From the Kennedys to the Gettys: amazing homes of the world's most famous families
Palatial properties owned by the most prestigious families of all time
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Ready for some real-estate eye candy? From the Astors and the Rockefellers to the Rothschilds, the most famous and successful non-royal families in history have owned some of the most impressive properties on the planet. We take a look at the incredible homes of seven celebrated dynasties.
The Vanderbilts
The Vanderbilts made their fortune from railroads and shipping during the 19th century. The first of the robber barons, Cornelius Vanderbilt rose from rags to riches to become the wealthiest person in the US by the 1860s. The tycoon died in 1877 at 10 Washington Place, his mansion in New York.
The Vanderbilts
Though Cornelius Vanderbilt had only one property of note, his descendants built some of the most magnificent mansions of America's Gilded Age. His eldest and favourite grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, kicked things off in 1883 with the construction of a Châteauesque townhouse at 1 West 57th Street in New York City.
The Vanderbilts
Spanning 90,000 square feet, the six-storey house was, at the time, the largest ever built in the Big Apple, boasting everything from a ballroom to a smoking den. Following the death of Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1899, the mansion passed to his wife, who offloaded the property in 1926. It was subsequently demolished to make space for the Bergdorf Goodman department store.
The Vanderbilts
In 1885, socialite Emily Vanderbilt Sloane, granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, oversaw the construction of Elm Court, a 105-room Shingle-style summer escape in rural Massachusetts. The house went on to host the crème de la crème of American society.
The Vanderbilts
After the socialite's death in 1947, Elm Court, which was decorated in an opulent Louis XIV style, was repurposed as an upscale boutique hotel. These days, the property belongs to a Colorado-based consortium that includes Robert Berle, a direct descendant of the original owner.
The Vanderbilts
Not to be outdone, William Kissam Vanderbilt commissioned America's most sumptuous summer house in 1888. Completed in 1892 for $11 million (£8.4 million), a colossal amount of money at the time, Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island was the most luxurious home in the country, and then some.
The Vanderbilts
The Beaux-Arts beauty's 50 rooms are decadent and showy. William Kissam Vanderbilt gifted Marble House to his wife Alva, who sold it to stockbroker Frederick H. Prince in 1932. The Preservation Society of Newport County acquired the property in 1963 with financial assistance from William and Alva's son Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, and the mansion is now a museum.
The Vanderbilts
The Breakers, a 70-room Italian Renaissance-style palazzo, which is also located in Newport, Rhode Island, was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II between 1893 and 1895. With money no object, the fabulously wealthy heir went to town on the decoration, even outclassing glitzy Marble House.
The Vanderbilts
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The morning room, which features wall panels made from pure platinum, is one of The Breakers' most opulent spaces. The time warp property was passed to Cornelius Vanderbilt II's daughter Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi, who died in 1965. It was then sold to The Preservation Society of Newport County in 1972, and is now Rhode Island's number one tourist attraction.
The Vanderbilts
The most majestic Vanderbilt mansion of them all, and America's largest house, Biltmore, in North Carolina, was commissioned by George Washington Vanderbilt II, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Completed in 1895, the 250-room Châteauesque pile is still owned by descendants of George Washington Vanderbilt II, including Bill Cecil.
The Guinnesses
The founder of the great Anglo-Irish brewing dynasty, entrepreneur Arthur Guinness leased his first brewery in 1755, and amassed a considerable fortune by the time of his death in 1803, as well as a fine townhouse on Dublin's elegant Mountjoy Square.
The Guinnesses
Arthur Guinness' namesake son upgraded to a larger Dublin mansion called Beaumont House, which is now a convalescent home. Then, Arthur Guinness II's son, Sir Benjamin Guinness, 1st Baronet went even more upmarket. He bagged Iveagh House, also in Dublin, as well as Ashford Castle in County Mayo.
The Guinnesses
Sir Benjamin Guinness purchased ancient Ashford Castle in 1852, and set about enlarging the building. The Gothic country pile stayed in the Guinness family until 1939 when it was sold on and converted into a luxury hotel, which has hosted big-name VIPs over the years, from royalty to US presidents.
The Guinnesses
Sir Benjamin's son, Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, became the richest person in Ireland, and lived an even more pampered existence than his father. In 1873, the future earl snapped up the palatial Farmleigh in Phoenix Park to serve as his Dublin base.
The Guinnesses
The 18th-century house was extensively refurbished. After remaining in the family for generations, Farmleigh was sold in 1999 by Edward Guinness to the Irish government for £26 million ($34 million) and is now used as a guesthouse for foreign dignitaries.
The Guinnesses
Renowned for his philanthropic largesse, the 1st Earl bought Kenwood House in London's Hampstead in 1925 and bequeathed the stately home to the nation on his death two years later. As one of the world's grandest stately homes, the Neoclassical building was remodelled by Robert Adam in the late 1700s.
