Marble House — Façade

ENGLISH (FRANÇAIS SUIT)

 

Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, 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. Its temple-front portico resembles that of the White House.

 

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 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 (equivalent to $317 million in 2020); $660 million in Gold-dollar equivalence (1890 $20 Double Eagle gold coin) of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet (14,000 m³) of marble. Vanderbilt’s older brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II subsequently built the largest of the Newport cottages, The Breakers, between 1893 and 1895.

 

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.

 

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. 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 Szápary 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. 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.

 

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

 

The rear façade 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. Jules Allard and Sons of Paris, first hired by the Vanderbilts to design some of the interiors for their Petit Château on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, designed the French-inspired interiors of Marble House. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch.

 

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.

 

The façade 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 on most of the façade. A curved marble carriage ramp, fronted by a semi-circular fountain with grotesque masks, spans the entire western façade. The masks serve as water spouts. The center of this façade, facing Bellevue Avenue, features a monumental tetrastyle Corinthian portico. The north and south facades match the western in basic design. The eastern façade, 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 façade differs from the others, with four bays of ground floor doors topped by second floor arched windows.

 

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. 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. he railing is based on models at Versailles. An 18th-century Venetian ceiling painting featuring gods and goddesses adorns the ceiling.

 

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.

 

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. 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. 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. 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.

 

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. More recently, Victoria's Secret filmed one of their 2012 holiday commercials here.

ENGLISH (FRANÇAIS SUIT)

 

Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, 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. Its temple-front portico resembles that of the White House.

 

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 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 (equivalent to $317 million in 2020); $660 million in Gold-dollar equivalence (1890 $20 Double Eagle gold coin) of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet (14,000 m³) of marble. Vanderbilt’s older brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II subsequently built the largest of the Newport cottages, The Breakers, between 1893 and 1895.

 

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.

 

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. 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 Szápary 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. 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.

 

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

 

The rear façade 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. Jules Allard and Sons of Paris, first hired by the Vanderbilts to design some of the interiors for their Petit Château on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, designed the French-inspired interiors of Marble House. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch.

 

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.

 

The façade 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 on most of the façade. A curved marble carriage ramp, fronted by a semi-circular fountain with grotesque masks, spans the entire western façade. The masks serve as water spouts. The center of this façade, facing Bellevue Avenue, features a monumental tetrastyle Corinthian portico. The north and south facades match the western in basic design. The eastern façade, 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 façade differs from the others, with four bays of ground floor doors topped by second floor arched windows.

 

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. 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. he railing is based on models at Versailles. An 18th-century Venetian ceiling painting featuring gods and goddesses adorns the ceiling.

 

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.

 

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. 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. 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. 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.

 

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. More recently, Victoria's Secret filmed one of their 2012 holiday commercials here.

 

FRANÇAIS

 

Marble House est un manoir construit pendant l’Âge d’Or et situé au 596 Bellevue Avenue à Newport, dans le Rhode Island, maintenant ouvert au public comme un musée géré par la société de conservation du comté de Newport. Il a été conçu par la société architecte Richard Morris Hunt. Pour une maison américaine, il était sans précédent dans la conception et l'opulence quand il a été construit. Son portique avant, qui sert également de porte cochère, ressemble à celle de la Maison-Blanche.

 

Histoire

 

Le manoir a été construit comme un «chalet» de retraite d'été entre 1888 et 1892 pour Alva et William Kissam Vanderbilt. Ce fut un point de repère social qui contribua à déclencher la transformation de Newport à partir d'une colonie relativement détendue d'été de maisons en bois à une station de palais de pierre opulents. Le manoir de cinquante pièces exigeait un personnel de 36 domestiques, y compris les majordomes, servantes, cochers et valets. Le manoir a coûté 11 millions $ (260 millions $ en dollars de 2009) dont 7 millions $ ont été dépensés sur 14 000 m³ de marbre1,3. Le frère aîné de William, Cornelius Vanderbilt II construit ensuite le plus grand des «chalets» à Newport, The Breakers, entre 1893 et 18954.

 

Lorsqu'Alva Vanderbilt divorça de William en 1895, elle possédait déjà Marble House (reçu en tant que présent pour son 39e anniversaire)5. Après son remariage en 1896 à Oliver Belmont, elle déménagea dans la maison de Belmont, à Belcourt. Après la mort de ce dernier, elle rouvrit Marble House et y ajouta la maison de thé chinoise sur la falaise en bord de mer, où elle organisa des rassemblements en faveur du suffrage des femmes.

 

Le Pavillon de Thé

 

Alva Belmont ferma la maison de façon permanente en 1919, quand elle déménagea en France pour se rapprocher de sa fille, Consuelo Vanderbilt. Là, elle partage son temps entre une maison de ville de Paris, une villa sur la Côte d'Azur, et le château d’Augerville, qu'elle fit restaurer. Elle vendit la maison à Frederick H. Prince en 1932, moins d'un an avant sa mort. En 1963, la société de conservation du comté de Newport acheta la maison du prince Trust, grâce au financement fourni par Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, le plus jeune fils du couple Vanderbilt. Le Trust fit don des meubles du manoir directement à la société de conservation.

