The grand mansion that takes up most of the view of buildings on the right (west) side of Fifth Avenue was (at the time) occupied by Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt, the widow of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Her late husband (sometimes called "Corneil") had been the president and chairman of the New York Central Railroad during the Gilded Age before suffering a stroke and dying in 1899 at age 55. She never remarried, and lived by herself in the mansion (with the support of three dozen servants) until it was sold in 1926 to developers who had bought up the land underneath it. She moved ten blocks further up Fifth Avenue, where she died in 1934.

The French Chateauesque "home" in right fore/mid ground is the mansion built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1883 with 134 rooms and a forecourt surrounded by wrought-iron fences occupying 57th and 58th Street part of Fifth Avenue. He was the eldest grandson of the Commodore. George Post and Richard Morris Hunt were the architects. The largest private home ever built in New York City. It was demolished in 1926. The gate is now a public gate on the west side of Central Park at 105th street. The 5-story entrance hall of stone from Caen is at the Museum of Art. It had a 2-story ballroom and dining room, a gallery, and moorish smoking room. The Bergdorf Goodman building now occupies the site. It also had a mantel designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The Vanderbilts' summer cottage was The Breakers. Vanderbilt was hobbled by a stroke and then died of a brain bleed in 1899. He then set up his wife Alice Claypool Gwynne with a trust but she tried to keep the homes as best she could before a developer bought it and demolished it.

Probably unable to bend at the waist due to her stiff corset.

It looks like the woman in the back seat of the car pulling away from the curb at the left is absolutely petrified of being in such a contraption while her two companions appear to be laughing it up!

It's amazing how quickly they took over the streets.

Can you imagine driving in any lane in any direction anywhere in Manhattan? The traffic police must've sometimes felt helpless.

Looks like some steering wheels were on the right, but some were on the left