Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, located in Hyde Park, New York, is one of America's premier examples of the country palaces built by wealthy industrialists during the Gilded Age.
The site includes 211 acres (85 ha) of the original larger property historically named Hyde Park. Situated on the east bank of the Hudson River, the property includes pleasure grounds with views of the river and the distant Catskill Mountains, formal gardens, natural woodlands, and numerous auxiliary structures. The grounds also include Italian Gardens that have been restored by the volunteer Frederick W. Vanderbilt Garden Association. Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856–1938) purchased the property in 1895 for use as a seasonal country residence.
Its main feature is a 54-room mansion by the distinguished architectural company McKim, Mead & White, with Charles Follen McKim designing the plan and Stanford White assisting by serving as an antiques buyer. Designed and built between 1896–1899, the house is a good example of the Beaux-Arts architecture style and one of the architects' finest residential projects. The interior of the mansion is an archetypes of the American Renaissance, incorporating a range of European antiques and finely crafted period reproductions. Herter Brothers and A.H. Davenport were subcontractors who executed McKim's interior designs. The Vanderbilts also hired Georges Glaenzer and Ogden Codman to decorate several rooms. E.F. Caldwell & Co. manufactured the majority of the lighting.
Read more about Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site: History, Mansion, Gardens
Famous quotes containing the words vanderbilt, mansion, national, historic and/or site:
“We must learn which ceremonies may be breached occasionally at our convenience and which ones may never be if we are to live pleasantly with our fellow man.”
—Amy Vanderbilt (19081974)
“Look,
I draw the sword myself; take it, and hit
The innocent mansion of my love, my heart.
Fear not, tis empty of all things but grief.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”
—Alexander Hamilton (17571804)
“It is, all in all, a historic error to believe that the master makes the school; the students make it!”
—Robert Musil (18801942)
“Its given new meaning to me of the scientific term black hole.”
—Don Logan, U.S. businessman, president and chief executive of Time Inc. His response when asked how much his company had spent in the last year to develop Pathfinder, Time Inc.S site on the World Wide Web. Quoted in New York Times, p. D7 (November 13, 1995)