Marble House

{{short description|Historic house in Rhode Island, United States}} {{About}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP | name = Marble House | nrhp_type = nhl | image = Marble House, Newport RI.jpg | image_size = | caption = The western facade, facing Bellevue Avenue | mapframe = yes | coordinates = {{coord|41.4620821|-71.3056127|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | location = 596 Bellevue Avenue<br/>Newport, Rhode Island | built = 1888–92 | architect = Richard Morris Hunt | architecture = Beaux Arts | designated_nrhp_type = February 17, 2006<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1143737094&ResourceType=Building |title=Marble House |accessdate=December 12, 2012 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812040007/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1143737094&ResourceType=Building |archivedate=August 12, 2009 }}</ref> | added = September 10, 1971<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> | established = | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | refnum = 71000025 | mpsub = | nrhp_type2 = nhldcp | nocat = yes | designated_nrhp_type2 = December 8, 1972 | partof = Bellevue Avenue Historic District | partof_refnum = 72000023 }}

'''Marble House''' is a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style. It was unparalleled in opulence for an American house when it was completed in 1892.<ref name="nhlsum"/> Its temple-front portico has been compared to that of the White House.<ref name=yarnell/>

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It is now open to the public as a museum run by the Newport Preservation Society.

==History== The mansion was built as a summer "cottage" 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 its current image as a resort of opulent stone palaces. The fifty-room mansion required a staff of 36 servants, including butlers, maids, coachmen, and footmen.<ref name="class">{{cite web |url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/davis/newport/biographies/avanderbilt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823202507/http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7Ema01/davis/newport/biographies/avanderbilt.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 23, 2006 |title=Alva Vanderbilt Belmont |work=Class and Leisure at America's First Resort |publisher=University of Virginia |accessdate=December 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="landmarknom">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/ri/Marble%20House.pdf |title=Marble House |work=National Historic Landmark Nomination |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=December 12, 2012}}{{dead link|date=June 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The mansion cost $11 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|11|1892}} million in {{Inflation-year|US}}); $660 million in gold-dollar equivalence (1890 $20 double eagle gold coin) of which $7 million was spent on {{convert|500,000|ft3|m3}} of marble.<ref name=yarnell>Yarnell, James L. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=9sCQ8ixFnXwC&pg=PA137 ''Newport Through Its Architecture: A History of Styles from Postmedieval to Postmodern''], pp. 137-41. University Press of New England.</ref><ref name="landmarknom"/><ref name="marble">{{cite web|title=Newport Rhode Island Mansions|work=Newport Rhode Island Inn Mansion Tours|url=http://www.marshallslocuminn.com/mansions.htm|accessdate=December 12, 2012}}</ref> Vanderbilt's older brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II subsequently built the largest of the Newport cottages, The Breakers, between 1893 and 1895.<ref name="complete"/>

[[File:Chineseteahouse.Newport.JPG|thumb|left|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.<ref name="alvaconsuelo">{{cite book |title=Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age |last=Randall |first=Amanda Mackenzie |year=2006 |publisher=Stuart |isbn=978-0-06-621418-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/consueloalvavand00stua/page/431 431–435] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/consueloalvavand00stua/page/431 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=yarnell/>

Alva Belmont closed the mansion permanently in 1919, when she relocated to France to be closer to her daughter, Consuelo Balsan. There she divided her time between a Paris townhouse, a villa on the Riviera, and the Château d'Augerville, which she restored.<ref name="alvaconsuelo"/> She sold the house to Frederick H. Prince in 1932, less than a year before her death. For more than 30 years, the Prince family carefully occupied the house during Newport's summer season, taking special efforts to leave the vast majority of the interior intact as the Vanderbilts had originally intended. One notable event that occurred in the Marble House during the Prince family's residency was the famed Tiffany Ball in July 1957, sponsored by Tiffany & Company and held to benefit the relatively new Preservation Society of Newport County. Continuing late into the early morning hours, the ball welcomed internationally known guests including then Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy; Mr. and Mrs. E. Sheldon Whitehouse; the Astors; and Count Anthony and Countess Sylvia Szapary of the Vanderbilt family. During their summer occupancies, to help preserve the integrity of Marble House's famed interiors, the Princes primarily resided in smaller quarters in the building's third floor, which had formerly been used for servant housing during the Vanderbilts' time. In 1963, the Preservation Society of Newport County purchased the house from the Prince Trust, with funding provided by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt couple's youngest son. Through the Prince Trust, the Prince family donated virtually all original furniture for the house directly to the Preservation Society.

