Description of the Mansion

Dr. Samuel Bard.

Dr. David Hosack.

After the Revolution, Dr. Bard returned to private practice in New York City where he assisted his son, Dr. Samuel Bard, as attending physician to President George Washington. The elder Bard retired again to Hyde Park in 1798. Before his death a year later, the property was transferred to his son.

Dr. Samuel Bard built a house at Hyde Park in 1795, the first to stand on the site of Vanderbilt Mansion. A large house on the high elevation rising about 300 feet above the Hudson, it commanded a superb view of the river and of the mountains beyond. A garden was laid out on the land west of the Albany Post Road, and by 1820 a greenhouse, said to have been the first one in Dutchess County, was erected. In addition to his interest in trees and improvement of the grounds, Dr. Samuel Bard undertook experiments in horticulture and farming. He imported fruits from England, France, and Italy, and vines from Madeira. The Society of Dutchess County for the Promotion of Agriculture made him its first president in 1806. In this position he encouraged the use of clover as a crop and gypsum as a fertilizer. Dr. Samuel Bard lived at Hyde Park until his death in 1821 at the age of 79. His death followed within 24 hours that of his wife, Mary.

Map of the Hyde Park Patent, about 3,600 acres, showing land sales made by Dr. John Bard and Dr. Samuel Bard. In the time of Vanderbilt the estate comprised approximately the tracts labeled “Dr. David Hosack” and “Magdalene Hosack.” The National Historic Site comprises the land owned by Vanderbilt west of the Post Road and fronting the Hudson River.

Walter Langdon, Jr.

Their only surviving son, William Bard, inherited Hyde Park which had been reduced by land sales to 540 acres. He lived there only until 1828, when he sold the estate to Dr. David Hosack of New York City. A former professor of natural history at Columbia College, Dr. Hosack had become a partner of Dr. Samuel Bard and had taken over the latter’s medical practice when he retired.

Dr. Hosack spent vast sums of money for the improvement of his property. He was to create the first of the great Hudson Valley estates.

Deeply interested in botany, he revived horticultural experimentation and gardening at Hyde Park. Many of the rare specimens that today grace the lawns and gardens probably date from the period immediately following Dr. Hosack’s acquisition of the estate. Andre Parmentier, a Belgian landscape gardener, was engaged to lay out roads, walks, and scenic vistas.

In 1829, under the guidance of Martin E. Thompson of the architectural firm of Town and Thompson, Dr. Hosack remodeled and enlarged the house built by Dr. Samuel Bard in 1795. A new carriage house and gate lodges were also designed and constructed.

The new beauty of the Hyde Park estate carried its fame throughout this country and to Europe. Many notables came to Hyde Park to visit Dr. Hosack and to enjoy the scene. Among them were Philip Hone, diarist and former Mayor of New York; Washington Irving, noted author; the poet Fitz-Greene Halleck; Jared Sparks, American historian and editor of the North American Review; Capt. Thomas Hamilton, British novelist and adventurer; Harriet Martineau; Dr. James Thacher, physician and biographer; and the young English artist Thomas Kelah Wharton, who made several engravings of the estate.

In 1840, some 5 years after Dr. Hosack’s death, John Jacob Astor bought the mansion tract, containing about 125 acres of land west of the Albany Post Road. Astor almost immediately made a gift of this purchase to his daughter Dorothea Langdon and her five children. One of her sons, Walter Langdon, Jr., eventually bought out the property interests of his mother, sisters, and brothers, and by 1852 had become sole owner.

Gardener’s cottage.

The handsome house originally built by Dr. Samuel Bard, then enlarged by Dr. Hosack, was completely destroyed by fire in June 1845. A new mansion was built on the site of the destroyed house in 1847. By 1872, Langdon had reunited the farmland east of the Post Road through purchase. In October of that year, fire destroyed the splendid barns that had been Dr. Hosack’s pride. Three years later, Langdon built the gardener’s cottage and toolhouse,the only buildings still standing that antedate the Vanderbilt era. Until late in life, the Langdons spent much of their time in Europe, and the Hyde Park mansion was closed for years. In 1882, however, Langdon returned to Hyde Park, living there the life of a country gentleman. There were no surviving children when he died in 1894 at the age of 72. When Hyde Park was offered for sale the next year, Frederick W. Vanderbilt purchased it.

Tool house.

