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| The newly-completed mansion would be the scene of innumerable Suffragist Movement events --photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New Yorkhttp://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWBH1QLC&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=915&PN=3 |
Although a Southern girl, Alva Erskine Smith grew upspending summers in Newport and traveling through Europe. Her family had moved to New York city in 1857when she was four years old and she later attended a private boarding school inParis. She met fabulously wealthyWilliam Kissam Vanderbilt at a party thrown for Consuelo Yznaga, who wasone of her best friends. Vanderbilt mostlikely did not realize he had met a woman unlike nearly any other in New York society.
The couple was married on April 20, 1875 inCalvary Churchand would go on to have three children. Opinionated, self-confident and determined, Alva reared daughterConsuelo in a strict, perhaps domineering manner, with the singular goal of anadvantageous marriage. But among hergreatest passions was building.
A friend famously said “she loved nothing better than to beknee deep in mortar,” and shortly after marrying Vanderbilt she hired RichardMorris Hunt to design the massive French Renaissance mansion, the “PetiteChateau,” at No. 660 Fifth Avenue. Huntworked closely with his new patron during the four-year project and they wouldbecome good friends. Subsequently hedesigned the Queen Anne-style summer estate on Long Island, “Idle Hour,” andthe palatial $11 million “Marble House,” in Newport.
In 1895, three years after Marble House was completed, Alvadid the unthinkable among Manhattan society. She filed for divorce. Charging William with infidelity, she walkedaway with a settlement in excess of $10 million and several estates—including,of course, Marble House which was already in her name.
Divorce, while scandalous, was not entirely unheard of inthe highest ranks of society. In 1882 aneven greater scandal had fed gossip along Fifth Avenue when the 24-year old son ofAugust Belmont married Sara Swan Whiting. Sara, it seems, was pregnant. Before the year was out Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and the new motherwere divorced.
Belmont and William Vanderbilt had been close friends. Belmont’s Newport cottage, Belcourt Castle(also designed by Hunt), was not far from Marble House. Both men were avid horse breeders and racersand Belmont accompanied the Vanderbilts on at least two extended voyages on theVanderbilt yacht, theAlva. There aresome who think that he and Alva were already making eyes at one another before thedivorce.
Social eyebrows were raised once again when, on January 11,1896—not a year after her divorce—Alva and Oliver were married. It appears that if Alva’s first marriage wasat least in part socially-motivated; this time she married for love.
A few years later, in July 1905,The Era Magazine wouldcomment about the delicacies of social protocol for divorced couples. “Mr. William K. Vanderbilt, Sr. and hisdivorced wife, Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, have met quite frequently ever since theirdivorce, and both attended their son’s wedding to Miss Fair. They greet each other in a conventionalfashion, and neither is at all moved by the encounter. At one time both were under the same roof inLondon as guests of their daughter, the Duchess of Marlborough, while Mr.Belmont put up at a hotel not far distant.”
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| Alva Belmont as she appeared in 1905. The Era Magazine, July 1905 (copyright expired) |
On the corner of Madison Avenue and 51st Streetsat the mansion of John H. Guion, son of S. B. Guion, the founder of the Guionsteamship line. Guion died in the houseat the age of 28 after a short illness. In May 1902 Oliver Belmont purchased the house, along with addition landalong 51st Street.
Belmont would not live to see the mansion on whatThe NewYork Times called his “residential site” completed. On June 10, 1908The Evening World reported “OliverH. P. Belmont died at 6:34 A. M. to-day at his villa near Hempstead.”
A week earlier, Belmont had undergone an appendicitisoperation. The following day peritonitisset in and within days his death was expected. “Mrs. Belmont and her children and daughter-in-law were called to hisbedside at 5 o’clock and were with him until the last,” said thenewspaper. Belmont left an estateestimated at around $5 million.
The Madison Avenue mansion was quickly rising at the time. Richard Morris Hunt had died in 1895 and Alvahad turned to his sons, Hunt & Hunt, to design the three-storyneo-classical residence. Clad inlimestone, its imperious façade featured a rusticated base, two story pilasterscapped with ornate Corinthian capitals at the second and third floors, and ahandsome stone balustrade above the cornice.
