Vanderbilt Mansion, located in Hyde Park, New York - is one of the region's oldest Hudson River estates. For nearly two centuries, this place has been home to socially prominent New Yorkers. A superb example of its type, it represents the domestic ideal of the elite class in the late nineteenth-century America. It provides a glimpse of estate life, the social stratification of the period, and the world of the American millionaire during the era historians refer to as the Gilded Age.
...the beginning scene of Last Tango was filmed on the second floor of the mansion at Louise Vanderbilt's bedroom. The bedroom was inspired by the Marie Antoinette chamber at The Palace of Versailles. There is a red marble mantel with a mirror and painted panel, original paintings that were done in Paris, cream silk draperies with intricate embroidery, pale green with a darker green border custom-made Savonnerie carpet, and lavish decorations with gilded Louis XV-style furniture made in France.
...the Grand Stairway featured in Last Tango possesses much integrity to the Vanderbilt era. It leads from the first floor to the second and is an enclosed space. There are three intermediary levels between the first and second stories, the middle one of which has inset niches for sculptures purchased by Stanford White. The Infant Hercules at the top level was described by White as a "marble boy with snakes." There are tow tapestries, and 18th century Flemish one at the ground floor and a Beauvais designed by Nicolas Poussin at the second floor.
...the main dance scene of Last Tango was filmed on the first floor of the mansion at the Elliptical Hall. The walls have Italina green marble pilasters with white marble bases and capitals above which is a molded cornice with a decorative frieze of stylized anthemions in relief on a pale green painted ground. An elongated octagonal opening in the ceiling provides light from the second-story skylight. Typical of the classical French design upon which the architecture is based, the Elliptical Hall functioned both as a formal circulation space, as well as a "living hall", used for informal gatherings. The fireplace was used, confirming the warm atmosphere that was intended in the furnishing of the space. When formal dances were given at the mansion, the refreshments were placed on a table in the Elliptical Hall.
The Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site preserves over 200 acres of the original property, including historic buildings, original furnishings, manicured landscapes, natural woodlands, formal gardens and associated documents. The centerpiece of the estate is the 54-room mansion, a masterpiece of American Beaux-Arts design and built between 1896-1899 by the distinguished architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. The interior of the mansion is an archetype of the American Renaissance, incorporating a range of European antiques and finely crafted period reproductions. The New York Times described the Vanderbilt's estate as "the finest place on the Hudson between New York and Albany."
Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856-1938) purchased the property in 1895 for use as a seasonal country residence. The location was ideal, offering quick and easy access to New York City on the Vanderbilt's own New York Central Railroad. Supported by both concrete and steel, the mansion was considered modern for its time. The mansion also included plumbing and forced hot air central heating and electric lighting which as powered by a hydroelectric plant built on the estate on the Crumb Elbow stream. The Vanderbilt estate had electric lighting before the surrounding area.
A niece, Margaret "Daisy" Van Alen, inherited the property when Vanderbilt died in 1938. Encouraged by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who owned an estate nearby), Van Alen donated a portion of the estate, including the residence with most of its original furnishings, to the National Park Service in 1940. From 1941 to 1943, President Roosevelt's Secret Service was housed in the basement and third-floor service areas, and some of the President's personal White House staff and friends occasionally stayed in the main bedrooms of the house, including those of Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt.
The Vanderbilt Mansion is open to the public. To visit: http://www.nps.gov/vama/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm