THE VANDERBILT MANSION IN NEW YORK CITY

 

THE VANDERBILT MANSION IN NEW YORK CITY

Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s 1882 (1893 renovated) mansion exemplifies both the ambitions and extravagance of the nation’s prosperous. When  Commodore Vanderbilt died in 1877, he left  Cornelius II a $5 million inheritance.  Cornelius II used this money to purchase and demolish three brownstone houses on the southwest corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue in preparation for his new mansion. His wife was instrumental in the extravagance–it was “common belief that Alice Vanderbilt set out to draft her sister in law [Alva Vanderbilt]’s Fifth Avenue chateau, and dwarf it she did.”  Cornelius’ mansion  was reportedly the largest single family house in New York City. Vanderbilt commissioned George B. Post to design the mansion and John LaFarge, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his brother Julius, Frederick Kaldenberg, Philip Martiny, Rene de Quelin, and Frederick W. MacMonnies to design its interior. Post created a red brick and limestone chateau, which stood out amongst its brownstone neighbors. Today, the property at 742-748 Fifth Avenue, the original address of the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion, is now the department store Bergdorf Goodman.