THE GILDED AGE: ASTORS VS VANDERBILTS PT. 2
Gilded Age New York was all about flaunting your money. And no one did it better than the first families of excess, the Astors and the Vanderbilts. Part two is all about multi-hyphenate Alva Vanderbilt. Social climber, society leader, architect, suffragette. We will also take a look at her daughter Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough. Tune in!
Photos
Vanderbilt Costume Ball of 1883:
https://www.antiquetrader.com/collecting-101/the-vanderbilt-ball-of-1883
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/consuelo-vanderbilt-2.jpg
Nonfiction
Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mckenzie Stuart
Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper
Social Climber: The Iron Will and Determined Rise of Alva Vanderbilt by The Gilded Gentelman Podcast
Edith Wharton’s New York by The Bowery Boys Podcast
Fiction
The Gilded Age on HBO
The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
A Well Behaved Woman by Theresa Anne Fowler
Full Transcript
Dearest listeners…hello, happy to be back with another episode of Storical. Today we’re getting into our long delayed part two of our series on the gilded age millionaire families of the Astors and Vanderbilts. If you haven’t listened to the first episode, you should start there as that will help this episode make more sense.
In part 1 we talked about THE Mrs Astor and her friend Ward McCallister. The pair ruled over Gilded Age society with an iron fist. They personally decided on the in crowd and to be in the in crowd you needed to be old knickerbocker money.
Enter stage left Alva Vanderbilt. Now today we hear the name Vanderbilt and immediately think old money. But during the Gilded Age the Vanderbilts were perceived by the Caroline Astors of New York as social climbing upstarts. They were not included in society events and up until this point most of the other new money families, we’re talking Rockefellers and Goulds here, kind of just took it. Not the case for Alva.
But getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. You know the drill, imagine yourself in a palatial chateau on the newly fashionable 5th avenue. You’re dressed for a masquerade ball in which 1000 guests will be in attendance, including THE Mrs. Astor.
Chapter 1 – A Lost Fortune
Alva Erskine Smith was born on January 17, 1853 in Mobile, Alabama. Her father had trained as a lawyer but on the suggestion of his father in law, he became a commission merchant for cotton. Alright now what is a commission merchant. They buy and sell goods. So think about that – 1850s cotton merchant. Her family didn’t have a plantation but they did benefit from the enslavement of humans. I just want to hold space for that because later on there are definitely underdog moments where you want to cheer but remember where this started.
The family became very wealthy on account of the boom time for cotton. And it was a large family, Alva was one of 6 children – though only 3 of them survived to adulthood. And that was Alva and her two elder sisters Armide Vogel Smith and Mary Virginia "Jennie" Smith.
Being wealthy people the family would live at their summer house in Newport Rhode Island. They also took European vacations and overall were well connected with the aristocratic families in the South including the Yznaga’s who had sugar plantations in Cuba and Louisiana. In fact it was here that Alva met her best friend, Consuelo Yznaga who will have a big part to play in the rest of Alva’s story. In 1859 the family left the south and took up residence in New York. They lived there for a few years but when the Civil War started in earnest, the family basically had to flee to Europe because southerners were not trusted in New York at that time.
Her father followed their business interests to Liverpool while her mother and 3 daughters went to Paris. Alva was sent to a boarding school where she became fluent in French and grew to appreciate classical architecture. Important for later.
The smith family was finally able to move back to the south after the Civil War ended but her father couldn’t get his business up and going again. This was because reconstruction was in full effect and the south was basically devastated.
The family moved back to New York but the wealth was gone. In 1871, Alva’s mother died. Now the family wasn’t poor by any means but they did not have the wealthy they once did. So her clothes were seasons out of date, things like that.
But Alva for her part had gotten a taste of that high life and that’s what she wanted for herself. And what was any well bred lady of the time supposed to do? Get married of course.
