Husband William Kissam Vanderbilt

Queer Places:
Colony Club, 120 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA
Colony Club, 564 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065, Stati Uniti
1 Sutton Pl, New York, NY 10022, Stati Uniti
Moravian Cemetery, 2205 Richmond Rd, Staten Island, NY 10306, Stati Uniti

Anne Harriman Sands Rutherfurd Vanderbilt (February 17, 1861 – April 20, 1940) was an American heiress known for her marriages to prominent men and her role in the development of the Sutton Place neighborhood as a fashionable place to live.

Anne was born on February 17, 1861. She was one of eight children born to banker Oliver Harriman (1829–1904) and Laura (née Low) Harriman (1834–1901).[1] Her siblings included Oliver Harriman, Jr. (1862–1940), J. Borden Harriman (1864–1914), and Herbert M. Harriman (1873–1933).[2] Her first cousin E. H. Harriman, father of Governor W. Averell Harriman (1891–1986).

In 1903, along with Anne Morgan and Elisabeth Marbury, Anne helped organize the Colony Club, the first women's social club in New York.[3] They engaged Stanford White, then New York's most famous architect, to design the interiors of the Club.[4] Reading the diaries Morgan began keeping in 1903, Alfred Allan Lewis argues that she fell in love with Marbury but that Marbury, while flattered by and welcoming of the younger woman's ardor, remained primarily devoted to de Wolfe. She became a role model for Morgan's own career as an activist and for her subsequent romantic and socially influential partnership with Anne Vanderbilt.


First Colony Club, NYC


Second Colony Club House, NYC


1 Sutton Pl, New York, NY 10022

Anne was also known for her philanthropy and for devoting "herself to those less fortunate". She financed the construction of the "open-stair" apartment houses, four large buildings that contained almost 400 apartments on Avenue A in Manhattan. The buildings were created to house tuberculosis patients. Vanderbilt donated $1,000,000 and the buildings were completed in 1910.[5]

In 1916, she hosted a fundraiser for the war sufferers of Venice.[6]

In 1919, she was made a Knight of the Légion d'Honneur by the French government and in 1932, she received the rank of Officer of the Légion d'Honneur.

During her marriage to Vanderbilt, they lived together in his mansion located at 660 Fifth Avenue that was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for William and his first wife, Ava. Anne, who had more modest tastes, sold the mansion for $3,000,000 to the Empire Trust Company after his death in 1920.[7] The home was eventually torn down and a new office building was erected in its place.[8] In 1921, she also sold their country home, "Stepping Stones", in Wheatley Hills in Jericho on Long Island for $500,000 to Ormond Gerald Smith. The estate was around 125 acres and had a home commissioned by her late husband and designed by John R. Hill.[9]

In 1921, Anne then purchased the former home of Effingham B. Sutton, at 1 Sutton Place, for $50,000 in the then new neighborhood of Sutton Place, also in Manhattan.[10] Before her move, along with Elizabeth Marbury, Anne Morgan,[11] her sister, Mrs. Stephen H. Olin, the neighborhood was known as a squalid place. Vanderbilt, Marbury, and Morgan each hired Mott B. Schmidt (1889–1977),[12] an American architect best known for his buildings in the American Georgian Classical style,[13] to build, or in Vanderbilt's case, renovate homes in the neighborhood.[14] The society pages of ''The New York Times'' scoffed at their relocation and referred to the areas as an "Amazon Enclave."

Mott transformed the home into a thirteen-room townhouse with terraced gardens that overlooked the East River. The cost of the home renovation was approximately $75,000 in 1921.[15] Vanderbilt had Elsie de Wolfe design the interiors. The terrace, done by Renee Prahar, featured two center pillars with ornamental monkeys holding globes of light in their hands.[16] By January 1929, ''The Times'' changed their tune and wrote:[17]

"Five years ago, when Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt established her residence in Sutton Place overlooking the East River, it was little dreamed that within so short a time such a marked migration from mid-Manhattan to the East River district would occur as is now in full swing. In the unbroken line of new apartments, lining Fifty-seventh Street almost solidly from Second Avenue to Sutton Place, those who doubted the wisdom of Mrs. Vanderbilt's move have found a convincing answer to their conjectures as to the ultimate success of the Sutton Place movement."

