

Ulysses nyc windows#
The home also featured ornate stained-glass windows designed by John La Farge, a rival of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Wrought-iron beams supporting the floors and roof. With a facade of Connecticut brownstone, the mansion was designed in the Doric and Corinthian styles, with carvings of vines wrapping around all sides. Emily’s and Margaret’s sections were notably less lavish but still had many similar features. The drawing room was particularly notable for a ceiling mural by Pierre-Victor Galland, a French decorative painter. The gallery had featured 207 oil paintings and watercolors from European artists. Both sections were connected at the first story, thus technically making the Triple Palace one structure, but the upper stories were disconnected. William Henry’s portion had 58 rooms and a central three-story art gallery with a large skylight, as well as an elaborate dining room, library, parlor, and drawing room on the first floor. The mansion had a brownstone facade and a courtyard and portico that separated the two sections. Herter Brothers, one of the first complete interior design firms, was hired to decorate the space. Atwood was primarily known for his work in Chicago, designing a number of structures for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Snook was notable for his design of a number of notable cast-iron buildings, including many around SoHo and the original Grand Central Depot. The Triple Palace was designed by John B. Vanderbilt, who had nine children, was also a major philanthropist, donating extensively to the YMCA, the Metropolitan Opera, the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Vanderbilt University. Grant actually convinced Vanderbilt to invest $150,000 in the firm, and Grant ultimately compensated Vanderbilt by mortgaging his Civil War memorabilia. Vanderbilt’s investments were partly ruined after the firm Grant & Ward went bankrupt - Ulysses S. Perhaps his first business venture was becoming president of the Staten Island Railway in 1862 and later president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. After a family trip to Europe on a steamship, though, the two became very close, giving William a greater role in the family’s enormous business. But his father frequently criticized him, notably calling him a “blockhead” and a delinquent. William Henry Vanderbilt was the eldest son of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and the wealthiest American after taking over his father’s fortune in 1877, inheriting over $100 million. Vanderbilt lived in the single-family unit, two of his daughters, Emily Thorn Vanderbilt and Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard, occupied the two northern residences along with their families. Completed in 1882, the Midtown Manhattan mansion consisted of two portions, a single-family section in the south, and a two-family section up north, hence making it a “triple” palace. The mansion was perhaps the face of Millionaire’s Row along Fifth Avenue, along which a number of Vanderbilt and Astor homes were situated. Vanderbilt House, commonly known as the Vanderbilt Triple Palace, was an elaborate mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue between 51st Street and 52nd Street.
