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The saga of 640 Fifth Avenue began in 1878, when Henry William Vanderbilt, son and principal heir of the Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, engaged architect John B. Snook and decorator C.B. Atwood of the prestigious Herter Brothers firm to design and execute plans for twin mansions on the avenue. The finished building occupied the entire block between 51st and 52nd streets on the west side of Fifth Avenue. The northern half was occupied by residences for two of William's daughters; the southern half was reserved for Vanderbilt and his wife Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt.
This residence was designed at the end of the Victorian movement in America. It rich neo-Grec brownstone facade was alive with decorative detailing, such as balconied window projections and intricately carved entablatures above the windows on the second story. An elaborately carved floral frieze ran in tandem with the third floor, and similar decorative detailing ran across the first story level at the top of the windows. A perforated parapet balustrade topped all of this exuberant detailing.
The mansion's interiors were even more elaborately conceived. Overpowering in their intensity, the major interior spaces were filled with stone and mosaic walls and floors, and the most important rooms were decorated with murals by Jules' Joseph Lefebvre. Draperies and upholstery were of textures velvets and silks in rich jewel tones. The furniture, constructed of exotic woods, was often inlaid with ebony and mother-of-pearl. A marble and bronze clad central hall ran up to stained-glass ceiling by John La Farge. The collection in the art gallery predominantly comprised important works by French academic painters, such as Bouguereau, Tissot and Meissonier. M.S. Euen, the author of Mr. Vanderbilt's House and Collection, privately printed by Vanderbilt, opined that everything inside 640 "sparkles and flashes with gold and color...with mother-of-pearl, with marble, with jewel effects in glass...and every surface is covered, one might say weighted, with ornament."
After Vanderbilt's death in 1885, the house continued to be inhabited by his widow. At her death 11 years later, his youngest son, George Washington Vanderbilt, inherited the mansion. By the end of the century, the house seemed dowdy. Most of the younger Vanderbilts' peers had long ago subscribed to the new classical design vernacular espoused by prominent architectural firms such as Carrere and Hastings and McKim, Mead and White. George soon made a series of changes to his father's house. He began by eliminating a few of the decorative excesses on the exterior, at the same time replacing the balustrade that surrounded it with something more classical that held baroque lanterns at each corner. Soon after this expensive work was completed, the City of New York decided to widen Fifth Avenue, forcing Vanderbilt to remove this new balustrade completely. That , coupled with the heavy debt incurred with the building of his enormous Biltmore estate in Asheville, North Carolina, compelled him in 1905 to stop renovations. Soon thereafter he leased the house to Henry Clay Frick.
George Vanderbilt died in Washington D.C., in 1914. Because he left no direct male heir, per his father's will, 640 was passed on to his eldest nephew. Cornelius Vanderbilt III was the eldest son of George's oldest brother, Cornelius II. Neily, as family and friends always called him, was an unexpectant recipient because his father had disinherited him for marrying Grace Wilson, a society belle of the era.
After Cornelius II's death, Neily's younger brother, who inherited the lion's share of his father's estate,gave Neily an additional $6 million ($122 million USD 2007), thereby bringing his inheritance up to the level of his sisters and younger brother, Reginald. That money, combined with his wife's personal fortune, enabled this branch of the Vanderbilt family to live quite well in a Fifth Avenue house 677, two blocks north of his grandfather's mansion. But with Grace's burgeoning social career, defined by her position as the leading Mrs. Vanderbilt, it was fortunate that they inherited the mush larger house at 640.
As George Vanderbilt had sided with the senior Vanderbilts in their dislike of Grace, the younger Mrs. Vanderbilt had not stepped foot in the house since long before her 1896 marriage. On her first tour of the property after her husband's inheritance, Grace reputedly dubbed it "the Black Hole of Calcutta" and immediately called in one of society's favorite architects, Horace Trumbauer, to transform the house, cellar to attic.
The exterior changes included removal of all the first and second story double-hung windows and their accompanying surrounds and replacing them with balustraded French doors set in classical frames. The elaborate, heavily carved frieze work of the first and third floors was removed, and the house was extended and enlarged in the back. Probab

To make this room appear larger, interior designer Jeff Andrews used an olive-green shade (Drab, by Farrow & Ball) on the lower two-thirds of the walls and a lighter shade (Light Gray, by Farrow & Ball) above it— the gradation from dark to light makes the ceiling appear taller. Salvaged windows brighten the space, which Andrews uses as a dressing area and a guest room.

Other small-space tips from Andrews:

• If you paint a small room a dark color, use a high- or semi-gloss paint to bounce the light around the room, making the room feel more spacious.
• Hang a large mirror in a dead-end space (such as between two doors) to make it feel like an entrance to another room.

Details about this room: Paul Mathieu Bianca daybed, Pucci (ralphpucci.net), covered in Castellamonte Velvet fabric #33877-4, Clarence House (clarencehouse.com). Petrified wood table, Berbere Imports. Moustique drapery fabric #17101-1, Bergamo (bergamofabrics.com). Vintage abstracts, JF Chen. Vintage chair.

Interior design by Jeff Andrews. Photo by Grey Crawford, pointclickhome.com.