Idle Hour Facts for Kids

This page is about the former Vanderbilt estate. For other uses, see Idle Hour (disambiguation).

Photograph of Idle Hour from Architectural Record, c. 1903

Idle Hour is a huge old house, or "estate," that used to belong to the wealthy Vanderbilt family. It's located in a town called Oakdale on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. The house was finished in 1901 for a man named William Kissam Vanderbilt. For a while, it was part of Dowling College. Today, Idle Hour is known as one of the biggest houses in the United States.

Building the Vanderbilt Estate
- Rebuilding the Mansion
Later Owners of Idle Hour
- Becoming a College Campus
- New Ownership Today
One of America's Largest Homes
Gallery
See also

Building the Vanderbilt Estate

The original "Idle Hour", c. 1894

In 1878, Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt started building a very fancy, large wooden house. It had 110 rooms and was called Idle Hour. This huge home was built on a 900-acre (about 3.6 square kilometers) piece of land next to the Connetquot River.

The first version of the house was finished in 1882. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, a famous American architect. He kept adding to the house over the years. Sadly, on April 15, 1899, the house was destroyed by a fire. William's son, Willie K. Vanderbilt, was there on his honeymoon but managed to escape safely.

Rebuilding the Mansion

After the fire, the Vanderbilt family quickly rebuilt Idle Hour. The new house was made of strong red brick and gray stone. It was designed in the English Country Style and cost about $3 million. At the time, this new Idle Hour was considered one of the most beautiful homes in America.

Richard Howland Hunt, the son of the first architect, designed the rebuilt mansion. The estate was so large it included almost all of Oakdale. It had nearly 300 buildings, farm animals, and even a paddlewheel steamer. This boat would take guests up and down the Connetquot River. Around 1902, more parts were added to Idle Hour by the well-known architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore.

Later Owners of Idle Hour

After William Vanderbilt passed away in 1920, the mansion had several different owners and visitors.

Becoming a College Campus

In 1963, Adelphi College bought the large estate. In 1968, they turned the campus into its own school, which became Dowling College. The college was named after a city planner and kind person named Robert W. Dowling.

In March 1974, the house caught fire again. It needed a lot of repairs, costing $3 million. Idle Hour was home to Dowling College, a private school, until the college closed down in August 2016.

New Ownership Today

In 2017, Idle Hour and the Dowling Campus were put up for auction. In 2018, a court approved the sale of the 105-acre (about 0.42 square kilometers) property. It was bought for $14 million by a company called Mercury International LLC.

One of America's Largest Homes

Idle Hour is a truly massive house, covering 70,000 square feet (about 6,500 square meters). This makes it one of the largest houses in the United States. It is tied for the 15th largest house with two other famous homes: Woodlea in Briarcliff Manor, New York and Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.