Frederick William Vanderbilt
Encyclopedia
Vanderbilt family
The Vanderbilt family is an American family of Dutch origin prominent during the Gilded Age. It started off with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthropy...
. He was a director of the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
for 61 years, and also a director of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad , also known as the "Little Giant", was formed on May 11, 1875. Company headquarters were located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The line connected Pittsburgh in the east with Youngstown, Ohio at nearby Haselton, Ohio in the west and Connellsville, ...
and of the Chicago and North Western Railroad.
Biography
A son of William Henry VanderbiltWilliam Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt I was an American businessman and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family.-Childhood:William Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1821...
, Frederick Vanderbilt graduated in 1876 from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
's Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...
, to which he donated $500,000 in 1902. In 1878 he married Louise Holmes Anthony Torrance. Though they were unable to have children, they had a close relationship with their nieces and nephews.
Frederick Vanderbilt died on June 29, 1938.
Legacy
Vanderbilt maintained residences in New York City (he lived for a while at 450 Fifth Avenue), Newport ("Rough PointRough Point
Rough Point is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum. It is an English Manorial style home designed by architectural firm Peabody & Stearns for Frederick William Vanderbilt Construction on the red sandstone and granite began in 1887 and...
"), Bar Harbor ("Sonogee"), Upper St. Regis Lake
Upper St. Regis Lake
Upper St. Regis Lake is a part of the St. Regis River in the Adirondacks in northern New York State. Along with Lower St. Regis Lake and Spitfire Lake, it became famous in the late 19th century as a summer playground of America's power elite, drawn to the area by its scenic beauty and by the...
in the Adirondacks ("Pine Tree Point
Pine Tree Point
Pine Tree Point was the Adirondack Great Camp on Upper St. Regis Lake of Frederick William Vanderbilt, a director of the New York Central Railroad for 61 years...
"), and a country palace in Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
("Hyde Park") now preserved by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
as Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, located in Hyde Park, New York, is one of America's premier examples of the country palaces built by wealthy industrialists during the Gilded Age....
. He built the nearby Howard Mansion and Carriage House
Howard Mansion and Carriage House
Howard Mansion and Carriage House is a historic mansion and carriage house located at Hyde Park in Dutchess County, New York. It was designed by noted architect Charles Follen McKim and built in 1896. It is a two story, six bay, eclectic dwelling built of uncoursed fieldstone. It is rectangular...
for his nephew Thomas H. Howard in 1896.
Vanderbilt was the owner of 10 East 40th Street
10 East 40th Street
10 East 40th Street or the Mercantile Building is a skyscraper located in the Murray Hill section of New York City, between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue, taking the width of the block between 39th and 40th streets. Designed by Ludlow & Peabody and built by Jesse H. Jones, it was finished in...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, a prominent example of art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
architecture, until his death; he also owned the yacht Warrior. He commissioned a number of campus buildings at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
by architect Charles C. Haight
Charles C. Haight
Charles Coolidge Haight was an American architect who practiced in New York City. A number of his buildings survive including at Yale University and Trinity College . He also designed most of the campus of the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in Chelsea Square, New York...
that survive to this day, from campus dormitories comprising the present-day Silliman College
Silliman College
Silliman College is a residential college at Yale University. It opened in September 1940 as the last of the original ten residential colleges, and includes buildings that were constructed as early as 1901...
, to Vanderbilt Hall, Phelps Hall, the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, and his secret society, St. Anthony Hall
St. Anthony Hall
St. Anthony Hall, also known as Saint Anthony Hall and The Order of St. Anthony, is a national college literary society also known as the Fraternity of Delta Psi at colleges in the United States of America. St...
.