The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 10, 1971. The Department of the Interior designated it as a National Historic Landmark on February 17, 2006.<ref name="nhlsum"/> The Bellevue Avenue Historic District, which includes Marble House and many other historic Newport mansions, was added to the Register on December 8, 1972, and subsequently designated as a National Historic Landmark District on May 11, 1976.<ref name="nris"/>

The mansion still stands in great visible condition and is used for many things such as guided and non-guided tours, as well as hosting various special events, parties, and weddings. The Marble House is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Newport, RI. In keeping with custom of the time, the Vanderbilts also commissioned a sizeable carriage house to be built for Marble House diagonally across Bellevue Avenue, on what is now known as Rovensky Avenue. The Carriage House abuts Rovensky Park, which is maintained by The Preservation Society of Newport County. The Carriage House property is currently privately owned and has been converted for residential use.

==Design== thumb|The rear facade faces towards the ocean Marble House, one of the earliest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, is loosely inspired by the Petit Trianon at the Palace of Versailles.<ref name="nhlsum"/> Jules Allard and Sons of Paris, first hired by the Vanderbilts to design some of the interiors for their Petit Chateau on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, designed the French-inspired interiors of Marble House.<ref name="nhlsum"/> The grounds were designed by landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch.<ref name="complete">Hopf, John T. (1976). ''The Complete Book of Newport Mansions.''</ref>

The mansion is U-shaped and, while it appears to be two stories, it actually has four levels: the kitchen and other service areas are located in the basement; reception rooms are on the ground floor; bedrooms are on the second floor; and servant quarters are on the concealed third floor. Load-bearing walls are brick, with their exterior sides faced in white Westchester marble, which Hunt detailed in the manner of French neoclassical architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.<ref name="landmarknom"/>

The facade of the mansion features bays that are defined by two story Corinthian pilasters. These frame arched windows on the ground floor and rectangular ones on the second occupy most of the facade. A curved marble carriage ramp, fronted by a semi-circular fountain with grotesque masks, spans the entire western facade. The masks serve as water spouts. The center of this facade, facing Bellevue Avenue, features a monumental tetrastyle Corinthian portico. The north and south facades match the western in basic design. The eastern facade, facing the Atlantic Ocean, is divided into a wing on each side. These wings semi-enclose a marble terrace and are surrounded by a marble balustrade on the ground floor level. The inset central portion of this facade differs from the others, with four bays of ground floor doors topped by second floor arched windows.<ref name="landmarknom"/> [[File:Marble_House_dining_room.jpg|thumb|The dining room, featuring pink Numidian marble and gilt bronze capitals and trophies]] The interior features a number of notable rooms. Entrance into the mansion is through one of two French Baroque-style doors, each weighing a ton and a half. Both are embellished by the monogram "WV" set into an oval medallion. They were made at the John Williams Bronze Foundry in New York.<ref name="landmarknom"/> The Stair Hall is a two-story room that features walls and a grand staircase of yellow Siena marble, with a wrought iron and gilt bronze staircase railing. The railing is based on models at Versailles. An 18th-century Venetian ceiling painting featuring gods and goddesses adorns the ceiling.<ref name="landmarknom"/>

