Part 2 of the interiors to 'Idle Hour', the William K. Vanderbilt estate designed by Richard Howland Hunt c. 1899 in Oakdale. Click HERE for more on 'Idle Hour'.
Pictures from Architectural Record, 1903.
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Part 2 of the interiors to 'Idle Hour', the William K. Vanderbilt estate designed by Richard Howland Hunt c. 1899 in Oakdale. Click HERE for more on 'Idle Hour'.Pictures from Architectural Record, 1903.
8 comments:
Alas, the interiors are no better than the exteriors.
Interesting, isn't it. The highest level of craftsmanship, yet this place just exudes gloom. Even the cloister has a sealed-in, can't-breathe quality to it.
Although I do love the very campy organ pipes over the fireplace from yesterday...just right for a Vincent Price movie
just found these modern views (post fire) of the living hall at idle hour. Turns out daylight does get through those windows...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.longislandcateringhalls.com/catering-hall-photo/vanderbilt-mansion-dowling_1135.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.longislandcateringhalls.com/li/vanderbilt-mansion-dowling.html&usg=__PdgjQdk6DiwnS1gFKtAnXqmz9lU=&h=180&w=240&sz=41&hl=en&start=18&sig2=JvFo4-jJV_HW4-1eR5SjWg&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=VbXT-g8Iq1QjEM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=110&prev=/images%3Fq%3Didle%2Bhour%2Breception%2Bdowling%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=XGiaS7TsCYX6lwfAmc3oDg
ooops. Sorry, that was the google search link. Here's the actual simple format:
http://www.longislandcateringhalls.com/li/vanderbilt-mansion-dowling.html
have to join the chorus here - so heavy! despite the detail and craftsmanship none of the elegance I love in the best houses of this era.
i have to disagree, the vanderbilt family has built another masterpiece here. Though i have to agree, it would make a better house museum then home
-Kyle
jeez!!! - all of a sudden everbody's a critic. kyle is the only voice of reason in this contentious crowd. even dilletante - i am ashamed. all this whining is giving me a headache. this place is spectacular - somebody does something different from all those depressing neo- colonials and the wailing begins. and the interiors are even better than the exterior. all this crap about stuffy in the sumner - bosh. this place has even thicker walls than my old farmhouse which is cool as a cuke in the summer plus these guys get the sea breezes. you guys need to get out more - look around - broaden your horizons. this place has it all - 110 rooms for gods sake - now that's real space -room to swing a cat. the woodwork and those amazing mantles esp the one with the organ over it. (and watch what you say about pipe organs - i'm a member in good standing of the American Theater Organ Society). the rooms would be stifling in one of those dreary neo-colonials but here all the rooms are immense. those ceiling, while dark, are so high up you can't see them anyway.
and OMG - a palm garden, a cloister and that dining room mantle with the archer, the woodwork on the main staircase and then the piece de resistance - the living hall - that ceiling is - is - i need to sit down - its overwhelming.
so why don't all you naysayers go down to the bar, have a rum punch and discuss colonial architecture.
amen man, the place really is a masterpiece of a by gone era
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