One of the grandest surviving estates of America’s Gilded Age — a sprawling Vanderbilt summer palace known as Elm Court — is preparing for its most ambitious reinvention yet.
Stretching across nearly 89 acres between Lenox and Stockbridge, the legendary property was built in the late 1880s for Emily Vanderbilt Sloane and her husband William Douglas Sloane.
At roughly 55,000 square feet and close to 100 rooms, Elm Court remains the largest shingle-style residence in the United States.
Now, after more than a century of private ownership, abandonment, restorations, and failed resort dreams, the estate is set to become a boutique hospitality destination, one that will be highlighting its historic grandeur, but add modern wellness and luxury living to the mix.
Built as a “summer cottage”, until a Vanderbilt fortune changed everything
Elm Court was originally envisioned in 1885 as a modest seasonal retreat.
That changed overnight when Emily’s father, railroad tycoon William Henry Vanderbilt, died suddenly — leaving each of his eight children the modern-day equivalent of roughly $330 million.
With cost no longer a concern, the Sloanes dramatically expanded their plans, commissioning the architectural firm Peabody and Stearns to create a mansion that would rival Europe’s great country houses.
Construction wrapped in 1887, producing a palace-scale home designed as much for entertaining as for family life.
Like many Gilded Age estates in Lenox, Elm Court functioned essentially as a private luxury hotel, built to host waves of guests, concerts, sporting events, and lavish social gatherings.
America’s most famous landscape architect shaped the grounds
The estate’s sweeping lawns, gardens, and long sightlines were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the visionary behind Central Park.
Olmsted spent more than a year refining the landscape plan, producing around 70 different garden designs before settling on the final layout.
The result was a carefully choreographed natural setting meant to feel both wild and perfectly composed — rolling lawns, framed views, and formal garden rooms that still define the estate today.
Additional structures once included stables, greenhouses, and service buildings that supported life at full Gilded Age scale.
A Gilded Age mansion where presidents, inventors, artists, and royalty once gathered
During its peak years, Elm Court was a magnet for some of the most influential figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Guests are said to have included Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Amelia Earhart, Henry Ford, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Gloria Swanson, and Rudolph Valentino.
Days at the estate were carefully scheduled with tennis tournaments, horseback riding, formal picnics served by staff, and evening concerts staged beneath ornate chandeliers.
In 1919, the famous “Elm Court Talks” hosted at the property even helped lay groundwork that would later influence the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
A home so large it became its own hotel — then nearly vanished
After decades as a private family residence, Vanderbilt descendants opened Elm Court as an inn in 1948 in an effort to preserve it and create seasonal work for local teachers.
But the sheer scale of the estate proved difficult to sustain. By 1957, the property was shuttered and would sit abandoned for more than 40 years — slowly deteriorating as generations passed ownership down the family line.
In the late 1990s, descendants launched a multimillion-dollar restoration, reopening Elm Court as a luxury inn and later as an exclusive wedding venue. Despite renewed interest, operating costs again became overwhelming.
The estate cycled through multiple owners and ambitious resort proposals over the next two decades — including a five-star wellness retreat that never fully materialized.
A new vision focused on boutique hospitality and wellness
In late 2022, real estate developer Linda Law purchased Elm Court with a long-term plan to revive the property as a destination estate rather than a massive private residence. Law’s business partner, Dr. Richard Peiser, is the only chaired professor of real estate development at Harvard University.
The proposal centers on transforming the Manor House into a boutique hotel featuring 26 guest rooms, a ballroom, library space, and a public restaurant focused on health and longevity.
Surrounding the main house, twelve lodging buildings would add 48 guest suites in total, creating a campus-style retreat environment across the historic grounds.
Longer-term plans also include phased development of 38 custom home sites for private residences.
A rare direct connection to the Vanderbilt legacy
The revival effort includes involvement from John F. A. V. Cecil — the great-grandson of George Washington Vanderbilt II, who built the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.
The goal, according to the development team, is not simply renovation, but historically sensitive restoration — drawing directly from Gilded Age architecture, craftsmanship, and original estate design principles.
Rather than modernizing Elm Court into something unrecognizable, the plan is to let its 19th-century grandeur remain front and center.
Still one of the largest private homes ever built in America
Even by modern luxury standards, Elm Court remains staggering in scale:
- Roughly 55,000 square feet
- Close to 100 rooms
- 89 acres spanning two Berkshire towns
- The largest shingle-style residence in the United States
Its sheer footprint explains why private ownership has proven so challenging — and why a hospitality-focused future may finally allow the estate to thrive long-term.
From Vanderbilt showplace to cultural landmark once again
If the new plans succeed, Elm Court will reemerge not just as a restored mansion, but as a living piece of American history — a place where Gilded Age architecture, landscape design, and social life are once again part of daily experience.
After more than 140 years of reinvention, abandonment, revival, and uncertainty, the Berkshire palace that once hosted presidents and legends may finally settle into a future worthy of its past.
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