#vanderbilts

[thepaintedchateau]

...December's wintery breath is clouding the pond...obscuring summer's memory...

[bowsera]

Vanderbilt Ball of 1883. (Read below)

The Vanderbilt Ball of 1883 was hosted by Alva Vanderbilt, synonymously known as Alva Belmont. Married into the Vanderbilt family, she strived to keep the Vanderbilt name prestigious. In the early 1880s, a social rivalry between the Astors and the Vanderbilts became prominent among the wealthy. Caroline Astor controlled the exclusive “400” circle, if your name wasn’t on the list, you weren’t welcome. The Vanderbilts had newly acquired wealth, gained by a massive railroad empire. Caroline Astor, was not impressed. The feud was a divide between new money and old money. The Astor family’s wealth was passed through generations and their social status was built over time. This was the root of the issues between the families. Alva Vanderbilt built a mansion on Fifth Avenue and threw a “house warming party”. It was an extravagant costume ball, a calculated social power move. Alva invited 1,000 of New York’s most wealthy and influential citizens, excluding Caroline Astor’s daughter. In a time where an invitation equaled importance. Naturally, this upset Carrie Astor which prompted Caroline to ask Alva for an invitation, therefore, flipping the power dynamic and the Vanderbilts were now socially accepted. This was one of the most significant family feuds in history. After time, social status began to die down and Alva began focusing on bigger things such as fighting for female suffrage. ⊹ ࣪ ˖

[i-llbehere]

Monster prom doodles. Slowly getting through a bunch of characters. Can’t remember if I’ve posted any of the inked ones so far

[wtf-fun-factss]

Building the Biltmore Mansion required installing a railroad. Click to read the full fact.

[copperbadge]

I’m researching various “trial of the century” court cases and one of the cases on the Wikipedia Trial Of The Century page is the Gloria Vanderbilt Custody Case. I haven’t fully read up on the case itself yet but this is one single paragraph from Vanderbilt’s “early life” section:

Upon their father's death from cirrhosis when Vanderbilt was 18 months old, she and her half-sister became heiresses to a half share each in a $5 million trust fund, equivalent to $74 million in 2020 value. The control of Vanderbilt's share while she was a minor belonged to her mother, who traveled to and from Paris for years, taking her daughter with her. They were accompanied by a beloved nanny—Emma Sullivan Kieslich, whom young Gloria had named "Dodo"—who would play a tumultuous part in the child's life, and her mother's identical twin sister, Thelma, who was the mistress of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) during this time. As a result of her spending habits, her mother's use of finances was scrutinized by the child's paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. A sculptor and philanthropist, Whitney wanted custody of her niece, which resulted in a custody trial. The trial was so scandalous that at times the judge would make everyone leave the room so as to listen to what young Vanderbilt had to say without anyone influencing her. Some people heard weeping and wailing inside the court room. Testimony was heard depicting Vanderbilt's mother as an unfit parent, including an allegation from a maid of a lesbian affair with a member of the British royal family. Vanderbilt's mother lost the battle and Vanderbilt became the ward of her aunt Gertrude.

Have you ever gone on such a wild Wiki ride in your life? (If you really want to fall down a hole, google Emma Kieslich and also Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt Lesbian for some further tea.)

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Above: The famous Vanderbilt Chateau at 57th St. & Fifth Avenue being torn down in 1926. Bergdorf Goodman was built in its stead.

Below, the mansion as it looked in 1908. It had been built in 1893 and modeled after the  Chateau de Blois in France. It boasted 130 rooms and its walls were covered with paintings by  Corot, Millais, Rousseau, Turner, Greuze, and Ruysdael.  Augustus Saint-Gaudens designed a magnificent mantel for the entry hall, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1926 photo: Larry Froeber for the NY Daily News 1908 photo: LoC

[gskerr]

The Breakers 💫

[ryanhamiltonwalsh]

“The Electric Light dress was a masquerade gown made of gold and silver thread that was designed by Charles Frederick Worth for Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt. It was made for a masquerade ball that was held in New York City on March 26, 1883. The ball was hosted by Alice Vanderbilt's sister-in-law, Alva Vanderbilt, as a housewarming party for Alva and William K. Vanderbilt's new mansion at 660 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.” - ELECTRIC LIGHT DRESS

"The dress had a built-in battery lit a light bulb she carried, which she could raise over her head like the Statue of Liberty." She wore it in 1883, but the SoL was not yet completed in France and it wouldn't be unveiled in NY until 1886? So WTF?

UPDATE: Explained by Jake Brown.

“The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattan from 1876 to 1882.” - learn more