Category: Gilded Age

Alva Vanderbilt’s Marble House Became the Blueprint for Gilded Age Grandeur

Quietly nestled along the Narraganset Bay, the Marble House was the first of the stone palaces to be built in Newport—transforming the quiet colony of wooden houses into a bastion of opulence. It would be called a “cottage,” in deference to the earlier shingle style summer residences. But in truth, this was a grand home…


Biltmore House: The Vanderbilts’ Magnificent Monument to America’s Gilded Age

George Washington Vanderbilt II, the youngest child of William Henry Vanderbilt, first visited the mountains of North Carolina at the age of 25. He fell in love with the highlands near Asheville and returned the following year, with his mother Maria Louisa Vanderbilt, to begin purchasing land for a country home. Maria Vanderbilt was seeking…