WKV, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, began amassing 862 acres in Oakdale in 1876. He built a wooden Tudor style mansion in 1878 that had 60 rooms (a style in keeping with that of the main house of Bayard Cutting Arboretum http://www.pbase.com/jimrob/image/77661707). In 1894, WKV and his wife, Alva, separated. In their settlement, he kept Idle Hour and Alva got Marble House in Newport, RI http://www.pbase.com/jimrob/image/76987914. In 1899, the first mansion burned to the ground. WKV had the 110 room structure pictured above built in 1901 at the cost of 9.5 million dollars. WKV died in 1920 and the building went through many hands and uses before it became the centerpiece for Dowling College in 1968. More about Idle Hour can be found at http://www.dowling.edu/about/idlehour/history2.shtm.