Woodwork is Santo Domingo mahogany. Plates on the wall are Chinese, and a painting by the French artist, Lesrel, hangs over the desk. Above the fireplace, early Italian and Spanish flintlock pistols are grouped about an old Flemish clock. A hand-carved Renaissance panel forms the back of the desk chair. In the bookcase are about 400 volumes, mostly fiction and travel. Included among these are the college textbooks that Frederick Vanderbilt used at Yale. From this room Vanderbilt conducted his estate affairs, such as tree culture and the operation of the greenhouses, gardens, and his 350-acre dairy and stock farm across the highway.
Drawing room, northwest corner.
Library.
This room reflects the work of decorator Georges A. Glaenzer of New York City. Hand-carved wood on the walls was done by Swiss artists brought to this country for that purpose. A vaulted section of the ceiling is molded plaster, made to simulate carved wood. The carved mantel of the fireplace is said to have come from a European church. A porcelain clock-and-candelabra set on the mantel was a gift from Mrs. Vanderbilt’s mother. Guns on the wall opposite the fireplace are antique Swiss wheel locks. More than 900 volumes on history, literature, natural science, and other subjects fill the bookcases in this room. This library was the family living room. Here the Vanderbilts and their intimate friends gathered for tea in the afternoon. Mrs. Vanderbilt used the table in this room to write letters to her friends. Frederick Vanderbilt’s favorite chair stands near a large window overlooking the grounds.
Gold room or French salon.
South Foyer.
On one of the venerable Italian dower chests in this room is a model of Vanderbilt’s yacht, Warrior. On the other chest is a small bronze group depicting a Russian winter scene. Above the chests are two 16th-century Brussels tapestries showing incidents in the Trojan War. By the chests are a pair of Venetian torcheres and two small bronze chateau cannon.