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15-405: The Châteauesque mansion, occupying the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and West 57th Street, was constructed in 1883 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II , the eldest grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt , founder of the family fortune. The ground level contained a drawing room, a dining room (which doubled as the art gallery), and a reception room. The second floor housed a salon, a music room, and

30-525: A 125,000 sq. ft. summer "cottage" in Newport, Rhode Island ), Cornelius suffered a stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair for the remaining three years of his life. In his will, he left his wife Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt a $ 7,000,000 trust fund and the use of 1 West 57th Street and The Breakers. After Cornelius died, Alice never remarried and continued to live in the mansion and in Newport. However,

45-521: A conservatory; the family bedrooms were on the remaining floors. Cornelius, feeling that others were trying to outdo his house, bought all of the property on the Fifth Avenue block. He then hired George B. Post and Richard Morris Hunt to construct a much larger mansion, filling the entire block front. The interiors were done by the French design firm of Jules Allard and Sons , with many pieces in

60-589: A revival style, buildings in the châteauesque style do not attempt to completely emulate a French château. Châteauesque buildings are typically built on an asymmetrical plan, with a roof-line broken in several places and a facade composed of advancing and receding planes. The style was popularized in the United States by Richard Morris Hunt . Hunt, the first American architect to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, designed residences, including those for

75-546: A two-story Moorish-inspired smoking room , a den, an office, a breakfast room, and a pantry. On the second floor were Mrs. Vanderbilt's bedroom, boudoir, bath, closet, and dressing room. Mr. Vanderbilt's bedroom was also on the second floor, as well as his bathroom, dressing room, closet, and private study. The mansion was, and remains, the largest private residence ever built in New York City . Thirteen years after moving into his new home (he also lived at The Breakers ,

90-403: A yearly income of $ 250,000, which was just enough to maintain both houses. Alice held on as long as she could, but she was forced to sell it in 1926. She had no hope for the house's preservation because she knew that developers, Braisted Realty Corporation (led by real estate developer Frederick Brown), had paid a hefty $ 7,000,000 for the land, and not for the house that stood on it. A week before

105-657: The Château Style ) is a revivalist architectural style based on the French Renaissance architecture of the monumental châteaux of the Loire Valley from the late fifteenth century to the early seventeenth century. The term châteauesque (literally, " château -like") is credited (by historian Marcus Whiffen ) to American architectural historian Bainbridge Bunting , although it can be found in publications that pre-date Bunting's birth. As of 2011,

120-522: The Getty Research Institute 's Art & Architecture Thesaurus includes both "Château Style" and "Châteauesque", with the former being the preferred term for North America. The style frequently features buildings heavily ornamented by the elaborate towers, spires, and steeply-pitched roofs of sixteenth century châteaux, themselves influenced by late Gothic and Italian Renaissance architecture. Despite their French ornamentation, as

135-569: The Vanderbilt family , during the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. A relatively rare style in the United States, its presence was concentrated in the Northeast , although isolated examples can be found in nearly all parts of the country. It was mostly employed for residences of the extremely wealthy, although it was occasionally used for public buildings. The first building in this style in Canada was

150-618: The 10-foot-tall metal front entryway gates. Once the mansion was demolished, it was replaced by the Bergdorf Goodman Building . After selling the home for $ 7,000,000, she bought the George J. Gould House for $ 800,000. 40°45′47.92″N 73°58′26.75″W  /  40.7633111°N 73.9740972°W  / 40.7633111; -73.9740972 Ch%C3%A2teauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style, or in Canada ,

165-766: The 1887 Quebec City Armoury (now named the Voltigeurs de Québec Armoury, formerly called the Grande-Allée Armoury (French: Manège militaire Grande-Allée, or simply Manège militaire) designed by Eugène-Étienne Taché . Many of Canada's grand railway hotels , designed by John Smith Archibald , Edward Maxwell , Bruce Price and Ross and Macdonald , were built in the Châteauesque style, with other mainly public or residential buildings. The style may be associated with Canadian architecture because these grand hotels are prominent landmarks in major cities across

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180-830: The country and in certain national parks. In Hungary, Arthur Meinig built numerous country houses in the Loire Valley style, the earliest being Andrássy Castle in Tiszadob , 1885–1890, and the grandest being Károlyi Castle in Nagykároly ( Carei ), 1893–1895. The style began to fade after the turn of the 20th century, and it was largely absent from new construction by the 1930s. Many of the Châteauesque-style buildings in Canada were built by railway companies, and their respective hotel divisions. They include Canadian National Railway and Canadian National Hotels , Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian Pacific Hotels , and

195-402: The house being imported from Europe. The house was six stories tall, not including the basement, and also had a stable and a private garden next door. The first floor featured a five-story Caen stone entrance hall leading to the library, a small salon, a grand salon, a watercolor room, a two-story ballroom, and a two-story dining room that doubled as an art gallery. Also on the first floor were

210-441: The house was never opened again to friends, and the only functions that are known to have happened there were the funerals of her two sons. Subsequently, it was just Alice and the 37 servants needed to run the mansion. As with the rest of the residences on Fifth Avenue , the mansion at 1 West 57th Street began to be encroached on by commercial skyscrapers , but Alice remained. The trust fund that Cornelius had left his wife produced

225-457: The wrecking ball was scheduled to demolish the 43-year-old home, Mrs. Vanderbilt arranged to have it opened to the public for fifty cents admission, which would be donated to charity. Before selling it, she donated as many elements from the interiors as she could, including the baronial Augustus Saint-Gaudens -designed fireplace and the Moorish ceiling piece from the smoking room. She also donated

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