George Washington Vanderbilt II

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George Washington Vanderbilt II
Richmond County, New York, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 6, 1914(1914-03-06) (aged 51)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeVanderbilt Family Mausoleum, Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Known forBiltmore Estate
Spouse
Edith Stuyvesant Dresser
​
​
(m. 1898)​
ChildrenCornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt
Parent(s)William Henry Vanderbilt
Maria Louisa Kissam
RelativesVanderbilt family

George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an American art collector and member of the prominent

business enterprises.[1] He commissioned the construction of a 250-room mansion, the largest privately owned home in the United States, which he named Biltmore Estate
.

Biography

George Washington Vanderbilt, John Singer Sargent, 1890

George W. Vanderbilt II was the youngest child of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam. Though there is no evidence to suggest that he referred to himself using a numerical suffix, various sources have called him both George Washington Vanderbilt II and III. Biltmore recognizes him as George W. Vanderbilt III, because he had two uncles by that name, the first of whom died at the age of four.[2]

As the youngest of William's children, George was said to be his father's favorite and his constant companion. Relatives described him as slender, dark-haired, and pale-complexioned. Shy and introverted, his interests ran to philosophy, books, and the collection of paintings in his father's large art gallery. He acquired a private library of more than twenty thousand volumes. In addition to frequent visits to Paris, France, where several Vanderbilts kept homes, George Vanderbilt traveled extensively and became fluent in several languages.[3]

His father owned elegant mansions in New York City and

William K. Vanderbilt
. George W. Vanderbilt had inherited $2 million from his grandfather and received another million dollars on his 21st birthday from his father. Upon his father's death, he inherited $5 million more, as well as the income from a $5 million trust fund.

He ran the family farm at New Dorp and Woodland Beach, now the neighborhood of Midland Beach, on Staten Island, New York, where he was born, then lived with his mother in Manhattan until his own townhouse at 9 West 53rd Street was completed in 1887. The Vanderbilt family business was operated by his elder brothers. This left him time for intellectual pursuits. In 1891, he joined the New York Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. The next year Vanderbilt gifted his private gallery on 58th Street in Manhattan to the American Fine Arts Society.[4] During the early 1900s, the Vanderbilts developed a pair of residences at 645 and 647 Fifth Avenue. George was the first owner of number 647.[5]

Biltmore

Main article: Biltmore Estate

Living in one or another of his family residences well into adulthood, Vanderbilt decided to construct his own country mansion and estate in 1888. For this purpose, he acquired 125,000 acres of woodland in North Carolina, employing the architect

Chateau de Blois and other chateaux of the Loire Valley. With up to four acres of floor space, this is believed to be the largest domestic dwelling ever constructed in the United States.[6]

At Biltmore, Vanderbilt led the life of a country gentleman. Having a great interest in

Biltmore School of Forestry, the first such school in North America, established in 1898 by Dr. Carl A. Schenck
.

Vanderbilt was known for his generosity toward his employees at Biltmore. Every year, he held a Christmas celebration for their children, complete with decorated tree and presents for each child, even those who could not make it to the party. He also paid all the expenses of the Cathedral of All Souls, an Episcopal cathedral he'd built and was a parishioner of, located directly across from the Biltmore Estate's main gate in Biltmore Village (the model village he had built for those who had worked to build the Estate or were employed on the Estate), so that the church's weekly collection could go directly to charity and outreach.[7]

The Biltmore Estate in 2006

Family

On June 1, 1898, Vanderbilt married

Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (January 17, 1873 – December 21, 1958) at the American Cathedral in Paris, France. George and Edith had one daughter together, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt
(August 22, 1900 - February 7, 1976).

In 1912, George and Edith booked passage on the doomed

Titanic, but they changed their plans at the last minute via telephone, instead sailing on her sister ship, Olympic. Olympic left port before Titanic, and the Vanderbilts arrived in New York before the sinking. Accounts vary, but it has been suggested that a family member (reportedly his wife's well-travelled sister) warned the pair from travelling on Titanic, saying, "so many things can go wrong on a maiden voyage".[8] It's possible the warning was acknowledged and heeded. In any case, Edith, in a letter to her friend Emily Ford Skeel (sister of Paul Leicester Ford), explained: "For no reason whatsoever we decided to sail on the Olympic and had only 18 hours to get ready in. We were homesick, and simply felt we must get home, and changed our ship, as I say, at the Eleventh hour!"[9] Unfortunately, however, a servant to the Vanderbilts, Frederick Wheeler, perished aboard Titanic in second class, as, due to the close timing of their switch, the Vanderbilts were forced to leave most of their luggage aboard Titanic, and so Wheeler retained his ticket to travel with it.[10]

Death

Vanderbilt died of complications following an

Staten Island, New York
.

Legacy

After his death, Vanderbilt's widow sold approximately 86,000 acres (350 km2) of the Biltmore property to the

Peter Goelet Gerry
(1879–1957), a United States Senator from Rhode Island.

The Vanderbilts' only child,

William
, eventually inherited the property. George Cecil, the elder of the two sons, chose to inherit the majority of the estate's land and the Biltmore Farms Company, which was more profitable than the house at the time. The younger son, William Cecil, was thus left with Biltmore House, and he is credited with preserving the chateau which (though still privately owned) is open to the public.

References

  1. ^
    New York Times
    . March 7, 1914. Retrieved April 21, 2011. George Washington Vanderbilt of New York died suddenly this afternoon at his Washington residence, 1,612 K Street. With him at the time were Mrs. Vanderbilt and their thirteen-year-old daughter, Miss Cornelia S. Vanderbilt.
  2. ^ Klingner, Leslie (May 1, 2011). "George Vanderbilt". Biltmore. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  3. ISBN 978-0-385-60827-5
    .
  4. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  5. ^ "George W. Vanderbilt Residence" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. March 22, 1977. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  6. ISBN 978-0-385-60827-5
    .
  7. New York Times
    . March 7, 1914. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  8. ^ Eaton, John P. (April 6, 2008). "Cancelled Passages Aboard Titanic". Encyclopedia Titanica. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  9. ISBN 9781476794068
    .
  10. ISBN 9780393315134.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )

Further reading

External links

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