The Marble House

Last April, while visiting our family in Paris, we decided to spend a couple of days in Versailles. It was our first weekend away from our children so we didn't want to go too far from where we were, and we mostly wanted to be in a beautiful and relaxing environment. We stayed at the Trianon Palace, a modern hotel, yet true to its past, a few minutes away from the magnificent Chateau de Versailles. We spent the first day visiting the Chateau, the gardens and Marie Antoinette's retreat. We had no words to describe the Palace and felt quite out of place with our shorts and t-shirts. We felt we were not respecting the beauty of the surroundings: "They should only allow people with long dresses and suits", we joked. Anyways, when back in the U.S., we were curious to know if anyone has ever built a house or a building inspired by the Chateau de Versailles. And we found it:

The Marble House

Newport, Rhode Island

Entrance

Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt. It is considered one of the finest and most extravagant summer "cottages" built in Newport.

Mr. Vanderbilt was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who established the family's fortune in steamships and the New York Central Railroad. His older brother was Cornelius II, who built The Breakers, which also has parts of it modeled after Palace Versailles. Alva Vanderbilt was a leading hostess in Newport society, and envisioned Marble House as her "temple to the arts" in America.

Dining Room

The house was designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt, inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles, Marie Antoinette's retreat. The cost of the house was reported in contemporary press accounts to be $11 million, of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Upon its completion, Mr. Vanderbilt gave the house to his wife as a 39th birthday present.

The Vanderbilts divorced in 1895 and Alva married Oliver H.P. Belmont, moving down the street to Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House, and had a Chinese Tea House built on the seaside cliffs, where she hosted rallies for women's right to vote. 

She sold the house to Frederick H. Prince in 1932. The Preservation Society acquired the house in 1963 from the Prince estate.   In 2006, Marble House was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The ballroom