Gilded Finale

Never-before-published photos take you inside the nineteenth century’s most expensive private party.

For almost a century, the Bradley Martin Ball of 1897 held pride of place as the most expensive private party ever given in America (costing more than $14 million in today’s dollars, not including attendees’ costumes and jewelry). The guest list, representing the height of social and economic classes, was stellar and included members of the elite “400”—Astors, Drexels, Morgans, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts—as well as actors, artists, and authors who were not normally on the A-list. Old family jewels were on full display. Thousands of flowers were shipped from Florida to the Waldorf-Astoria’s ballroom, which was transformed into a replica of Versailles. Liveried servants announced each guest by name and the historical figures they portrayed. The opening danse d’honneur was arranged by the Mrs. Astor. Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt oversaw heavy security outside the hotel while his wife attended the ball.

The event, held in the final years of the Gilded Age during an economic recession, was conceived to give patronage to out-of-work dressmakers, tailors, milliners, wigmakers, and more. For its supporters, the ball was a sincere attempt to boost the sagging economy and ensure that the expenditures reached the hands of individual workers. But, ultimately, all the glamor and mystique of the evening were appropriated by the media to portray Cornelia and Bradley Martin in the harshest of lights and criticize the ball as an obscene display of wealth.

Gilded Age historian Richard Jay Hutto sets the record straight, revealing the full story of the ball and sharing nearly three hundred photos from his private collection that invite us inside the celebration of the century.