Chapter 2: Those Crass Vanderbilts
As teenagers, Alva reconnected with her old friend Consuelo Yznaga. Consuelo was a celebrated beauty and a very popular teen on the society circuit. She was even part of a group that was called The Buccaneers which was also the title of her friend Edith Wharton’s last novel and was based on this group. The group was comprised of what we now call the Dollar Princesses. Rich American girls that married impoverished European nobles for their titles. And if this is your first time hearing of the dollar princesses, don’t worry we’ll talk more about it in a bit.
So Consuelo is something of an it girl and Alva is kind of hanging onto her. She doesn’t really have money anymore but she has a good family name. And that’s when Consuelo introduces Alva to a friend with the opposite problem – millions of dollars, but not a desirable name.
William Kissam Vanderbilt who was known as Willie K throughout his life, was a second son and the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt – the wealthiest person in America... and when I say that, I mean he had more money than the United States of America like the government had in the bank. Yes, wealthier even than the Astors who have such an iron grip on New York society.
Let’s detour a little bit into how the Vanderbilts earned their fortune. Cornelius was born into poverty. And interestingly, his ancestors had moved from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam in 1650 so while his family had been in New York for generations, that didn’t matter to the likes of Mrs. Astor because they weren’t rich.
His father was a ferry captain and When Cornelius was a teenager he borrowed $100 from his mother and bought a boat to start his own ferry business. I’m not gonna go into all the details of how he accumulated his fortune but he went on to be a big deal in the steam boat business which was how he got the nickname that he was referred to as throughout his life – The Commodore. During the civil war president Lincoln asked him for help and he donated one of his steam ships to the union army. Later he started buying up the railroads. Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the richest people in all of history. He had a staggering amount of money when he died.
The other thing to know about Cornelius was that he was the epitome of gross old man. Like very crass, would spit at the dinner table, would grab ladies, and he was kind of mean in general. So while he had more money than the blue blood new York knickerbockers, no one really wanted to invite him to their society functions.
Ok back to Alva and Willie K. Alva had the refinement. Willie had the funds. The hope here was that Alva could get the Vanderbilts into New York society as they felt they deserved. They were married on April 20, 1875 and Alva immediately got to work on her campaign to get in with Mrs. Astor’s crowd.
Chapter 3 – Rewriting the Map
As we learned in the last episode, Mrs. Caroline Astor was the queen of New York society and if you weren’t in with Mrs. Astor, you weren’t in the in crowd at all. Alva was desperate to be in the in crowd. Social decorum said that she could not call on Mrs. Astor, Mrs. Astor had to call on her. So she began a campaign of trying to be in the same room.
One of the things that the in crowd would do was attend the opera at the American Academy of Music. So Alva of course was like alright well I’m obscenely wealthy, if I get a box at the American Academy of Music I’ll be part of the crowd.
The problem with that was the American Academy of Music was very small and had a limited number of boxes. Those boxes would go to the old money families and they did not want to allow in the likes of the Vanderbilts.
One night, she and 22 other members of these noveau riche families met at Delmonico’s to discuss starting their own opera company. And in 1883 a little organization you may have heard of The Metropolitan Opera, aka the Met, was born.
Within 3 years of the opening of the Met, the American Academy of Music was no more.
Also in 1883 Alva and Willie K’s home known as the Petit Chateau opened on 5th Avenue and it was an entire city block long. It was one of the largest houses in the city, she was all but screaming for Mrs. Astor’s attention.
Now interestingly, Alva didn’t just tell her husband hey buy a giant house on 5th avenue. No, she was intimately involved in the planning and construction because she was very interested in architecture.
She hired Richard Morris Hunt. Richard Morris Hunt is a fascinating figure – he was a very talky man as described by Ralph Waldo Emerson and this made him popular with workers but less so with these old aristocrats.
