Marble House was built at a
reported cost of $10 million as
a birthday present for Alva
Smith, William K. Vanderbilt’s
first wife. In today’s terms, that
sum is equivalent to more than
$100 million!
Marble House is a Gilded Age
mansion in Newport, Rhode Island,
now open to the public as a
museum run by the Newport
Preservation Society. It was
designed by the society architect
Richard Morris Hunt

When Alva Vanderbilt divorced William in 1895, she already owned Marble House outright,
having received it as her 39th birthday present.

The Ballroom

Marble House Gold Room

Baccarat crystal chandeliers

Guests of Cornelius Vanderbilt and
wife Alice Claypoole Gwynne
Vanderbilt dined under Baccarat
crystal chandeliers

The dining room

Music :
Glenn Muller-Charleston

Alva Vanderbilt’s Bedroom

The Chinese Teahouse at Marble House

The Chinese Teahouse at Marble House

Cornelius Vanderbilt II
introduced his “summer cottage”
to high society with a 1895
debutante party for daughter
Gertrude,
officially putting his $75 million
fortune on grand display.

Newport, Rhode Island. , USA