The Cornelius Vanderbilt II House was a large
mansion built in 1883 at 1 West
57th Street in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. It occupied the frontage along the west side of
Fifth Avenue from West 57th Street up to West 58th Street at
Grand Army Plaza
Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as s ...
. The home was sold in 1926 and demolished to make way for the
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman.
...
department store.
Design and history
The
Châteauesque mansion, occupying the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and West 57th Street, was constructed in 1883 for
Cornelius Vanderbilt II
Cornelius "Corneil" Vanderbilt II (November 27, 1843 – September 12, 1899) was an American socialite
and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.
Noted forebears
He was the favorite grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbil ...
, the eldest grandson of Commodore
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
, founder of the family fortune. The ground level contained a drawing room, a dining room (which doubled as the art gallery), and a reception room. The second floor housed a salon, a music room, and a conservatory; the family bedrooms were on the remaining floors.
Cornelius, feeling that others were trying to outdo his house, bought all of the property on the Fifth Avenue block. He then hired
George B. Post and
Richard Morris Hunt to construct a much larger mansion, filling the entire block front. The interiors were done by the French design firm of
Jules Allard and Sons The Parisian firm of Jules Allard and Sons (or ''Jules Allard et Fils''), in business between 1878 and Allard's death in 1907, was one of the most notable interior decorating houses of the turn of the twentieth century. The firm opened a New York b ...
, with many pieces in the house being imported from Europe.
The house was six stories tall, not including the basement, and also had a stable and a private garden next door. The first floor featured a five-story
Caen stone entrance hall leading to the library, a small salon, a grand salon, a watercolor room, a two-story ballroom, and a two-story dining room that doubled as an art gallery. Also on the first floor were a two-story Moorish-inspired
smoking room
A smoking room (or smoking lounge) is a room which is specifically provided and furnished for smoking, generally in buildings where smoking is otherwise prohibited.
Locations and facilities
Smoking rooms can be found in public buildings suc ...
, a den, an office, a breakfast room, and a pantry. On the second floor were Mrs. Vanderbilt's bedroom, boudoir, bath, closet, and dressing room. Mr. Vanderbilt's bedroom was also on the second floor, as well as his bathroom, dressing room, closet, and private study.
The mansion was, and remains, the largest private residence ever built in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. Thirteen years after moving into his new home (he also lived at
The Breakers
The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.
The 70-room man ...
, a 125,000 sq. ft. summer "cottage" in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
), Cornelius suffered a stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair for the remaining three years of his life. In his will, he left his wife
Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt
Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt (; November 11, 1845 – April 24, 1934) was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and reigned as the matriarch of the Vanderbilt family for over 60 years.
Early life and relatives
Alice Claypoole Gwynne was born on Novem ...
a $7,000,000 trust fund and the use of 1 West 57th Street and The Breakers.
After Cornelius died, Alice never remarried and continued to live in the mansion and in Newport. However, the house was never opened again to friends, and the only functions that are known to have happened there were the funerals of her two sons. Subsequently, it was just Alice and the 37 servants needed to run the mansion. As with the rest of the residences on
Fifth Avenue, the mansion at 1 West 57th Street began to be encroached on by commercial
skyscrapers, but Alice remained.
Sale and demolition
The trust fund that Cornelius had left his wife produced a yearly income of $250,000, which was just enough to maintain both houses. Alice held on as long as she could, but she was forced to sell it in 1926. She had no hope for the house's preservation because she knew that developers, Braisted Realty Corporation (led by real estate developer Frederick Brown),
[Miller, Donald L]
Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America
/ref> had paid a hefty $7,000,000 for the land, and not for the house that stood on it.
A week before the wrecking ball was scheduled to demolish the 43-year-old home, Mrs. Vanderbilt arranged to have it opened to the public for fifty cents admission, which would be donated to charity. Before selling it, she donated as many elements from the interiors as she could, including the baronial Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he trav ...
-designed fireplace and the Moorish ceiling piece from the smoking room. She also donated the 10-foot-tall metal front entryway gates.
Once the mansion was demolished, it was replaced by the Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman.
...
department store. After selling the home for $7,000,000, she bought the George J. Gould House
The George J. Gould House was a mansion at 857 Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner of 67th Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
History
The home was designed in the French Beaux-Arts style by architect Ho ...
for $800,000.
See also
* List of Gilded Age mansions
References
Further reading
*
Essay
with pictures of the first and second house on 57th Street.
External links
*
{{Coord, 40, 45, 47.92, N, 73, 58, 26.75, W, region:US, display=title
57th Street (Manhattan)
Châteauesque architecture in the United States
Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan
Fifth Avenue
Houses completed in 1883
Houses in Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Vanderbilt family residences
Gilded Age mansions