4. Toilets Made of 24K Gold
The absolute gold standard in luxury is able to relieve yourself on a pedestal made of solid gold. Forget gold jewelry, tiaras, and Faberge eggs; those are old-fashioned rich. Besides, the new wealth is in town, and they are pooping in toilets made of solid gold. Consider that this is happening at a time when running water is a luxury, and having a flushing toilet, rather than having to use an outhouse or other unsanitary methods, alone was something reserved for only an elite few.
Enter the Garretts, a family from Baltimore, Maryland that made its fortune in the railway industry. T. Harrison Garrett purchased the Evergreen mansion, now the Evergreen Museum and Library, and turned the place from a blasé summer retreat for the old rich into a palace. It was fitted with Tiffany glass, German porcelain, Japanese ivory sculptures, and Italian paintings, and the library had floor-to-ceiling walnut bookshelves. The piece de resistance was the bathroom: the bathtub was painted with 23K gold leaf, and the toilet was solid gold.
If you have any doubts about the conspicuous consumption of the Gilded Age, you can visit the home today and see it for yourself. However, you probably won’t get to use the gold toilet.