330 RACEALONG 



PALATIAL STABLES 



About half a century ago when the rivalry between 

 New York horse owners for trotting teams and fast 

 road horses was at its crest W. H. Vanderbilt and 

 Frank Work built two of the most palatial stables 

 that were ever erected on this continent. The Vander- 

 bilt stable was located at the northeast corner of 

 Madison Avenue and Fifty-Second Street. It was a 

 two story brick and stone structure. On the first floor 

 there were stalls for about twenty horses with ample 

 room for all kinds of vehicles. 



After the death of its builder this stable was used 

 for other purposes. It was finally torn down in 1930 

 and replaced by a modem structure. 



The Work stable was on West Fifty-Sixth Street 

 adjoining Carnegie Hall. It was smaller than the 

 Vanderbilt building but a much more costly struc- 

 ture. The first floor was an open court with stalls for 

 ten or a dozen horses in the rear. The celebrated pair 

 Edward and Dick Swiveller occupied two of them 

 the first time that I visited it. Later on Frank Work 

 had Wanda, Bosque Bonita, Peter Sterling and Pilot 

 Boy. Of these Edward and Pilot Boy were pensioned, 

 their last days being checked off the calendar at 

 Carl Burr's farm near Comae on Long Island. On one 

 side of the stable there was a covered corridor in 

 which the horses could be walked or turned loose 

 on days they were not driven. 



The upper floor of this stable had club rooms and 

 many a dinner Frank Work gave to his friends in 



