Misplaced Pages

#818181

43-532: Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is a historic house museum in Hyde Park, New York , United States. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1940, it is owned and operated by the National Park Service . The property, historically known as Hyde Park, was one of several homes owned by Frederick William Vanderbilt and his wife Louise Holmes Anthony . The 54-room Vanderbilt mansion

86-454: A "memory museum", which is a term used to suggest that the museum contains a collection of the traces of memory of the people who once lived there. It is often made up of the inhabitants' belongings and objects – this approach is mostly concerned with authenticity . Some museums are organised around the person who lived there or the social role the house had. Other historic house museums may be partially or completely reconstructed in order to tell

129-669: A collection consistent with the historical structure. Some museums choose to collect pieces original to the period, while not original to the house. Others, fill the home with replicas of the original pieces, reconstructed with the help of historic records. Still other museums adopt a more aesthetic approach and use the homes to display the architecture and artistic objects. Because historic homes have often existed through different generations and have been passed on from one family to another, volunteers and professionals also must decide which historical narrative to tell their visitors. Some museums grapple with this issue by displaying different eras in

172-557: A portion of the estate, including the residence with most of its original furnishings, to the National Park Service in 1940. From 1941 to 1943, Roosevelt's Secret Service was housed in the basement and third-floor service areas, and some of the President's personal White House staff and friends occasionally stayed in the main bedrooms of the house, including those of Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt. The 54-room mansion

215-486: A professor of history and political science, further adds to social history and its relationship to locations by saying – Following this historical movement, the concept of " open-air museums " became prominent. These particular types of museums had interpreters in costume re-enact the lives of communities in earlier eras, which would then be performed to modern audiences. They often occupied large wooden architecture buildings or outdoor sites and landscapes, that were true to

258-453: A way that if you drew a line across the middle, either horizontally or vertically, one side of the line would mirror the other side. These formal gardens also consisted of multiple tiers, which depended on the type of plants. Each level was different. Frederick himself added the rose garden which contained almost 2000 vintage rose bushes along with other kinds of roses. Historic house museum Historic house museums are sometimes known as

301-400: A year, more than fifty percent of historic house museums received fewer than 5,000 visitors per year. These museums are also unique in that the actual structure belongs to the museum collection as a historical object. While some historic home museums are fortunate to possess a collection containing many of the original furnishings once present in the home, many face the challenge of displaying

344-606: Is currently the official residence of the Ambassador of Thailand , and one of the few intact homes that he designed. He also designed the Codman Carriage House and Stable , located a few blocks south. Codman's New York clients included John D. Rockefeller Jr. , for whom he designed the interiors of the Rockefeller family mansion of Kykuit in 1913, and Frederick William Vanderbilt , for whom he designed

387-551: Is not only associated with the individual but is a shared experience. It also focused on the way individual memory is influenced by social structures, as a way of continuing socialisation by producing memory as collective experience. An example of a site that utilizes collective memory is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. It was restored and is based on the dialectics of memory, however it also has

430-560: Is the work of the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White . Charles Follen McKim designed the plan in the Beaux-Arts style and Stanford White assisted as an antiques buyer. The house has a classic Beaux-Arts plan, with the major public rooms on its ground floor – the central Elliptical Hall, Dining Room, and Living Room – all in one line, parallel to the Hudson River . North and South Foyers provide transitional space from

473-670: The American Irish Historical Society . His French townhouse in the manner of Gabriel at 18 East 79th Street, for J. Woodward Haven (1908–09) is now occupied by Acquavella Galleries . All told, Codman designed 22 houses to completion, as well as the East Wing of the Metropolitan Club in New York. He also began the trend of lowering the townhouse entrance door from elevated stairways to

SECTION 10

#1732776019819

516-594: The Hudson Valley and the land on the east bank of the Hudson River, Frederick and his wife settled into their 600-acre (240 ha) estate. The location offered quick and easy access to New York City on the Vanderbilt's own New York Central Railroad . The house was designed and built between 1896 and 1899, and was primarily used as a vacation home for Frederick Vanderbilt's family. The previous owners of

