
'
Idle Hour' was built for
William Kissam Vanderbilt c. 1899 by
Richard Howland Hunt in
Oakdale. The first '
Idle Hour' was built c. 1878 but burned down and was replaced by the above house.
Vanderbilt purchased 900 acres along the
Great South Bay to use as a country retreat and hunting and sporting grounds. Today the house is owned by
Dowling College, whose website offers a virtual tour of both the
grounds and the
mansion (contains more images and information). Click
HERE to see 'Idle Hour' on google earth.

Part of the farm group.
2 comments:
The stables are wonderful; the house is impossibly vulgar, like a railway station by Sanson.
Willie K. must have had a very bad experience losing his first house to fire as the second one (above) is 'fireproof' meaning lots of steel and concrete, imposing on it a very heavy look.
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