National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
McKim explained his design for Mrs. Vanderbilt's chambers within the context of the alteration
to the Langdon Mansion. While he undoubtedly later designed the overall layout of her
chambers for the wholly-new construction, the decorator Ogden Codman, Jr., eventually
designed all of the specifics for her suite while other decorators detailed other rooms in the
house. This association with Codman may have begun as early as October 1896. 467
Throughout the early years after the Vanderbilt estate became property of the National
Park Service, park management speculated that Stanford White was the principal architect and
designer of the Vanderbilt Mansion. Correspondence between park employees and White's son
helped perpetuate this myth. 468 However, Louise Vanderbilt's niece repudiated this assertion,
avowing that McKim was the designer, as did Norcross Brothers' building superintendent. 469
Correspondence among members of the architectural firm confirms that McKim was the
partner-in-charge.
A personal letter from McKim to a female friend, dated Tuesday, July 9, is one of several
letters that suggests that the Hyde Park Vanderbilt project was McKim's:
I received your note this evening on coming in from Hyde Park where I went yesterday to
keep faith with Mr. Vanderbilt (F.W.) and arrange to drop out for awhile. . . . As for slicing -
I have been compelled - to "bide-a-wee" to satisfy Dr R & my partners - by taking the
opinions of other specialists before acting - but while I should naturally prefer to find out
that an operation is unnecessary - I fear there is no such luck in store for me. . . . 470
While the exact year was not posted on the above correspondence, it most likely was 1895, when
McKim had a bicycle accident requiring subsequent surgery for a hernia, 471 and he then went
abroad to recover. Mead wrote to McKim in Europe in early 1896:
Fred Vanderbilt's job has met with a serious delay, but he has acted very nicely about it and I
think on the whole is glad that it has turned out so. When we came to tear the old house
apart, it was found to be in as bad condition as the annex - no strength to the mortar, walls
out of plumb, etc. Etc.; in fact, so bad that it seemed foolish to attempt to build anything on it.
. . . Vanderbilt hesitated on the ground that if he had thought there was something to save in
the old building, he would not have built on these lines. As matters stand now, we are
rearranging the center on virtually the same lines but with certain changes in plan and
keeping the exterior just as you left it. There has been a good deal of fight to this because
when it was found the old house had to come down Mrs. Vanderbilt kicked over the traces
and was disposed to build an English house as she called it. We have, however, used your
name pretty freely as being much interested in this design and likely to be very much
disappointed if anything happened to it, etc. Etc. And when you come you will find that you
467
1896 Appointment Book, entry for October 20: "9:30 train to Hyde Park." Ogden Codman, Jr.,
Collection, Appointment Books, 88.1708-89, SPNEA.
468
Several letters and documentation for at least one meeting between park personnel and Lawrence
Grant White, who was employed by his father's firm, can be found in park files dated between 1945 and
1950, Folder "McKim, Mead & White," VAMA General File, ROVA Curatorial Division.
469
Memorandum to Acting Superintendent, VAMA from Coordinating Superintendent Ronalds, July 27,
1945; and memorandum to Superintendent, ROVA from Historian, ROVA, October 14, 1954, 2, Folder
"McKim, Mead & White," VAMA General File, ROVA Curatorial Division.
470
Letter to Miss Mary L. Lawrence from C.F. McKim, July 9, [year?], Folder "McKim, Mead & White,"
VAMA General File, ROVA Curatorial Division. This letter was given to the park's Coordinating
Superintendent by Mr. Eric Gugler, and transmitted to the Regional Director, Region One, on September
1, 1945.
471
Roth, 243.
91