{{Short description|Former Vanderbilt estate on Long Island, New York}} {{about|the former Vanderbilt estate|other uses|Idle Hour (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} [[File:Idle Hour from Bayard Cutting Arboretum 01 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Idle Hour, October 2025, from the Bayard Cutting Arboretum across the Connetquot River]] [[File:Idle Hour 01.jpg|thumb|right|Photograph of Idle Hour from ''Architectural Record'', {{Circa|1903}}]] thumb|right|The original "Idle Hour", {{Circa|1894}} '''Idle Hour''' is a former Vanderbilt estate that is located in Oakdale on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. It was completed in 1901 for William Kissam Vanderbilt. Once part of Dowling College, the mansion is one of the largest houses in the United States.
==History== In 1878, Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt began building a lavish, wooden 110-room home known as Idle Hour, on a {{convert|900|acre|km2|adj=on}} estate on the Connetquot River. The building, initially completed in 1882, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt of Hunt & Hunt (an American who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris),{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Richard Morris Hunt also designed Vanderbilt's Manhattan mansion, known as Petit Chateau (built between 1878 and 1882), and his wife's Newport, Rhode Island residence, known as Marble House (built between 1888 and 1892).<ref name="greathouses">{{cite book |title= Great Houses of New York, 1880-1930|last= Kathrens|first= Michael C.|year=2005 |publisher=Acanthus Press |location=New York |isbn= 978-0-926494-34-3|page=25}}</ref> Hunt's most famous design is arguably Biltmore Estate, which was built for Vanderbilt's younger brother, George Washington Vanderbilt II.<ref name="Harvard1893">{{cite book |title=The Harvard Graduates' Magazine |date=1893 |publisher=Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIEfAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93 |access-date=23 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Puritan1996">{{cite book |title=Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia |date=1996 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=9781412832571 |page=323 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LG29MRCw5d8C&pg=PA323 |access-date=23 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>}} continuously added to until the home was destroyed by fire on April 15, 1899, while his son, Willie K. Vanderbilt, was honeymooning there.<ref name="1899Fire">{{cite news |title=VANDERBILT VILLA BURNED; Flames Cut Short W.K. Vanderbilt, Jr.'s, Honeymoon at Idle Hour. NARROW ESCAPE WITH BRIDE Flames Started While Household Slept -- Incendiary, Mr. Vanderbilt Says -- Bad Flue, Perhaps. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/04/12/100439478.pdf |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=April 12, 1899}}</ref> Willie and his new wife, Virginia Fair Vanderbilt, escaped the fire. His daughter Consuelo had also honeymooned there when she married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895.<ref name="1899Rebuild">{{cite news |title=NEW HOUSE AT IDLE HOUR.; W.K. Vanderbilt Will Build a Mansion Larger than the Burned One. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/07/07/117926936.pdf |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=July 7, 1899}}</ref>
It was promptly rebuilt of red brick and gray stone in the English Country Style, with exquisite furnishings, for $3 million. The building was designed by Hunt's son, Richard Howland Hunt, and at the time was considered among the finest homes in America. The rebuilt estate "included nearly all of Oakdale, 290 or 300 buildings, a herd of steer and a paddlewheel steamer to ferry guests up and down the Connetquot River alongside the mansion."<ref name="Jahn1977"/> Around 1902, an addition was made to Idle Hour by the prominent architectural firm Warren & Wetmore.<ref name="OLD2010">{{cite news |last1=L |first1=Zach |title=Idle Hour |url=http://www.oldlongisland.com/2010/03/idle-hour.html |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=OLD LONG ISLAND |date=March 10, 2010}}</ref>
===Later ownership=== William Kissam Vanderbilt died in 1920; in his will, he bequeathed ''Idle Hour'' and its contents to his younger son Harold Stirling Vanderbilt. The property was valued at $650,000 and the contents at $133,239 for probate purposes by William Vanderbilt's executors; Harold Vanderbilt had some difficulty finding a purchaser for the property, eventually selling Idle Hour for $460,521 in 1921.<ref>{{cite news |title=MARLBOROUGH GOT VANDERBILT RICHES |newspaper=New York Times |date=14 March 1923 |page=5 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/03/14/105988505.html?zoom=16 |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref>
The mansion went through several phases and visitors.<ref name="Jahn1977" /> In 1921, a syndicate headed by Frank Elbridge Webb agreed to purchase the estate and convert it to a country club,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 15, 1922 |title=Richest Club Takes Vanderbilt's 'Idle Hour' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-herald-richest-club-takes-vande/165251491/ |access-date=February 11, 2025 |work=New York Herald |page=73}}</ref> however they fell behind on payments and the deal was severed in 1923.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1923-12-12 |title=Club Plan For “Idle Hour” Fizzles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-statesman-club-plan-for-idle/171258578/ |access-date=2025-04-28 |work=The Herald Statesman |pages=14}}</ref> Gangster Dutch Schultz had a brief stay in the 1930s.<ref name="Jahn1977"/> Around that time, cow stalls, pig pens and corn cribs on the farm portion of Idle Hour were converted into a short-lived bohemian artists' colony, known as the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians, that included figures such as George Elmer Browne and Roman (Bon) Bonet-Sintas as well as sculptor Catherine Lawson, costume designer Olga Meervold, pianist Claude Govier, Francis Gow-Smith, and his wife Carol.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uF7I1-7LlTwC&pg=PT129|title=Oakdale|first1=Diane|last1=Holliday|first2=Chris|last2=Kretz|date=May 24, 2010|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781439638491|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Delatiner1983">{{cite news |last1=Delatiner |first1=Barbara |title=Long Island Guide; Idle Hour Artists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/16/nyregion/long-island-guide-idle-hour-artists.html |access-date=October 23, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=January 16, 1983}}</ref><ref name="Harrison1983">{{cite news |last1=Harrison |first1=Helen A. |title=Glimpses of an Almost Forgotten Artists'colony on L.i. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/06/nyregion/glimpses-of-an-almost-forgotten-artistscolony-on-li.html |access-date=October 25, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=February 6, 1983}}</ref>
