Frederick William Vanderbilt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick William Vanderbilt
Born February 2, 1856
Died June 29, 1938
Hyde Park, NY
F.W. Vanderbilt, ca. 1913, painted  by Raymond Neilson, St. Anthony Hall collection.
F.W. Vanderbilt, ca. 1913, painted by Raymond Neilson, St. Anthony Hall collection.

Frederick William Vanderbilt (February 2, 1856June 29, 1938) was a member of the financially and socially preeminent Vanderbilt family.

He was graduate of Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School (P.H.B. 1876), and was a generous benefactor [1], commissioning a number of campus buildings by architect Charles C. Haight that survive to this day, from campus dormitories comprising the present-day Silliman College, to Vanderbilt Hall [2], Phelps Hall [3], the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories,[4]and his fraternity, St. Anthony Hall. [5]

The third son of William Henry Vanderbilt, and the last survivor of the four sons, Frederick William was the only one to leave a greater estate than he inherited from his father. He and his wife, the former Louise "Lulu" Holmes Anthony Torrance, were unable to have children, however had a close relationship with their nieces and nephews.

He was a director of the New York Central Railroad for 61 years.

Frederick Vanderbilt maintained residences in New York City (he lived for a while at 450 Fifth Avenue, Newport ("Rough Point"), Bar Harbor ("Sonogee"), Upper St. Regis Lake in the Adirondacks ("Pine Tree Point"), and a country palace in Hyde Park, New York ("Hyde Park") now preserved by the National Park Service as Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site.

Vanderbilt was the owner of 10 East 40th Street, an example of art deco architecture, until the 1940s.

[edit] External links