Vanderbilt Mansion was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White in 1896-98 in an Italian Renaissance style then popular with that firm. The mansion has about 50 rooms on 4 levels, including servants’ quarters and utility features like the kitchen and laundry. The entire construction of concrete and steel, faced with cut stone, is fireproof—except for the interior paneled walls and the furnishings.

This is a small, high-ceilinged room that leads from the imposing front portico of the mansion to the reception hall. It is without distinctive furnishings except for a pair of large Mediterranean green-glazed pottery jars.

Library and family living room.

Green and white marble imported from Italy is used with arresting effect for cornices and pilasters in this elliptically shaped room. Above the massive fireplace, which came from an Italian palace, is a Flemish tapestry bearing the insignia of the famous Italian Medici family of Renaissance times. In the center of the room is a French table with a porphyry top; upon it is a French clock with a matching porphyry base. Around the walls are high-backed Italian throne chairs. Two French Renaissance cabinets, in tooled walnut, stand at either side of the doorway. A pair of busts, male and female, are of Carrara marble. Many of these pieces are hundreds of years old.

Woodwork is Santo Domingo mahogany. Plates on the wall are Chinese, and a painting by the French artist, Lesrel, hangs over the desk. Above the fireplace, early Italian and Spanish flintlock pistols are grouped about an old Flemish clock. A hand-carved Renaissance panel forms the back of the desk chair. In the bookcase are about 400 volumes, mostly fiction and travel. Includedamong these are the college textbooks that Frederick Vanderbilt used at Yale. From this room Vanderbilt conducted his estate affairs, such as tree culture and the operation of the greenhouses, gardens, and his 350-acre dairy and stock farm across the highway.

Drawing room, northwest corner.

This room reflects the work of decorator Georges A. Glaenzer of New York City. Hand-carved wood on the walls was done by Swiss artists brought to this country for that purpose. A vaulted section of the ceiling is molded plaster, made to simulate carved wood. The carved mantel of the fireplace is said to have come from a European church. A porcelain clock-and-candelabra set on the mantel was a gift from Mrs. Vanderbilt’s mother. Guns on the wall opposite the fireplace are antique Swiss wheel locks. More than 900 volumes on history, literature, natural science, and other subjects fill the bookcases in this room. This library was the family living room. Here the Vanderbilts and their intimate friends gathered for tea in the afternoon. Mrs. Vanderbilt used the table in this room to write letters to her friends. Frederick Vanderbilt’s favorite chair stands near a large window overlooking the grounds.

Gold room or French salon.

On one of the venerable Italian dower chests in this room is a model of Vanderbilt’s yacht,Warrior. On the other chest is a small bronze group depicting a Russian winter scene. Above the chests are two 16th-century Brussels tapestries showing incidents in the Trojan War. By the chests are a pair of Venetian torcheres and two small bronze chateau cannon.

Furniture in this room is predominantly French, except for two Italian refectory tables and a number of Chinese lamps. Two of these lamps have silk shades with hand-painted designs copied from the bases; this touch of luxury is repeated in other rooms, notably in Frederick Vanderbilt’s bedroom. The grand piano, an American Steinway, was decorated in Paris in goldleaf with the medallions of noted composers, it was originally used in the home of Vanderbilt’s father in New York City. Seventeenth-century Florentine tapestries on the end walls bear the coat of arms of the Medici family. Two 16th-century Brussels tapestries with more scenes from the Trojan War flank the doorway. Wall paneling is Circassian walnut. Twin fireplaces are Italian marble. As it now appears, this room represents the design of architect Whitney Warren, who redecorated the room in 1906. The original ceiling mural by H. Siddon Mowbray was removed at that time.

French doors open to a porch from which a path led to the Italian gardens. Formal entertaining in this room might include tea, after-dinner coffee, games of whist, and, on special occasions, a spring or autumn dance.

This French salon was designed by Georges A. Glaenzer after an 18th-century French drawing room. An inlaid tulipwood desk is Louis XV. A standing clock, made by Paul Sormani is a copy of one in the Louvre. One of the inset wall panels contains an Aubusson tapestry; two other panels (one above the marble fireplace) contain large mirrors which, reflecting in one another, provide a striking repetition of mirrors to infinity. As is evident from its gilded appearance, goldleaf was not spared in the room’s decoration. Here guests would gather for sherry before dinner.