Just as the house neared completion, a grieving Alva made achange. On May 7, 1909 Hunt & Huntfiled plans “for enlarging the new four-story house for Mrs. Alva B. Belmont,at Madison Avenue and Fifty-first Street.” The New York Times reported that “a four-story annex [is] to be added tothe east in Fifty-first Street.
Alva’s extension was a soaring neo-Gothic hall, called TheArmory, 85 feet long by 24 feet wide. Itwas a copy of the Gothic Room in Belcourt Castle where Oliver Belmont had displayedhis extensive collection of Medieval armor and artifacts. This hall, however, was intended for the useof Alva’s new passion: the Suffrage Movement.
“Since the house has been started,” she told a reporter, “Ihave become an ardent suffragist, and it seemed to me that I could serve thecause in no better way than by providing a large hall in which prominentsuffragists might lecture during the Winter. So I asked my architect to arrange for this armory, which will bedecorated with the armor which hangs in a similar hall in Mr. Belmont’s oldNewport home, Belcourt. I shall, ofcourse, use the room for other purposes, but my incentive in building it was todevote it to the cause of woman’s suffrage.”
Typically, the headstrong Alva Vanderbilt Belmont did not gointo her new mission with trepidation. She told the reporter “I am convinced that more militant methods must beadopted in this country if we hope to succeed.”
She already had plans for the Madison Avenue mansion’s rolein the movement. “Just so soon as thelectures which we have planned for Marble House are out of the way we shallstart in to work on plans for the Fall campaign.”
“This Winter we hope to have a lecture very nearly everyday. Some prominent speaker will beheard in some part of New York at least six days in the week, and the subjectwill always be ‘Votes for Women.’ The Armory in my new home will be opened forthe purpose as often as it is needed.”
Symbolically, the great stained glass window on the marblestairway to the Armory, 23 feet by 18 feet, depicted Joan of Arc. “Two Gothic windows in the armory, withbattle scenes, are at one end, and in the east wall there is an immensefireplace, eight feet wide, adorned with carved medieval figures,” reportedTheTimes. “The floor is of marble and thevaulted stone ceiling eliminates the need of pillars. The iron chandeliers were brought fromBelcourt.”
The rest of the house was done in the Adams “and GrinleyGibbons” styles. The dining room waspaneled in white marble, off the marble entrance hall. “The relief is in green marble, the doors andwindow muntins are of dark green bronze, and the fireplace, with columns andpediment, is massive Of more interest toNew Yorkers is the ceiling.”
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| A room in the mansion seems to be set up for a meeting. Collier's Magazine, October 28, 1916 (copyright expired) |
When the old Fifth Avenue Hotel was demolished, Hunt &Hunt had salvaged the ceiling frescoes. “One of these, by Robert Reid, was a symbolical Manhattan, a goddessfigure sitting on a dais. This was obtained by Mr. Hunt and installed in theBelmont dining room. The allegorical Manhattanwas put immediately above the fireplace, and more by change than deign herthrone in the painting is a twin piece in design to the columned fireplace.”
The architects placed secret doors throughout themansion. One of them allowed servants toenter the dining room unseen; another connected two libraries. “A small library is opposite the dining roomfrom the entrance foyer, and as there is a hidden door to the pantry from thedining room, so there is a spring-opened door in a section of shelving leadingfrom the little library to a larger library. From that room a door leads to the stairs that wind to the armory above.”
The flurry of lectures began in The Armory in theFall on 1909 and later, in December, Alva (who by now was exclusively referred toas Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont) heard of the plight of four young shirtwaist workerswho had been arrested while picketing.
The girls were being held on $100 bail each, with anadditional $400 surety. Alva arrangedwith her lawyer to provide bond as she hurried to Night Court to view theproceedings. On December 20, 1909The New York Timesreported that “Mrs.Belmont’s lawyer, who had been in court all night, had with him deeds that hewas to use as bail bonds. But when thefour girls came to trial the lawyer could not be found.”
