Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Works 4-1-2012 Richard Upjohn and Richard Morris Hunt: The Evolution of Newport Domestic Architecture Caroline L. Peck Trinity College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Recommended Citation Peck, Caroline L., "Richard Upjohn and Richard Morris Hunt: The vE olution of Newport Domestic Architecture". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2012. Trinity College Digital Repository, http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/200 Richard Upjohn and Richard Morris Hunt: The Evolution of Newport Domestic Architecture Caroline Peck Senior Art History Honors Thesis Professor Kathleen Curran May 2012 Peck 1 Introduction America’s largest and grandest home, the Biltmore (1890; figure 1), was commissioned by George Vanderbilt (1862-1914) to be built in Asheville, North Carolina. The house was designed by Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) and bears resemblance to three sixteenth century châteaux in the Loire Valley, France: Blois, Chenonceau, and Chambord. However, Biltmore was not the first of the Vanderbilt’s homes to replicate European designs and aesthetics from previous centuries. The most famous of these mansions were in Newport, and include Marble House (1888-1892; figure 2) and the Breakers (1893; figure 3), both designed by Hunt. Centuries after these homes were built in Newport, they continue to be synonymous with the wealth and decadence of Gilded Age Newport, and indeed, Gilded Age America. Hunt’s Newport legacy was based upon his work for the Vanderbilts, but his Newport career, perhaps surprising, began years before his work for this prominent family.