 

Le manoir a été ajouté au registre national des lieux historiques, le 10 septembre 1971. Le ministère de l'Intérieur désigna la résidence comme monument historique national le 17 février 2006. Le quartier historique de Bellevue Avenue, qui comprend Marble House et bien d'autres demeures historiques de Newport, a été ajouté au registre le 8 décembre 1972. Marble House fut par la suite désigné comme Historic District National Landmark, le 11 mai 19767.

 

Conception

 

Marble House est l'un des premiers exemples de l'architecture Beaux-Arts aux États-Unis, avec un design inspiré du Petit Trianon au château de Versailles. Jules Allard et Fils, à Paris, d'abord embauchés par les Vanderbilt pour concevoir certains des intérieurs pour leur Petit Château sur la Cinquième Avenue à Manhattan, conçut également les intérieurs d'inspiration française de Marble House. Les motifs ont été conçus par l'architecte paysagiste Ernest W. Bowditch.

 

La maison est un bâtiment en forme de U. Bien que cela semble être une structure à deux étages, il est en réalité réparti sur quatre niveaux. Les zones de cuisine et de service sont situées au niveau du sous-sol, des salles de réception au rez-de-chaussée, chambres à coucher au deuxième étage, et les quartiers des serviteurs sur le niveau le plus élevé caché. La partie portante des murs est en briques, avec les faces extérieures en marbre blanc venant du village de Tuckahoe, dans le Comté de Westchester.

 

La façade de la maison dispose de baies qui sont définies par deux pilastres corinthiens. Les châssis des fenêtres sont cintrés au rez-de-chaussée et rectangulaires au second niveau sur la plupart de la façade. Une rampe de transport en marbre incurvé, menée par une fontaine semi-circulaire avec des masques grotesques, couvre toute la façade occidentale. Les masques servent de jets d'eau. Le centre de cette façade, face à Bellevue Avenue, dispose d'un portique tétrastyle corinthien monumental. Les façades nord et sud correspondent à l'ouest dans la conception de base. La façade est, face à l'océan Atlantique, est divisée en une aile de chaque côté. Ces ailes entourent une terrasse en marbre et sont entourées par une balustrade en marbre au rez-de-chaussée. La partie centrale de cette façade se distingue des autres, avec quatre baies au rez-de-chaussée surmontées de fenêtres cintrées au deuxième étage.

 

L'intérieur dispose d'un certain nombre de pièces remarquables. L'entrée possède deux portes de style baroque français, chacune pesant une tonne et demie. Les deux sont embellies par le monogramme “WV” mis en un médaillon ovale. Elles ont été faites à la John Williams Bronze Foundry à New York. La cage d'escalier est une pièce à deux étages qui dispose de murs et un grand escalier de marbre jaune de Sienne, dont les balustrades sont en fer forgé et bronze doré. Le garde-corps est basé sur des modèles à Versailles. Une peinture de plafond vénitien du xviiie siècle, avec des dieux et des déesses orne le plafond.

 

L'architecte Richard Morris Hunt embaucha Giuseppe Moretti pour produire des frises et des statues en marbre pour l'intérieur, y compris les travaux sur les bas-reliefs de Hunt et Jules Hardouin-Mansart, l'architecte maître pour Louis XIV lors de la construction du château de Versailles; et qui se tenaient côte à côte sur le niveau de l'escalier de la mezzanine. Le Grand Salon, conçu par Allard et Fils, a servi de salle de bal et de réception. Conçu dans le style Louis XIV, il dispose de soie verte de velours d'ameublement et des rideaux. Les originaux ont été faits par Prelle. Les murs sont en bois sculpté et des panneaux dorés représentent des scènes de la mythologie classique, inspirées par les panneaux et les trophées qui ornent la galerie d'Apollon au Louvre. Le plafond comporte une peinture française du xviiie siècle à la manière de Pietro da Cortona représentant Minerve, avec un encadrement adapté du plafond de la chambre de la Reine à Versailles.

 

 

La salle à manger

 

La salle gothique, dans le style néo-gothique, a été conçue pour afficher la collection d'objets décoratifs médiévaux et Renaissance d'Alva Vanderbilt. La cheminée en pierre dans la salle a été copiée par Allard et Fils dans la maison de Jacques Cœur à Bourges. Le mobilier fut fait par Gilbert Cuel. La bibliothèque est dans le style rococo. Elle servait à la fois comme chambre de réveil et de bibliothèque. Les portes et les bibliothèques, en noyer sculpté, étaient une collaboration entre Allard et Cuel. La salle à manger dispose de marbre numide rose et des chapiteaux et des trophées en bronze doré. Le foyer est une réplique de celui du salon d'Hercule à Versailles. Le plafond est décoré avec un motif de chasse et de pêche, avec un plafond à la française du xviiie siècle dans le centre. La chambre à coucher d'Alva Vanderbilt, au deuxième étage, est dans le style Louis XIV. Le plafond de cette salle est orné de peinture à son plafond circulaire d'Athéna, peinte vers 1721 par Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. Il était à l'origine dans la bibliothèque du palais Pisani Moretta à Venise.

 

Lieu de tournage

 

Les intérieurs du manoir ont fait leur apparition dans plusieurs films ou séries télévisées. Quelques scènes pour la série de 1972-1973 : l'Amérique, le film de 1974 : Gatsby le Magnifique, la mini-série de 1995 : The Buccaneers, le film de 1997 : Amistad et le film de 2008 : 27 Robes ont été tournées. En été 2012, Victoria Secret y filma une de ses publicités.

Done