In this room is a large Florentine storage chest of hand-carved wood, decorated with goldleaf and lacquer. Above the chest is a 17th-century Brussels tapestry. On the opposite wall isan 18th-century Aubusson tapestry. Overhead is a Venetian lantern matching the one in the south foyer. In one corner is a large Chinese bowl with blue-dragon design against a white background; it rests on a Chinese teakwood stand.

Dining room.

This room is 30 by 50 feet. Its floor is covered by a huge Oriental (Ispahan) rug which measures 20 by 40 feet and is more than 300 years old. Furniture is a reproduction of Louis XIV period. The large dining table could be extended to seat 30 people. A smaller table at the east end of the room was used by the Vanderbilts when dining alone or with a few intimate friends. At such meals, Frederick Vanderbilt always sat on the south side of the table with Mrs. Vanderbilt opposite him on the north side. Across the room from the doorway are two 18th-century planetaria, made in London—instruments used for the study of the sun and planets. On the walls on either side of the door are a pair of French 17th-century tapestries, believed to be of Beauvais manufacture. Florentine chairs around the walls and two carved Renaissance mantels all emphasize the spaciousness of the room. Hand-painted and gilt panels decorate the ceiling. Two marble columns of the Ionic order flank the doorway, matching those in the drawing room. All original marble work in the mansion was done by Robert C. Fisher and Company, of New York City, then one of the largest importers of marble in the world.

Grand stairway.Courtesy The New York Times Studio.

The hostess made it a point to blend the color of the flowers, the cloth, and the china. If yellow flowers were being used, the lace cloth would have a yellow undercover, the service would be gold-plated, and the china would be white with a gold stripe.

On the wall opposite the foot of the stairway is an 18th-century Flemish tapestry. The floor in the lower-stair hall is old Italian marble. A chair and marble fernery are Italian, and a large Chinese bowl of the Ming Dynasty is about 500 years old. Italian busts and statues occupy niches along the way. At one of the landings is a painting by the French artist, Adrien Moreau. An early 18th-century Beauvais tapestry hangs on the second-floor wall.

On a Louis XVI table stands an incense burner fashioned of marble and cloisonne. Overhead is a chandelier of beaded crystal; one of similar design is in the south foyer. Hanging here are original paintings by the 19th-century artists, Schreyer, Bougereau, and Villegas. Frederick Vanderbilt was more noted for the fine tapestries he collected than for outstanding paintings.

This is the largest of the guest rooms. Mrs. James Van Alen, the niece of Mrs. Vanderbilt who donated the mansion to the Federal Government, used this room during her visits to the Vanderbilts. The windows of this room command a splendid view of the Hudson and the mountains beyond. A white onyx French clock and companion pieces adorn the mantel, and a rare old (Ghiordes) prayer rug is spread before the fireplace.

Common to all guestrooms is the 18th-century French style of furniture and the use of a distinct color scheme. The guestrooms, unless otherwise noted, are believed to reflect the design of New York decorator Ogden Codman.

Most of the furnishings in this room are of French design. In the center of the room is a finely woven Persian dower rug. Pieces on the mantel are of the French Empire period. Each guestroom has a bath and one or more closets. The bathroom accessories always matched the color scheme of the guestroom.

In 1906, architect Whitney Warren installed the balustrade which now overlooks the reception hall.

Second floor hall.

In the second floor hall are three 18th-century Flemish tapestries, two Italian fringed and embroidered hangings draped over the balustrade, and two sets of matched high-backed chairs in walnut—one set of six chairs, one of four. A teakwood cabinet is of Chinese design.

These rooms open onto the second floor hall and are connected by a doorway to form a two-room suite. Furnishings are in the French style. A frieze on a Greek subject embellishes the 18th-century English Georgian mantel in the larger room.

This leads to the master bedrooms. French doors can be closed to separate this wing from the rest of the second floor. In the foyer are paintings by Kellar-Reutlingen and Firman-Girard.

This room has carved woodwork of Circassian walnut. The bed and dresser were designed as part of the woodwork and were installed by Norcross Brothers. The room was designed by Georges A. Glaenzer. The walls and doors are covered with 17th-century Flemish tapestry. Hand-painted designs on the silk lampshades match those on the Chinese bases. The fireplace has a large carved mantel. On the floors are dark-red rugs made in India.

Frederick Vanderbilt’s room. Note tapestried walls.

Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bedroom.Courtesy The New York Times Studio.