Hunt’s mentor was the guy who finished the Louve. Hunt himself had a very small contribution to Central Park but that was after some drama between him and Frederick Olmsted the designer of Central Park. Hunt went on to do several of these palatial mansions in New York and Rhode Island as well as the revamp of The Met, and buildings for Princeton, Yale, and Harvard. He also was one of the designers for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
I bring all this up because Alva worked closely with Hunt on the plans for Petit Chateau and this became a thing in her later years as well.
So now we come to her famous ball. Mrs. Astor is still not showing Alva the time of day. It’s 1883 and Petit Chateau is finally finished. There are cracks in the knickerbocker façade though because everyone wants to see this house. Alva invited 1200 guests for her masquerade ball – something of the party of the century at the time.
Alva was great at manipulating the society papers at the time so people were positively salivating over being invited to this party. But she purposely did not invite neither Mrs Astor or her young daughter Carrie. Carrie herself was a popular debutante so she was very upset about not being invited. Alva merely said that it wasn’t appropriate for her to invite them because Caroline had never called on her.
This move forced Mrs. Astor’s hand and rather than let her daughter miss out on the party Mrs. Astor conceded by having her footman drop off her calling card. They didn’t actually meet. Alva then sent over an invitation. And this was like the day before the party too.
And if you’re like woa this sounds familiar, its because this is literally the plot of HBO’s new show the Gilded Age that premiered earlier this year. I think the Russells were actually modeled on the Goulds but I see a lot of Alva in Bertha Russell.
Anyway this party was RIDICULOUS. Fancy dress parties were all the rage in Europe and gilded age new York was not about to be outdone. People were expected to come dressed as historical figures and lucky for us, they had a photographer on hand so we actually have photos of what people dressed up as.
Alva was dressed as a venetian princess and was decked out in a gown of gold and just dripping with jewels.
And much to her annoyance her sister in law Alice Vanderbilt who was married to Willie K’s older brother Cornelius, dressed up as the Electric Light. Because edison’s light bulb had recently debuted so her gown which was created by no less than Charles Worth who I’ll have to feature some time on here, not only was made of gold fabric and sewn with pearls and glass beads which made it look like little bolts of lightning and stars, but it also had batteries and would light up. She also held light bulb and in full garb she resembled the statue of liberty all lit up.
I’ll have links to photos of all of this in the show notes on my website. The electric light dress was donated to the museum of the city of new York and while im not sure if its on display, it has been preserved and there are close up photos of the dress. It is breathtaking make sure to check that out.
After this party of the century Alva was finally part of the in crowd it only cost her a cool 3 million for this party. She went on to help design and oversee her summer cottage called Marble House in Newport Rhode Island. And you’ll love this, she made sure to build it right next door to Beechwood, Mrs. Astors summer home.
When Willie K inherited even more money upon the death of his father, she insisted on buying a yacht which she made sure was the largest yacht out there, eclipsing Mrs Astors yacht by 30 feet.
I dunno, eat the rich and all that but this is a level of petty I aspire to.
Chapter 4 – Dollar Princess
Ok so those are the main society highlights of Alva Vanderbilt, note her story has quite a bit left, but this is her life as Alva Vanderbilt. She and Willie K had 3 children a daughter and two sons. With apologies to my male listeners, her sons are not super interesting so im only going to focus on her first born child her daughter, Consuelo Vanderbilt named for Alva’s best friend Consuelo Yznaga.
So first off Consuelo Yznaga married the Viscount Mandeville who eventually became the Duke of Manchester. So she was the Duchess of Manchester – friends with Queen Alexandra and just overall very popular lady in the English aristocracy.
When Alva and Willie K’s daughter was born they named her Consuelo Vanderbilt in the Duchess’ honor. Now seeing her friend rise so high, Alva wanted a title for her daughter.
Now again, I think that some of the stories we’ve looked at so far and some that are still to come we see Alva as spirited and a social underdog so we’re rooting for her. Now is not one of those times though. Her relationship with Consuelo was honestly abusive.
Consuelo was stunning. I will link to a photo of her but she was just a beautiful girl who was also very sweet and never stepped a dainty foot out of line particularly when it came to her mother.
