and its even more luxurious access by water, this unique old money building is places of many movies like the James Bond film “Casino Royale”.
If you want to know more about old money gardens, check out my recent article here.
2. Biltmore estate
Located in Asheville, North Carolina, the Biltmore Estate is a massive châteauesque mansion built by George Washington Vanderbilt II. This unique mansion arose in 1895 and features more than 250 rooms making it a little bigger than your usual house. The whole estate covers about 8,000 acres.
With its steep roofs and little towers and turrets, this unique old money building is home to many events and lets people visit it by tours to learn more about the life of the prestigeous Vanderbilt family.
3. Newport Mansions
The Newport Mansions, emblematic of the Gilded Age architectural style, are a conglomerate of multiple mansions of highly influential families of the past. E.G. The Breakers or Marble House both owned by the Vanderbilt family as well as other mansion work as Museums showing their lives and culture.
These houses were mainly used as summer residences for affluent families like the bespoken Vanderbilts, Oelrichs, or the King family. As a result, they formed an exclusive old money community in the late 19th and early 20th century for those affluent and influential families to come together, discuss business and enjoy themselves. Truly some iconic old money mansions.
Different types of old money houses
So, now let’s have a look at some houses people actually live in that do not cost multiple 10s of millions of dollars but still have a high standard of luxury and timeless elegance. We will mainly talk about styles of architecture as we continue this list.
European types of old money houses
European houses are famous for theirsustainabilityanduniquedesign. In most European countries, houses and mansions have a long history. With their unique exterior and interior, they match the old money design aesthetic perfectly.
Georgian style
The Georgian house, popular inBritainfrom the18th century to 1830, weas known for its elegance and were primarily reserved for the social class of the nobility.
Based on classicalRomanandGreekarchitecture, this housing style often features asymmetrical outline.
With a mix ofbrick wallsandwhite plasteredornamentsGeorgian homes are truly outstanding and you can recognize them for these features. The houses were purposely built to looklargefrom the far on great landscapes. You can noticesash windowsandsmall balconieswhen coming closer to the building. Therooflinewas generallyplainandpitched.
French Country style
Originally built in the 1600s to 1700s the French country-style houses are the oldest ones on this list. However, a vast majority of these houses didn’t make it until today. A French Country house combines thefarmhouselook with anestate-like style.
One of the key features of French Country houses is its warm neutrals and aclean outlinewithcurved archesas well asbrick walls. Imagine sitting in one of theseexquisite masterpieces of the design worldin Bretagne, sipping on a refined bottle of wine. It’s the epitome of old money elegance.
Located in the French countryside they usually come with great property. To even the path to the house, these mansions typically have these long gravelpathwaysfor their old money cars.Just as you would imagine a french country estate.
If you want to get to knowwhich cars old money drives, check out my article about them here.
Art nouveau
Art nouveauis known for its ornaments and shiny elements from the late 19th century and the early 20thcentury. Also, it is heavily inspired by Italian architecture and can be namedArt nouveau or Modern Style.
Inspired bynature, Art nouveau can be detected by itssinuouscurvesrepresenting flowers and plants. These lines though mustn’t be symmetrical. The so-calledwhiplash lineis a sinuous curve that is shaped like an S and can be found in architecture and on grandstaircases.
The Art nouveau style generally tries to create functionality andopen spacesas well as beautiful interior design.Therefore, you can expect lots of natural light in these rather modern homes.Stuccois something you want to have necessarily attached to Art Nouveau.
If you want to see what Art nouveau architecture looks like you should visitLake ComoandViennaas there are some pretty unique old money homes based in these areas.
English Country house
The English country houses are mansions that were built forthe Landed Gentryin British countries as an opposite to townhouses. The split between townhouses and Country houses allowed the multiple generations to live in thecountrysideand also in the city depending on their appointments or their mood.
These houses stand out because of their sheersizeandelegance. These English Country homes are the perfect places to live your old-money lifestyle and followtraditional hobbiessuch ashunting.
If you want to learn more about old money activities, feel free to read my blog post about the 18 old money activities.
American types of old money houses
American housesare also embossed from old money. Even though their history doesn’t reach that far back, America still offers some great and uniqueold money style houses. Some great places to find these old money homes are the Hamptons, Rhode island, or Palm Beach.
Find out more about prestigiousold money travel destinationshere.
Gilded age architecture
TheGilded age erastarted after the Civil war and ended in the early 20thcentury. During the Gilded age era, as the name already tells, the economy went up and wealth grew. People had a lot of money to spend and they put it into real estate.
Remarkable about these houses is theirsize. Architectural these houses are unique. The roofs are a mixtape ofpitchedandconicalroofs. Almost imitating castles, these mansions arecrestedwithpinnaclesand otherornamentsthat refer to this time.
Thefaçadeis usually held inlight colorsand made of lightsandstoneor other light materials. The windows aremassiveandarched. These old money mansions can also be seen with flat roofs looking like Greek temples.
Colonial house style
American Colonial architectureis based on different styles of the colonial periods. One of them being the Georgian style, the Americans adopted a classic European style of houses, like many others.
One of the features, all houses have in common is theirsymmetry. Colonial houses are very symmetrical with the door being exactly in the center all the time and the sides being equal no matter the European influence.
The colonial houses arenotdecorated with a lot of ornaments or anything likewise, they are rathersimplebutbigandluxuriousa lot of the time. The usual exterior also includesbrickorwoodenwallsalongside agabled roof.
Old-money Neoclassical houses
The Neoclassical style, which emerged in Europe, particularly Italy and France, aimed to mimic the architectural and artistic styles of theantiques Greece and Rome. Typical features of Neoclassical architecture are a largesize, big,dramaticcolumns, andblank walls.
Oftentimes this style of architecture can be found ongovernmentalbuildings. If you see one of these mansions you can certainly be sure that someonespends a long life there full ofwealth.
Italianate architecture
Another style that has been influenced by Europe but screams old money is theItalianate style. This style of architecture is known for itssquare-shapedelements that together create a unique-looking house.
This style can be found insymmetricalbuildings as well as inasymmetricalones.A special trademark of Italianate architecture is itssquare-shaped domesthat look like you’re straight out of an ancient Italian home.
Of course, these mansions are decorated withornamentsover thehigh windowsas well as a bright variation ofcolor schemes.
Final thoughts on old money houses
This article has shown us how versatile and uniqueold money housescan be. Whether they are based in Europe or America, some key elements are almost always the same.
These houses are not cheap by any means and are only for therichest of the population. Old money fits perfectly to this type.
Even if you can’t afford to buy one of these or already live in such a mansion, only watching these isspectacular.