Architect Richard Morris Hunt hired Giuseppe Moretti to produce the interior's marble friezes and statuary, including work on bas-reliefs of Hunt and Jules Hardouin Mansart, the master architect for Louis XIV during the construction of Palace of Versailles; and which stood side by side on the mezzanine level of the staircase. 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. The ceiling features an 18th-century French painting in the manner of Pietro da Cortona depicting Minerva, with a surround adapted from the ceiling of the Queen's Bedroom at Versailles.<ref name="landmarknom"/>

thumb|right|The Gothic Room in 2025

The Gothic Room, in the Gothic Revival-style, was designed to display Alva Vanderbilt's collection of Medieval and Renaissance decorative objects. The stone fireplace in the room was copied by Allard and Sons from one in the Jacques Cœur House in Bourges. The furniture was by Gilbert Cuel.<ref name="landmarknom"/> The Library is in the Rococo-style. It served as both a morning room and library. The doors and bookcases, in carved walnut, were a collaboration between Allard and Cuel.<ref name="landmarknom"/> The Dining Room features pink Numidian marble and gilt bronze capitals and trophies. The fireplace is a replica of the one in the Salon d'Hercule at Versailles. The ceiling is decorated painted with a hunting and fishing motif, with an 18th-century French ceiling in the center.<ref name="landmarknom"/> Mrs. Vanderbilt's Bedroom, on the second floor, is in the Louis XIV style. The ceiling in this room is adorned with a 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.<ref name="landmarknom"/>

==Filming location== The interiors of the mansion have appeared in several films or television series. Scenes appearing in the 1972–73 television series, ''America'', the 1974 film, ''The Great Gatsby'', the 1995 miniseries ''The Buccaneers'', the 1997 film ''Amistad'', and the 2008 film ''27 Dresses'' were shot here.<ref name="imdb">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/search/title?locations=Marble%20House%20-%20596%20Bellevue%20Avenue,%20Newport,%20Rhode%20Island,%20USA |title=Marble House - 596 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, USA |work=Internet Movie Database |publisher=IMDb.com, Inc. |accessdate=December 12, 2012}}</ref> More recently, Victoria's Secret filmed one of their 2012 holiday commercials here.<ref name="vicssecret">{{cite web |url=http://www.stylelist.com/watch/exclusive-behind-scenes-look-victorias-secret-2012-holiday-campaign |title=Exclusive! Behind the Scenes Look at the Victoria's Secret 2012 Holiday Campaign |work=StyleList |publisher=AOL Corp |accessdate=December 20, 2012}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery class="center"> File:Marble House, William Kissam Vanderbilt house (Newport, Rhode Island). Section. Rendering LCCN2017658372.jpg|A rendered section of the building drawn by Richard Morris Hunt File:Marble House, William K. and Alva Vanderbilt mansion, Newport, Rhode Island) - Frank H. Child, photographer LCCN2017648601.jpg|Marble House in 1895 File:Marble House, Newport, R.I. LCCN2014699475.jpg|Marble House in 1910 File:Marble House, Newport, RI.JPG|The building's front facade File:Marble House in Newport Dining Room 01.jpg|Dining Room File:Marble House entry hall.jpg|Entry hall File:Marble_House_main_stair.jpg|Main stair File:Marble_House_ballroom_wall_and_ceiling_detail.jpg|Ballroom wall and ceiling detail File:Marble House in Newport Tea House 01.jpg|Tea House </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Marble House (Newport, Rhode Island)|Marble House}} * {{official website|http://www.newportmansions.org/explore/marble-house}} of the Marble House

Category:Houses completed in 1892 Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Category:National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island Category:Richard Morris Hunt buildings Category:Vanderbilt family residences Category:Belmont family residences Category:Museums in Newport, Rhode Island Category:Historic house museums in Rhode Island Category:Houses in Newport, Rhode Island Category:Stone houses in the United States Category:National Register of Historic Places in Newport, Rhode Island Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Rhode Island Category:Historic district contributing properties in Newport County, Rhode Island Category:Beaux-Arts architecture in Rhode Island Category:Gilded Age mansions