Frederick Vanderbilt and his wife bought a two story mansion on this spot, with the intention of adding a third story. In the survey of the mansion they found that the foundation was not in good shape and that the vertical beams were not capable of supporting a whole new third story floor. So they decided to demolish the mansion on the spot and build a whole new one.
So this is wild... They quickly had a small mansion built within a hundred yards of so of where the new mansion would be. It was all hands on deck and from start to finish the small mansion took, I think the ranger said, something like 67 days. So they had a place to live while the new mansion was going to be built. Amazing what you can do with a lot of money.
I have seen and photographed a number of mansions in my day, and I didn't find this building all that attractive. But what do I know about architecture? McKim, Mead & White designed this neoclassical building with Beaux-Arts ornamentation and incorporated all the latest innovations: electricity, central heating and indoor plumbing! It was built between 1896 - 1899.
These are columns on the south end of the building.
And this view is of the north end of the mansion, looking south. In another post I will show you some of the interior rooms which we saw on the tour.
1 comment:
I’ll take the “small” mansion - thank you very much! I cannot even imagine the money that it took to demolish the original mansion and build a new one. It’s huge! Betsey
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