In Consuelo’s memoir The Glitter and the Gold she said that her mother would beat her with a riding crop for any small mistake and also made her wear a steel rod to improve her posture – and like made her sleep with this too. The only time Consuelo talked back was when she was a teenager and didn’t like the clothes her mother chose for her. Alva told her: I do the thinking, you do as you are told
Alva’s reason for this was because she wanted her daughter to be perfect so that she could make a marriage match as good as the Duchess of Manchester.
Which honestly wasn’t necessary. Consuelo made her debut into society in 1895 at age 18 and she came to the marriage market with an inheritance of 20 million dollars which hope you’re sitting down for this...is 4 billion dollars in today's money.
So you have this stunning girl who is obscenely wealthy…she could have her pick of suitors and trust me they flocked to her. But Alva was determined that her daughter should marry into the English nobility. And refused several suitors without even telling her daughter.
Alva enlisted the services of a matchmaker named Lady Paget and Lady Paget told her about the Duke of Marlborough Charles Spencer Churchill. Yes those Spencer’s and Churchills.
Consuelo for her part, did not care for the duke and fell in love with Winthrop Rutherford who was a blue blooded knickerbocker descendant of signers of the declaration of independence and the Stuyvesant’s one of New York’s most famous families.
Alva was livid when Consuelo refused to marry the duke. She locked Consuelo in her room and threatened to murder Winthrop. Consuelo still refused. Then Alva pretended that she was on death’s door with heart trouble and Consuelo felt so bad, like she was the cause of her mother dying that she agreed to marry the duke and give up Winthrop Rutherford.
Ruthorford went on to marry the woman who became FDR’s mistress which very weird small world there.
Now you may be wondering why Alva was being so psychotic about this duke when poor nobles looking for a dollar princess were a dime a dozen. It turns out that Alva’s husband Willie K had been a notorious philanderer throughout their marriage including, it is speculated with her best friend Consuelo the duchess of manchester. Alva was planning to divorce him. And this was at a time where that just wasn’t done.
She knew she would be a pariah in the society that she had worked so hard to get to the top of. A perfectly timed wedding to English nobility was what she needed to soften the blow.
Consuelo’s marriage to the duke was met with the same hysteria as the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Alva leaked wedding details to the papers in advance and even leaked details of Consuelo’s undergarments to Vogue.
They were married on November 6, 1895. People lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the bride. She and her father arrived half an hour late and Alva was furious. Onlookers said that it looked as though Consuelo had been crying under her veil, poor thing.
Once they were married, the duke admitted to Consuelo that not only did he love another woman, but he flatly told her he married her to save Blenheim Palace his ancestral estate which is also where his cousin Winston Churchill was born.
For my perfume history nerds that found me through Tiktok this next little story is for you. The Duke actually had the perfumer Walter Penhaligon create him a cologne. It was called Blenheim Bouquet and was also worn by his cousin Winston Churchill and Prince William today. You can still get this blend of black pepper, lemon, and pine.
Back to the Duke and Duchess. Their marriage in case you couldn’t guess was supremely unhappy. Winston Churchill was actually one of her closest friends and visited her often. Once she had a son Winston Churchill was no longer in the line of succession for the dukedom and he was able to go into politics because of this, so interesting connection there.
Back to Alva, the wedding did help her social standing post divorce. No one was going to outright snub the mother of a duchess. Alva not only succeeded in getting the divorce but she secured a 10 million dollar settlement as well as real estate. She also owned Marble House in Newport so she was going to be just fine.
She married Oliver Belmont who had been a friend of their family for years, just a year after their divorce. Belmont was from the very wealthy family of which the Belmont Stakes are named and was a banker and one term congressman. They were happily married until his death in 1908.
But Alva Vanderbilt Belmont wasn’t done yet.
