The beautiful house made of marble, completed in 1892, is constructed of white marble on the outside, and yellow and pink marble on the inside with gold leaf, and ormolu accents throughout.
The beautiful house made of marble, completed in 1892, is constructed of white marble on the outside, and yellow and pink marble on the inside with gold leaf, and ormolu accents throughout.
In 1888, William K. Vanderbilt delegated Architect Richard Morris hunt to design the finest summerhouse in Newport, Rhode Island. Working with Williams wife Alva, who loved building houses, he planned out one of the most extravagant monumental house that money could buy. The house was a neoclassical design that was modeled after the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Artisans, stone masons, and carvers were brought from France and Italy to work on the house.
While the house was being built, extensive measures to keep it from the public were taken, including building huge fences around the property, and the workers were not allowed to leave the property or discuss their work with anybody. Four years and 11 million dollars later, the house was completed. It opened in 1892 with a huge dinner party where William K. Vanderbilt presented the extraordinary house to Alva as a birthday present.
The outside of the house is constructed of beautiful white marble with a classic four column portico. The inside is done in Baroque and Roccoco styles that are bright and full of gold leaf, and ormolu accents throughout. There are various types of beautiful marble throughout the inside, such as yellow Italian marble in the hallway and deep pink marble from Western Algeria.
