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The Gilded Age mansion is located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, in Newport, Rhode Island. The Preservation Society moved on with the project, and the $5.5 million, 3,750-square-foot welcome center opened in June 2018. The Society had considered another site for the project, on land they owned right across the street, but decided instead to stick to the estate’s garden.
Which Vanderbilt Estates Can I Tour?
When style icon and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt died at age 95, the outpouring of grief included innumerable homages to the woman herself—including a moving tribute by her son, CNN's Anderson Cooper—and also to her storied family. Many of the Vanderbilt family's sumptuous homes are not just still standing but open to the public. Here are a few of the most famous, all worth a visit for their great beauty, and their deep history. Built by the youngest of Cornelius II’s siblings, George Washington Vanderbilt, Biltmore is the closest thing Americans have to a castle.
Chartwell Mansion
And the world-renowned Whitney Museum of American Art was founded by sculptor and patron of the arts Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney—none other than Gloria's aunt. This imposing Beaux Arts–style mansion, the estate of Frederick W. Vanderbilt from 1895 to 1938, is a true example of a Gilded Age country house. It has been designated a National Historic Site and sits on 200 acres preserved by the National Park Service.
The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island
The lavish interiors were designed by Jules Allard and Sons and Ogden Codman, in a style reminiscent of French chateaux like The Versailles. He enlisted the help of renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt, who’s also responsible for the Biltmore Estate, to rebuild the Breakers at 44 Ochre Point Avenue. It was built along the Cliff Walk on Ochre Point Avenue, set on a sprawling estate with jaw-dropping views of the ocean. The Vanderbilts were one of the nation’s wealthiest families, owing their fortune to Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, the 19th-century industrialist and railroad magnate. Tours of the mansion are available, and the property also features an extensive science museum—William was a natural-history enthusiast—as well as a planetarium and observatory. The fairy-tale-like Biltmore House was the summer home of another of Cornelius's brothers, George Vanderbilt, and his wife, Edith.
Mansion
For more than 60 years, the House Institute’s neurotologists and neurosurgeons have led the way in treating the causes of hearing, balance and skull-base disorders with cutting-edge practices and procedures. The arrangement with the Preservation Society only went so far, however, because while it “helped the Countess by lowering taxes on the property, she was still responsible for paying them and for covering the cost of most major repairs,” write Cooper and Howe. The Countess died in 1965 and in 1972, her children donated most of the furniture to the Preservation Society and sold the house for $365,000 (about $2.3 million today). The former Vanderbilt summer estate is now owned by The Preservation Society of Newport County, who bought it in 1972 for only $365,000.
Inside “The Gilded Age” Tour
The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial pre-eminence in the Gilded Age. Take a closer look at how a beloved national treasure has evolved over the years, from a history of significant events and decisions that ensure George Vanderbilt’s legacy lives on to the collection of rare and priceless objects that fill his grand home. In the years that followed, Frederick lived quietly at Hyde Park, maintaining the house much as it was left after Louise’s passing.
How Many Vanderbilt Estates Are There in the U.S.?
The history of the Breakers dates back to 1878, when it was built for tobacco tycoon Pierre Lorillard IV. Not long after, Cornelius Vanderbilt II purchased it and had to rebuild it, as the house burned down in a fire in 1892. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that century-old estates like The Breakers are brought up to modern standards. The center includes ticketing stations, interactive screens showcasing the history of the estate, as well as bathrooms and a cafe.
Biltmore House outranked on Holiday Historic Home Tour poll: What claimed No. 1 spot? - Citizen Times
Biltmore House outranked on Holiday Historic Home Tour poll: What claimed No. 1 spot?.
Posted: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
As with The Breakers, you’ll want to allow about 90 minutes to tour both the mansion and the grounds of this estate. For detailed information about accessibility, contact the Newport Mansions Preservation Society. As the oldest son of his oldest son, Cornelius Vanderbilt II was a big deal to the Commodore; he was rumored to be his favorite grandson. It is believed that the elder Cornelius was less impressed with the young man’s given name and more by the strong work ethic he displayed at an early age. While the Commodore was a self-made man, Cornelius II inherited $5 million from his grandfather, $70 million from his father, and ultimately took the helm of the family’s transportation empire.
Idle Hour Country Estate, Oakdale, Long Island, New York
All summer long, kids nine and younger are admitted FREE, youth tickets are just $10, and Chihuly at Biltmore tickets include FREE next-day grounds access. An brief history of the Vanderbilt property from European settlement in the seventeenth century to present day. And Mrs. Vanderbilt will shortly take up their residence in the handsome mansion.” On May 14, 1899, the paper reported that “Mr. And Mrs. F. W. Vanderbilt entertained a large party of guests who came by special train at their mansion on Friday last." Most likely, this was a reference to the Vanderbilts’ first house party at Hyde Park. While the US doesn’t designate noble titles, several American families certainly seem to occupy the same social stratum as royals. Dynasties like the Vanderbilt clan inhabit a similar tier and are often thought of as unofficial American royals, with the power and prestige of their names and the public fixation on the happenings and tragedies of their lives, stoked by tabloids and editorial spreads.
Seeing themselves as their American equivalent, they wished to emulate the old world dwellings on American soil, and spent extravagantly to do so, often seeking to one-up each other. Concentrations of such homes developed in the financial centers and resorts of the Northeast, the industrial heartland of the Upper Midwest, and in the rapidly expanding regions of the West Coast, with vacation homes also appearing prominently in Florida. Gilded Age mansions were lavish houses built between 1870 and the early 20th century by some of the richest people in the United States.
We provide hearing healthcare solutions and hearing aid service suited for your individual needs with Hearing Health Centers located in Bakersfield, Encino, Santa Monica, Orange County and downtown Los Angeles. Gladys’ presence at the Breakers after 1948 was part of a $1 lease between her and the Preservation Society of Newport. She and her family moved into the third floor, installing a “small gate on the grand staircase, to stop any curious visitors from sneaking onto the floor, and converted a servant’s room into a kitchen,” explained Cooper and Howe. Cornelius Vanderbilt II only lived for four years after the house was built, dying of a stroke at age 55. Alice continued to summer in the house until her death in 1934, at which point the house was given to Gladys Vanderbilt, who was then known as the Countess Gladys Széchényi following her marriage to a Hungarian count.
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