In this room, as in the Gold Room downstairs, there was an attempt at accurate reproduction. This room, designed by Ogden Codman, is a reproduction of a French queen’s bedroom of the Louis XV period. The bed is surrounded by a rail. (In French practice, courtiers gathered around the rail for morning levees.) The wall at the head of the bed is covered with hand-embroidered silk. Other walls are wood paneled and inset with French paintings. The heavily napped rug was made especially for this room; it weighs 2,300 pounds. Furniture is French 18th-century. Created by Paul Sormani, it is modeled on Louis XV period pieces. A curio case in front of the bedrail contains French fans and inside the rail is a prayer table and kneeling cushion.

Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bed.

Empire room.

Adjoining the bedroom is the boudoir, furnished in the same motif. Notable pieces include a Dresden chandelier-and-candelabra set.

The third floor, which is closed to visitors, is divided into two sections; one contains five more guestrooms, and the other the servants’ quarters. The third floor guestrooms are as elaborate as any on the second floor and consist of the Pink Room, with white painted furniture—often used by Frederick Vanderbilt in the winter; the Little Mauve Room, furnished with oak furniture; the Empire Room, with French Empire period furniture and satin-covered walls to match the covering on the furniture and bed; and the White Room, with white furniture, drapes, and upholstery.

Female employees of the mansion were quartered in the servants’ rooms on the third floor. In addition to the housekeeper’s suite of two rooms, there were single rooms for seven maids, two cooks, and a kitchen girl, and a room for sewing and pressing. The maids’ rooms are, of course, simpler in decoration and furnishings than the guestrooms.

When the nine guestrooms in the mansion could not accommodate everyone present, the pavilion was used as a guesthouse.

The basement contains the rooms that were used by male employees of the mansion. There were single rooms for the three butlers, a room for visiting valets, and a room for the day and night men. In addition there were four storage rooms, two laundry rooms, a pressing room, a wine cellar, and an ice room. The kitchen was located under the dining room. Food prepared here was lifted via a large dumbwaiter to the butler’s pantry on the first floor, then carried from there into the dining room, where it was served. The servants’ hall, used as a recreation and dining room by the servants, was also located in the basement.

For almost two centuries these grounds have been part of country estates owned by influential and wealthy men. The magnificent specimen trees which they planted here may be ranked as a feature of interest second only to the mansion itself. Approximately two score species and varieties are represented, many of them from Europe and Asia.

Trees of foreign origin include European ash, European beech, English elm, Norway spruce, Norway maple, the red-leaved Japanese maple, and a ginkgo, or Chinese maidenhair-tree. This ginkgo is among the largest of that species in the United States.

Among the native American trees represented are sugar maple, flowering dogwood, eastern hemlock, Kentucky coffeetree, white oak, black oak, eastern white pine, and blue spruce. Other fine examples of their kind include large beeches, bur oak, and a great cucumber magnolia. Many of these trees are labeled.

Designed by McKim, Mead, and White, this building was erected by Norcross Brothers in 66 working days, September 8 to November 24, 1895, on the site of the old Langdon carriage house. Cost of the structure probably exceeded $50,000. The pavilion was used by the Vanderbilts during the construction and furnishing of the mansion, and, later, on weekends in the winter season when they came to Hyde Park for winter sports. The pavilion was also used to house the overflow of guests from the mansion.

The pavilion represents an adaption of classic Greek architecture. Certain liberties have been taken in the interest of functional arrangement, such as the placement of window openings and modifications necessary for the captain’s walk on the roof. The result is a pleasing combination of classic form and informal detail.

Ginkgo, or Chinese maidenhair-tree.

These two buildings, located south of the mansion, are the only structures on the estate that antedate the Vanderbilt era. Walter Langdon had them built in 1875 according to the design of John H. Sturgis and Charles Brigham, architects of Boston, Mass. Neither building is open to the public.

These gardens, which lay south of the mansion, may possibly date back as far as Dr. Samuel Bard’s era in 1795. They certainly existed in 1830 as a part of Dr. David Hosack’s estate, and the later owner, Walter Langdon, continued to maintain them. Landscape architect James L. Greenleaf radically revised and enlarged the gardens in 1902-3 for Frederick Vanderbilt.

