A century ago, the wealthiest people in America often lived in ornate residences reminiscent of European royal palaces.
Today, some of the richest citizens are more discreet about their wealth, opting for low-key mountain homes, secure bunkers, or even prefabricated houses. Others, meanwhile, have spent big on tropical getaways and luxurious beachfront estates.
While lavish mansions are still built by wealthy Americans, today’s real estate trends and status symbols differ from those of 120 years ago.
See how America’s wealthiest have changed their residences as they’ve moved from Fifth Avenue to Silicon Valley.
During the peak of the Gilded Age, some of the wealthiest Americans lived in full view on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.
The Gilded Age is typically defined as the years between 1865 and 1900, when wealth in America rocketed during a period of exorbitant industrial growth.
During the period, and in the years following it, Fifth Avenue mansions became a status symbol for those trying to establish their place in New York society. Some of the country’s wealthiest lived next to one another on what became known as Millionaires’ Row.
The Gilded Age brought the exorbitant wealth of industrialists — and their children — to the avenue.
Built in 1883, the French-inspired residence of Cornelius II Vanderbilt was the avenue’s largest among high society’s homes and remains the largest home to have ever been built in New York City.
The mansion, which was believed to have around 130 rooms, was home to a son and heir of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had an estimated net worth of nearly $276 billion in today’s money, per Forbes‘ 2006 reporting and adjusted for inflation via the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator.
In 1928, the home was replaced with a Bergdorf-Goodman department store. Many Gilded Age mansions in New York City were demolished in the early- to mid-20th century to make way for commercial or apartment buildings, while a few became museums.
Industry leaders like Andrew Carnegie also called the street home.
By the turn of the century, steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie — who founded and led the Carnegie Steel Company and had an estimated net worth of over $460 billion in today’s currency — joined the group of wealthy residents on the avenue.
Located in the neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill, the steel magnate’s mansion was completed in 1902 and sat further north than those of previous generations of millionaires, which were clustered closer to Midtown Manhattan.
Today, it is the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
J.P. Morgan took up residence in Murray Hill.
J.P. Morgan, the Wall Street titan, built his residence in the neighborhood of Murray Hill instead.
The financier, who had a net worth of $80 million at the time of his death in 1913, per Time — around $2.7 billion today — bought his house, which today houses The Morgan Library & Museum, in 1882.
Others, like John D. Rockefeller, built large estates further north of the city.
For the elites looking to escape the city, upstate New York offered a quiet and convenient location to build massive estates.
About 25 miles north of New York City, John D. Rockefeller’s Kykuit estate was built in 1913 and housed generations of the family until the 1970s. The Standard Oil Company founder had an estimated net worth of over $500 billion in today’s money — he is considered the richest American of all time.
Rockefeller’s brother, William, had purchased the 204-room mansion Rockwood Hall in 1886, and the area quickly became a hot spot for the era’s elites.
Railroad magnate Jay Gould was another industry leader who bought property in the Hudson Valley.
Jay Gould, railroad tycoon and one of the wealthiest Americans in history — with an estimated net worth of $95.33 billion in today’s money — also purchased an estate in Tarrytown, a Hudson Valley town outside of New York City.
Other industrialists, like Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie, resided in large homes in parts of Pittsburgh.
Some magnates of the era resided near their company’s operations.
Carnegie Steel Company founder Andrew Carnegie and chairman Henry Clay Frick both lived in the Point Breeze neighborhood in Pittsburgh, where the company had its headquarters.
In the Midwest, Cleveland had its own “Millionaires’ Row” on Euclid Avenue.
Euclid Avenue housed some of the most lavish homes in the country and was often compared to Paris’ Champs-Élysées, Cleveland Historic reported.
John D. Rockefeller also lived on the fashionable avenue for nearly 20 years.
Owning a vacation home in Newport, Rhode Island, was a must during the Gilded Age.
No Gilded Age industrialist’s real estate portfolio was complete without a lavish mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.
The Vanderbilts were some of the most notable residents, building large estates on the coast like Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s The Breakers, which was completed in 1895, and William K. Vanderbilt’s Marble House, completed in 1892.
In the early 1900s, magnates like Henry Flagler built ornate winter homes in Florida.
The turn of the century brought a land boom to Florida as magnates like Standard Oil’s Henry Flagler — who had an estimated net worth of over $234 million in today’s money at the time of his death, as reported by The New York Times and adjusted for inflation — moved to the state to escape the North’s harsh winters.
The early 20th century saw an influx of wealth and rapid development of luxury winter estates, including the construction of Mar-a-Lago by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1927.
Today, Florida is still home to some of America’s wealthiest, but not just during the winter.
While America’s wealthy have been vacationing in Florida for decades, some are now also making the state their full-time home.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the state, which doesn’t have a state income tax and offers enjoyable weather year-round, has started attracting millionaires, although Florida’s real-estate boom has been slowing down in recent months.
