For all the haste in its planning and building, the pavilion was an outstanding example of the owner’s desire to provide for the comfort of his gentleman friends when they visited him. This was the ultimate use for which the pavilion was planned, and no detail was overlooked. A large entrance hall, featuring an immense fireplace, was fitted for dining, general assembly, and congenial lounging. A butler’s pantry and kitchen for the preparation of game dinners, and several bathrooms equipped with showers for the convenience of guests were also on the first floor. From a balcony around the large central hall there opened the second floor rooms—bedrooms and servants’ quarters. A narrow staircase led to the roof, opening through a hatchway to a railed promenade or captain’s walk with a gunwale and a canvas-covered deck. [Illustration: _The pavilion._] [Illustration: _West portico._] While Mrs. Vanderbilt resided there, the pavilion wore an aspect of “quiet domesticity.” One story told of her small rooms on the second floor “... brightened by a variety of exquisite feminine trifles.” Among these was a novel arrangement of rich portieres or doorway curtains that gracefully concealed the door. Once the pavilion was completed, the contractor began, in January 1896, to remodel the Langdon mansion. Construction of two smaller houses for friends and relatives of the Vanderbilts was also started. (A gentleman of the press, evidently overwhelmed by the mansion, would later describe one of these smaller houses as “... a comparatively commonplace structure of red brick....” And, compared to the mansion, it _was_ commonplace—a mere Georgian colonial house containing 16 rooms and 3 baths with a circular staircase leading from the front hall to the upper stories.) _A Mansion in the Making_ Work had scarcely started on the mansion when serious structural defects were discovered in the walls of the center section. Complete demolition was deemed necessary. Vanderbilt balked at first, maintaining that he would have built along different lines had he felt there was nothing of the old house to be saved. Mrs. Vanderbilt was unhappy, too. In a letter to architect McKim, then in Egypt, his partner William R. Mead stated: “... when it was found the old house had to come down, Mrs. Vanderbilt kicked over the traces, and was disposed to build an English house, as she called it.” But the architects prevailed. New plans were drawn with the center section rooms arranged along virtually the same lines as in the old house. The exterior features, including the projecting west portico that the Vanderbilts had particularly admired, were retained. The new plans were ready in August 1896, and demolition of the old Langdon mansion was completed in September. Excavation of the deep basements for the new house was completed by hand and the foundations were finished before heavy snows in January 1897 forced suspension of the work.