BEHIND THE SCENES AT A GILDED-AGE COTTAGE
All the Newport mansions are over-the-top grand, for the self-made millionaires who built them wanted to look as if they came from old money, and to achieve that, they were willing to spend a lot of new money. Touring these summer “cottages” today, you gawk at expansive gardens, expensive European art and furniture, sumptuous ballrooms and guest rooms, and enough rococo molding to impress any king named Louis. But beyond the ubiquitous gilt of the Gild
