- Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was a prominent Gilded Age socialite who married a Vanderbilt railroad heir.
- She built palatial residences on "Millionaires' Row" in New York and in Newport, Rhode Island.
- In her later years, she was a suffrage activist and president of the National Woman's Party.
Julian Fellowes, creator of the HBO show "The Gilded Age," didn't have to make up too much of the show's drama. Alva Vanderbilt Belmont's biography provided plenty of material.
As a Gilded Age socialite who married a Vanderbilt and strong-armed Caroline Astor into attending her 1883 masquerade ball despite her disdain for "new money," Alva was a force to be reckoned with.
"I remember when I read about Alva's ball, I thought, this is so great," Fellowes told Vanity Fair in 2022. "I'm just going to lift the whole thing, and put it into the drama."
Alva's life involved more than just fancy balls and opulent homes. In her later years, she became a prominent leader in the women's suffrage movement and served as president of the National Woman's Party.
Here's a look at her glamorous, fascinating life.
Born Alva Erskine Smith, Alva came from a wealthy family in Mobile, Alabama, in 1853 and married William K. Vanderbilt in 1875.
Alva's family spent summers in Newport, Rhode Island, and moved to New York City in 1859.
She was educated at a boarding school in Paris before marrying William K. Vanderbilt, the grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt and heir to his fortune.
Together, she and Vanderbilt had three children: Consuelo, William Kissam Jr., and Harold Stirling.
In 1882, the couple spent $3 million to build a mansion on "Millionaires' Row" on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, their home was known as "Petit Chateau" for its French chateau-inspired architecture. It was located at 660 Fifth Avenue along "Millionaires' Row," where other prominent members of society built their estates.
The home took up an entire city block.
The 60-room, three-story, white limestone mansion was looked down upon by "old money" families like the Astors, who resented those with "new money" for what they considered attempts to buy their way into elite status.
Alva was shunned by the Astors and other members of high society until she hosted a legendary ball of her own in 1883.
Caroline Astor excluded the Vanderbilts from her guest list of acceptable New York City families known as "The 400."
To win her over, Alva threw an extravagant masquerade ball for 1,200 guests, but would not invite Astor's daughter Caroline until Astor came to visit her home — a plotline that was adapted for Bertha Russell on HBO's "The Gilded Age."
For her 39th birthday in 1892, Alva's husband gifted her a summer home in Newport, Rhode Island, known as Marble House.
The mansion cost a total of $11 million to construct in 1892, the equivalent of around $387 million today.
Marble House was named for the 500,000 cubic feet of marble furnishings within.
Marble House also featured a dining room modeled after the Palace of Versailles, a Gothic room displaying a full collection of medieval and Renaissance art, and a grand salon with walls covered in 22-karat gold leaf.
She divorced William K. Vanderbilt in 1895 and married one of her neighbors in Newport, financier Oliver H.P. Belmont, a year later.
It was rare for women in high society to divorce their husbands during the Gilded Age. If they did, their reputation usually didn't survive the scandal.
Alva, however, maintained custody of their children, ownership of Marble House, and received a hefty settlement when she divorced Vanderbilt on the grounds of adultery.
In 1895, she forced her daughter, Consuelo Vanderbilt, to marry the Duke of Marlborough.
Consuelo was in love with another man and had already gotten secretly engaged, but wrote that Alva "would not hesitate to shoot" him if she tried to run away with him, according to the audio tour at Marble House.
Consuelo acquiesced to her mother's wishes and wed Charles Spencer-Churchill at Marble House, becoming the Duchess of Marlborough.
After a 26-year unhappy marriage, Alva testified that she had forced her daughter into the arrangement, and the marriage was annulled in 1921.
On the HBO show "The Gilded Age," Bertha Russell also intends for her daughter to marry a duke despite her love for another man.
After her second husband's death in 1908, Alva became an activist in the women's suffrage movement.
She leveraged her fortune and Newport home to help advance the cause of women's suffrage. At Marble House, she hosted suffrage gatherings and served tea on a set of dishes that read "Votes for Women."
She also wrote the libretto for a women's suffrage operetta, which was performed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, granting women the right to vote.
She bought a headquarters for the National Woman's Party in Washington, DC, in 1929, and served as its president.
Alva Belmont served as president of the National Woman's Party from 1921 to 1933. Upon purchasing a federal-style home on Capitol Hill for the National Woman's Party headquarters, the group named it "Alva Belmont House" in her honor.
The National Woman's Party donated the house to the National Park Service in 2016. President Barack Obama dedicated the site as the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument.
She spent her later years in Paris and died in 1933.
At her funeral, she had all-female pallbearers and had Susan B. Anthony's quote, "Failure is impossible," adorn her coffin.
