Located on the corner of 5th avenue and 57th street, New York city, Cornelius Vanderbilt II house was built in 1883. Its ground floor doubled as a drawing room and a dining area as well as an art gallery. The second floor a salon, music room and a conservatory. All remaining floors were bedrooms. Not wanting to be out done by ant other house Cornelius Vanderbilt purchased all other property facing 5th avenue block and hired George B Post and Richard Morris Hunt to build an even larger mansion, this filled the entire block front resulting in one of the most flamboyant homes in this area of decadence.