newport cottage: marble house

William Vanderbilt’s summer house. Alva Vanderbilt, a leading hostess in Newport society and the first Newport hostess to divorce and hold onto her social power, envisioned Marble House as her “temple to the arts” in America.

Great Nana, David’s grandmother, had exact copies of the sofa and chair in her living room. Perhaps a testament to the power of the society homes.

In the back yard at Marble House, Alva Vanderbilt, who seems to have been the most interesting and eccentric of the Newport hostesses, built a Chinese Tea House on the seaside cliffs. It must have been an incredibly romantic folly!

Leave a comment