She married firstly sportsman Samuel Stevens Sands II (1856–1889),[18] the son of Samuel Stevens Sands (1827-1892), the head of S.S. Sands Co.[19] Before his death from a fall during a hunt at Meadow Brook, she had two sons by Sands:[20]

Her second marriage was on June 16, 1890 to Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, Jr. (1834–1901), son of the astronomer Lewis Morris Rutherfurd and brother to Winthrop Rutherfurd. Before his death, she had two daughters by Rutherford:

On April 29, 1903, she married her third husband, William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849–1920), in London.[39] Vanderbilt, who had previously been married to Alva Smith and divorced in 1895, was the son of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam. He was the father of Consuelo Vanderbilt, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, and Harold Stirling Vanderbilt.[40] They also remained married until his death. She had no children by Vanderbilt.[41]

Anne died on April 20, 1940.[42] She was buried inside The Vanderbilt mausoleum at the Moravian Cemetery, designed by Richard Morris Hunt and constructed in 1885–1886, part of the family's private section within the cemetery. Their mausoleum is a replica of a Romanesque church in Arles, France. The landscaped grounds around the Vanderbilt mausoleum were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Vanderbilt section is not open to the public.[43]

Anne Vanderbilt is also connected with Elizabeth Milbank Anderson.

My published books:

