National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
The specifications called for two horizontal steel tubular boilers, four feet in diameter,
thirteen feet long. Park Brothers was to supply boilers of the best flange steel of a tensile
strength of 60,000 lbs. of a uniform thickness of 5/16" for the shells and 3/8" for the heads.
The plans also specified a system of vertical steam and return mains from the boiler to
the indirect heating surfaces and to each and every radiator throughout the building. All branch
pipes were to be at least 3/4" in size. Radiators and exposed piping at Florham were to be
ornamented in the "best gold bronze." Vanderbilt radiators were left in their "silver" finish. 1224
The Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier article that described the construction of the Mills Mansion
indicated that, "The heating of the building is done principally by hot water indirect radiation by
two of Howatt's largest hot water sectional boilers, erected in the basement. 1225
Snell's 1956 report documents the emergency repairs to the heating system done in the
fall of 1941. He stated:
On August 18, 1941 specifications for emergency repairs to the heating system of the
Mansion were also prepared. The cost of this work, to be done by contract, was estimated at
$600. The contract was awarded on September 13, after an investigation by engineer Francis
J. Guscio had disclosed that the west boiler was in need of urgent repairs. The contractor
began work at once, removing 50 old tubes in the boiler and applying electrically welded
patches wherever necessary. The cost of this work amounted to $585.75. 1226
A 1942 memo from Charles Andrae, the site's associate engineer, disclosed that one of
the boilers was not working and was also unrepairable. It stated:
Of the two present heating boilers, No. 1 boiler is out of commission and totally unfit for use
or repairs; No. 2 boiler was fitted with new tubes last summer and used very cautiously
throughout the past heating season. The shell on this boiler has been patched in several
places and still leaks due to the poor condition of the shell, the continued use of this boiler
(No. 2) remains a constant gamble.
The work under the present project proposes to install 2 new cast iron sectional low pressure
steam boilers, including oil burners and sundry oil equipment.
The funds are available for the removal of the present steel-set boilers and the installation of
new boilers and old burning equipment.
The present fuel situation confuses the selection of equipment if oil is used; also the coal
supply it seems will be a problem. This year's coal consumption for heating the mansion has
totaled 125 tons of anthracite. (egg size) 1227
This report was written during World War II and so fuel availability would have been a
concern. The site ultimately chose oil burners, but also purchased coal grates just in case it
needed to switch to coal. These were found untouched and unused in 1999 under the subbasement
stairs. The 1940s-era boilers remain in use.
One additional note about the 1942 Andrae report quoted above is that he describes the
boilers as "steel set." This, of course, contradicts his description of the boilers as being "brick
set" in his August 28, 1940 report, but would give the Vanderbilts the same kind of boilers
1224
Twombly House, New-York Historical Society Prints and Architecture Department.
1225
Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier (1895). Typescript in archive of Mills Mansion.
1226
Snell, "An Administrative History," 42.
1227
Historian's Research Notes File, 52. Source: Memo for the Chief of Planning by Chas. W. Andrae,
May 6, 1942.
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