National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
the wall on the north end of the third floor Servants' Hall and the other in the "command
center" of the Butler's Pantry. There were many companies that made various types of
annunciator systems. I could find no information about deVeau. The third floor box had
fourteen drops while the Butler's Pantry had twenty-one. The third floor box was painted to
match the walls and was faced with a glass-fronted door with alternating rows of clear and black
glass. When someone pushed his or her call button, bells on the top of the box would ring to
signal the maids or housekeeper that there was a "drop." The corresponding lever would
release the drop which carried the name of the room from where the call was made. The black
glass stripes hid the drops from view. Once the drop fell, the location could be read through the
clear glass. Once the drop was read, the maid or housekeeper restored the drop to its proper
place. The box in the Butler's Pantry was stained to match the woodwork.
The labels remain on the third floor drops. They read from left to right, top row: Mr. V;
H.K.B. (Housekeeper's bedroom); Green Room 2 nd floor; Mauve Room, 2 nd floor; Blue Room,
2 nd floor. The middle row reads from left to right: Red room, small, 2 nd floor; Red room, large,
2 nd floor; Small pink room, 3 rd floor, Large pink room, 3 rd floor; Lavender room, 3 rd floor. The
bottom row reads, left to right: Empire room, 3 rd floor, Green room, 3 rd floor; Servants' Hall,
basement; [illegible hand-written] Box 1 (most likely the Butler's Pantry).
Mrs. Vanderbilt had a portable brass box with pushbuttons on the table next to her bed.
It had two pushbuttons, one to signal the Butler's Pantry and the other to signal her maid. On
the wall she had a panel of six buttons to signal the Butler's Pantry, the 3 rd story Servants' Hall,
the housekeeper, the basement Servants' Hall, the maid, and the housekeeper's third story
bedroom. The buttons, other than those to the Butler's Pantry and the 3 rd story Servants' Hall,
rang bells rather than connected to drops. Mr. Vanderbilt had two separate hand-held
pushbutton apparatuses at his bedside. One had only a single unmarked button, while the other
is a pyramid shaped wood piece with three buttons to call the Butler's Pantry, the Servants' Hall,
and the Butler's Room. On the wall near the door, there is a three-button panel that is also
labeled for the Butler's Pantry, the Servants' Hall, and the Butler's Room.
The housekeeper had a four-button panel in her basement office. It signaled the
basement Servants' Hall, the Butler's Pantry, the 3 rd story Servants' Hall, and the Laundry.
There was also a two-button panel at the right entrance to the Dining Room that signaled the
Butler's Pantry and the Servants' Hall. At the Butler's Pantry's command center there is a threebutton
panel. The first is labeled "Butler's Pantry," and the other two are unmarked. In
addition, all the bedrooms had the two-button panel that called either the Butler's Pantry or the
third story Servants' Hall. One final push button was mounted on the side of the Dumbwaiter in
the Butler's Pantry and signaled the Kitchen.
The plans, Second Floor Revised, at the New-York Historical Society have notations
about the placement of the pushbuttons. For example, two of the guest bedrooms indicated
three-panel pushbuttons that would signal the Butler's Pantry, the third story Servants' Hall, and
a designated maid's third story room so that a guest could call his or her personal maid or
servant. This third button was indicated in pencil on the plans for the Mauve Bedroom and the
Blue Bedroom. The small red room and the large red room only signaled the Butler's Pantry and
the third story Servants' Hall on the plans. The plan also called for a button from Mr.
Vanderbilt's bath to the Butler's Pantry and from Mrs. Vanderbilt's bath to the second story
Maid's Room. While this last notation was crossed out in pencil with a note to "omit this call,"
there is a pushbutton above Mrs. Vanderbilt's seat bath. The plan also indicates another six-
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