Interior shots found on the internet. (No interior photos allowed on tour.)
Continuing my tour of New England, I headed to Newport, RI where its row of legendary "American Castles" from the gilded age extended for 10 miles from Historic Bellevue Avenue to Ocean Drive. Siggggggh. To have lived during this opulent time, when "Keeping up with the Jones" was more like "Keeping up with the Vanderbilts" must have been spectacular! The patriarch of the Vanderbilt family, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, died in 1877 and left the bulk of his shipping and railroad fortunes to his eldest son William Henry and to William Henry's four sons William Kissam, Frederick, Cornelius (II), and George Washington (II) to the tune of $100 million. William Henry doubled his father's fortune in 7 years, and when he died in 1885 William Henry was the richest man in the world.
The Vanderbilt fortune and legacy are legendary, and the opulent homes that William Henry's sons built during the gilded age set the precedence for the period. The first Vanderbilt mansion I ever toured was the "summer home" of William Henry's youngest son George Washington Vanderbilt II, who built the "Biltmore House" in Asheville, NC from 1889-1895. Of William Henry's four sons, the Biltmore House was the largest home built, and is still considered the largest residence in America. Kudos to my home state! A tour of that visit can be found here.
Therefore, my second Vanderbilt palatial tour was "Marble House" in Newport, RI. It was built by William Henry's eldest son William Kissam Vanderbilt from 1888-1892 as a gift for his wife Alva's 39th birthday. Marble House was an architectural feat. After it was built, it created a powerful domino effect on the Newport landscape as affluent summer residences changed from grand wooden cottages to the more familiar ostentatious mansions of the gilded age. Marble House cost $11 million to build and was designed to resemble France's Petit Trianon at Versailles. It contained 500,000 cubic feet of marble, gleaming light fixtures, luxurious furnishings, and 22-karat gilded ceilings and walls.
The Vanderbilts divorced in 1895, but Alva got to keep her 'birthday present' until she sold it in 1932 to financier Frederick H. Prince. In 1963, the Preservation Society of Newport, RI acquired the house from the Prince estate. However, the next Vanderbilt brother was to top Marble House. Sibling rivalry per chance? Stay tune for my tour of "The Breakers".