The gardens thus represent several periods of development. They were divided into three units: The greenhouse gardens, the cherry walk and pool gardens, and the rose garden. The first of these consisted of three separate parterre gardens within a rectangle framedon the west by the rose and palm houses and on the north by the toolhouse, carnation house, and gardener’s cottage. The cherry walk and pool gardens were located east of this group at a lower level, and progressed from the pergola to the garden house. The rose garden, still further east, had two terraces and contained panel beds.

The land north of the pavilion was added to the estate in 1905. From the north drive are unsurpassed views of the Hudson, the Shawangunk Range to the west, and the Catskill Mountains to the north. The north gate was erected in 1906. Directly opposite, on the east side of the Albany Post Road, are the Vanderbilt barns, built in 1901. This part of the estate is now in private ownership.

These structures date from 1898 and again represent the combination of McKim, Mead, and White-Norcross Brothers. The gatehouse is still used as a residence and is closed to the public.

Main gatehouse.

This bridge over Crum Elbow Creek was designed and constructed in 1897 by the New York City engineering firmof W. T. Hiscox and Company. A Melan arch bridge, it was one of the first steel and concrete bridges in the United States.

River gatehouse.

The carriage road and Crum Elbow Creek proceed southward, ending near the Hyde Park railroad station at the Hudson River. Near this point is the river gate and gate lodge. These were designed by McKim, Mead, and White, and constructed by Norcross Brothers in 1898. The gatehouse is still used as a residence and is closed to the public.

Located on the river hill, a short distance east (or above) the river gate, is the coach house. It was designed by the New York City architect, R. H. Robertson, and erected by Norcross Brothers in 1897. In 1910, R. H. Robertson altered the coach house so it could also be used as a garage.

THE VANDERBILT FAMILY TREE(Based on Andrews,Vanderbilt Legend, p. 79)

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is on the New York-Albany Post Road, U.S. 9, at the northern edge of Hyde Park, N.Y., about 6 miles north of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. From New York City, 82 miles away, you can reach it most conveniently by automobile over the Hendrick Hudson Parkway, the Saw Mill River Parkway, the Taconic State Parkway, U.S. 55, and U.S. 9. Approaches from the New York State Throughway and U.S. 9W on the west side of the Hudson River are by the Mid-Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie, the Rip Van Winkle Bridge at Catskill, or the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge at Kingston.

You enter the grounds by the main gate on U.S. 9, just north of the village of Hyde Park. You leave the site by the north drive and gate on U.S. 9, near St. James Church. The exit drive affords fine views of the Hudson River and the mountains to the west.

The grounds are open every day from 9 a.m. until dark. You are welcome to spend as much time as you wish viewing them.

The mansion is open every day during the summer, June 15 through Labor Day. It is closed Mondays at other seasons, and on Christmas Day. Visiting hours are from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The nominal admission charge to the mansion does not apply to children under 12, nor to groups of elementary and high school children, regardless of age, and accompanying adults who assume responsibility for their safety and orderly conduct.

A self-guided tour system enables you to begin your tour of the mansion immediately upon arrival. Special guide service for groups may be arranged in advance through the superintendent.

There are no accommodations for picnicking or dining at the site. These services are available in the village of Hyde Park and at Norrie State Park, 4 miles north. Overnight accommodations are available in the village.

The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, administered jointly with this site, is 2 miles south of the village of Hyde Park on U.S. 9. It is open at the same times as Vanderbilt Mansion.

View from west lawn across the Hudson.

When Frederick W. Vanderbilt died in 1938, the Hyde Park estate was bequeathed to Mrs. James Van Alen, a niece of Mrs. Vanderbilt. Two years later, Mrs. Van Alen gave the estate to the Federal Government, and on December 18, 1940, it was designated a National Historic Site. Since that time it has been administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

A superintendent, whose address is Hyde Park, N.Y., is in immediate charge. His offices are in the pavilion.

Andrews, Wayne,The Vanderbilt Legend: The Story of the Vanderbilt Family, 1794-1940. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1941.

Croffut, W. A.,The Vanderbilts and the Story of Their Fortune. Belford Clarke and Co., Chicago, 1886.

Lane, Wheaton J.,Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of the Steam Age. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1942.

Langstaff, John Brett,Doctor Bard of Hyde Park: The Famous Physician of Revolutionary Times, The Man Who Saved Washington’s Life. E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., New York, 1942.

Holbrook, Stewart,Age of the Moguls. Doubleday and Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1953.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1973 O-517-151

FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.

Yacht

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