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Text and Photography by Liisa Berg  f you like music, there is plenty of the best . . . Are you fond of dancing? You may sate yourself at the most brilliant hops the world ever sees. Do you like the excitement of the fashionable gaming table? Are you an admirer of horse racing in its refinement? The best, the most varied, the greatest running meetings in the United States, if not in the world, are given in Saratoga."
Thus wrote Seneca Ray Stoddard in his 1884 book Saratoga Springs. The "fashionable gaming table" and the "most brilliant hops" are history, but music and horse races still enliven the soul of Saratoga. And while the legacy of music-making and horse-racing was unintentionally in the making in the past century, another magnificent heritage was fashioning its very deliberate forms—perhaps by-products of a splendid era when the New York rich made their summer homes in this little upstate hamlet. Present-day visitors to Saratoga are instantly caught up in the singular architecture of its public buildings, parks and private homes that speak of bygone days that were free and deliberate in their magnificence. The styles are blatantly unashamed of their opulent, lavish and flamboyant manifestations of the designers' vivid imaginations and the owners' ample pocket books. The eclectic penchant of the Saratoga elite is most visible in the opulent summer homes that now line Broadway and spill onto the side streets. Greek revival, Gothic, Romanesque, Italianate, Empire and Victorian styles abound in separate and corresponding buildings. Writes the New York State Council of Arts in its brochure: "Irresponsible and infectious joy . . . abound in the virtuoso juxtaposition of diverse styles within the format of a single structure." Thus various aspects from differing periods find their fulfillment in harmony-Gothic towers, Arabesque minarets, Romanesque arches and Queen Ann porches play together in congenial cooperation. These venerable old homes are in their second or third chapter: sought after, painstakingly restored and preserved, they link today's longing for connection with the old and romantic with yesteryear's ambition for ostentation and individuality that otherwise seem unattainable in today's economy. Tours of select homes can be arranged with the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation.
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