Cornelius Vanderbilt II
- Bobby Kelley
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
Cornelius Vanderbilt II was born on November 27, 1843, in New York City, the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam. He was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the family fortune built on shipping and railroads. As heir to this vast empire, Cornelius was groomed from a young age to manage the family business. He entered the offices of the New York Central Railroad as a boy and advanced steadily, eventually becoming chairman. Under his leadership, the railroad remained one of the most powerful corporations in America, linking New York to the Midwest and ensuring the continued dominance of the Vanderbilt name in finance and transportation.
In 1867 he married Alice Claypoole Gwynne, daughter of a prominent Cincinnati lawyer. Alice brought her own strong character and sense of duty to the marriage. Over time she became known as one of the most admired hostesses in New York society and, later in life, as a respected philanthropist. Together Cornelius and Alice raised seven children, though the family knew both triumph and tragedy. Their eldest daughter, Alice, died in early childhood. William Henry Vanderbilt II succumbed to typhoid fever in 1892 at only twenty one.
Cornelius Vanderbilt III pursued a military career and achieved distinction as an inventor and officer, though he was disinherited after marrying against his father’s wishes. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney became an accomplished sculptor and the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt established himself as a businessman but perished in 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed, remembered for giving his lifejacket to a fellow passenger. Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt led a shorter life but carried on the family line as father of Gloria Vanderbilt and grandfather of Anderson Cooper. The youngest, Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, married into the Hungarian aristocracy, becoming Countess Széchenyi and linking the family to European nobility.
Cornelius Vanderbilt II was equally renowned for the grandeur of his residences, which epitomized the opulence of the Gilded Age. His New York City mansion, begun in 1882 and completed two years later, was located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty Seventh Street. Designed by George B. Post with interiors by John LaFarge and Augustus Saint Gaudens, it was the largest private home ever constructed in Manhattan. The mansion occupied an entire city block and boasted ballrooms, art filled drawing rooms, and a level of ornament intended to rival the palaces of Europe. It became a center of social life in New York, where Alice Vanderbilt presided over glittering gatherings. The house stood until 1926, when it was demolished and replaced by Bergdorf Goodman.
For summer seasons the family turned to Newport, Rhode Island, where Cornelius built The Breakers after his earlier wooden home burned down. Completed in 1895, The Breakers was designed by the celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt. The seventy room residence, modeled after the Renaissance palaces of Italy, incorporated marble, rare woods, gilding, and craftsmanship imported from Europe. The interiors were filled with frescoes, mosaics, and elaborate carvings, while the landscaped grounds by Ernest Bowditch extended to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The Breakers soon became the most magnificent of Newport’s summer “cottages” and symbolized the scale of Vanderbilt ambition. Unlike the New York mansion, it survives today and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, serving as the enduring architectural legacy of Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
By the mid 1890s his health began to fail. A stroke in 1896 left him partly paralyzed and forced him into retirement. He never fully recovered. On September 12, 1899, Cornelius Vanderbilt II died at his Fifth Avenue mansion at the age of fifty five. He was laid to rest in the private Vanderbilt family mausoleum on Staten Island, which stands on land immediately adjacent to Moravian Cemetery. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the mausoleum is one of the most imposing family tombs in America and serves as the final resting place for many members of the Vanderbilt dynasty.
Comments