Frederick Vanderbilt's Mansion

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.