Marvelous in Marble

Marble House on Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI, another Vanderbilt "summer" cottage

It's quite a marvel with its mostly marble construction — about 500,000 cubic feet. Built from 1888 to 1892 by William Kissam Vanderbilt, who wanted to surprise his wife, Alva, with a getaway home for her 39th birthday. 

But then, money was no object for any of the Vanderbilts. This summer cottage on Bellevue Avenue cost $11 million dollars to build, the equivalent of $343 million now with $7 million of the budget set aside for so much marble. 

W. K. Vanderbilt

William was the younger brother of Cornelius Vanderbilt who later built his own famous mansion, The Breakers, ironically designed by the same architect Richard Morris Hunt, which was larger (70 rooms) and built in half the time, two years (1893-1895) vs. four years for Marble House. Here's an amazing fact, the construction cost of $7 million for The Breakers was the cost of the marble alone used for this mansion. Yes, the rich and famous did spend money (and still do).

Keeping up with the Vanderbilts meant building luxurious summer cottages with Atlantic Ocean views in Newport, RI, with Atlantic Ocean views and only staying there for 6-8 weeks. The Newport mansions are always decorated at the holiday season, but in reality, the original families were never there during Christmas.

Alva Vanderbilt

Background of Marble House

In 1888, William K. Vanderbilt planned to build a home for Alva. After learning about it, she became actively involved. Born in Mobile, AL, Alva was raised and educated in France and very much a social climber of her day. She envisioned Marble House as her temple to the arts in America and was obsessed with keeping construction secret to unveil the residence at a grand party. A large fence was built blocking the view from the road and non-English speaking Chinese workman were hired to keep from spilling the beans. This secrecy is possibly the reason there are no construction photos of marble House.

On completion, the 50-room Beaux Arts mansion required a staff of 36 servants including butlers, maids, coachmen and footmen. It covered four floors — kitchen and service areas in the basement, reception rooms on the ground floor, bedrooms on the second floor, servant quarters on the top level.

When time came for the mansion's unveiling and party, Alva had guests arrive after dark. At a signal, servants opened the gates and the entire house was illuminated. It was the first viewing of a mansion with solid marble columns. Marble House is considered a social and architectural landmark. It set the pace for Newport's transformation from a quiet summer colony of wooden houses to a legendary resort of way over-the-top opulent Gilded Age mansions. 

Some of Its Interiors

Entry to Marble House is through two Baroque style French doors each weighing 1-1/2 tons and embellished by the monogram WV set in an oval medallion. (No gate photos here as we entered the mansion grounds from the parking lot, not directly from Bellevue Avenue.) 

Grand stairway leading to mezzanine

Once inside the grand entry, marble stairs lead upwards. Unlike at The Breakers, there was no carpeting on the stairs, possibly to better show off the marble details. Slippery stairs?

Dining Room with 34-foot table

The walls in the Dining Room are made of rose-colored marble imported from Algeria. The chairs are made of bronze and covered in gold with silk cut upholstery; side chairs weigh about 75 pounds, the armchairs about 100. The ceiling has an elaborate mural and also shows off Alva's collection of French Court portraits. The room is dominated by a 34-foot long dining room. The fireplace is a replica of one in Versailles, France.

Library in Marble House

The Library was used as a morning room and reading room. Books here include works on architecture, landscape design, furniture and European history. These are original to the Vanderbilt collection. Allard and Sons of Paris created the carved walnut bookcases and furnishings and designed the interior spaces. This firm would later work at The Breakers.

Gothic Room with stained glass windows, large fireplace

The Gothic Room was one of the most impressive rooms and reflects the flamboyant Gothic style popular in France from the 1350s to the 1600s. It boasts a large floor to ceiling stone fireplace with relief work showing spires that lead to an elaborate ribbed ceiling. The room also was designed by Jules Allard and Sons. Stained glass windows, inspired by pieces from the Middle Ages, flood the room with colors on a bright day. This room was designed to display Alva's collection of Medieval and Renaissance decorative objects. (This room is where Charles Spencer Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, proposed to the Vanderbilt's daughter, Consuelo. The marriage was arranged by Alva, so that her daughter could have a title.)

Grand Salon also known as the Gold Room

The Grand Salon (Gold Room) served as a formal salon and ballroom. It was designed in the Louis IV style and featured green silk cut upholstery. Decorative elements, like images of Louis XIV as the sun king, were copied from the French royal Palace of Versailles and the Louvre. Panels on the wall depict images from classical Roman and Greek mythology. The panels are framed with the Vanderbilt family symbol of an acorn and oak leaf which stand for strength and longevity.This symbol is repeated throughout the house.

Future Duke & Duchess of Marlborough:
Charles Spencer Churchill & Consuelo Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilts had three children: oldest daughter Consuelo became the ninth Duchess of Marlborough. William Jr became a prominent figure in the sport of auto racing in America. Harold was a yachtsman who successfully defended the America's Cup three times.

Bedroom of Consuelo Vanderbilt

Consuelo Vanderbilt's bedroom was designed by her mother Alva for her teenaged daughter. Consuelo later wrote about it: My...room was austere...My mother had chosen every piece of furniture and had placed every ornament according to her taste, and had forbidden the intrusion of my personal possessions.

