Marble House - sounds cold and hard right???

Well, the thing is there were many members in the Vanderbilt family and they all built houses, cottages, townhouses, mansions, summer homes, winter homes, chateaus and country estates!!  The Marble House is the  summer "cottage" retreat built between 1888 and 1892 for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt. It was a social landmark that helped spark the transformation of Newport from a relatively relaxed summer colony of wooden houses to the now legendary resort of opulent stone palaces. The fifty-room mansion required a staff of 36 servants, including butlers, maids, coachmen, and footmen. The mansion cost $11 million ($260,000,000 in 2009 dollars) of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Vanderbilt's older brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II subsequently built the largest of the Newport cottages, The Breakers, between 1893 and 1895. ^(Wikipedia)

 

Marble House is smaller than The Breakers but it certainly does not lack in opulence!



 Grand staircase of yellow Sienna Marble

 



Chest that held dowry for Alva Vanderbilt

The Grand Salon, designed by Allard and Sons, served as a ballroom and reception room. Designed in the Louis XIV style, it features green silk cut velvet upholstery and draperies. The originals were made by Prelle. The walls are carved wood and gold gilt panels representing scenes from classical mythology, inspired by the panels and trophies adorning the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre.  (Wikipedia)

  Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Bedroom, on the second floor, is in the Louis XIV style. The ceiling in this room is adorned with circular ceiling painting of Athena, painted circa 1721 by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. It was originally in the library of the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice. (Wikipedia)

Curved, and beautiful, staircases seem to be something the Vanderbilt's included in many of their homes.

Servant's staircase

 The view out the back .... lovely right?  The white house above with the copula on the tip of the peninsula is The Breakers ... the home his brother had built.

The Chinese Tea House, modeled on 12th century Song Dynasty temples.

When Alva Vanderbilt divorced William in 1895, she already owned Marble House outright, having received it as her 39th birthday present. Upon her remarriage in 1896 to Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, she relocated down the street to Belmont's mansion, Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House and added the Chinese Tea House on the seaside cliff, where she hosted rallies for women's suffrage.  This I definitely approve of and kudos to Alva!!!

PS:  She also grew beautiful flowers as seen on the left below.🌹

 

More to come soon ... enjoy... Jan 🌷🌷🐾🐾