Mr. Gould was not a great admirer of the drama, but he was rather fond of opera, and this formed almost his only public diversion during the winter months. He was seen very often at the Metropolitan during the opera season with his daughter and daughter-in-law.
In 1883 Mr. Gould built the big steam yacht Atalanta, and for several years he was well known in yachting circles. He was elected a member of the Eastern and Larchmont yacht clubs, and applied for membership in the New York Yacht Club. The opposition to his name which was developed in the club was so strong, however, that his friends withdrew his name. This furnished a sensation at the time. George J. Gould, who had for some time taken an active interest in yachting, and was a member of the club, at once resigned. Mr. Gould at one time had an idea of making a cruise around the world in the Atalanta, but abandoned it.
Soon after the launching of the Atalanta Mr. Gould and others formed the American Steam Yacht Club. The Atalanta developed remarkable speed and is to-day the fastest large steam yacht afloat. Mr. Gould had her built because he felt his health to be failing, and thought yachting would be beneficial to him. Until within the last two years he spent much time on board of her. She was used principally as a means of transportation between Lyndhurst, his home on the Hudson, and the city, though he made several extended cruises in her. It was not often that Mr. Gould would allow the Atalanta to be raced, but on the occasions when he did permit this she made records.
Mr. Gould presented to the Larchmont club a cup, called the Gould Cup, which is raced for every year. He also contributed largely to the International Challenge Cup, offered by the American Yacht Club for competition by steam yachts of different nations. He was always anxious to see a challenge for this cup, but so far no nation has challenged, owing to the great superiority in point of speed of the American steam yachts.
Mr. Gould seldom entertained people on board the Atalanta, but when he did entertain, his hospitality was perfect. He had the happy faculty of making his guests feel that the yacht was theirs and he himself was a guest on board. There was an excellently well-selected library on the yacht, and the craft was fitted throughout with quiet and substantial elegance.
The Atalanta is 243 feet long, 26½ feet beam and 15½ feet deep. She is built of iron and was designed and constructed by W. Cramp & Son, of Philadelphia. In June of 1886 she ran over the 85-knot course of the American Yacht Club, from Milton Point to New London, in 4 hours, 34 minutes and 57 seconds.
The house at No. 579 Fifth avenue, where Jay Gould died, had been his city home for several years. Before that he lived across the avenue, almost directly opposite his present house, which before Mr. Gould bought it was the home of George Opdyke, the banker, who enjoyed the distinction of being one of the few Republican mayors which New York has had. The house stands at the northeast corner of Fifth avenue and Forty-seventh street. It is a square, brownstone house, about double the width of the average house, with an extension in the rear. It is three stories in height, with a mansard roof, which gives another story. The main entrance is in the middle of the Fifth avenue front, under a portico into a deep vestibule with handsomely carved oaken doors and mosaic floor. The hall is fifty feet long. On the left of the hall is a small reception room with one window facing Fifth avenue. On the other side of the hall are the great drawing-rooms. The library and the dining-room are in the rear. Mr. Gould had a fine collection of standard books. The whole house was entirely redecorated only a short time ago, and is everywhere a model of comfort, elegance and good taste. It is filled with most exquisite tapestries and the finest paintings. Mr. Gould had specimens of the work of Diaz, Rousseau, Daubigny, Henner, Vibert, Rosa Bonheur, Voley, Jacquet, Schreyer, Bouguereau, Dupre and Meyer von Bremen.
Attached to the house is a conservatory, which is kept constantly filled with the finest plants from the hot-houses in the country house at Irvington.
Mr. Gould lived quietly in his handsome house, and few people other than intimate friends frequented it. He was devoted to his family and spent nearly all of his time not occupied with his financial operations with them. They in turn were devoted to him. Mrs. Gould for several years before her death had been in delicate health, could not attend church, and never took part in social pleasures. Her trouble was a nervous one, and she could not endure excitement. Thus the house was never given over to festivities to any extent. Sumptuous as it was, it did not compare in size or display with that of other men whose fortunes rivaled Mr. Gould’s, or, in fact, with the homes of many whose wealth was not a tenth of his. All looked at the place with interest, however, when it was pointed out as the retreat of the remarkable man whose public life was so dramatic, and whose home life was so quiet and so peaceful.
Mr. Gould attended the recent horse show on three afternoons, but these are the only occasions he ever publicly exhibited any particular liking for horses. His city stable is one of a row on West Forty-fourth street, between the Berkeley school building and Fifth avenue. It is a two-story, twenty-foot front brick building trimmed with granite. It is No. 14 West Forty-fourth street. It is a neatly arranged stable of the old-fashioned, oak-trimmed pattern common in the neighborhood. Mr. Gould kept only three pairs of horses at the time of his death, and they are all quartered in the building. Four of the horses are cobby bays, two with docked and two with banged tails. The other two are long-tailed black roadsters, and the most valuable of the lot. None of the horses would bring a fancy price if put up at auction, but they are all of the good, plain sort that will stand plenty of work.