Christian Herter's decoration of the William H. Vanderbilt house in New York City.

An anonymous writer in 1887 claimed that "every private residence ever before constructed in America is entirely eclipsed by the house of the American railway king, Mr. William H. Vanderbilt [Fig. 1]."(1) It was estimated that between six and seven hundred men worked to complete the huge Beaux-Arts house at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York City in the remarkably short time of just over two years.(2) The total expense, inside and out, was approximately $1.75 million for a house that spanned the entire block between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets (Fig. 2).(3) The interior…