Chapter 5: Suffragette
After years spent chasing society, Alva’s life took a different direction. At the encouragement of her daughter Consuelo and Anna Shaw one of the leaders of women’s suffrage in the United States, Alva began donating huge sums of money to the cause both in England and the us. She herself founded the Political Equality League, she supported labor movements and strikes, and supported the National American Woman Suffrage Association even paying for their office space in New York.
But probably her most lasting contribution was her work in making the suffrage movement more inclusive. The early suffragettes mostly tried to target middle class and wealthy white women. They didn’t initially allow working class women, Black women, or immigrants to participate.
For her part, Alva worked with a group of black women leaders and they created a black branch of the organization. So separate but equal vibes sounds like. She did help them secure a suffrage settlement house in Harlem.
In 1914 she hosted a conference at Marble House called the Conference of Great Women. Who was their speaker, her daughter Consuelo the Duchess of Marlborough. Consuelo was passionate about both women’s suffrage as well as prison reform and you know Americans, we don’t want the monarchy to tell us what to do but boy do we love stories about them.
Alva worked with Alice Paul to found the National Woman’s Party. They were the first organized group to picket in front of the white house in 1917. Alva was the elected president of the organization and remained so until she died in 1933. Thanks to her millions she was able to buy their DC headquarters which were known as the Sewall Belmont House and Museum. And in 2016 President Obama designated the house Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument so very cool legacy there.
In terms of her final years, she largely spent them in France because she wanted to be close to her daughter whom she enjoyed a much better relationship with and she wanted to get back to her beloved architecture.
Alva actually helped Consuelo in Consuelo’s own divorce case by testifying that she had coerced her to marry. So Consuelo did get out of that unhappy marriage many years later and married a man she loved named Jaques Balsan who was the younger brother of Coco Chanel’s lover Etienne Balsan because of course he was.
Alva for her part fixed up the Chateau d Augerville I think i’m mispronouncing that and she of course brought in paving stones from Versailles because she was still Alva. Upon Alva’s death she left the chateau to Consuelo.
Chapter 6: All That Glitters
So that was Alva Vanderbilt Belmont in a nutshell. She was a very complicated woman. On the one hand she was all about being wealthy, and her original wealth was made on the backs of enslaved people. Even her Vanderbilt money came from robber barons. But then she also did a 180 in later life and not only helped the suffrage movement but also championed labor issues and involved people of other races, nationalities, and classes. An enigma indeed.
Alright if you are interested in learning more about Alva Vanderbilt Mrs. Astor or Consuelo I have a few things for you to check out.
In terms of nonfiction for podcasts check out The Gilded Gentlemen whose whole show is about the era and he has episodes on both women. The Bowery Boys also did a show on Edith Wharton and she was related to the Astors so definitely good to study up on her life and writing.
Also check out the book Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mckenzie Stuart for a look at their lives and relationship.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper used to downplay it but he is a Vanderbilt! His mother was Gloria Vanderbilt so the people we’ve talked about today would have been of the generation of her great grandparents. This book is really great because since he is a descendant he just has the access and the anecdotes that the general public can’t easily come by. It’s a really fascinating book, definitely check it out. I listened on audio and Anderson Cooper narrates it which I think takes it up a level.
For historical fiction The Gilded Age on HBO is pretty much just a fictionalized account of the story of Alva’s rivalry with Mrs. Astor. A lot of similarities.
Then the book A Well Behaved Woman by Theresa Anne Fowler who wrote the Zelda Fitzgerald historical fiction. And the Social Graces By Renee Rosen.
My dearest listeners, thank you so much for sticking with me the last two years as I navigated health issues and huge life changes. I received messages from many of you wondering when this episode would air. I will try to be more consistent but if you ever need your history fix and I’m not pushing out episodes fast enough, please join me on the Immortal Perfumes TikTok and Youtube pages where I’ve been posting loads of short form history videos. Mostly perfume history, but trust me all your favorite people are covered.
Join me next month as we look at the life of a sinister queen known for her propensity for poison.