Commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt and designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the Marble House once hosted the creme de la creme of Newport's high society. The Beaux Arts mansion marked Newport's transformation from a quiet summer colony of wooden houses to the legendary resort of opulent stone palaces. Alva Vanderbilt envisioned Marble House as her 'temple to the arts' in America, where she would display works from a 350-piece collection of Medieval and Renaissance paintings. All artwork from this collection is currently housed in the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. 