The William K. Vanderbilt House, also known as the Petit Chateau, was a
Châteauesque mansion at 660
Fifth Avenue in
Midtown Manhattan,
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 ...
, on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street. It was across the street from the
Triple Palace of
William Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821 – December 8, 1885) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the eldest son of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, an heir to his fortune and a prominent member of the Vanderbilt family. Vanderbi ...
, which occupied the entire block between
51st and
52nd Street
52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Jazz center
Following the repeal of ...
s on the west side of Fifth Avenue.
History
The mansion was built for
William Kissam Vanderbilt
William Kissam "Willie" Vanderbilt I (December 12, 1849 – July 22, 1920) was an American heir, businessman, philanthropist and horsebreeder. Born into the Vanderbilt family, he managed his family's railroad investments.
Early life
William Kiss ...
, second son of
William H. Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821 – December 8, 1885) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the eldest son of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, an heir to his fortune and a prominent member of the Vanderbilt family. Vanderbi ...
and Maria Louisa Kissam from 1878 to 1882.
Determined to make her mark in New York society, Vanderbilt's wife
Alva worked with the architect,
Richard Morris Hunt, to create the French Renaissance-style chateau.
Her renowned fancy-dress ball, held here in March 1883 and attended by a thousand people, captured the public's attention.
The structure, a reflection of Alva's love of all things French, was one of the earliest chateau style mansions in New York City and served as inspiration for many later designs throughout the country by Hunt and others.
It was sold to real-estate developer
Benjamin Winter, Sr. in 1926, demolished in 1927,
[ Miller, Donald L]
Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America
/ref> and replaced by a commercial building for the fashion retailers Hickson Inc."New Hickson Building to be Opened Dec. 31: Five-Story Structure in Italian Rennaisance Style Being Erected on Fifth Avenue."
''New York Times'', 5 September 1926, Real Estate, p. 1. Retrieved from ProQuest, 2 October 2022. In a draft of her memoirs, Alva, then Mrs. Belmont, merely noted the demolition in passing. The site is currently occupied by an office building which was formerly known as
666 Fifth Avenue
660 Fifth Avenue (formerly 666 Fifth Avenue and the Tishman Building) is a 41-story office building on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The office tower was d ...
, but which has recently been renamed as "660 Fifth Avenue".
Design
Although William Vanderbilt was involved in some of the design of the house, it was primarily a result of the collaboration of Alva Vanderbilt and the architect. Hunt used a blending of late French Gothic style and
Beaux-Arts refinement for the design of the three-and-a-half-story mansion.
Facade
The elaborate asymmetrical facade was faced in gray
Indiana limestone
Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...
, with an irregular roof of blue-gray slate trimmed with copper. The masonry firm of Ellin and Kitson executed the extensive exterior and interior stone carving, reportedly employing more than 40 artisans. Contemporary architectural critics generally gave good reviews of the design, with most noting that this was not, as had previously been the case with
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...
architecture, the pasting of Gothic detail onto an essentially American frame building.
Interior
The interior was entered from Fifth Avenue via an entrance vestibule. The vestibule opened onto a long grand hall, which could be used to access all of the primary first floor rooms. The grand hall was faced in
Caen stone
Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about ...
, as was much of the interior. It was worked and carved with decorative relief. Forming a "T" off of the right-hand center of the grand hall was the stone grand staircase, with a huge elaborately carved fireplace on the opposite facing wall.
The first of the principal rooms upon entering the grand hall from the east was the library, with 16th century French Renaissance
panelling
Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials.
Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...
covering the walls. On the opposite side was the parlor. It featured panelling in walnut, carved in the style of
Grinling Gibbons
Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and othe ...
. Next to the parlor was the
Louis Quinze
The Louis XV style or ''Louis Quinze'' (, ) is a style of architecture and decorative arts which appeared during the reign of Louis XV. From 1710 until about 1730, a period known as the Régence, it was largely an extension of the Louis XIV style ...
-style salon, designed and built in Paris by
Jules Allard. This room helped launch the taste in New York for French 18th century-style interiors. Its most important piece of furniture was an ebony secretary, now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, that was built by
Jean Henri Riesener
Jean-Henri Riesener (german: Johann Heinrich Riesener; 4 July 1734 – 6 January 1806) was a famous German ''ébéniste'' (cabinetmaker), working in Paris, whose work exemplified the early neoclassical "Louis XVI style".
Life and career
Riesene ...
for the use of
Marie Antoinette at the
Château de Saint-Cloud
The Château de Saint-Cloud was a château in France, built on a site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about west of Paris. On the site of the former palace is the state-owned Parc de Saint-Cloud.
The château was exp ...
. The focal point of the salon was the ceiling, painted with a mythological scenes by
Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry. He had recently completed ceiling paintings for the
Palais Garnier. Beyond the salon was the breakfast room and an adjoining butler's pantry. At the western end of the grand hall one entered the banquet hall. At and two stories high, it was the largest room in the house. It was Gothic in style, with seven foot high
wainscoting
Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials.
Panelling was developed in antiquity to make ro ...
, topped with Caen stone walls. One end of the room contained a massive double fireplace with marble
caryatid
A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...
s supporting an oak over-mantel by
Karl Bitter
Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (December 6, 1867 – April 9, 1915) was an Austrian-born American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work.
Life and career
The son of Carl and Henrietta Bitter, he was ...
. A second floor gallery topped the fireplace ensemble. The opposite end of the room featured a musicians gallery. The banquet hall was illuminated by a large stained glass window by Eugène Oudinot.
See also
*
List of Gilded Age mansions
*
Vanderbilt Triple Palace
The Triple Palace, also known as the William H. Vanderbilt House, was an elaborate mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue between 51st Street and 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The urban mansion, completed in 1882 to designs by John B. ...
References
External links
{{Fifth Avenue
Buildings and structures demolished in 1927
Châteauesque architecture in the United States
Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan
Fifth Avenue
Gilded Age mansions
Houses in Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Vanderbilt family residences