National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

CHAPTER SIX
TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommended treatment of the historical resources of the Vanderbilt Mansion
National Historic Site is preservation as suggested by the high degree of integrity and many areas
of significance for the property. The historic fabric of the Vanderbilts' home, its furnished
interiors, service areas, mechanical systems, and the park and garden landscape on the river side
of the estate which survive from the Vanderbilts' occupancy are largely intact and should be
treated in terms of preservation. The relatively small number of removals and additions of
features do not diminish the extraordinary integrity of the historic material in the landscape,
architecture, and interiors of the site.
The standards of preservation should be rigorously applied in regard to any planned reuse
of interior spaces in the mansion for NPS administrative or curatorial purposes, particularly
basement or third-floor service areas which are now largely unused. In fact, it is recommended
that every effort be made to open more of these service areas for public visitation and
interpretation given their unusual survival and the general lack of public access to such spaces
for interpretive purposes.
Preservation should be the overall architectural treatment recommendation, with
selective Restoration. The majority of architectural elements and details are original, and only
two aspects of the building should be considered for restoration: (1) many, but not all, interior
finishes have been altered, some slightly and a few drastically, throughout the years of National
Park Service stewardship; (2) several bathtubs were replaced with showers for FDR's security
forces living in the Vanderbilt Mansion while the President was in residence at his home in
Hyde Park.
In general, changes in painted basement wall finishes have been subtle, but to a scale that
merits restoration. The extant green-painted walls of the first-story Elliptical Hall are a drastic
change and definitely should be reversed. The National Park Service-era wallpaper in the
second-floor Little Green Room should be replaced with something more appropriate. The
ubiquitous olive-green painted walls now found in the third-floor Servants' Quarters were
originally slightly lighter and of a very high gloss, which should be replicated. The upper walls
of the third-floor Guest Hall should be repainted to approximate the historic mottled finish.
Restoration of the bathtubs should be determined on a case-by-case basis, as the
National Park Service decides if the respective bathrooms will be opened to the public. While it
is believed that the bathtubs are no longer on the property, similar plumbing fixtures were used
throughout the house, and an extant bathtub could be used as a prototype for replacement
when necessary.
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