Alva Belmont approached the magistrate. “Very well, if he is not here I can give myhome at 477 Madison Avenue as bond for these girls to appear on Monday night.”
Magistrate Butts did not know who the woman standing beforehim was and asked her if she was positive that her house was worth the $800.
Alva thought so. “Ithink it is. It is valued at$400,000. There may be a mortgage on itfor $100,000.”
The Times reported “the girls were freed on this bail.”
As the summer of 1912 began, Alva had another idea. She had already purchased two houses at Nos.13 and 15 East 41st Street and had them converted to a clubhouse,the Political Equality Association, for suffrage purposes. She had spent $320,000 on that project, notincluding the furnishings. Now sheenvisioned a hotel for visiting suffragists.
On July 14, 1912The Sun asked readers, “What will Mrs.Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont do next? Shehas already been active in farming, club work, a number of unusual philanthropies,entertaining on a large scale and all sorts of endeavors in behalf of womansuffrage, from waiting on tables to marching and public speaking and theexpenditure of a great deal of money for the good of the cause, and not justin the last week it has been announced that she is to run a miniature hotel.”
“Mrs. Belmont feels sure that the enterprise will be asuccess because of the number of suffragists from out of town who make a pointof visiting her club’s headquarters when in New York. Many of these have said that they wished theclub had sleeping rooms where they could stay over night or longer if need be.”
Not everyone was pleased with Alva Belmont’s ardentsuffragist activities. Early in April1912 she received an envelope in the mail which she ignored for a day or two. “Then she opened it,” reportedThe New YorkTimes on April 6, “and a small white envelope dropped out. This bore a warning to the servants not toopen it, and was marked private and personal.”
Inside was an arcane message which made little sense, at thebottom of which was drawn a dagger and cross. Alva reported the matter to authories and before long exaggerated stories spread that the neighborhood was shut down by police. According toTheTimes, “There was no excitement in the neighborhood of Mrs. Belmont’s whitemarble home at 477 Madison Avenue when a reporter called there yesterdayafternoon. Stories had appeared in theafternoon to the effect that policemen and Secret Service men were on guardthere, and that Mrs. Belmont was afraid to go out and the police wouldn’t letanybody go in.”
There may have been a shadow of truth to Alva’s reportedfright—or at least caution. When aTimesreporter rang the bell of No. 477 Madison Avenue, “A dark-skinned servitor,clad in a gaudy turban, opened the door wide and smiled benignly. He said that Mrs. Belmont had moved to hercountry home on Long Island where she would spend the Summer.”
An editorial that appeared in London’s Forum in June 1913used scathing satire to discredit Alva’s near-militant suffragist stands. “If Mrs. Belmont, however, really craves anopportunity of proving her personal courage by conducting a hunger strike, nodifficulties will be placed in her way…The most convenient place for a hungerstrike is obviously at home, where the sufferer can have every attention.
“If Mrs. Belmont’s plans include arson, a similar principlemay be applied, and much inconvenience avoided. The militant suffragettes in England burnt down the house of Lady White—anold lady entirely unconnected with the movement, either for or against. This was regarded as a masterpiece ofstrategy. But if the object in view bemerely destruction, and the consequent advertisement, it is surely unnecessaryto select the house of an inoffensive and innocent lady when one has an excellentand perfectly suitable house of one’s own.”
The stalwart Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont was unmoved. In April 1914 she traveled to Washington DCto complete the final arrangements for the suffrage ball of which she waschairman. Later, as the summer seasondrew to a close, she decided to remain in Newport into the fall to keep themomentum of the Marble House lectures going.
“Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont will not open her country place inHempstead, L. I., this fall, but will remain instead at Marble House until latein the season,” reported theNational Courier. “there will be many suffrage conferences held in the Chinese tea housebetween now and the time when Marble House is closed for the winter.”