Today, some of the wealthiest Americans, including Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $246.6 billion as of December 2, and is the fourth-richest man alive, call the state home.
Some Silicon Valley billionaires live in upscale suburbs in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, some of the richest Silicon Valley billionaires have opted to stay close to the Bay Area, often residing in luxurious suburbs like Los Altos Hills, home to Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang, or Crescent Park, where Mark Zuckerberg lives.
The Bay Area is home to 82 billionaires — the most of any area in the world — per Henley & Partners‘ 2025 World’s Wealthiest Cities report.
While Gilded Age tycoons often flaunted their wealth with ornate, highly visible showpiece homes, some of today’s billionaires live in private properties obscured by mountains, greenery, or gates.
Some of the world’s richest people, like Larry Ellison, live just outside San Francisco.
Living in Woodside, California, which is 30 miles away from the heart of San Francisco, Oracle founder Larry Ellison is a longtime resident of the state, even as his company’s headquarters has moved out of Silicon Valley. He has a fortune of $255.6 billion and is the third-richest man in the world as of December 2.
Other titans keep their dwellings humble, like Warren Buffett’s Omaha home.
Other modern-day billionaires have opted to keep their riches modest, like Warren Buffett, who has lived in the same Omaha, Nebraska, home since 1958.
The investor — who has a net worth of $150 billion as of December 2, and is one of the richest men in the world — originally bought the house for $31,500, CNBC reported, which would be around $358,000 today when adjusted for inflation.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, lives in a pre-fabricated house in Texas.
While Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, at one point owned luxurious houses in Bay Area suburbs and other California locations like Los Angeles, in 2020, the billionaire sold seven homes in his real estate portfolio and moved to a small, prefabricated home in Boca Chica, Texas, as reported by Architectural Digest.
The tech mogul has said his Texas home is valued at $50,000 and that he rents it from his company, SpaceX. He also noted that he still owns a Bay Area home he uses to host events.
Musk lives near SpaceX’s launch site, which has since been integrated into a town called Starbase.
Michael Dell has also stayed close to his company’s Texas roots, albeit in a much larger home.
Michael Dell has stayed in his hometown of Austin, where he built his tech empire. Today, he has an estimated net worth of $149 billion.
Nicknamed “The Castle,” the tech billionaire’s Austin home sits on top of a hilltop and is about a 20-mile drive from Dell Technologies’ headquarters.
Bill Gates has also stayed in his hometown.
Nicknamed Xanadu 2.0, the Microsoft founder’s technologically advanced home in Medina, Washington (a suburb of Seattle), spans 66,000 square feet.
Gates, who has an estimated net worth of $104.4 billion as of December 2, grew up in the city where he founded Microsoft, which remains headquartered there.
Many of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest are buying up getaway estates in Hawaii.
Figures like Ellison and Zuckerberg have also begun purchasing real estate in Hawaiian islands, where they have prioritized privacy and isolation.
The Meta CEO’s estate on the island of Kauai, named Ko’olau Ranch, includes over 2,300 acres of land, some of which he has used for cattle ranching, and a nearly 5,000-square-foot underground bunker.
Ellison owns the entire island of Lanai, the sixth-largest island in Hawaii, after purchasing 98% of the island from former Dole Food Company owner David Murdoch for $300 million in 2012, per The Wall Street Journal.
Other billionaires, such as Walmart heir Rob Walton, are buying estates in places like Arizona.
While some billionaires have opted for coastal destinations, others have chosen inland escapes.
Rob Walton, the oldest child of Walmart and Sam’s Club founder Sam Walton, who served as Walmart’s chairman between 1992 and 2015 and continued to serve on the company’s board until 2024, owns a house in the Paradise Valley neighborhood of Arizona, near Scottsdale.
The Walmart heir has a net worth of $131.7 billion.
For those who still flock to Manhattan, Billionaires’ Row is the new place to live.
While the richest Americans aren’t as concentrated in New York City‘s Fifth Avenue as they once were, many billionaires still call the Big Apple home.
New York is the city with the most ultrawealthy people — those worth over $30 million — in the world, with 21,380, per a September report by wealth intelligence firm Altrata. It is also home to 66 billionaires, according to Henley & Partners’ 2025 Wealthiest Cities report.
Manhattan’s Central Park-facing 57th Street has been nicknamed Billionaires’ Row since three of the world’s tallest residential buildings were erected on the street. These skyscrapers house some of the most expensive apartments in the world.
Some people known to own apartments in the street include Michael Dell and hedge fund managers Bill Ackman and Kenneth Griffin.
Read the original article on Business Insider
The post THEN AND NOW: Photos show where America’s wealthiest lived a century ago versus today appeared first on Business Insider.