Amazon Logo Nero 010.pngSee my published books

BACK TO HOME PAGE

  1. ^ cite news|title=DEATH OF OLIVER HARRIMAN.; Prominent in City's Commercial and Social Life for Many Years.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B03E2D71E3AE733A25750C1A9659C946597D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=13 March 1904
  2. ^ cite news|title=OLIVER HARRIMAN'S ESTATE $20,000,000; Surrogate Silkman Admits His Will to Probate.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01EEDB1230EE32A25753C1A9629C946597D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=10 April 1904
  3. ^ cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Sarah Harrison|title=Ladies and Not-So-Gentle Women|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/06/11/bib/000611.rv091622.html|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 11, 2000
  4. ^ cite book|last1=Wallace|first1=David|title=Capital of the World: A Portrait of New York City in the Roaring Twenties|date=2012|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780762768196|pages=207–208|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivN7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207|accessdate=21 July 2017|language=en
  5. ^ cite web|title=Anne Harriman Sands Rutherfurd Vanderbilt 1861-1940|url=http://www.faubourgmontmartre.com/ah1861.html|website=www.faubourgmontmartre.com|accessdate=21 July 2017
  6. ^ cite news|title=TABLEAUX IN HOME OF MRS. VANDERBILT {{! Society Women Posing in Venetian Paintings Clear $5,000 for War Sufferers. ! THE 'MADONNA ENTHRONED ! Depicted by Miss Rutherfurd, Cyril Hatch, and Dudley Morgan -- Nijinski, Carpaccio's Gondolier.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C01E0DD113FE233A25755C2A9629C946796D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=26 April 1916}}
  7. ^ cite book|last1=Gaines|first1=Steven|title=The Sky's the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan|date=2005|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=9780759513884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aulCcnQ1490C&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103|accessdate=21 July 2017|language=en
  8. ^ cite news|last1=Adams|first1=J. Donald|title=A LAMP OF ARCHITECTURE DISAPPEARS FROM CITY; The W.K. Vanderbilt House, Soon to Be Torn Down, an Artistic Gem|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E04E4D8103FE733A25752C3A9639C946495D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=31 May 1925
  9. ^ cite news|title=Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt Sells Country Home, "Stepping Stones," to Ormond G. Smith|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E06E3DA153CE533A2575AC1A9679C946095D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=19 January 1921
  10. ^ cite news|title=MRS. W.K. VANDERBILT TO LIVE IN AVENUE A; Quitting 5th Av., Buys Home in Sutton Place, at Foot of East 57th Street. JOINS THE NEW COLONY East Side Section to Become a Centre for New York Society Leaders.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A03E3DF153CE533A2575AC0A9679C946095D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=9 January 1921
  11. ^ cite news|title=MISS MORGAN JOINS EAST SIDE COLONY; She Is Having House in Exclusive Sutton Place Improved for Her Occupancy. OTHER NOTABLES THERE Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt Started Movement in Direction of East River a Year Ago|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D07E1DC133EEE3ABC4D52DFB667838A639EDE&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=15 October 1921
  12. ^ cite news|title=SUTTON PLACE BUILDING.; Work Started on Mrs. Vanderbilt's New East Side Home.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0DE4D7113FE432A25754C2A9659C946095D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=27 March 1921
  13. ^ cite web | url=http://www.mottschmidt.com/about_us/view/introduction-1 | title=About Mott Schmidt | publisher=mottschmidt.com | work=The Architecture of Mott B. Schmidt | accessdate=September 8, 2012
  14. ^ cite web | url=http://www.mottschmidt.com/about_mott_schmidt/view/sutton-place | title=About Mott Schmidt: Beginnings and Sutton Place | publisher=MottSchmidt.com | work=The Architecture of Mott B. Schmidt | accessdate=September 8, 2012 | author=Smith, Mark Alan
  15. ^ cite news|title=VANDERBILT PLANS FILED; Cost of Her Sutton Place Residence Estimated at $75,000.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E6DB113FE432A25753C1A9659C946095D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=10 March 1921
  16. ^ cite news|title=MONKEYS ADORN TERRACE.; Novel Decoration for Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt's Sutton Place Home.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0CE4DD1E30EE3ABC4153DFB4668389639EDE&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=9 February 1922
  17. ^ cite news|title=DE LUXE APARTMENTS REPLACE EAST SIDE TENEMENTS; Big Realty Increases. Prominent Operators. $7,000,000 Watergate Project. Bridge Plaza Improvements. 1928 Construction List.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940DE3D71031E33ABC4E53DFB7668382639EDE&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=6 January 1929
  18. ^ cite news|title=Obituary -- SANDS|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C06E7D9163BE033A25757C2A9659C94689FD7CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=24 March 1889
  19. ^ cite news|title=SAMUEL STEVENS SANDS.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9506E4DF1731E033A25755C2A9619C94639ED7CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=26 July 1892
  20. ^ cite news|title=SANDS HEIRS HAVE $434,476; Ogden Mills and Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt, Guardians, File Their Reports.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950DE0DC113FE233A25757C0A9639C946796D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=4 May 1916
  21. ^ cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special Cable To The New York|title=LONDON HEARS OF ACCIDENT.; Reported at First Victim Was W.K. Vanderbilt.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940CEFD71639E333A25753C3A9619C946997D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=30 July 1908
  22. ^ cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=SANDS ESTATE ONLY $2,000.; Little Left by Son of Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt, Killed in Auto Wreck.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E2DC113EE233A2575AC1A9649D946997D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=19 December 1908
  23. ^ cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=S. STEVENS SANDS KILLED UNDER AUTO; Speeding to His Wife, as Was His Brother, Who Met the Same Fate in France.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E07E0DF163DE633A25750C0A9619C946296D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=3 July 1913
