National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

HEATING AND VENTILATION
Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
The two 1940 reports that document the condition of the property's mechanical systems
at the time of its transfer to the National Park Service give terse descriptions of the house's
heating system. The Curradi report states:
The first, second and third floors of the mansion are heated by an indirect or convection
heating system while the basement and sub-basement are heated by direct steam radiation.
All radiators for the convection system are located in the sub-basement.
In the sub-basement there are two 50 h.p. hand fired Baker and Smith horizontal boilers
that appear to be in good condition. To obtain adequate heat for living conditions
throughout the house the system is operated at approximately 4 pounds pressure. 1203
The August 28, 1940 Andrae report states:
This building is now heated by a two-pipe, low-pressure, steam system, heat being supplied
to the first and second floor by means of a gravity, hot-air, non-recirculating system, the
outside cold air being heated by steam heaters located in the ducts.
The basement and third floors are heated by direct exposed radiators.
The steam is generated by two (2) 50 HP brick set return tubular steel boilers, installed about
1898 by Baker-Smith Company, of New York City.
The present heating system, due to age has about reached the end of its serviceability and,
will have to be replaced shortly with a new and more modern system.
The boilers are not in very good condition. Several tubes are leaking but can probably be
repaired to last through another season. The drums have also been patched.
The boilers will have to be cut in pieces in order to remove the same from the building, and
new boilers will have to be of the sectional type.
The circulation of the entire system of steam piping is poor; some of the rooms are reportedly
very cold when the heat is on, part of this being due, no doubt, to the lack of weather stripping,
and loose fitting doors and windows.
Andrae concludes his report by indicating that perhaps the boilers might last one or two
more seasons with some minimal cleaning and repairs, but that the house would be threatened
constantly by the real possibility of complete system shutdowns. 1204 In his interview, Clermont
commented on the heating system as well:
The heating plant was built and installed by Baker, Smith and Company of New York City.
Mr. Alfred Williams represented them in Hyde Park. They also installed the air-conditioning
plant. Air for the air-conditioning plant was drawn from under the porch on the west side of
the mansion; pulled through screens covered with muslin strips to remove dust from the air.
Behind these screens were water pipes used to wash the air, to introduce moisture into the
air, and for moisture control. 1205
Clermont's use of the words "air-conditioning" refers to ventilation and humidification
rather than to our current equation of air-conditioning with cooling. Historian Gail Cooper
notes that, "For the early engineers who pioneered its development, air conditioning meant
1203 Curradi, 4.
1204 Andrae, 1-2.
1205 Clermont Interview, 3.
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