George Washington Vanderbilt II
| George Washington Vanderbilt II | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 14, 1862 New Dorp, Staten Island, New York |
| Died | March 6, 1914 (aged 51) Washington, D.C. |
| 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 |
Cornelius Vanderbilt (grandfather) George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil (grandson) William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil (grandson) |
George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which had amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises. He built a 250-room mansion, the largest privately-owned home in the United States.
George W. Vanderbilt was the youngest child of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam. Though there is no evidence to suggest that he referred to himself using a numerical suffix during his life, various sources have called him both George Washington Vanderbilt II and III throughout time. Today, Biltmore recognizes him as George W. Vanderbilt III, as he had two uncles by that name, the first of whom died at the age of four.
As the youngest of William's children, George was said to be his father's favorite and his constant companion. Relatives described him as slender, dark-haired, and pale-complexioned. Shy and introverted, his interests ran to philosophy, books, and the collection of paintings in his father's large art gallery. He acquired a private library of more than twenty thousand volumes. In addition to frequent visits to Paris, France, where several Vanderbilts kept a home, George traveled extensively, becoming fluent in several foreign languages.
His father owned elegant mansions in New York City and Newport and an 800-acre (3.2 km2) 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.
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