Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous of Yore
Mar. 27th, 2013 06:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lweOn a whim, we spent last weekend in Rhode Island -- mostly Newport, looking at the "summer cottages" of the rich and famous of a century ago, but with a couple of stops in Providence, as well. Toured five mansions in Newport -- the Elms, the Breakers, Chateau-sur-Mer, Rosecliff, and Marble House.
The variety was interesting. Rosecliff was designed entirely to throw lavish parties in -- the whole house is built around the magnificent ballroom. The "marble" facade is fake -- it's terra cotta. There have been some major movies that used Rosecliff when they needed a lush 1920s ballroom. The original owner, a silver heiress named Theresa Fair Oelrichs, intended to establish herself in high society simply by throwing the best parties, and seems to have succeeded -- though when the Gilded Age passed and such entertainments were no longer the thing, she went a bit dotty and died relatively young.
Marble House was built entirely to show off -- the people who grew up in it hated it and found it depressing, because it wasn't really meant to be lived in, it was meant to impress people. Each room was a recreation of a particular era in French design, all of them overblown. Alva Vanderbilt, who built Marble House, may have been important in the women's suffrage movement, but she was apparently a pretty horrible person.
The other three were all actual homes; yes, they were meant to impress people, but they were also meant to be comfortable places to live in and raise kids. The Breakers, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, is the best of them. The people who grew up summering there, or at the Elms, remember them very fondly.
Chateau-sur-Mer, the oldest of them, was the only one meant for year-round living; the others were just for the summer.
It was an entertaining trip -- and since I'm currently writing scenes set in huge upper-class estates in On A Field Sable, the whole thing is legitimate research and therefore tax deductible!
The variety was interesting. Rosecliff was designed entirely to throw lavish parties in -- the whole house is built around the magnificent ballroom. The "marble" facade is fake -- it's terra cotta. There have been some major movies that used Rosecliff when they needed a lush 1920s ballroom. The original owner, a silver heiress named Theresa Fair Oelrichs, intended to establish herself in high society simply by throwing the best parties, and seems to have succeeded -- though when the Gilded Age passed and such entertainments were no longer the thing, she went a bit dotty and died relatively young.
Marble House was built entirely to show off -- the people who grew up in it hated it and found it depressing, because it wasn't really meant to be lived in, it was meant to impress people. Each room was a recreation of a particular era in French design, all of them overblown. Alva Vanderbilt, who built Marble House, may have been important in the women's suffrage movement, but she was apparently a pretty horrible person.
The other three were all actual homes; yes, they were meant to impress people, but they were also meant to be comfortable places to live in and raise kids. The Breakers, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, is the best of them. The people who grew up summering there, or at the Elms, remember them very fondly.
Chateau-sur-Mer, the oldest of them, was the only one meant for year-round living; the others were just for the summer.
It was an entertaining trip -- and since I'm currently writing scenes set in huge upper-class estates in On A Field Sable, the whole thing is legitimate research and therefore tax deductible!