William Douglas Sloane & Elm Court
- Bobby Kelley
- 2 minutes ago
- 5 min read
William Douglas Sloane was born on February 29, 1844, in New York City, New York County, New York. He was the third son of William Sloane and Euphemia Douglas, natives of Kilmarnock, Scotland, who emigrated to the United States and established a successful carpet and furnishing business. He was raised in a household closely associated with commerce and skilled craftsmanship, influences that shaped his lifelong involvement in business and philanthropy.
At the age of fifteen, Sloane entered his father’s business, which had been founded in 1843. In 1852 his uncle, John W. Sloane, joined the firm, thereafter known as W. and J. Sloane. Sloane advanced steadily within the enterprise and became a full member of the firm in 1866. Under the direction of successive family members, the business grew into one of the leading interior furnishing and decorating firms in the United States. When the company was incorporated in 1891, Sloane became a director and later served as treasurer, remaining actively engaged in its affairs until his death.
During the American Civil War, Sloane enlisted on October 31, 1862, as a private in Company H of the Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard. The regiment was ordered to Washington in 1863 for federal service. After the war he continued his association with the regiment and was promoted to corporal in 1866 and to sergeant in 1868. He was honorably discharged on May 19, 1871, completing his service as a veteran.
On April 20, 1872, Sloane married Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt. Through this marriage he became closely connected to one of the most influential families of the Gilded Age, and the couple assumed prominent roles in the social and philanthropic life of New York and Newport.
Sloane and his wife devoted substantial resources to charitable work, particularly in the field of medicine. In 1888 they provided the principal endowment for the establishment of the Sloane Hospital for Women in New York City, contributing more than one million dollars. The hospital became an important center for the treatment of women and for medical education and later formed part of the Columbia University and NewYork Presbyterian medical system. Their philanthropic efforts also extended to the Children’s Aid Society and other charitable institutions.
His support of higher education was significant. In 1889 Yale University conferred upon him an honorary Master of Arts degree. In 1912 he and his brother, Henry Thompson Sloane, donated more than five hundred thousand dollars to establish the Yale Physics Laboratory as a memorial to their father. Sloane served as a trustee of Columbia University and was a fellow of the New York Historical Society. He also held directorships in numerous corporations, including the Guaranty Trust Company, United States Trust Company, National City Bank of New York, Eastern Steel Company, and the Central and South American Telegraph Company.
Sloane maintained residences in New York and elsewhere and was regarded as a cultivated man of society and a sportsman. With his wife, he commissioned Elm Court in Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, designed by the firm of Peabody and Stearns. The estate became one of the largest and most notable country houses in the Berkshires and was a prominent feature of the region’s Gilded Age summer colony.
William Douglas Sloane died on March 19, 1915, in Aiken, Aiken County, South Carolina, after a short illness, at the age of seventy one. Funeral services were held at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. He was entombed in the Sloane Mausoleum at the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery in New Dorp, Richmond County, New York.
Elm Court
was a large Gilded Age country estate constructed in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, for William Douglas Sloane and his wife, Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane. The property was assembled in the mid 1880s on approximately eighty nine acres of land straddling the boundary between Lenox and Stockbridge. Construction of the main house began in 1885 and was completed in 1886.
Exterior Photos
The mansion was designed by the architectural firm Peabody and Stearns and executed primarily in the American Shingle Style with Tudor and Romanesque influences. When fully completed in 1900, Elm Court contained one hundred six rooms and encompassed approximately fifty five thousand square feet, making it the largest Shingle Style residence ever built in the United States. Rather than a single dominant facade, the house was arranged as an extended horizontal composition with multiple wings, towers, and service sections, reflecting both its scale and its function as a fully operational estate.
Grounds & Gardens designed and created by Olmsted
The grounds were developed as an integral part of the property. Landscape planning involved Frederick Law Olmsted and his firm, including John Charles Olmsted. The estate included formal gardens, terraces, carriage drives, and extensive lawns designed to merge with the surrounding Berkshire countryside. Numerous outbuildings supported the operation of the household, which required a substantial staff during the summer season.
Exterior Photos
Elm Court quickly became one of the most prominent residences in the Berkshires summer colony. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Sloanes used the estate as a seasonal residence and entertained extensively. The property was widely regarded as one of the most imposing and socially significant houses in Lenox, frequently referenced in contemporary accounts of Berkshire society.
Interior Photos
After the death of William Douglas Sloane in 1915, Elm Court remained in family use. In 1919 the estate served as the location for a series of informal diplomatic discussions known as the Elm Court Talks. These meetings brought together American and European political and intellectual figures engaged in post World War One planning and contributed to the broader climate surrounding the Treaty of Versailles and the establishment of the League of Nations.
Following the death of Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane in 1946, Elm Court ceased to function as a private family residence. In 1948 the mansion was opened to the public as an inn and social venue, a role it maintained through much of the 1950s. Rising maintenance costs and changing economic conditions led to its closure by the end of that decade.
For several decades thereafter, Elm Court stood largely vacant. During this period the building suffered deterioration, vandalism, and loss of interior elements, though the main structure remained standing. Unlike many other Berkshire estates, Elm Court was not destroyed by fire or demolition.
In the late twentieth century, preservation efforts were undertaken by descendants of the original owners, and work began to stabilize the structure and protect it from further decay. In the early twenty first century the property changed ownership several times, with successive plans emphasizing restoration and adaptive reuse. In 2022 Elm Court entered a new phase of stewardship focused on preservation of the historic mansion while integrating residential and hospitality development on the surrounding land.
Elm Court survives today as one of the most important remaining Gilded Age estates in the Berkshires, distinguished by its unprecedented scale, its architectural significance, and its long association with the social and political history of its era.
