"Wheatleigh"

 residence, country house, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places

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A grand European palace based on a 16th century Florentine palazzo, Wheatleigh sits on a Berkshire knoll overlooking mountains surrounding a lake. This "summer cottage"—the ironic moniker of such Gilded Age mansions—was built in 1893 by Henry H. Cook, a New York City tycoon. A wedding present for his daughter, Georgie, who married a Spanish count, it was Cook’s reward to her for securing the family a title.

The prominent Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns designed "Wheatleigh". More than 150 artisans were brought from Italy to create intricate carvings, indoors and out. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York’s Central Park, sculpted "Wheatleigh Park" from the surrounding property.