National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Analysis of Historical Significance and Integrity by Resource Type
represented. The range of styles is consistent with other houses of the period. There were clear
preferences for particular styles according to the function of the room. The more feminine
spaces such as reception rooms, parlors, boudoirs, and bedrooms were most frequently
decorated in the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. Masculine spaces such as the library and male
bedrooms were more often Renaissance in style. Most of the Vanderbilt country places and
seaside cottages show a similar eclectic mixture. The Dining Room and Elliptical Hall at Hyde
Park incorporate antique architectural elements brought from Europe including the mantels in
both rooms and the ceiling of the Dining Room. These elements were adapted to fit the rooms.
The use of antique architectural members was a feature common to many gilded-age houses,
although the degree to which these pieces were integrated varies greatly, from totally accurate
installations of entire eighteenth-century rooms such as the Reception Room at The Breakers, to
more artistic assemblages of a variety of different objects such as the interiors of Stanford
White's own house in New York City.
Hyde Park is important as a testament to the building frenzy of the third generation of
moneyed Vanderbilts. Each one of the eight siblings lavished attention upon at least one major
country house. For Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt, Hyde Park was their favorite house, and
one which was carefully planned and decorated. While they bought and sold both city and
other country houses, as well as yachts, they retained Hyde Park with relatively few changes. It
makes an interesting comparison with the houses of Cornelius (The Breakers), William K. and
Alva (Marble House), Margaret and Elliot Shepard (Woodlea), Florence and Hamilton
Twombly (Florham), Lila and Seward Webb (Shelburne Farms), Emily and William Sloane (Elm
Court), and George (Biltmore).
The integrity of the furnished interiors is very high. The majority of the original
furnishings are still in situ. The decorative settings for these furnishings are intact with no major
alterations after 1906.
SERVICE AREAS
From a historical perspective, Hyde Park's arrangements for household service, both in
architectural and human terms, represent the full expression of comfort in the gilded-age
country house. The Vanderbilts and their set supported a complex system of household
management, the articulation of which had not been seen before in the United States; and their
homes are a surviving physical representation of that highly articulated system. By World War I,
and certainly by Louise's death in 1926, few continued to live as the Vanderbilts had at the turn
of the century. Following Louise's death, Frederick abandoned many of the patterns of daily
life, and their related service functions, which had characterized their married life.
The social, economic, and physical separation and interdependence of the working class
and the entrepreneurial elite within a gilded-age household are represented in the floor plan,
features, finishes, and furnishings of the service areas at Hyde Park when compared with the
public rooms on the first, second, and third floors. The character of daily life for household
staff and family members, both at work and in leisure, can be seen in the surviving material
culture of these vastly different interior spaces. To a lesser degree, the social hierarchy of the
domestic staff, which ranged from a professional English butler to an uneducated kitchen maid,
is reflected in the private spaces assigned to them.
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