In the early 1880s, Lorillard helped make
Newport, Rhode Island a
yachting center with his schooner
Vesta and a steam yacht
Radha. He owned a summer estate in Newport called "
The Breakers", which he sold to
Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1882 in order to use his newly developed estate, the
Tuxedo Club, at what became known as
Tuxedo Park in
Orange County, New York. Lorillard had inherited 13,000 acres (53 km2) around Tuxedo Lake, which he developed in conjunction with
William Waldorf Astor and other wealthy associates into a luxury retreat. Lorillard hired famed architect
Bruce Price to design his clubhouse and the many
"cottages" of the era along with landscape architect Arthur P. Kroll, in 1929. Lorillard was also a member of the
Jekyll Island Club, also known as The Millionaires Club, and the
Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. While it has been reported that Lorillard's son, Griswold Lorillard, introduced the then-unnamed
tuxedo to the United States in 1886 at the Tuxedo Club's Autumn Ball, this is now known to be incorrect. While Griswold and his friends did create a stir by wearing unorthodox clothing, their jackets were closer to
tailcoats without tails, or what would now be called a
mess jacket.
Thoroughbred racing '' (
Currier and Ives, 1879) An avid sportsman, Pierre Lorillard and his brother,
George Lyndes Lorillard, were both major figures in
Thoroughbred horse racing. In 1874, Pierre's horse,
Saxon, won the
Belmont Stakes. Although his horse "
Parole" finished fourth in the 1876
Kentucky Derby, it went on to race with considerable success both in the United States and in
Europe. In the 19th century, shipping horses from New York to
Louisville, Kentucky was a major undertaking and as the
Preakness Stakes and the
Belmont Stakes were both held in the New York City area in the period, neither of the Lorillard brothers entered horses again in the Kentucky Derby. Lorillard established
Rancocas Stable, named for the
New Jersey town where he owned a country house. He spent time in
Paris and in England where, in 1881, his horse
Iroquois became the first American-owned and bred horse to win a European classic race. Ridden by the champion English
jockey Fred Archer, Iroquois won
The Derby and then went on to capture the
St. Leger Stakes as well. Lorillard had other successes in England, notably with the horse named for the actor
David Garrick, which won the 1901
Chester Cup ridden by American jockey,
Danny Maher.
Exploration Beyond his interest in racehorses, Lorillard was a scholar who financed the Central American expedition of the French
archaeologist Désiré Charnay and his publication of "
The Ancient Cities of the New World. Being Travels and Explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857–1882." For making the project possible, the government of France awarded Lorillard the
Legion of Honor. Charnay named some
Maya ruins "Lorillard City" in his honor, but the name did not stick, and the site is better known as
Yaxchilan. Lorillard also helped finance some of the explorations of
Augustus Le Plongeon. ==Personal life==