Vanderbilt Triple Palace

The Vanderbilt Triple Palace was once the most powerful statement of wealth on New York City's Fifth Avenue. Completed in eighteen eighty-two, this massive brownstone complex occupied the entire block between fifty-first and fifty-second streets. Its owner, William Henry Vanderbilt, was the richest man in America at the time, and he designed the structure as a unified home for himself and two of his daughters. While the interior was split into three distinct residences to offer each family privacy, the homes were interconnected on the ground floor, allowing the family to host massive social events that signaled their arrival into the highest ranks of society.