Is The Russell House In The Gilded Age Real?
With its second season currently underway, HBO's "The Gilded Age" continues to dazzle the eye with its depiction of Old New York opulence. Set in the 1880s, the series explores the tenuous balance between old-money New Yorkers and the newly rich as they navigate the dicey waters of high society. And as fans of the series know, said balance is largely viewed through the not-so-neighborly relations between the old money Brook family and the new money Russells, with part of the tension arising due to the Russell homestead arguably being the more posh of the two.
In fact, the Russell House is the very picture of old money charm and new money swagger, with the family doing all they can to convince the established aristocracy they are every bit their equal. While such houses absolutely existed in New York circa the late 1880s, it seems the Russell House was not actually one of them. Indeed, according to Curbed scribe Diana Budds, neither the lavish Russell House nor the more subdued Brook home were ever part of the actual New York City landscape.
As Budds writes, the Russell home is actually a set that was constructed in Old Bethpage, New York, specifically for the HBO production. So too was the neighboring Brook house, with "The Gilded Age" production designer Bob Shaw confirming that the entire corner had to be fabricated in part because "there was no way we were going to find a practical location for that."
The Gilded Age has used a few practical locations for their shoots
It's easy to understand why Bob Shaw and "The Gilded Age" production opted to build the opposing houses for the series, as such lavishly adorned locales don't really exist in the world these days. And if they do, it's safe to assume the owners are not likely to subject such historical landmarks to the potential perils of hosting a major Hollywood production. Still, as Saw told Curbed, ahead of production, he and his team were allowed to visit several of the old-world New York mansions that still exist, noting that he borrowed styles from each in endeavoring to bring the Russell House to life for the show.
According to Shaw, while the Brook and Russell households were largely fabricated for the series, the production has not relied entirely on sets, sound stages, and backlots for shooting. In fact, for certain scenes, the production headed to Upstate New York to shoot in the idyllic town of Troy, which still boasts impressive stretches of streets lined with structures from the late 19th century.
The city, of course, also stood in for The Big Apple during the production of Martin Scorsese's wildly underrated Daniel Day-Lewis vehicle "The Age of Innocence." As Shaw told Curbed, that 1993 film was the reason he had Troy on his shortlist of locations to scout. Shaw also admitted the city was even more impressive than he anticipated, stating, "I didn't know it was gonna be as bountiful as it was. I mean, we really could walk for blocks and blocks in Troy." And as fans of "The Gilded Age" know, the production has walked those streets aplenty over the course of the series' run.