The Vanderbilt Mansions on Fifth Avenue

The ten Vanderbilt mansions that lined Fifth Avenue were examples of epic extravagance. Yet these homes too failed to become the family's seats their builders had envisioned. Within 30 years after Commodore Vanderbilt in 1877, no member of his family was among the richest people in the United States. 48 years after his death, one of his direct descendants died penniless.