Tuesday, February 3, 2009

'Idle Hour'

'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.




One of the gate houses.


2 comments:

An Aesthete's Lament said...

The stables are wonderful; the house is impossibly vulgar, like a railway station by Sanson.

Zach L. said...

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.