Marble House

Marble House is considered one of the finest and most extravagant summer "cottages" built in Newport, Rhode Island, and for that matter during America's Gilded Age. Using the Vanderbilt fortunes amassed through steam shipping and railroading over the previous two generations, William K. and Alva Vanderbilt commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to design and build along the Bellevue Avenue ocean lot the "finest cottage money can buy." Four years, over 300 European artisans and $11 million later, the Vanderbilts were one step closer to buying their way into high society.