In 1963, Adelphi College purchased the estate and, in 1968, spun the campus off as Dowling College (named after city planner and philanthropist Robert W. Dowling).<ref>{{cite news|title=DOWLING ENDOWS A COLLEGE ON L.I.; Adelphi - Suffolk Will Be Named After Benefactor|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/13/archives/dowling-endows-a-college-on-li-adelphi-suffolk-will-be-named-after.html|access-date=November 12, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=June 13, 1968}}</ref> In March 1974,<ref name="Silver1974">{{cite news |last1=Silver |first1=Roy R. |title=Fire on L.I. Campus Damages 110-Room Vanderbilt Mansion |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/03/19/79870613.pdf |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=March 19, 1974}}</ref> the home sustained its second fire and required a $3 million renovation.<ref name="Jahn1977">{{cite news |last1=Jahn |first1=Mike |title=A Troubled Landmark Reborn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/20/archives/long-island-weekly-a-troubled-landmark-reborn-a-landmarks-past.html |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=20 November 1977}}</ref> The estate was home to Dowling College, a private co-educational college, until the college closed in August 2016.<ref name="closing">{{cite news|last1=Ferrette|first1=Candice|last2=Schwartz|first2=David M.|title=Dowling grants last degrees, loses accreditation Wednesday|url=https://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/dowling-grants-last-degrees-loses-accreditation-wednesday-e46892|access-date=12 November 2016|work=Newsday|date=August 31, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802011139/http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/dowling-grants-last-degrees-loses-accreditation-wednesday-1.12244873?pts=453198|archive-date=2 August 2017}}</ref>
In 2017, Idle Hour and the Dowling Campus were set to be auctioned off.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ocasio |first1=Victor |date=October 18, 2017 |title=Auction set for 105-acre Dowling campus |url=https://www.newsday.com/business/dowling-college-brookhaven-campus-to-be-auctioned-dec-7-x70067 |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=Newsday |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425192003/https://www.newsday.com/business/dowling-college-brookhaven-campus-to-be-auctioned-dec-7-x70067 |archive-date=25 April 2023}}</ref> In 2018, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip approved the $14 million purchase of the {{convert|105|acre|km2|adj=on}} site.<ref name="Ocasio2018">{{cite news |last1=Ocasio |first1=Victor |title=Court OKs sale of Dowling campus for $14 million |url=https://www.newsday.com/business/dowling-college-brookhaven-campus-auction-1.18967321 |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=Newsday |date=June 4, 2018 |language=en |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023152424/https://www.newsday.com/business/dowling-college-brookhaven-campus-auction-1.18967321 |archive-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> by Mercury International LLC of Delaware, an affiliate of NCF Capital Ltd. which owes over $3 million in back taxes to Suffolk County.<ref name="preservationlongisland">{{cite web |title=Idle Hour, Town of Islip, Suffolk County |url=https://preservationlongisland.org/idle-hour-town-of-islip-suffolk-county/ |website=preservationlongisland.org |publisher=Preservation Long Island |access-date=23 October 2019 |date=27 December 2017}}</ref>
===Largest homes in the United States=== The {{convert|70,000|sqft|abbr=on}} mansion ranks among the largest houses in the United States{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}, tied with Woodlea in Briarcliff Manor, New York (built for his sister Margaret and brother-in-law Elliott Fitch Shepard in 1895).
==Gallery== <gallery mode=packed heights="170px"> File:Country residence ("Idle Hour") for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, Oakdale, Long Island, New York LCCN2017650941.jpg|Photograph of Idle Hour, 1880 File:Country residence ("Idle Hour") for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, Oakdale, Long Island, New York). (Kitchen and servants' rooms addition). (Elevation) - Richard M. Hunt, architect, New LCCN2010647867.jpg|Kitchen and servants room' addition, 1886. File:Country residence ('Idle Hour') for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, Oakdale, Long Island, New York) LOC ppmsca.52120.jpg|Architectural drawing of the stables, 1888. File:Country residence ('Idle Hour') for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, Oakdale, Long Island, New York) LOC ppmsca.52124.jpg|Architectural drawing, 1889 File:Country residence ('Idle Hour') for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, Oakdale, Long Island, New York) LOC ppmsca.52123.jpg|Architectural drawing, 1889 File:Country residence ('Idle Hour') for William K. Vanderbilt, Oakdale, Long Island, New York) LOC ppmsca.52116.jpg|Architectural drawing of Idle Hour's interior, {{Circa|1900}}-1901 Idle Hour 02.jpg|The north facade at Idle Hour, {{Circa|1903}} Idle Hour 03.jpg|The inner courtyard at Idle Hour, {{Circa|1903}} Idle Hour Stables.jpg|The stables at Idle Hour, {{Circa|1903}}
</gallery>
==See also== *List of Gilded Age mansions
==References== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
;Sources {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[https://preservationlongisland.org/idle-hour-town-of-islip-suffolk-county/ Idle Hour, Town of Islip, Suffolk County] at Preservation Long Island *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io8ebntSHtc The Gilded Age, The Vanderbilt's and Idle Hour] video on YouTube.
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Category:Vanderbilt family Category:Vanderbilt family residences Category:Palaces in the United States Category:Dowling College Category:Houses in Suffolk County, New York Category:Residential buildings completed in 1901 Category:Gilded Age mansions