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. [Illustration: _Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bed._] [Illustration: _Empire room._] _Boudoir_. Adjoining the bedroom is the boudoir, furnished in the same motif. Notable pieces include a Dresden chandelier-and-candelabra set. THIRD FLOOR 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. BASEMENT OF THE MANSION 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. _Description of the Grounds_ _Trees._