1888 to 1892
Richard Morris Hunt
Newport, Rhode Island, USA
Vanderbilt Marble House
Public Domain Image by Daderot, August 2005
Railroad baron William K. Vanderbilt spared no expense when he built a house for his wife's birthday. Vanderbilt's grand "Marble House" cost $11 million, $7 million of which paid for 500,000 cubic feet of white marble.
The architect, Richard Morris Hunt, was a master of Beaux Arts. His other projects include the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Yorktown Monument. For Vanderbilt's Marble House, Richard Morris Hunt drew inspiration from some of world's most majestic architecture: the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis (upon which Marble House's four Corinthian columns were modeled), the Petit Trianon at Versailles, the White House, and the Temple of Apollo.
Marble House was designed as a summer house, what Newporters called a "cottage." In reality, Marble House is a palace that set the precedent for the Gilded Age, Newport's transformation from a sleepy summer colony of small wooden cottages to a legendary resort of stone mansions. Alva Vanderbilt was a prominent member of Newport society, and considered Marble House her "temple to the arts" in the United States.
Did this lavish birthday gift win the heart of William K. Vanderbilt's wife, Alva? Perhaps, but not for long. The couple divorced in 1895. Alva married Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and moved to his mansion down the street.
Newport Mansions, the Preservation Society of Newport County, has owned Marble House since 1963.
Learn More About the Mansions of Newport, Rhode Island
Further Reading
The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt - A unique look at a great American architect. (Compare Prices)
Newport Mansions: The Gilded Age, by Richard Cheek, Thomas Gannon, Tom Gannon - Detailed information about the architectural gems built during the Gilded Age. (Compare Prices)