559-847: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He was influenced in his career by two uncles, John Hubbard Sturgis , an architect, and Richard Ogden, a decorator. He greatly admired Italian and French architecture of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, as well as English Georgian architecture and the colonial architecture of Boston. After brief apprenticeships with Boston architectural firms, Codman started his own practice in Boston, where he kept offices from 1891 to 1893, after which time he relocated his main practice from Boston to New York City . Codman also opened offices in Newport, Rhode Island as early as 1891, and it

602-551: The 1970s and 1980s, as the Revolutionary War's bicentennial set off a wave of patriotism and alerted Americans to the destruction of their physical heritage. The tradition of restoring homes of the past and designating them as museums draws on the English custom of preserving ancient buildings and monuments. Initially homes were considered worthy of saving because of their associations with important individuals, usually of

645-769: The Hall to the Dining Room and Living Room. Five secondary spaces are located off the Elliptical Hall: the Lobby, Den, Gold Room, Grand Stair Hall, and Lavatory. The second floor rooms, comprising Mrs. Vanderbilt's suite of Bedroom, Boudoir and Bathroom (designed by Ogden Codman ), Mr. Vanderbilt's Bedroom and Bathroom, Guest Bedrooms and Baths and the Linen Room, are disposed around the Second Floor Hall and

688-464: The North and South Foyers. The third floor contains five additional guest bedrooms, and a Servants' Hall separated from the guests' rooms by a door at the main staircase. Supported by both concrete and steel, the Vanderbilt mansion was considered modern for its time. The mansion also included plumbing and forced hot air central heating and electric lighting which was powered by a hydroelectric plant built on

731-598: The basement level. He designed a series of three houses in Louis XIV style at 7 (his own residence) , 12, and 15 East 96th Street from 1912 to 1916. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission later described the facade of number 7 as being "full of gaiety and frivolous vitality" and further, "on approaching the house, Paris and the Champs-Élysées immediately come to mind." ...... In 1920, Codman left New York to return to France, where he spent

774-539: The couple chose Robert H. Robertson , a prominent architect who also designed Shelburne Farms, home of Frederick Vanderbilt's sister, Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb. Robertson's coach house, completed in the Queen Anne style, is in vast contrast to stoic mansion. The Italian gardens are detached from the house and incorporated formal elements typical of the Italian style. This meant that the beds were arranged in such

817-579: The east side of the Albany Post Road , where he built Red House and developed the agricultural aspects of the eastern section of the property that continued through Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt's occupancy. Bard family ownership continued through 1821 with his son, Dr. Samuel Bard (1742–1821), owning the property from 1799 to 1821. In 1828, Dr. David Hosack , president of the New York Horticultural Society, purchased

860-403: The elite classes, like former presidents, authors, or businessmen. Increasingly, Americans have fought to preserve structures characteristic of a more typical American past that represents the lives of everyday people. Historic house museums usually operate with small staffs and on limited budgets. Many are run entirely by volunteers and often do not meet the professional standards established by

903-420: The era, adding to authenticity. Collective memory is sometimes used in the resurrection of historic house museums; however, not all historic house museums use this approach. The notion of collective memory originated from philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwachs , in "La Memoire Collective" ("On Collective Memory", 1950). This extended thesis examines the role of people and place, and how collective memory

SECTION 20

#1732776019819

946-495: The estate had made it well known for its grand landscape and array of different plants and trees throughout the property. The New York Times described the Vanderbilt's estate as "the finest place on the Hudson between New York and Albany." Their niece, Margaret "Daisy" Van Alen, inherited the property when Frederick Vanderbilt died in 1938. Encouraged by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who owned an estate nearby), Van Alen donated

