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10 unusual facts about William Kissam Vanderbilt


Alley Pond Park

In 1908, as motorists sought attractive areas for expeditions, William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849–1920) built his privately run Long Island Motor Parkway through the area in 1908.

Bellevue Avenue Historic District

Marble House: Hunt's Beaux Arts design for William Kissam Vanderbilt was one of the first stone mansions, and started a trend toward very large homes in Newport.

William Kissam Vanderbilt's Marble House in 1888 introduced stone as a building material, Beaux Arts as a style, and set a new standard for size.

Charles G. Dawes House

The style was introduced to the United States in 1882 by Richard Morris Hunt, the first American architect to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, when he built a palace in the style at 660 Fifth Avenue in New York for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt (demolished, 1926).

Hollis Hills, Queens

The parkway was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt, a descendant of the family that presided over the New York Central Railroad and Western Union.

Japanese submarine I-19

After sinking one of the ships SS William K. Vanderbilt on May 16, 1943, I-19 surfaced and machine-gunned the surviving crew members in their lifeboats, killing one of them.

Royal Bombay Yacht Club

The seafront clubhouse was built in 1881, and received a number of prominent visitors within its first ten years, including: H.R.H. Prince Arthur, their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and American railroad tycoon and yachting enthusiast Mr William Kissam Vanderbilt – part owner of the 1895 America’s Cup winner, the 37.5m sloop Defender.

William Kissam Vanderbilt

After the death of his brother, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, in 1899, Vanderbilt was generally regarded as head of the Vanderbilt family.

Alva later maneuvered Consuelo into marrying Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough on November 6, 1895.

She was a widow to sportsman Samuel Stevens Sands and to Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, Jr., son of the astronomer Lewis Morris Rutherfurd.