HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES: The Gothic Revival Lyndhurst Castle is the first estate to be profiled in Morven Museum’s “Grand Homes & Gardens Distinguished Speakers Series,” starting February 23. The Zoom talks continue through March 23.

By Anne Levin

If there was ever a time for armchair travel, this is it. The pandemic has turned Morven Museum & Garden’s “Grand Homes & Gardens Distinguished Speakers Series” into watch-from-home Zoom events. That makes ogling the opulent estates and learning their distinctive histories, from a favorite couch or, yes — armchair — an actual reality.

Now in its third year, the four-part series will take viewers to mansions on Long Island’s Gold Coast; Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, Massachusetts; and the 18^th century Glebe House in Connecticut with a garden created by famed horticultural designer Gertrude Jekyll. The theme is “The Woman of the House.”

“The women we’re talking about weren’t necessarily the people who bought the houses, or were their primary owners,” said Morven Executive Director Jill Barry. “But they were the ones who made the biggest impact. When you think about Morven, for instance, it was Helen Hamilton Shields Stockton [credited for writing and speaking extensively to promote Morven’s significance] who was very much the one who did so much, in her era. Even though the boys always seem to get the credit.”

The illustrated series begins with Lyndhurst Castle, which overlooks the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York. Howard Zar, executive director, will speak. Designed in 1838, Lyndhurst is considered one of America’s finest Gothic Revival mansions. Noteworthy occupants include railroad tycoon Jay Gould and New York City Mayor William Paulding.

“The interesting thing about the women at Lyndhurst is that in many ways, they ruled the roost,” reads a press release about the series. “The initial mansion was funded by Maria Rheinlander, William Paulding’s wife. In an unusual turn of roles, she provided the money and her husband and son did the design and furnishing work.”

Zar will also discuss the wife of Lyndhurst’s second owner, who was left to manage the estate when he died five years after they moved in. The Jay Gould family owned it the longest, and daughter Helen Gould was a noted philanthropist and NYU law school graduate who made some interesting changes to the estate.

Next, on March 11, architectural historian and lecturer Gary Lawrance presents “Harbor Hill & Beacon Towers: Long Island Gold Coast Mansions and the Women Who Created Them.” The setting is 1920s Long Island, where Katherine Duer, wife of silver heir Clarence Mackay, presided over the 60-room Harbor Hill in Roslyn. Duer oversaw planning of the mansion with famed architect Stanford White. Also discussed will be Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, “a force to be reckoned with,” according to the release. “Alva Erskin Smith first married a Vanderbilt and built one of the most dazzling mansions on New York’s Fifth Avenue, then the equally splendid summer cottage, Marble House, at Newport, Rhode Island. With her second husband Oliver Hazard Belmont, she enlarged his Newport mansion and then a home at East Meadow, Long Island. After his passing Mrs. Belmont built a castle on the Long Island Sound at Sands Point, Long Island, that many believe was used by F. Scott Fitzgerald as the inspiration for the magnificent mansion of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. It was at this house that Mrs. Belmont held suffragist women’s events and reigned over her version of a Scottish Castle.”

Lawrance will also provide a glimpse of other estates via an aerial tour, circa 1926, to give an idea of the extensiveness of the great estates that once lined Long Island.

“Glebe House & Gertrude Jekyll’s Garden” follows on March 16, with LoriAnn Witte, director, as lecturer. Witte will talk about the circa 1740 house in Woodbury, Connecticut, which was restored a century ago by Henry Watson Kent, a pioneer of American decorative arts and the founder of the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing. She will also focus on the garden, designed by Jekyll in 1926 as a commission by an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune.

“Although a small garden, when compared with the some 400 more elaborate designs she completed in England and on the continent, the Gertrude Jekyll Garden includes a classic English style mixed border and foundation plantings, and a planted stone terrace. For reasons unknown today, the garden Miss Jekyll planned was never fully installed in the 1920s and its very existence was forgotten. After the rediscovery of the plans in the late 1970s, the project began in earnest in the late 1980s and is now being completed according to the original plans,” reads the release.

Finally, on March 23, “The Mount: A Great American House & Garden Designed by a Great American Writer” profiles Edith Wharton’s estate in Lenox, Massachusetts. Anne K. Schuyler, The Mount’s director of visitor services, will speak. Wharton fans know the author not only for her contribution to American literature, but also for her pioneering work in house and garden design. Her elegant estate is today a cultural center celebrating her legacy. Wharton was born Edith Jones. “I just learned this weekend that the expression ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ refers to her family,” said Barry.

Each of the programs is streamed at 6:30 p.m. The cost for a single session is $25 ($18 for Friends of Morven); $75 for the entire series ($50 for Friends of Morven). Visit morven.org to register.

“When we started this series three years ago, we thought of it as an antidote to winter doldrums,” said Barry. “This year, we need it more than ever. One thing about remote lecturing is that we’ve really broadened our audience reach. Through some other programming, we have a member in Tasmania who has already signed up.”

Barry declined to name a favorite of the houses being profiled in the series. “All are very unique in their own way,” she said. “Escapism is very appealing right now. Being able to hang out with the Gould family is spectacular. And having Gary Lawrance come back for a third year is so special. He can weave these stories like nobody else.”