Marble Palace, Newport, R.I.
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Collection
Citation
“Marble Palace, Newport, R.I.,” Rhode Island's Golden Age of Postcards, accessed June 18, 2013, http://library.providence.edu/spcol/postcards/items/show/80.
Geolocation
Item Information
Title
Marble Palace, Newport, R.I.
Subject
Newport, RI
Description
Marble House is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum run by the Newport Preservation Society. It was designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt, and said to be inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Grounds were designed by noted landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch.
Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for William Kissam Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. The house 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.
It was reported to cost $11 million ($260 million in 2009 dollars) of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Upon its completion, Mr. Vanderbilt gave the house to his wife Alva Erskine Smith as her 39th birthday present.
After the Vanderbilts divorced in 1895, Alva married Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, moving down the street to Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House and added a Chinese Tea House on its seaside cliffs, where she hosted rallies for women's suffrage. She sold the house to Frederick H. Prince in 1932. Prince's estate gave the house and its furnishings to the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1963.
In 1971 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Five years later the Department of the Interior designated it, and the Bellevue Avenue Historic District in which it is located, as National Historic Landmarks.
Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for William Kissam Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. The house 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.
It was reported to cost $11 million ($260 million in 2009 dollars) of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Upon its completion, Mr. Vanderbilt gave the house to his wife Alva Erskine Smith as her 39th birthday present.
After the Vanderbilts divorced in 1895, Alva married Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, moving down the street to Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House and added a Chinese Tea House on its seaside cliffs, where she hosted rallies for women's suffrage. She sold the house to Frederick H. Prince in 1932. Prince's estate gave the house and its furnishings to the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1963.
In 1971 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Five years later the Department of the Interior designated it, and the Bellevue Avenue Historic District in which it is located, as National Historic Landmarks.
Publisher
Berger Brothers Publishers (1910-1951)
Providence, RI
A publisher of Rhode Island view-cards in black & white and tinted halftones. They eventually printed photochromes. Their cards were made in the United States.
Providence, RI
A publisher of Rhode Island view-cards in black & white and tinted halftones. They eventually printed photochromes. Their cards were made in the United States.
Date
Undated, ca. 1915
Rights
Courtesy of the Historical Society of Smithfield, Smithfield, RI
Format
JPEG Digital Image
Original Format
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
3.5 x 5.5 inches