George Washington Vanderbilt II

About George Washington Vanderbilt II

Who is it?: Art Collector
Birth Day: November 14, 1862
Birth Place: New Dorp, United States
Died On: March 6, 1914(1914-03-06) (aged 51)\nWashington, D.C.
Birth Sign: Sagittarius
Known for: owned Biltmore Estate
Spouse(s): Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (m. 1898; his death 1914)
Children: Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt
Parent(s): William Henry Vanderbilt Maria Louisa Kissam
Relatives: George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil (grandson) William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil (grandson)
Family: Vanderbilt

George Washington Vanderbilt II Net Worth

George Washington Vanderbilt II was born on November 14, 1862 in New Dorp, United States, is Art Collector. George Washington Vanderbilt was an art collector primarily known for the lavish Biltmore Estate he built in North Carolina. The estate is the largest privately owned house in the United States and is still owned by one of Vanderbilt's descendants. The 250-room estate is one of the most prominent examples of the Gilded Age. Born into the famous and wealthy Vanderbilt family as one of the sons of the prominent businessman William Henry "Billy" Vanderbilt, George Vanderbilt was destined to lead a luxurious life marked by lavish displays of wealth. He was the youngest child in his family and his parents’ favorite. As a young man he was shy and introvert and was hooked to books and other intellectual pursuits. He was especially interested in reading books on philosophy and also took a keen interest in his family’s vast art collection. As a member of a wealthy family he had the privilege of travelling extensively to foreign countries and learnt several languages as a result. He was blessed with a strong aesthetic sense and aspired to build a large and beautiful home in the Châteauesque style, using French Renaissance chateaus. Designed by New York architect Richard Morris Hunt, his house in North Carolina was completed in 1895 and gained much prominence for being the largest home in the United States. The estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964
George Washington Vanderbilt II is a member of Miscellaneous

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1879

After his death, Vanderbilt's widow sold approximately 86,000 acres (350 km) of the Biltmore property to the United States Forest Service at $5 an acre, fulfilling her husband's wishes to create the core of Pisgah National Forest. She sold additional land as finances demanded; today, about 8,000 acres (32 km) remain. Edith Dresser Vanderbilt later married Peter Goelet Gerry (1879–1957), a United States Senator from Rhode Island. Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (George and Edith Vanderbilt's only child) married British aristocrat, John F. A. Cecil, a descendant of william Cecil in 1924. Her sons, George and william, eventually inherited the property. George Cecil, the older of the two sons, chose to inherit the majority of the estate's land and the Biltmore Farms Company, which was more profitable than the house at the time. The younger son, william Cecil was thus left with Biltmore House, and is credited with preserving the chateau which (though still privately owned) is open to the public.

1885

His father owned elegant mansions in New York City and Newport and an 800-acre (3.2 km) country estate on Long Island. When william died in 1885 of a stroke, he left a fortune of approximately $200 million, the bulk of which was split between his two older sons, Cornelius Vanderbilt II and william K. Vanderbilt. George W. Vanderbilt inherited $1 million from his grandfather and received another million on his 21st birthday from his father. Upon his father's death, he inherited $5 million more, as well as the income from a $5 million trust fund. He ran the family farm at New Dorp and Woodland Beach, now the neighborhood of Midland Beach on Staten Island, New York where he was born, then lived with his mother in Manhattan until his own townhouse at 9 West 53rd Street was completed in 1887. The Vanderbilt family Business was operated by his older brothers. This left George to spend his time in intellectual pursuits.

1888

Living in one or another of his family residences well into adulthood, Vanderbilt decided to construct his own country mansion and estate in 1888. For this purpose he acquired 125,000 acres of woodland in North Carolina, employing the Architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a limestone house modeled on the Chateau de Blois among other chateaux of the Loire Valley. With up to four acres of floor space this is believed to be the largest domestic dwelling ever constructed in the United States.

1891

In 1891 he joined the New York Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

1892

At Biltmore, Vanderbilt led the life of a country gentleman. Having a great interest in horticulture and agriscience, he oversaw experiments in scientific farming, animal bloodline breeding, and silviculture (forestry). His goal was to run Biltmore as a self-sustaining estate. In 1892, Olmsted suggested that Vanderbilt hire Gifford Pinchot to manage the forests on the estate. According to Pinchot, who went on to be the first Chief of the United States Forest Service, Biltmore was the first professionally managed forest in the U.S; it was also the site of the Biltmore School of Forestry, the first such school in North America, established in 1898 by Dr. Carl A. Schenck.

1898

On June 1, 1898, Vanderbilt married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (January 17, 1873 – December 21, 1958) at the American Cathedral in Paris, France. They had one daughter, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (August 22, 1900 - February 7, 1976). In 1912 George and Edith booked passage on the Titanic but changed their plans before departure, sailing and arriving in New York before the Titanic sank.

1914

He died due to complications following an appendectomy in Washington, D.C. on March 6, 1914. He was interred in the Vanderbilt family mausoleum at the Moravian Cemetery in New Dorp in Staten Island, New York.