989-585: The estate on the Crum Elbow stream. The Vanderbilt estate had electric lighting before the surrounding area. Herter Brothers and A. H. Davenport and Company were subcontractors who executed McKim's interior designs. The Vanderbilts also hired Georges Glaenzer and Ogden Codman to decorate several rooms. E.F. Caldwell & Co. manufactured the majority of the lighting. When the Vanderbilts decided to replace cowbarns that dotted their extensive property,

1032-461: The home's history within different rooms or sections of the structure. Others choose one particular narrative, usually the one deemed most historically significant, and restore the home to that particular period. There are a number of organizations around the world that dedicate themselves to the preservation, restoration, or promotion of historic house museums. They include: Ogden Codman Ogden Codman Jr. (January 19, 1863 – January 8, 1951)

1075-446: The inclusion of joyous festivals to mask the turmoil. The Hiroshima Traces (1999) text takes a look at the importance of collective memory and how it is embedded in culture and place. Thus, collective memory does not only reside in a house or building, but it also resonates in outdoor space – particularly when a monumental event has occurred, such as war. Problematic creation of collective memory occurs within historic house museums when

1118-466: The interiors for his mansion in Hyde Park, New York , and his house on Fifth Avenue . He also collaborated with Wharton on the redesign of her townhouse at 882–884 Park Avenue as well as on the design of The Mount , her house in Lenox, Massachusetts. His suave and idiomatic suite of Régence and Georgian parade rooms for entertaining are preserved in the townhouse at 991 Fifth Avenue , now occupied by

1161-556: The last thirty-one years of his life at the Château de Grégy , wintering at Villa Leopolda in Villefranche-sur-Mer , which he created by assembling a number of vernacular structures and their sites: it is his masterpiece, the fullest surviving expression of his esthetic. Codman was homosexual and pursued attractive young men throughout his life, but on October 8, 1904, he married Leila Griswold Webb (1856-1910), who

1204-553: The museum industry. An independent survey conducted by Peggy Coats in 1990 revealed that sixty-five percent of historic house museums did not have a full-time staff, and 19 to 27 percent of historic homes employed only one full-time employee. Furthermore, the majority of these museums operated on less than $ 50,000 annually. The survey also revealed a significant disparity in the number of visitors between local house museums and national sites. While museums like Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg were visited by over one million tourists

1247-403: The narrative of all people who lived there is dangerous. While some plantation museum narratives have changed following an outcry from the public and the academy, "plantation museums reflect, create, and contribute to racialized ways of understanding and organizing the world" by limiting or eliminating the narrative of the enslaved inhabitants. A degree of authenticity is also to be considered in

1290-554: The narrative of non-family members is dismissed, ignored, or completely rejected. Within the Southern United States, plantation museums (the former homes of enslavers) constitute a significant portion of the museum community and contribute to the racialized collective memory of the United States. Because museums are responsible for "the building of identity, cultural memory and community", neglecting to include

1333-515: The original larger property (once around 600 acres) situated on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and includes manicured lawns, formal gardens, woodlands, and numerous auxiliary buildings. Historically known as Hyde Park, the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is one of the area's oldest Hudson River estates. The earliest development of the estate began in 1764 when Dr. John Bard purchased land on

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-472: The previous inhabitants through an explanation and exploration of social history . The idea of a historic house museum derives from a branch of history called social history that is solely based on people and their way of living. It became very popular in the mid-twentieth century among scholars who were interested in the history of people, as opposed to political and economical issues. Social history remains an influential branch of history. Philip J. Ethington,

1419-462: The property from Samuel Bard's heirs, with André Parmentier helping to design the grounds. In 1840, John Jacob Astor purchased the property from Hosack's heirs for his daughter Dorothea and her husband Walter S. Langdon. Their son Walter inherited and occupied the estate to the time of his death in 1894. Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt purchased Hyde Park in May 1895 from Langdon's heirs. Attracted to

1462-412: The public good and the preservation of American history, especially centered on the first U.S. president, General George Washington. Since the establishment of the country's first historic site in 1850, Washington's Revolutionary headquarters in New York, Americans have found a penchant for preserving similar historical structures. The establishment of historic house museums increased in popularity through

1505-405: The restoration and creation of a historic house museum. The space must be authentic in terms of truly replicating and representing the way it once stood in its original form and appear to be untouched and left in time. There are three steps when declaring if a space is authentic: The earliest projects for preserving historic homes began in the 1850s under the direction of individuals concerned with

1548-713: The second and third floor rooms of his Newport summer home, The Breakers , which he did in a clean eighteenth-century French and Italian classical style. Codman was not a draftsman, and it is said that in Paris he hired a talented group of students from the École des Beaux-Arts to draw up the sketches for Vanderbilt. In 1907, Codman built what was later to be known at the Codman–Davis House in Washington, D.C. for his cousin Martha Codman Karolik . It

1591-512: The story of a particular area, social-class or historical period. The " narrative " of the people who lived there guides this approach, and dictates the manner in which it is completed. Another alternative approach, deployed by nonprofit organization House Museum , includes contemporary art integration, where artists are invited to respond to the physical and conceptual history of a site, thus injecting contemporary perspectives and value into historic places. In each kind of museum, visitors learn about

1634-633: Was an American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts styles , and co-author with Edith Wharton of The Decoration of Houses (1897), which became a standard in American interior design. Codman was born on January 19, 1863, in Boston, Massachusetts , the eldest of six children of Boston native Ogden Codman Sr. (1839–1904) and his wife, the former Sarah Fletcher Bradlee. His paternal grandparents were Charles Russell Codman and Sarah ( née Ogden) Codman. His paternal aunt, Frances Anne Codman,

1677-485: Was designed by the preeminent architectural firm McKim, Mead & White . Construction occurred between 1896 and 1899. The house is an example of the Beaux-Arts architecture style. The interiors are archetypes of the American Renaissance , blending European architectural salvage, antiques, and fine period reproductions representing an array of historical styles. The site includes 211 acres (85 ha) of

1720-836: Was in Newport that he first met novelist Edith Wharton . She became one of his first Newport clients for her home there, Land's End. In her autobiography, A Backward Glance , Wharton wrote: We asked him to alter and decorate the house—a somewhat new departure, since the architects of that day looked down on house-decoration as a branch of dress-making, and left the field up to the upholsterers, who crammed every room with curtains, lambrequins, jardinières of artificial plants, wobbly velvet-covered tables littered with silver gew-gaws, and festoons of lace on mantelpieces and dressing tables. Codman viewed interior design as "a branch of architecture". Wharton subsequently introduced Codman to Cornelius Vanderbilt II , who hired Codman in 1894 to design

1763-903: Was married to noted architect and builder John Hubbard Sturgis , who designed Codman House , his parents' home in Lincoln, Massachusetts , and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts , along with Charles Brigham . His maternal grandparents were James Bowdoin Bradlee and Mary (née May) Bradlee. His maternal aunt, Katherine May Bradlee, was married to Benjamin W. Crowninshield and was the mother of Bowdoin Bradlee Crowninshield , Codman's first cousin. Codman spent much of his youth from 1875 to 1884 at Dinard , an American resort colony in France , and on returning to America in 1884, studied at

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-489: Was six years older and was the widow of railroad magnate H. Walter Webb and the mother of New York State Senator J. Griswold Webb . Leila was the sister-in-law of Dr. William Seward Webb , who was married to the former Eliza Vanderbilt , and Alexander S. Webb , the longstanding President of City College of New York . His wife died in 1910, leaving him a fortune. After her death, he sold their house on 15 East 51st Street (which he had designed for Leila while she

1849-428: Was still married to her first husband) and built himself another home at 7 East 96th Street in 1912. In 1918, Codman leased the former Newport cottage of society leader James Vanderburgh Parker , known as "Sans Souci" and located on Merton Road, for the summer. Codman died at age 87 in 1951 at the Château de Grégy in Évry-Grégy-sur-Yerre , France . His architectural drawings and papers are collected at

#818181