Remembering History: Members of that most illustrious of American families, the Vanderbilts, were not to be left out of the building spree of the late 1800s. Cornelius Vanderbilt II built his extravagant brick-and-limestone mansion, designed by George Post, on the heavily trafficked corner of 58th and Fifth in 1893, catty-corner to the Plaza Hotel that would rise in 1907. But this magnificent home too was demolished in 1927 and today the site is occupied by the Bergdorf Goodman department store.

Members of that most illustrious of American families, the Vanderbilts, were not to be left out of the building spree of the late 1800s. Cornelius Vanderbilt II built his extravagant brick-and-limestone mansion, designed by George Post, on the heavily trafficked corner of 58th and Fifth in 1893, catty-corner to the Plaza Hotel that would rise in 1907. But this magnificent home too was demolished in 1927 and today the site is occupied by the Bergdorf Goodman department store.

Members of that most illustrious of American families, the Vanderbilts, were not to be left out of the building spree of the late 1800s. Cornelius Vanderbilt II built his extravagant brick-and-limestone mansion, designed by George Post, on the heavily trafficked corner of 58th and Fifth in 1893, catty-corner to the Plaza Hotel that would rise in 1907. But this magnificent home too was demolished in 1927 and today the site is occupied by the Bergdorf Goodman department store.