The Guinnesses
Kenwood opened to the public in 1928. The house boasts an enviable collection of paintings, which also came courtesy of Edward Guinness. Notable works on display in the north London mansion include Vermeer's The Guitar Player and Self-Portrait with Two Circles by Rembrandt.
The Guinnesses
In 1937, the second son of the 1st Earl, Arthur Ernest Guinness, bought Luggala, a romantic County Wicklow hunting lodge as a gift for his daughter Oonagh to mark her marriage to Lord Oranmore and Browne. The house was inherited by Oonagh's son, the late art collector Garech Browne.
The Guinnesses
Together with his wife, Princess Harshad Purna Devi of Morvi, Browne decorated the interiors in an eclectic Indian-influenced style, and welcomed famous guests such as Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson over the years. Following Browne's death in March 2018, the property is up for sale, with an asking price of $32.6 million (£24.8 million).
The Guinnesses
While other scions of the vast Guinness family have relinquished their ancestral properties, the current Earl of Iveagh, Edward Guinness remains custodian of his line's English seat. He owns the sprawling Elveden Hall, which his namesake great-great-grandfather, the 1st Earl, acquired in 1894.
The Rockefellers
The Rockefeller family is considered American royalty, but the clan's origins are anything but regal. Progenitor of the dynasty William Rockefeller Sr., a con artist who was implicated in a number of serious scandals during his lifetime, could only stretch to this modest farmhouse in Richford, New York, which he bought around 1833.
The Rockefellers
From humble beginnings, Rockefeller's entrepreneurial sons John Davison Sr. and William Jr. went on to found Standard Oil in 1870. By the 1880s, the brothers were among the richest people in the US. In 1886, William Jr. splashed $150,000 (£114,000) on the splendid Rockwood Hall in Mount Pleasant, New York.
The Rockefellers
The younger Rockefeller sibling spent millions revamping the Neo-Gothic pile, transforming it into an extravagant 240-room palace. William Jr. died at the house in 1922. The property served as a country club for a time, before finally succumbing to the wrecking ball in 1941.
The Rockefellers
John Davison Rockefeller Sr., who would go on to become the world's first billionaire, was a frequent guest as his brother's country estate, and bought land and property in nearby Pocantico Hills in 1893. Kykuit, the tycoon's famous 40-room Neoclassical mansion, was completed in 1915.
The Rockefellers
The industrialist spared no expense on the interiors, packing the rooms with exquisite antiques and paintings. After housing four generations of the family, the mansion was bequeathed by Nelson Rockefeller to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1979 and is now a museum.
The Rockefellers
Like his billionaire father, philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller Jr. acquired a number of wow-factor properties in his lifetime, including the incomparable 15B, 740 Park Avenue, New York City's most desirable apartment. He bought this property in 1937, and filled with valuable furnishings and art.
The Rockefellers
The fabled 24-room apartment was sold to financier Saul Steinberg in 1971 and is now owned by private equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman. Other notable residents of the exclusive Upper East Side cooperative include David Koch and wedding dress designer Vera Wang.
The Rockefellers
The son of John Davison Rockefeller Jr., and one of the five famous Rockefeller brothers, banker David died in 2017 at the ripe old age of 101, leaving behind a slew of premium real estate. His heirs have already sold several properties, including Hudson Pines in Pocantico Hills.
The Rockefellers
Located on the Rockefeller family estate, the 11-bedroom, 15-bathroom mansion sold for $33 million (£25 million) in March 2018. Other homes that belonged to the late centenarian have also been put up for sale, including a New York townhouse, which went for $27 million (£21 million), and a retreat in Maine.
The Rockefellers
Kycuit and Hudson Pines no longer belong to the family, but several prominent Rockefellers still live in grand houses on the vast Pocantico Hills estate. One such resident is philanthropist Margaret Dulany "Peggy" Rockefeller.
The Astors
Rising to prominence during the 19th century, the Astor family has been hugely influential in business, politics and society in the US and the UK. Born in Walldorf, Germany in 1763, patriarch John Jacob Astor emigrated to the USA at the age of 21, where he made a fortune in the fur trade, and acquired the long-demolished Hellgate mansion in New York.
The Astors
The dynasty's founding father also had a mansion on New York's Broadway, which later became Astor House, the city's first luxury hotel. In 1836, his son and main heir William Backhouse Astor Sr. purchased Rokeby mansion in Barrytown, New York, for $50,000 (£38,000).
The Astors
The 43-room mansion passed to his granddaughter Margaret Astor Ward and her husband John Winthrop Chandler, who both died tragically young, leaving behind 11 children, the so-called Astor Orphans. Steeped in faded grandeur, the mansion is still owned by a (relatively hard-up) branch of the family.
