you've heard the term keeping up with the joneses usually this implies mowing your lawn on the same
day as the house next door or painting your front door when the neighbor does it but no
case was ever more extreme than that of cornelius vanderbilt ii hi everyone ken here welcome to this
house today we are exploring cornelius vanderbilt the seconds mansion and more deeply how a large
ego coupled with immense wealth led to the construction of the largest home to ever be built
in new york city make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of
this house sitting at the northwest corner of 5th avenue and west 57th street in manhattan
was once the largest home to ever grace central park it was built in 1883 for cornelius vanderbilt
ii one of the heirs to the vanderbilt fortune the first floor boasted an elaborate drawing room
a heavily ornamented dining room that was said to double as an art gallery and a reception room for
welcoming guests going upstairs you would have encountered a grand salon paired with a music
room and a conservatory we can imagine the world's most elite socialites filling these
grand halls for banquets and other gatherings going up further in the house most of the rest
of the rooms would have been devoted to sleeping quarters for both the family and their servants
all of this luxurious space would prove not to be enough for cornelius as the neighborhood began to
fill in around him he started to feel insecure with the size of his mansion wanting not to be
outdone he purchased all of the properties on his fifth avenue block and had them demolish to pave
way for a much larger home that would consume the entirety of the block he hired richard morris hunt
and george b post to construct the most obscene mansion new york had ever seen he brought in
the world-renowned designers jewel zillard and sons from france to design the intricacies of
the interior spaces with other neighbors bringing entire rooms from europe cornelius felt compelled
to keep up by having many pieces of the house shipped in from across the pond the mansion would
soar at six stories tall and include a private manicured garden with stables adjacent to the
property walking in the front door of the mansion would have left you breathless as you looked up
towards the ceiling to see the five-story stone walls disappearing behind the flickering light at
the end of this grand entrance hall was an ornate library a petite salon a grand salon a two-story
ballroom a watercolor room and in paying homage to the original house a two-story dining room that
once again doubled as an art gallery full of the most expensive art that cornelius could acquire
the house meandered on throughout the first floor you would have also stumbled upon a
two-story smoking room inspired by moorish design a private den and office as well as a pantry that
was said to have been stocked with enough food to feed a village traveling up the grand staircase
to the second floor would bring you to mrs alice vanderbilt's lavish sleeping quarters
complete with a full bathroom a walk-in closet dressing room boudoir and a private study having
the largest home in new york was still not enough for cornelius as the elite in his circles began
to purchase summer homes he sought to outdo all of them by purchasing the breakers in newport
rhode island a 125 000 square foot mansion that he referred to as his humble summer cottage
while staying at his vacation home he tragically suffered a stroke which would leave him confined
to a wheelchair three years later he passed away and willed alice a seven million dollar trust fund
the mansion on 57th street and the summer cottage alice devastated by the loss of her husband
never remarried nor did she invite any guests to the mansion ever again aside from the funerals of
her two sons alice lived out many more years in the mansion with only the company of her
37 private servants to tend to her every need by 1926 the commercialization of the neighborhood was
in full swing with skyscrapers replacing many of the mansions that once existed alice was running
low on money having a budget of only 250 000 per year to live on or the modern day equivalent of
over four million dollars per year she sold the house to braisted realty corporation for seven
million dollars or the modern-day equivalent of 114 million dollars alice now faced with losing
the home she loved decided to open it to the public one week before its scheduled demolition
she charged 50 cents per person for admittance and donated all the money she raised with tours to
charity she frantically tried to save every part of the house that she loved donating fireplaces
and other architectural elements to anyone who would take them even the gate that once protected
the front doors of the mansion would be donated to be used at the 105 street entrance of central
park which can still be seen open and welcoming in people from all around the world thank you all
for watching i really hope that you enjoyed this video let me know what you thought of cornelius
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