Get To Know Suzanne E. Vanderbilt, A ‘Damsel of Design’

One of the big differentiators of the Cadillac Celestiq ultra-luxury electric sedan is the fact that it’s completely hand built (save for certain drivetrain and battery components) within the Technical Center operated by Cadillac’s parent, General Motors, in Warren, Michigan. Right across campus is the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, a state-of-the-art facility designed to invoke creativity and artistry; it’s here that Celestiq customers are guided through the process of selecting the colors and materials of the ultra-luxury sedan . Even the name – Vanderbilt – pays homage to a pivotal figure in the luxury marque’s past: Suzanne E. Vanderbilt, a so-called “Damsel of Design” whose hand influenced many of GM’s mid-century vehicles.

Vanderbilt was born in Mount Vernon, New York, in 1933. She took interest in all things mechanical at an early age, setting the course of her life. She earned a Bachelor’s of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1955 alongside a Master’s of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Detroit. Heavily inspired by one of her instructors, Rowena Kostellow, Vanderbilt turned her attention toward a career in automotive design. 

Vanderbilt was quickly snapped up by GM’s Styling Department at the GM Design Center, where the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt now stands. She joined the ranks of Harley Earl’s “Damsels of Design,” where she was one of very few women working in the automotive design industry. She helped design the instrument panels for Chevrolet, contributing to the Firebird III concept car’s design, before shifting to Cadillac.

Vanderbilt proudly showed her designs at the 1958 Spring Fashion Festival of Women Designed Cars, including that of the Cadillac Eldorado Seville coupe dubbed the “Baroness.” Throughout the coming decades, she contributed heavily to GM design and collaborated with the Advanced Interior and Research Studios to help create safer vehicle interiors. She is credited with patents for an inflatable back support for seats, a safety switch on automotive instrument panels, and a motorcycle helmet design. 

Vanderbilt stepped away from her duties in 1977 due to health-related reasons. She died at age 55 only nine years later in 1988, but her legacy lives on at the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt. The site recently hosted the reveal of the Cadillac Sollei convertible, and our video below shows a brief tour of the facility.

Subscribe to Cadillac Society for more Cadillac Celestiq news and around-the-clock Cadillac news coverage. We also invite you to join the latest discussions in our Cadillac forums and Cadillac Celestiq forum.