The Astors
In 1881, William Backhouse Astor's namesake son acquired the Italianate Beechwood mansion in Newport, Rhode Island for $190,000 (£145,000). The moneyed heir splashed $2 million (£1.5 million) on renovations, and the 39-room oceanfront property fast became a magnet for America's high society.
The Astors
Beechwood was inherited by William Backhouse Astor's son John Jacob Astor IV, who married his wife Madeleine in the ballroom. He died on the Titanic in 1912. After Madeleine Astor's death, Beechwood was sold to a theatre company. In 2010, the mansion was purchased for $10.5 million (£8 million) by billionaire Larry Ellison to house his collection of art.
The Astors
William Backhouse Astor's grandson, William Waldorf Astor moved to the UK in 1891 and snapped up the sublime Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire. The expat, who also managed to bag an aristocratic title, gifted the 19th-century Italianate mansion to his son Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount in 1906.
The Astors
Viscount Astor and his wife Nancy, the UK's first sitting female MP, hosted legendary parties at the mansion for high-profile guests including Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi. The last Astor moved out in 1968 after the house became the focus of the notorious Profumo Affair (a charged political scandal), and the estate was handed over to the National Trust.
The Astors
Leased by the National Trust, Cliveden is now a luxury hotel – Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland stayed there the night before the royal wedding. Back to the Astors, William Waldorf Astor also acquired the 13th-century Hever Castle in Kent, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, in 1903.
The Astors
The uber-wealthy philanthropist moved into the castle after letting go of Cliveden in 1906, and embarked on an extensive renovation project, which included restoring a bedroom once used by King Henry VIII. The castle remained in the family until 1983 and is now a popular tourist attraction.
The Astors
Though some Astors have fallen on hard times, the aristocratic branch is doing just fine. One such individual is the current Viscount Astor, Conservative peer William Astor, who incidentally is the stepfather of Samantha Cameron (wife of former UK prime minister David Cameron). He resides at Ginge Manor, a 17th-century redbrick mansion in Oxfordshire.
The Rothschilds
The patriarch of the illustrious Rothschild banking dynasty, and the founding father of international finance, Mayer Amschel Rothschild was born in Frankfurt's Jewish ghetto in 1744, and rose to become Europe's leading banker.
The Rothschilds
Mayer Amschel Rothschild sent his sons abroad to expand the family banking business. Jacob was packed off to France, where he picked up a title and changed his name, becoming Baron James de Rothschild. In 1855, the baron commissioned what is now considered the largest and most luxurious 19th-century French château.
The Rothschilds
Château de Ferrières near Paris exemplifies the 'Goût Rothschild': the family's elaborate signature style that was copied by other leading families, including the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Astors. The château eventually passed to Guy de Rothschild, who donated it to the University of Paris in 1975. It is now a haute gastronomy school.
The Rothschilds
Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire was built between 1874 and 1889 as a weekend retreat for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, great-grandson of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and a scion of the Austrian branch of the dynasty. He went on to have a successful political career in the UK.
The Rothschilds
The Renaissance-style country estate was the setting of numerous swish balls in its hey day, and even hosted Queen Victoria, who was taken aback by the manor's beauty and luxuriousness. Waddesdon was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957 by James de Rothschild, and is now open to the public.
The Rothschilds
In 1876, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, the son of the progenitor of the French branch Baron James de Rothschild, bought Paris' most sought-after townhouse, the Hôtel de Pontalba on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which he decorated in the Goût Rothschild.
The Rothschilds
The detached house passed to Maurice de Rothschild and was confiscated by the Nazis during World War II, then sold to the US government in 1948. Today, the stylish Hôtel de Pontalba is the official residence of the US ambassador to France.
The Rothschilds
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a beautiful rose-hued property in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera, was built between 1905 and 1912. It was constructed for Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, granddaughter of Baron James de Rothschild.
The Rothschilds
The villa was crammed with rare antiques and art, and even had its very own zoo with antelopes, gazelles, flamingos and other exotic animals. Upon the death of the baroness in 1934, the property was bequeathed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts and turned into a museum.
The Rothschilds
One of the few Rothschilds who still lives at a family seat, financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild resides at the Tudor Revival Ascott House in Buckinghamshire. The property was acquired by his great-great-uncle Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild in 1873.
The Gettys
The fortune of the philanthropic Getty family derives from patriarch George Getty who had the foresight to invest in America's burgeoning oil industry in 1903. He moved his family from Minnesota to Los Angeles in 1905 and commissioned a half-timbered mansion, which was completed three years later.
The Gettys
George Getty's son J. Paul Getty founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the richest private citizen in the world by the 1950s. In 1922–23, the industrialist, who had invested shrewdly during the Great Depression, built the Mediterranean-style William O. Jenkins House on Los Angeles' Wiltshire Boulevard for one of his ex-wives.
