The combined wealth of the family – their total assets and investments plus the individual wealth of its members – has never been known with any precision. The records of the family archives relating to both the family and individual members' net worth is closed to researchers.[17]
From the outset, and even today, the family wealth has been under the complete control of the male members of the dynasty, through the family office. Despite strong-willed wives who had influence over their husbands' decisions – such as the pivotal female figure Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of Junior – in all cases they received allowances only and were never given even partial responsibility for the family fortune.[18]
Much of the wealth has been locked up in the notable family trust of 1934 (which holds the bulk of the fortune and matures on the death of the fourth generation), and the trust of 1952, both administered by the Chase Manhattan Bank. These trusts have consisted of shares in the successor companies to Standard Oil and other diversified investments, as well as the family's considerable real estate holdings. They are administered by a powerful trust committee that oversees the fortune.
Management of this fortune today also rests with professional money managers who oversee the principal holding company, Rockefeller Financial Services, which controls all the family's investments, now that Rockefeller Center is no longer owned by the family. The present chairman is David Rockefeller, Jr.
In 1992, it had five main arms:
Rockefeller & Co. (Money management: Universities have invested some of their endowments in this company);
Venrock Associates (Venture Capital: an early investment in Apple Computer was one of many it made in Silicon Valley entrepreneurial start-ups);
Rockefeller Trust Company (Manages hundreds of family trusts);
Rockefeller Insurance Company (Manages liability insurance for family members);
Acadia Risk Management (Insurance Broker: Contracts out policies for the family's vast art collections, real estate and private planes.)[19]
Family residences[edit]Over the generations the family members have resided in some notable historic homes. A total of 81 Rockefeller homes are on the National Register of Historic Places.[20] Not including all homes owned by the five brothers, some of the more prominent of these are:
Kykuit - The landmark six-story home on the vast Westchester County family estate, home to four generations of the family;
Bassett Hall - The house at Colonial Williamsburg bought by Junior in 1927 and renovated by 1936, it was the favorite residence of both Junior and Abby and is now a house museum at the family-restored Colonial Revival town;
The Eyrie - A sprawling 100-room summer holiday home on Mount Desert Island in Maine, demolished by family members in 1962;
Forest Hill - The family's country estate and summer home in Cleveland for four decades. Built and occupied by Senior, it burned down in 1917;
Golf House at Lakewood, New Jersey - The former three-story clubhouse for the elite Ocean County Hunt and Country Club, which Senior bought in 1902 to play golf on its golf course;
The Casements - A three-story house at Ormond Beach in Florida, where Senior spent his last winters, from 1919 until his death;
10 West Fifty-fourth Street - A nine-story single family home, the former residence of Junior before he shifted to 740 Park Avenue, and the largest residence in New York City at the time, it was the home for the five young brothers. It was later given by Junior to the Museum of Modern Art;
One Beekman Place - The residence of Laurance in New York City;
740 Park Avenue - Junior and Abby's famed 40-room triplex apartment in the luxury apartment building, which was later sold for a record price;
The JY Ranch - The landmark ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the holiday resort home built by Junior and later owned by Laurance, it was used by all members of the family and had many
