Lockwood-Mathews Mansion: A Gilded-Age Monument

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit one of the finest Second Empire style country houses in America.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is one of America’s earliest and most significant Second Empire style mansions. This grand, 44,000-square-foot landmark features the architectural style’s identifiable characteristics, including a mansard roof (double sloping roof) with dormer windows, ornate window and door hoods, iron cresting on the roof, triangular cupolas, and a columned porch. David Scott Parker/Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

Overlooking Long Island Sound, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut, was designed to showcase financier and railroad magnate LeGrand Lockwood’s wealth and status. A Norfolk native, Lockwood (1820–1872) purchased 30 acres in his hometown to build an opulent summer house for himself and his wife, Anna Louisa Benedict (1823–1882).

Constructed between 1864 and 1868, the mansion was designed by the German-born and French-trained architect Detlef Lienau (1818–1887). A founding member of the American Institute of Architects, Lienau was credited for introducing the French Second Empire style (Napoleon III style) to the United States. The architectural characteristic associated with this style, which incorporates Victorian Gothic and Italianate elements, is the mansard roof (double sloping roof) with dormer windows. Second Empire architecture became so popular during the United States’ Civil War era that it was sometimes called the “General Grant style.”