  24. ^ cite news|title=BARBARA RUTHERFURD SUCCUMBS IN FRANCE; Colonial Leaders' Descendant Aided Red Cross in War|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F03EEDE173EE432A25755C0A96E9C946894D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=6 August 1939
  25. ^ cite news|title=MISS. RUTHERFURD TO BE MRS. C. HATCH {{! Mrs. Win. K. Vanderbilt, Sr.'s, Daughter Barbara Is Engaged to Clubman. ! ACTIVE IN WAR CHARITIES ! Bride to-be Is Granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Harriman -- Wedding Soon|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9802E3DD113FE233A25752C2A9629C946796D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=21 April 1916}}
  26. ^ cite news|title=MISS RUTHERFURD, CYRIL HATCH'S BRIDE; Younger Daughter of Mrs. Wm. K. Vanderbilt, Sr., Married in Fifth Avenue Home. FAMILY ONLY IS PRESENT Stepfather Gives Bride, 21, In Marriage;-Bridegroom Is 38 ;- Honeymoon Trip to Far West.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D05E2D7113FE233A25750C2A9609C946796D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=23 June 1916
  27. ^ cite book|title=Social Register, New York|date=1920|publisher=Social Register Association|page=314|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ek5IAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA314&lpg=PA314|accessdate=19 July 2017|language=en
  28. ^ cite news|title=RUTHERFURD L. HATCH; Member of New York Family of Social Prominence Dies|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE4DA153EE13BBC4C52DFB266838C659EDE&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=14 April 1947
  29. ^ cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=MRS. HATCH DIVORCE IN PARIS REPORTED; Daughter of Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt, Sr., Free, Says FamilyRepresentative.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C04E3DC1F31E433A25755C2A96F9C946195D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=26 September 1920
  30. ^ cite web|title=Heaven Sent|url=http://aestheteslament.blogspot.com/2011_09_28_archive.html|website=aestheteslament.blogspot.com|publisher=An Aesthete's Lament|accessdate=19 July 2017|date=28 September 2011
  31. ^ cite news|title=MRS. B. R. HATCH WED OOM DISCIPLE; Daughter of Mrs. Win. K. Vanderbilt Married Winfield J. Nicholls, Artist, Aug. 11 {{! KEPT MARRIAGE SECRET ! Sir Paul and Lady Dukes at Ceremony Before Peace Justice in New City -- Bride Also in Cult.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F02E3D61239E233A25754C2A96E9C946595D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=27 August 1924}}
  32. ^ cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=Suzanne Nicholls Bride of John Thorndike|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/25/archives/suzanne-nicholls-bride-of-john-thorndike.html?_r=0|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=25 March 1979
  33. ^ they divorced in 1930.<ref>cite news|title=NICHOLLS PAPERS SERVED; Copies in Annulment Action Left at Homes by Court Order.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C03EFDB1338E23ABC4E51DFB1668383639EDE|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=26 July 1928
  34. ^ cite news|title=W.J. NICHOLLS SUES FOR DIVORCE IN RENO; Desertion Charged to Daughter of Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt--Couple Wed at "Love Cult" Colony.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9806E3DF1F38EE32A25753C1A96F9C946194D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=10 September 1930
  35. ^ cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=W.J. NICHOLLS GETS DIVORCE AT RENO; Freed From Former Barbara Rutherfurd|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B07E3DE1038E433A25755C1A96F9C946194D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 September 1930
  36. ^ cite book|last1=Aitken|first1=William Benford|title=Distinguished Families in America, Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke|date=1912|publisher=Knickerbocker Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZ0xAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48|accessdate=7 May 2017|language=en
  37. ^ cite news|title=MRS. OGDEN L. MILLS WEDS SIR PAUL DUKES; Daughter of Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt Is Secret Bride of Ex-British War Spy in Russia. COUPLE SAILED LAST FRIDAY Both Had Been Members of Omnipotent Oom's Mystic Colony in Nyack.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0DE4D81E39EF3ABC4052DFB6678389639EDE&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=18 October 1922
  38. ^ Citation | last = | first = | title = Mrs. M. S. Rutherfurd Wed To F. L. Sprague | newspaper = The New York Times | publication-place = New York City | date = 27 November 1939 | page = | url = http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00611FA3A5E10728DDDAE0A94D9415B898FF1D3. Margaret was the daughter of Anne Harriman, the second wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt, and her second husband, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, son of the astronomer Lewis Morris Rutherfurd. After divorcing Dukes, Margaret Rutherfurd successively married Charles Michel Joachim Napoléon, Prince Murat, and Frederick Leybourne Sprague (1907–1993).
  39. ^ cite news|title=W. K. VANDERBILT'S COMING MARRIAGE; Mrs. Lewis Morris Rutherfurd the Prospective Bride. The Wedding Arranged to Take Place April 29 at the Home of Secretary White of the American Embassy in London.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9403EFDF1F30E733A25751C2A9629C946297D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=22 April 1903
  40. ^ cite news|title=W.K. VANDERBILT LEFT $54,530,966; TWO SONS GET BULK; He Gave Daughter $5,000,000, When She Became the Duchess of Marlborough. WIDOW GETS $109,196.47 Estate Pays $1,934,571, the Largest Inheritance Tax in History of Suffolk County. HELD MOSTLY IN SECURITIES Shares in Three Big Railway Sys- tems Totaled Nearly $29,000, -- 000 -- Realty Appraised. W.K. VANDERBILT LEFT $54,530,966|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E06E3DE1331E333A25754C0A9659C946295D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=7 March 1923
  41. ^ cite news|title=VANDERBILT WILL ESTABLISHES TRUST; Mrs. M.M. Sprague, Daughter, and Grandchildren Are Chief Beneficiaries|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B07E2DE1439E731A25757C0A9639C946193D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=19 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=4 May 1940
  42. ^ cite news|last1=World|first1=Times Wide|title=MRS. VANDERBILT DIES IN HOSPITAL; Widow of W. K. and Daughter of Late Oliver Harriman Noted for War Work and Charities|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F02E6DB1230E43ABC4951DFB266838B659EDE&legacy=true|accessdate=7 May 2017|work=The New York Times|date=21 April 1940
  43. ^ cite web |title=About Us |url=http://www.moraviancemetery.com/aboutus.htm |publisher=Moravian Cemetery Website |accessdate=4 October 2013