National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Analysis of Historical Significance and Integrity by Resource Type
DeGrasse Fox, after his purchase circa 1889; 1429 and Frederick and Louise remodeled at least
two houses, 1025 Fifth Avenue, New York City, with Ogden Codman, the original architect, in
1917, and Adams and Warren's Sonogee in Bar Harbor, with Andrews, Rantoul, and Jones, circa
1920. 1430 (See Chapter 1, The Vanderbilts as Patrons and Clients.)
In new construction alone, sixteen houses were erected by the siblings between 1879 and
1902. Seven different prominent architects or architectural firms of the day were engaged to
design these homes; at least three others were used for homes where only alterations were
carried out. 1431 Collectively, the ten different styles employed in these houses represented
almost the entire spectrum of architecture popular at the time, each one different, and each one
harmonizing with its specific locale. If the setting was less sympathetic to the preferred
architectural design, the patron manipulated it with the architect and landscape architect to
create a new one, as George did at Biltmore. The Vanderbilt fortune allowed for this kind of
creativity and monumentality, while the individual personalities no doubt contributed to the
great variety.
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were an incredible era for erecting
great domiciles. During this time the Vanderbilt family probably patronized more architects and
contributed to the magnificence of the era's architecture more than any other family. Taken as a
whole, the structures they commissioned represent a vastly significant contribution by one
generation of one family to American architecture between 1879 and 1920.
A list of houses that were newly constructed by Frederick Vanderbilt and his brothers
and sisters follows:
1429
G.W. Helfrich and Gladys O'Neil, Lost Bar Harbor, (Camden, ME: Down East Books, 1982), 15;
Floyd, 426, 503 (en. 166).
1430
Helfrich and O'Neil, 73; "Cottage for Henry Lan[d] Eno, Esq., Bar Harbor, Maine," Series VIII;
"Home of F.W. Vanderbilt, Bar Harbor, Maine, Series XXXV, ROVA Archives.
1431
William K. Vanderbilt's wife, Alva, contributed greatly to the three houses that Richard Morris Hunt
designed for them, and Frederick and Louise probably designed their Japanese Adirondack camp.
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