Two hundred years after his ancestor, Dutch farmer Jan Aertson immigrated to New York City, Cornelius “The Commodore” Vanderbilt kickstarted the iconic family’s extensive, and exorbitant, property portfolio in the 1830s. The sprawling real estate empire of grand mansions would reach its peak some 50 years later.
After the Commodore’s steamship and railroad businesses made him the richest person in the world, a mansion on Staten Island was the first of a long list of Vanderbilt homes built across the country. Later constructions also included the sweeping Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, which remains today the largest privately owned house in the United States, and close to an incredible 30 residences across New York.
The Vanderbilts’ Staten Island roots
The first notable residence the Vanderbilt family built was a mansion for the Commodore on Staten Island, built in 1839 between Stapleton and Tompkinsville, on the northeast corner of his father’s farm. Though its architect is unknown, the 40-foot-tall residence cost $27,000 (approximately just shy of a million dollars today), and was known for its modified Gothic style featuring six fluted columns at the entrance as well as a Grecian portico.
However, the Commodore and his wife Sophia Johnson only lived in it for six years; the Vanderbilts’ railroad business was growing so fast that they needed to move to New York City. The home, badly damaged in an 1882 fire, was eventually demolished, and today in its place is a slew of low-rise buildings housing a Chinese restaurant and a dental office…