Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, New YorkSnell, Charles W.
History
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, New York
Snell, Charles W.
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site (Hyde Park, Dutchess County, N.Y.)
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.
_Study._
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. Included among 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.
[Illustration: _Drawing room, northwest corner._]
_Library._
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.
[Illustration: _Gold room or French salon._]
_South Foyer._
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.
_Drawing Room._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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