Idle Hour

Idle Hour is a former Vanderbilt estate that is located in Oakdale on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. It was completed in 1901 for William Kissam Vanderbilt. Once part of Dowling College, the mansion is one of the largest houses in the United States of America.

This article is about the former Vanderbilt estate. For other uses, see Idle Hour (disambiguation).
Photograph of Idle Hour from Architectural Record, c. 1903

History
The original "Idle Hour", c. 1894

In 1878, Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt began building a lavish, wooden 110-room home known as Idle Hour, on a 900-acre (3.6 km2) estate on the Connetquot River. The building, initially completed in 1882, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt of Hunt & Hunt (an American who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris),[lower-alpha 1] continuously added to until the home was destroyed by fire on April 15, 1899, while his son, Willie K. Vanderbilt, was honeymooning there.[4] Willie and his new wife, Virginia Fair Vanderbilt, escaped the fire. His daughter Consuelo had also honeymooned there when she married the Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895.[5]

It was promptly rebuilt of red brick and gray stone in the English Country Style, with exquisite furnishings, for $3 million. The building, at the time was considered among the finest homes in America, was designed by Hunt's son, Richard Howland Hunt. The rebuilt "estate included nearly all of Oakdale, 290 or 300 buildings, a herd of steer and a paddlewheel steamer to ferry guests up and down the Connetquot River alongside the mansion."[6] Around 1902, an addition was made to Idle Hour by the promient architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore.[7]

Later ownership

After Vanderbilt's death in 1920, the mansion went through several phases and visitors, including a brief stay during Prohibition by gangster Dutch Schultz.[6] Around that time, cow stalls, pig pens and corn cribs on the farm portion of Idle Hour were converted into a short-lived bohemian artists' colony, known as the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians, that included figures such as George Elmer Browne and Roman (Bon) Bonet-Sintas as well as sculptress Catherine Lawson, costume designer Olga Meervold, and pianist Claude Govier, and Francis Gow-Smith and his wife Carol.[8][9][10]

In 1963, Adelphi College purchased the estate and, in 1968, spun the campus off as Dowling College (named after city planner and philanthropist Robert W. Dowling).[11] In March 1974,[12] the home sustained its second fire and required a $3 million renovation.[6] The estate was home to Dowling College, a private co-educational college, until the college closed in August 2016.[13]

In 2017, Idle Hour and the Dowling Campus were set to be auctioned off.[14] In 2018, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip approved the $14 million purchase of the 105-acre (0.42 km2) site.[15] by Mercury International LLC of Delaware, an affiliate of NCF Capital Ltd.[16]

Largest homes in America

The 70,000 sq. ft. mansion is tied for the 15th largest house in the United States of America with Woodlea in Briarcliff Manor, New York (built for his sister Margaret and brother-in-law Elliott Fitch Shepard in 1895) and Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (built for Peter A. B. Widener in 1900).

  • Photograph of Idle Hour, 1880
  • Kitchen and servants room' addition, 1886.
  • Architectural drawing of the stables, 1888.
  • Architectural drawing, 1889
  • Architectural drawing, 1889
  • Architectural drawing of Idle Hour's interior, c. 1900-1901
  • The north facade at Idle Hour, c. 1903
  • The inner courtyard at Idle Hour, c. 1903
  • The stables at Idle Hour, c. 1903
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See also

References
Notes
  1. Richard Morris Hunt also designed Vanderbilt's Manhattan mansion, known as Petit Chateau (built between 1878 and 1882), and his wife's Newport, Rhode Island residence, known as Marble House (built between 1888 and 1892).[1] Hunt's most famous design is arguably Biltmore Estate, which was built for Vanderbilt's younger brother, George Washington Vanderbilt II.[2][3]
Sources
  1. Kathrens, Michael C. (2005). Great Houses of New York, 1880-1930. New York: Acanthus Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-926494-34-3.
  2. The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association. 1893. p. 93. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  3. Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia. Transaction Publishers. 1996. p. 323. ISBN 9781412832571. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  4. "VANDERBILT VILLA BURNED; Flames Cut Short W.K. Vanderbilt, Jr.'s, Honeymoon at Idle Hour. NARROW ESCAPE WITH BRIDE Flames Started While Household Slept -- Incendiary, Mr. Vanderbilt Says -- Bad Flue, Perhaps" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 April 1899. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  5. "NEW HOUSE AT IDLE HOUR.; W.K. Vanderbilt Will Build a Mansion Larger than the Burned One" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 July 1899. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  6. Jahn, Mike (20 November 1977). "A Troubled Landmark Reborn". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  7. L, Zach (March 10, 2010). "'Idle Hour'". OLD LONG ISLAND. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  8. Holliday, Diane; Kretz, Chris (24 May 2010). "Oakdale". Arcadia Publishing – via Google Books.
  9. Delatiner, Barbara (16 January 1983). "Long Island Guide; Idle Hour Artists". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  10. Harrison, Helen A. (6 February 1983). "Glimpses of an Almost Forgotten Artists'colony on L.i." The New York Times. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  11. "DOWLING ENDOWS A COLLEGE ON L.I.; Adelphi - Suffolk Will Be Named After Benefactor". The New York Times. June 13, 1968. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  12. Silver, Roy R. (19 March 1974). "Fire on L.I. Campus Damages 110‐Room Vanderbilt Mansion" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  13. Ferrette, Candice (31 August 2016). "Dowling grants last degrees, loses accreditation Wednesday". Newsday. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  14. "Auction set for 105-acre Dowling campus". Newsday. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  15. Ocasio, Victor (June 4, 2018). "Court OKs sale of Dowling campus for $14 million". Newsday. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  16. "Idle Hour, Town of Islip, Suffolk County". preservationlongisland.org. Preservation Long Island. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2019.

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