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| In 1915 Alva had begun showing her age. photograph from the collection of the Library of Congress |
Around six months later, on March 31, 1915 “one of the mostimportant suffrage meetings held in New York in a long time,” according to TheNew York Times, was held in the Madison Avenue mansion. Representatives from 24 states arrived aspart of the Advisory Council of the Congressional Union for WomanSuffrage. Its importance lay in thefact that this was a newly-organized national organization. Alva Belmont was seeing progress inher dedicated fight for women’s equality.
On December 28 that year Alva opened her mansion doors forthe reading of a suffragist opera,Melinda and Her Sisters, composed by ElsieMaxwell. Actress Marie Dressler wasthere to read the part of Ma Pepper.
Among the lyrics intended to fire suffragist passion were:
Sogirls, girls, put away your curls.
Comeput away your petticoats and frills,
Stepright into line; cease now to repine;
Showthem that we, too, know how to drill.
Left!Right! We’ll stand the pace,
Attention!Right about face!
We’vedone with teas and balls;
We’veforgotten how to dance.
We’llshow what we can do when we’ve the chance.
Alva Belmont’s fight for women’s right to vote would continue untilAugust 1920 when the battle was won. Butby now the Madison Avenue house had been shuttered for two years. The aging socialite, philanthropist, authorand activist left the city, working and living in her several other estates.
After five years of sitting dark, Alva sold the house on August 7, 1923to editor Arthur Brisbane for about $500,000. In reporting the sale,The New York Times remembered “during Mrs.Belmont’s occupancy it was the scene of many brilliant functions, notably thereception Mrs. Belmont gave in honor of Consuelo, her daughter, shortly aftershe became Duchess of Marlborough.”
The newspaper noted “Its interior has often been reproduced inarchitectural journals for its Caen stone staircase, which leads to a gallerywhere much of her entertaining was done. The gallery formerly contained a collection of rare armor, which waspresented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A large pipe organ and carved mantelpieces are other elaborate features.”
Although Brisbane was busying himself with demolishing and replacingmany nearby properties, he preserved the Belmont mansion. It became home to the Catholic Charities ofthe New York Archdiocese. Theorganization would operate from the lavish structure for nearly three decadesuntil the Archbishopric of New York sold the building in 1951 to developers SimonBrothers.
Although the firm planned for a 23-story office building on the site,on July 3, 1951The New York Times announced that “The new office building willbe constructed as soon as materials are available, it was explained, but in themeantime the land will be used for parking in an effort to help relieve thetraffic situation in the neighborhood.”
Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont’s grand mansion, which had played so importantrole in the battle for women’s equality, had been reduced to a parking lot.
A year later the 23-story structure designed by Kahn & Jacobs beganrising. In October 1953 the FordFoundation signed a lease for eight floors in the building that would be knownby its address, 477 Madison Avenue.
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| photohttp://www.showcase.com/property/477-Madison-Avenue/New-York/New-York/157376 |
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Of all the many photos I have ever seen of Alva Belmont, the 1905 depiction in Era Magazine that you have published is the only one that makes her look vaguely attractive. All of her other likenesses bring to mind an oft told "Gilded Age" story: apparently, Alva Vanderbilt marched up to the notoriously sharp tongued Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish (no beauty herself , at least as depicted in photographs), and said, "Mamie. You can't deny it. Everyone heard you. You told your guests at dinner last night that I look like a frog". Mrs. Fish is reported to have replied, "that is not true. I told everyone that you look like a toad". And right she was. Great post, as always, by the way. I have seen other photos of the interiors of the house. It was quite an eclectic mix- from the neo-Federal, to the pseudo-Gothic with all the Beaux art Louis styles also represented.
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ReplyDeleteThe "dark-skinned servitor, clad in a gaudy turban" was most likely Azar, Mr. and Mrs. Belmont's Egyptian majordomo. The similarities between the Gothic rooms at Belcourt and 447 Madison Avenue being and end with "Gothic". The configuration, proportions, fenestration, and finishes were not alike. The room at Belcourt, used as a ballroom, is approximately 70' long by 35' wide by 35' high. Thank you for this very informative piece.
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