How do you do?
I do very well...thank you.
I do very well...thank you.
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| ~MRS. VAILE AND SIDEKICK ASSISTANT~ |
Several years have passed as to when I first became aware of the Vaile Mansion in Independence, MO. The Victorian Society decks the place out for Christmas tours. I didn't want to see all the frills in December knowing that more people would be crowding the rooms to see the HOLIDAY decor.
For my 63rd birthday in July we stopped to see the mansion on a Saturday. I'd like to return and see all there is to see as it is storehouse of many period items. Wonderfully decorated in Victorian flair.
A tour had just started as we arrived, so we were instantly ushered into the Formal Parlor with a group of tamed sight seeings. The lively and interesting docent told us she has been guiding tours since 1983. If you had a question I know she would have done her best to answer it. Busy snapping photographs, I need to tour again.
Noticing the many lamps, it would be interesting to take a tour focusing to see the lamps throughout the house. The mansion was well lit on this hot day we were having. It was very comfortable inside. No sweating.
When my back decided to start hurting as we began our tour I thought WHY NOW? I got through the tour by occasionally sitting on modern chairs conveniently positioned in the large rooms for those who needed a place to sit other than on the Victorian furniture not available for present day visitors. For a few minutes as I rested in the beautiful rooms, I let my eyes do the talking.
First the house and the grounds....
AND WE ARE IN THE DOOR!!!
The Harvey M. Vaile Mansion is located at 1500 North Liberty Street in Independence, Missouri. Built in 1881 for businessman Harvey M. Vaile, it is a locally significant example of Second Empire architecture. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and designated locally in 2002; it is open to the public as a museum.
A magnificent mansion. And away we go,
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WIKIPEDIA
The Harvey M. Vaile Mansion was designed by Kansas City architect Asa Beebe Cross (1826–1894) in the Second Empire style; its design was reportedly inspired by a large house visited by Vaile and his wife in Normandy. The symmetrical structure consists of a two-and-a-half-story block surmounted by a three-story central tower; constructed of hand-pressed red brick (purchased at a cost of $50,000), it features an elaborate one-story porch, limestone moldings, heavy bracketed cornices, dormered mansard roofs, and multicolor slate shingles. The profusion of applied ornament well exemplifies "the High Victorian taste for leaving no surface areas untouched." The tall, narrow windows, together with the central tower's double mansard roof, emphasize the strong sense of verticality of the façade.
When completed, the Vaile Mansion was, according to an 1882 Kansas City Times reporter, "the most princely house and the most comfortable home in the entire west." It features thirty-one rooms with fourteen-feet-high ceilings decorated by French, German, and Italian artists. All of the original furniture was auctioned off when the estate left the Vaile family (the house was refurnished by the Vaile Victorian Society after 1983); however, the interiors still boast the original paintwork, nine marble fireplaces (one of which cost $1500), and two of the three original chandeliers, originally intended for the White House (Harvey Vaile was able to purchase them for $800 while he was in Washington, D.C., because there was some flaw in them). State-of-the-art amenities original to the house include speaking tubes, gasoliers, indoor running hot and cold water, and flush toilets; equipped with a built-in 6,000 gallon water tank, the Vaile Mansion was the first house in Jackson County with indoor plumbing.
The mansion was originally surrounded by a 630-acre estate (now reduced to a mere 5.6 acres), which included a grape vineyard and an apple orchard. Vaile had a wine processing plant on his property, as well as a wine cellar capable of holding 48,000 gallons.