Bedroom of Alva Vanderbilt

Alva Vanderbilt's bedroom had floral motifs and busy patterns in the Louis XIV style with lilac silk wall hangings. A ceiling painting shows Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war, was done by a Venetian artist.

Bedroom of William K. Vanderbilt

William Vanderbilt's bedroom is decorated in the French Neoclassical style with green-gold silk wall coverings and Louis XVI style furniture. Vanderbilt was among the most educated and refined gentlemen of his era and spoke fluent French. After he and Alva divorced, he remarried and moved to France in 1903 with his second wife.

Only guest room in Marble House

The Guest Room was where Charles Spencer Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough stayed. The silk wall fabric and walnut furniture are in the Louis XV style. Surprisingly, this is the only guest bedroom in Marble House. That's because most visitors already had their own palatial houses to return home to after a visit.

Kitchen area at Marble House

The Kitchen was central to the functioning of Marble House and produced luncheons, picnics, tea dances and dinner parties as well as meals for the family and household staff. A French chef and six helpers supervised all activities.There were four ovens and a broiler; the coal-fired stove was made in New York. The kitchen was also seen in The Gilded Age show.

Money Doesn't Buy Happiness

Oliver Belmont

Lots of money and a grand house obviously didn't guarantee marital bliss for this Vanderbilt couple. Three years after Marble House was done, William and Alva divorced in 1895 amid infidelity charges (his). Within a year, Alva remarried one of her ex-husband's close friends, Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, and made a short move to Belcourt Castle, Perry's home also on Bellevue Avenue. If his name seems familar, here's why: His maternal great-uncle and namesake was Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, victor of the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. The oldest race in the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, is named for his father, August, who had a few $$$. 

Alva owned Marble House outright, after all it was her birthday present. She returned to host her daughter's coming out party in the grand ballroom (of course). Within a year, Consuelo was famously and, by all accounts, unhappily married off to the Duke of Marlborough. 

Marble House became the grandest and most costly launderette. That's because Alva was known to change outfits up to six times daily and used Marble House for clothes storage. Can you imagine? Staff was kept busy full-time washing clothes as she preferred her own laundry staff to those at Belcourt. Marble House remained  closed until Oliver Belmont's sudden death in 1908 from appendicitis at age 58 when Alva returned there.

Once back home, she actively spearheaded the women's suffrage movement and hosted fundraisers. To raise money for her causes, she opened Marble House to the public. Admission was $1 to visit the grounds and $5 to the view the interior (equal today to $160). The price point was done to make it viewings unaffordable to the general public (commoners like us). 

Tea House on the Marble House grounds

In 1913, Alva commissioned the sons of the original architect of Marble House, Richard Morris Hunt, to build a Chinese Tea House on the cliffs behind the mansion. Inspired by 12th century Sung Dynasty era temples, the octagonal windows and surrounding wooden terrace overlooked the ocean. The teahouse was the site of fundraisers and rallies for women’s suffrage movement in America and Britain.

Sold at a Bargain to a Prince

In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression and a year before her death, Alva sold Marble House for a token $1 and the contents for $99,999, to Frederick Henry Prince. During their summer occupancies, the Prince family resided in smaller quarters in the building's third floor (formerly servant housing) careful to leave the vast majority of the interior intact.

When the senior Prince died, Frederick Jr inherited Marble House and opened it to the public for the first time. The Preservation Society of Newport County hosted the Tiffany Ball as a fundraiser for historic preservation. 

When Frederick Jr died, Harold Vanderbilt, son of Alva and William, bought the mansion. He donated the house to the Preservation Society, and the Frederick H. Prince Trust donated virtually all of the original furniture for the house.

Back view of Marble House

Marble House was opened to the public and is run as a museum by the Preservation Society of Newport. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark in February 2006. The Bellevue Avenue Historic District  includes Marble House and other historic mansions, including Belcourt, and was added to the Register in December 1972 and designated as a National Historic Landmark District in May 1976.

It's one of the more popular Newport tourist destinations and is used for guided and non-guided tours, plus various special events, parties, and weddings. It's served as the backdrop for several films including The Great Gatsby (1974) and as the backdrop for HBO's The Gilded Age.

This book was on sale in the mansion's gift store, however, I did not buy a copy. Instead, I downloaded an audio version from the NH state library system. Author Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against poverty, social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, in this story of a remarkable woman, Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, with all of her strong points and weaknesses. 

Ignored by New York’s old-money circles (especially Mrs Astor) and determined to win respect, Alva designed and built nine mansions, hosted grand balls, arranged for her daughter to marry a duke. Before the days of women's liberation, she defied convention for women of her time, asserted power within her marriage and became a leader in the women's suffrage movement. Alva's story is proof that history is made by those who know the rules and how to break them. The book was not only very informative, the narration was excellent.

Touring these mansions, listening to this book and watching various online videos about how the ultra rich Vanderbilts lived and spent their money was an eye-opener. It's often been said that money doesn't buy happiness — however, it can ease sadness. As Irish comedian Terence Alan (Spike) Milligan famously said: Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery. Milligan had the last laugh after his “I told you I was ill” epitaph was voted the nation's favorite farewell.

There's one more mansion to post about from our Newport, RI, getaway. While it's also on Bellevue Avenue, it was not built by a Vanderbilt and, unlike The Breakers and Marble House, designed by a different architect. It was completed in 1901 for a coal baron, modeled after an 18th century French château, and is relatively smaller with 48 rooms.