National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
Specifications for wiring the Twombly mansion are in the archives of the New-York
Historical Society. They include two plans for wiring, and if it is reasonable to assume that
McKim, Mead & White offered Vanderbilt the same choices, perhaps something might be
deduced about Frederick Vanderbilt's ideas about the mechanical systems of the mansion. The
two plans were as follows:
Project A: iron armored conduit tubes throughout for the wire conduits; a single wire to be
placed in each conduit for all feeders and mains, and a pair of wires to be placed in each conduit
for all BRANCH CIRCUITS.
Project B: use of Brass Armored conduit tubes throughout; with a tube for each single wire for
feeders, mains, and branch circuits.
In both projects, the outlet boxes will be of iron. 1133
In the 1940 existing utilities report, Andrae remarks on the wiring having been installed
"in the old manufactured gas piping," but he did not specify the composition of the pipe, nor
whether wires had been threaded singly or in pairs. He did note that nearly all fixtures were
"untouchable" due to shorts in the system. 1134 Extant original conduit in the house is black
iron. 1135 Specifications for the Twombly house called for forty-seven wall sockets, 1,000 lamps,
all with Edison Base, of sixteen candle power and for 100 volts. In addition, the plans called for
fifty-eight standard switches and forty-four three-way switches. Where several switches were to
be located at the same point, the architects called for face plates engraved with appropriate
legends for each switch, similar presumably to those found in the mansion at Hyde Park under
the pushbuttons. Twombly received alternating current and so a transformer, needed to stepdown
the high-voltage current, was specified for the basement.
With the evidence at hand, it appears then that the Vanderbilt estate was in line with
general expectations for country estates at the time. Without knowing the number of lights or
the extent of the electrical grid over the property, it is impossible to determine how the Hyde
Park property compared with estates such as Staatsburgh or Florham. However, Vanderbilt's
decision not to electrify the elevator or the dumbwaiter, install a washing machine, or indulge in
an artificially-cooled refrigerator suggest a conservative attitude towards investing in
mechanical devices that would in turn require a more powerful generating system. All these last
conveniences were found at Biltmore. In addition, Biltmore had other less conventional
technological luxuries such as an electrical rotary spit for roasting game, a pastry refrigerator,
and a full range of laundry equipment such as a barrel washer, extractor, ironing mangle, and
dryroom with electric coils rather than steam as at Hyde Park. 1136
WATER SYSTEMS
The Vanderbilt estate had access to several water resources to support the numerous
water-related tasks associated with household use, power generation, sewage and waste
1133
"The Heating by Steam of the Residence of H. McK. Twombly, Esq." In the collection of New-York
Historical Society Prints, Architecture.
1134
Historian's Research Notes File, 39. Source: Andrae, "Mechanical Equipment Report" August 28,
1940; 67.
1135
Comment to author, August 18, 1999, Henry Van Brookhoven.
1136
Biltmore Estate, House, Gardens, Winery (Asheville, NC: Biltmore Estate, 1985), 35-6.
201