The Gettys
The mansion was knocked down in 1957, having remained empty for some time, but not before it was immortalised on film. The property was used as a location for two classic Hollywood movies, Sunset Boulevard and Rebel Without a Cause.
The Gettys
George Getty's LA home may have been demolished, but the lookalike half-timbered Windsor Square mansion his grandson George Getty II lived in still stands. The Tudor Revival property, which was built in 1921, was acquired by the Getty Oil Company in 1958.
The Gettys
In 1977, the firm donated the mansion to the City of Los Angeles to serve as the official residence of the mayor, and renamed it Getty House. In this 2013 photo, outgoing mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (right) and mayor-elect Eric Garcetti discuss policy in the panelled dining room.
The Gettys
J. Paul Getty moved to Europe (having previously studied at the University of Oxford) in the 1940s, living out of five-star hotels. In 1959, he purchased Sutton Place, a 16th-century Tudor country house in Surrey, for £614,000 ($840,000). Notoriously frugal, the oilman installed a coin-operated telephone in the mansion to prevent guests from racking up the bills.
The Gettys
In 1960, J. Paul Getty threw a disastrous party that was invaded by gatecrashers. Thereafter, the tycoon, who famously refused to pay his kidnapped grandson's ransom some 13 years later, became increasingly miserly and reclusive. Following his death in 1976, the house was sold to art collector Stanley J. Seeger. It is currently owned by Russian-born billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
The Gettys
Perhaps to console himself after his failed stab at high-society entertaining, J. Paul Getty also bought La Posta Vecchia villa on Italy's Lazio Coast in the summer of 1960. He restored the 17th-century mansion to its former glory.
The Gettys
The classy property was sold after the tycoon's death and converted into a luxury 19-room boutique hotel, which is still decorated with antiques and artworks handpicked by its unimaginably rich ex-owner. It's rare that houses for sale come with this kind of history – although some definitely do.
The Gettys
J. Paul Getty's son, the philanthropist John Paul Getty Jr., bought the 18th-century Wormsley Park mansion in 1986 and completed a sympathetic restoration of the property. The country house is now the residence of his son, Mark Getty, the co-founder of Getty Images.
The Kennedys
The patriarch of the powerful Irish-American political dynasty, Joseph “Joe” P. Kennedy Sr. was a successful up-and-coming entrepreneur when his son, John F. Kennedy, the future US president, was born in 1917. At the time, the family was living in this clapboard house in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The Kennedys
As the Kennedy patriarch's fortune grew, his real estate portfolio expanded accordingly. In 1927, the clan moved to this 20-room Georgian Revival mansion overlooking the Hudson River in the New York borough of the Bronx.
The Kennedys
JFK attended nearby Riverdale Country School until 1930, when the Kennedys upgraded yet again, decamping to a superior mansion in Bronxville, New York, where they lived until 1942. That house has since been demolished.
The Kennedys
As well as acquiring the Bronxville mansion, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. closed the deal on the summer house the family had been renting in Hyannis Port, a resort town in Cape Cod. The property at 50 Marchant Avenue was the first of three houses that form the so-called Kennedy Compound.
The Kennedys
JFK and his brother Ted bought adjacent homes during the 1950s, completing the compound. Ted Kennedy resided there until his death in 2009. His home has since been donated to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
The Kennedys
In 1933, Joe Kennedy purchased this Mediterranean-style mansion in Florida's Palm Beach. During his presidency, JFK spent part of each winter at the retreat, which was dubbed 'The Winter White House'.
The Kennedys
The president (pictured with his wife Jackie and children John Jr. and Caroline) is said to have planned his inauguration speech at the mansion. The house stayed in the Kennedy family until 1995 when it was put up for sale. In 2015, the mansion went on the market again and sold for $31 million (£23.6 million).
The Kennedys
In 1955, JFK, who was Senator for Massachusetts at the time, bought Hickory Hill, an 18-room Civil War-era country house in MacLean, Virginia for $125,000 (£95,000). After Jackie suffered a miscarriage in the house, she found the place too depressing and could no longer live there.
The Kennedys
Hickory Hill was sold to JFK's brother Robert and his wife Ethel in 1956, while Jackie and the future president moved to a clapboard rowhouse in Georgetown, Washington DC. Ethel Kennedy held on to the property until 2009 when it was sold to a Virginia businessman for $8.25 million (£6.3 million). The house is now a museum.
The Kennedys
JFK spent the summer of 1963, the last before his assassination, with Jackie and their children at Brambletyde, his newly acquired beachfront home in Hyannis Port. The property has stayed in the family, and is currently owned by JFK's nephew Christopher Kennedy. Still hungry for more? Find out the incredible secrets of 12 abandoned stately homes.
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