Today was a day of only 3 houses, but what houses they were. All three houses were designed by Richard Morris Hunt.
The Fountain on the front of Marble House
Our first stop was Ochre Court. Built between 1888 and 1893 for Ogden Goelet. These houses are well documented as to the craftspeople. The Ochre House sculptor was Karl Bitter, however, much of the work was purchased by Allard and Son’s of Paris.
Ochre House is now owned by Salve Regina University. The Goelet’s daughter, May, married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe. Their son, Robert, was a businessman with an interest in American railroads, hotels and real estate. Robert gave Ochre Court to the Sisters of Mercy in 1947.
The Parisian firm of Jules Allard and Sons (or Jules Allard et Fils) was in business between 1878 and Allard’s death in 1907. It was one of the most notable interior decorating houses of the turn of the twentieth century. The firm opened a New York branch in 1885. Allard’s Paris origin reinforced the firm’s credibility in composing “high style” French interiors for the American elite. Essentially, Allard went around Europe and bought up the contents of so many of the mansions that had fallen on hard times, the firm then shipped these interiors to the US and incorporated them into the homes of the wealthy in Newport. They also employed craftspeople to recreate and rework or supplement the pieces that they had picked up.
Since Ochre Court is a University building, it is devoid of the furniture and fixings of the home, in a way, this was nice as it let one enjoy the surroundings without being distracted.
Next stop was The Breakers, so well known it hardly seems logical to write much about it. The first floor was essentially done by Allard and Sons, and the second more sedate floor was done by Ogden Codman. Codman was a noted American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts styles, and co-author with Edith Wharton of The Decoration of Houses (1897), which became a standard in American interior design.
It is important to note the designation of “architect” at this point. Codman had only one year at MIT and commented that it was a complete waste of his time. So architects would sketch drawings, but it was really up to the builders to keep them standing. There was no engineering going on at this point.
The only way to really get a feel for these homes is to sit quietly and take the whole room in as a whole. To sit and look at pieces as an individual is so disquieting as it is all so busy. But here are some of my favorite shots from the first floor.
The muses are beautifully painted on, not silver, but platinum, so it never tarnishes.
The ceiling in the Billiard Room by Batterson and Eisele.
The bathtub is cut from one piece of marble and weighs approximately one ton.
Panels done in one of the bedroom by Ogden Codman.
We finished in the kitchen.
Our last stop was Marble House. This was built for William K. and Alva Vanderbilt, as a 40th birthday present for Alva. There is 1/2 million cubic feet of marble in the house. This includes Tuckahoe marble on the exterior, Sienna Marble and Numidian Marble on the inside.
The amount of gold leaf in this house is staggering.
These two gorgeous animals were on the ceiling in the dining room
The plaster cherubs were over Alva’s bed
There were four of these stunning sculptures in each corner of the high ceiling, each was just a tad different.
The tea house, built when Alva decided to promote the suffragette movement. She used it for fundraising purposes.
This is Summer Wind, one of Newport’s oldest summer cottages. The home was originally owned by William and his wife, Caroline, better known as The Mrs. Astor in 1881. It was also a Richard Morris Hunt building. I only am showing it because it is now owned by Larry Ellison and is intended to house his art collection.
These are Rafael Guastavino Tiles in the entry way to the Breakers. I remember seeing them before and being fascinated by them, and here they are rearing back up into my attention, so I figured this time I should learn a bit about them.
Guastavino tile is the “Tile Arch System” patented in the United States in 1885 by Valencian architect and builder Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908). It is a technique for constructing robust, self-supporting arches and architectural vaults using interlocking terracotta tiles and layers of mortar to form a thin skin, with the tiles following the curve of the roof.
The Guastavino terracotta tiles are standardized, less than an inch thick, and approximately 6 inches by 12 inches across. They are usually set in three herringbone-pattern courses with a sandwich of thin layers of Portland cement.
So that was our day, a complete day of the height of the Gilded/Golden Age.