Rehabilitation of the Vanderbilt Pavilion

The Vanderbilt Pavilion under rehabilitation in 2021. NPS Photo.

The Pavilion was built in 1895 to serve as a sporting lodge and guest house. Today it serves as the park's visitor center. The Vanderbilts, intent on residing at Hyde Park while the mansion was under construction, required that the Pavilion be erected quickly. The task was completed in a remarkable 66 days, facilitated in part by cost-effective solutions architects employed in the temporary architecture of the international world’s fairs.

The Pavilion is constructed of wood, plaster, shingles, staff, and pebble dash. The structural strength of the Doric columns located at the east and west entrances of the Pavilion are actually pillars of brick concealed by fluted forms made of staff. Portions of a brick pillar are visible in the photo above, at the top of the third column from the left, where a seciton of staff has been removed for analysis. Sometimes described as “counterfeit marble,” staff is a mixture of plaster, jute fibers, horsehair, and other ingredients. It was employed most notably to form the classical marble-like facades of the buildings at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle and Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Charles McKim, architct of the Pavilion, was among the principal architects that oversaw the building program of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Not only does the Pavilion reflect the materials used to create the exposition buildings, but also the neo-classical revival that followed in America for decades.

The unusual surface treatment on the exterior of the Pavilion is known as pebble dash. Pebble dash, sometimes called roughcast, is what results from pressing—or dashing—pebbles into fresh stucco to create a solid, thick coating that is textured, varied in tone, sound, and durable. Architect Stanford White employed pebble dash as a wall treatment at Boxwood, his own home on Long Island built about the same time as the Vanderbilt Pavilion.

Cyclic Maintenance

After 125 years of varied purposes and changes in ownership, the Pavilion has endured many cycles of maintenance and repair campaigns. Most recently, a 2015 project addressed the roof, chimneys, feature windows, and the skylight. The current project will restore the badly deteriorated "Captain's Walk" roof balustrade, replace missing shutters, stabilize and repair the porch columns, and address the damaged and missing areas of pebble dash stucco siding. The wood trim will get a fresh coat of paint and the pebble dash stucco will get a protective, breathable lime-wash coating.

Learn more about the history of the Pavilion on the park's website.