All That Glitters: The Epitome of Luxury

Luxury Lobby

All That Glitters:
The Epitome of Luxury
Throughout all of history, there have been clear distinctions between wealthy and non wealthy. These distinctions can be observed through several of the luxuries that the wealthy lay claim to. Through this blog series I will talk through these luxuries and how the standards have changed over time for each of them.
For the first of the blogs, I believe there is no better way to start off than the architectural design of luxurious houses over the modern years.





Early 1900's Luxury Home Architecture
Starting off in the early 1900's era, there is no way to more perfectly exemplify the expectations of luxury during this time than looking at the image portrayed by the classic American novel, The Great Gatsby. In this novel, the ideal property of the time was very well exemplified. Like stated within the quote from the text by the narrator of the story, Nick, "it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden". This kind of estate was common within the type of person considered to be coming from "new money" aka they had only recently made all the money they had to purchase the estate and any other luxuries they had acquired during the time.

Gatsby Mansion Depiction

Looking more into the house itself, houses at this time were starting to be built more for lavish styled partying.  They were focused more on providing space for plenty of people to gather, places to put stuff commonly found at parties, places of common entertainment for house parties (such as swimming pools), and a lavish open concept interior with high ceilings and sparkling chandeliers hanging high above. Not to mention the meticulous focus gone into designing the façade of the house to appear very luxurious in a grandiose modern castle style.


Middle 1900's Luxury Home Architecture

1960's Style Mansion

Next looking into the mid 1900's era, the definition of a luxurious house changed up to more suit the times and the surrounding environment. Due to the vastly oversized and grandiose properties of the earlier 1900's periods, space was limited but money was not. People were not able to build houses surrounded by tons of acres as they were in the early 1900's but they could certainly build a very nice looking house with the money they had acquired. This period of time was when the definition of a luxury house started to change. Instead of going for the oversized just for partying style housing, the wealthy began making more luxurious structures to set apart the façade of their houses from those of
older houses. With the addition of more architectural technology, new structures that would have been considered impossible were being commonly built around. However, the most defining type of mansion within the mid 1900's time period was the rustic building structures that took on a twist on Victorian era architecture and the classic American plantation styled house. Also, this era marked the beginning of more of a focus on interior comfort with the luxurious new inventions of the time period that helped more so set apart the wealthy. Lastly, with expensive cars becoming more commonly produced, the need for aesthetically pleasing, large garages was very prevalent.


Modern Luxury Home Architecture

Modern Style Mansion

Finally, in the most recent times, the definition of luxury houses took what the mid 1900's sought to do, and escalated it heavily. Due to even less available space for houses, architecture took a very large turn for the creative side. The modern definition of luxurious houses is very much observed within the very abstract architecture seen within the houses and the very abstract placements of the houses. The modern day houses make very good use of small spaces by creating structures with use of many different shapes and architectural styles that contribute to a luxurious appeal within the house that make each of these houses built in these unorthodox manners easily discernable as luxurious centers of wealth.

The Everlasting Industry

In the case of many luxuries, progress within is doomed to stay stagnant, if the item still exists as a luxury through the tests of times, as we've seen many luxuries from pre 20th century culture simply drop off the face of the Earth. However, When looking at the housing industry, it is very clear that we will never see a period of time where there is no change. Housing is always a necessity for people, and for as long as the rich exist, there will always be new crafty ways to maximize house space and design potential.