4 Real-Life The Gilded Age Filming Locations You Can Visit

The Gilded Age is a perfect show if you want to escape from reality and immerse yourself in a beautiful fairy tale about beautiful people living in beautiful houses and walking down streets with perfectly clean white stone sidewalks.

If you were wondering where you can have a glimpse of brilliant luxury from the screen, then these 4 places are for you.

1. Angel of the Waters

In one scene, the characters make a date at a fountain in Central Park. This fountain is real, and is one of the most famous in New York.

During the conversation, the characters discover that the fountain appeared about 10 years ago and was created by a woman. That's right: in the show, it's 1882, and the fountain was installed in 1873. And yes, the designer, Emma Stebbins, was one of the US' first female sculptors.

2. The Lotos Club and the Cooper Hewitt Museum

Bertha Russell, though a fictional character, has a very real prototype – Alva Vanderbilt. In order to shine in New York's high society, Alva longs for the friendship of Mrs. Astor (who is actually a real historical figure), but Mrs. Astor does not notice her at all.

Then Alva decides to build a mansion in the style of a French chateau downtown. The real-life family moves in 1882, the year the show takes place. Only the real house is very different from the one in the show.

The Russell house in the show is a mix of two buildings in Manhattan – the Lotos Club and the Cooper Hewitt Museum. The real house was known as Petit Chateau and was located at 660 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

3. The Newport Casino

Almost the entire second episode of the second season takes place on the grounds of the Newport Casino, which you can also visit.

The name comes from the Italian "casina", which means "a small house," so the purpose of this Casino was not a gambling establishment, but a social club.

Its rooms were originally used for events such as summer concerts and various sports. The Newport Casino Tennis Club, for example, is the oldest tennis club in the US and hosts annual meetings and championships within its walls.

4. Academy of Music of Philadelphia

The fourth episode of the second season was filmed at the Academy of Music of Philadelphia, which opened in 1857 and is of great cultural value. The ordinary brick building has a beautiful Art Deco interior – fancy lamps, velvet curtains and a huge chandelier.

The original Metropolitan Opera building was located on Broadway between 39th and 40th Streets. The building suffered significant fire damage in 1892. Up until 1966, when the Metropolitan Opera eventually relocated to the Manhattan-based Lincoln Center building, the theater was restored and in use.