National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

The Gilded Age and Country Places
railway king of the age of elegance that neither Fifth Avenue nor American Architecture
could ever be quite the same again. . . . While it was true that the architect had returned to the
past for guidance, what he had accomplished in this, the first "eclectic" design in American
architecture, was to plan a house in the manner of sixteenth-century France to suit the wants
of a nineteenth-century millionaire. 143
The house even made an impression on Charles McKim. "McKim made a habit of strolling up
Fifth Avenue late at night to gaze again and again at the Vanderbilt chateau. He said he always
slept better for the sight of it." 144 The interiors were designed by Hunt and executed by a
number of firms, including Herter Brothers, Leon Marcotte, and Allard. This was a practice that
had its origins in the 1870s and continued through at least the turn of the century. 145
Cornelius Vanderbilt II's house at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street
was the work of George B. Post. Cornelius was shortly to become the head of the richest family
in America. He was certainly driven by the same desire to build as his father and brother. His
house was different from both of theirs, and each reflected the independent taste of the three
men. Post had been a student and close associate of Hunt's, although he was better known for
his commercial buildings than residential work. Cornelius II was the eldest son, and as such,
probably felt compelled to build in a commensurate manner. The house, French Renaissance in
style and made of brick with stone trim, was not considered to be the masterpiece of
architectural design that William K. and Alva's house was. The interiors however were another
matter. Unlike 660 Fifth Avenue, where Hunt designed most of the rooms which were then
handed over to sub-contractors, contemporary artists were engaged and given much freedom to
design the individual spaces at 1 West 57th Street. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, for example,
created a magnificent carved marble fireplace supported by two huge female figures and
embellished with mosaics. 146 Other rooms were decorated by Allard, John LaFarge, Louis
Comfort Tiffany, and Gilbert Cuel.
Frederick lived at 24 West 53rd Street and 693 Fifth Avenue until his father gave him his
old house at 459 Fifth Avenue. According to an article in the New York Morning Journal,
Frederick and Louise redecorated the house in the mid 1880s. The title of the article "A Jewel
Case in Stone," suggests that the interiors must have been quite splendid. Herter Brothers did
the bedroom and many of the rooms were decorated in different styles. 147
Their father William Henry gave each of the four Vanderbilt daughters a house. Two of
the daughters, Margaret and Emily, shared the triple palace with entrances to their houses at 642
Fifth Avenue and 2 West 52nd Street. The interiors were subcontracted to Marcotte and
143
Wayne Andrews, Architecture, Ambition, and Americans, rev. ed. (New York: The Free Press, 1978),
170-171.
144
Andrews, 1978, 171.
145
Other houses and buildings that encompassed the work of competing decorators were Elm Park, the
home of LeGrand Lockwood in Norwalk, CT and the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York. The
practice is also evident in numerous Vanderbilt commissions: Cornelius Vanderbilt II House, The
Breakers, Marble House, and Hyde Park.
146
This piece is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
147
Four photographs of the interiors survive in the collection at Biltmore, probably taken in the late
1870s. There is also a bill detailing the redecoration of the drawing room in 1878. A number of pieces of
furniture from this house, as well as decorations, made their way to Hyde Park. I was unable to locate a
copy of this newspaper at either the New York Public Library or the New-York Historical Society. I
consulted Mr. James Maher's notes, and thank him for sharing them with me.
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