Rhode Island

Anyone who has seen the movie Biography of the Tycoon may have an impression that American mansions are like palaces. Rhode Island, a famous summer resort in New England, is the smallest state in the United States and the first state in the United States to declare its independence from Britain. In the south of Rhode Island, there is a "Newport" which is famous for gathering luxury houses. Since18th century, many rich people have built luxury houses here as a summer resort. However, due to the maintenance cost,

In this article, Xiao U will introduce the most famous, largest and most visited mansion "Tingtao Villa" in Xingang, or broken house.

There are many people listening to Taoshan Villa, but the free parking lot at the gate is also big enough to digest all tourists. After parking, you can see the beautiful Tingtao villa and its courtyard when you enter the iron gate.

After entering, there is a coffee shop to eat and a toilet to use on the left.

As the mansion with the largest number of visitors in the group, Tingtao Villa is the only mansion that provides free portable guide headphones, and it is the only one that provides Chinese voice guides. It is strongly recommended that you borrow a guidebook to learn more about the purpose of each room, the owner's life and the background of the times.

Tingtao Villa is magnificent in appearance. It was built in 1893 by cornelius vanderbilt II, the eldest grandson of American Shipping and Vanderbilt family in railroad tycoon. This building has 70 rooms with five floors.

The luxury houses in Xingang were originally not photographed. Recently, tourists are allowed to take photos, but flashlights, selfie sticks and tripods are not allowed. The only thing that can't be photographed yet is the hunter's house.

As soon as you enter, you can see the magnificent hall, surrounded by symbols of human progress in art and scientific civilization: Galileo in science, Dante in literature, Apollo in art, Mercury in commerce and trade, Karl Bitter in sculpture, Richard Morris Hunt in architecture and the architect himself.

Then you can follow the voice guide to visit the rooms on the first floor to the second floor and the working spaces of servants and chefs. However, the rooms used by the owners of eight luxury houses on the third floor are not open to the public, because although Tingtao Villa was rented to the Protection Association for one yuan at 1948, and the Protection Association bought the mansion itself from the hostess with 90% furniture at 1972, the hostess and her family can still live on the third floor that is closed to the public.

The history of the Vanderbilt family can be traced back to the Netherlands. It was the first immigrant who came to today's new york (then New Amsterdam) in the17th century. Vanderbilt family began to establish cornelius vanderbilt, and its wealth and reputation ranged from 1794 to 1877. He built an empire of shipping and railway transportation, which can be said to be the most classic American family that rose in the Gilded Age.

In addition to Tingtao Villa, cornelius vanderbilt's descendants also have mansions such as Fifth Avenue and Biltmore Manor. Until the middle of the 20th century, the reputation of this family declined, but it still could not erase the fact that they were the top ten richest families in history.

Follow the tour to the sports and recreation room, using ancient Roman design, slate is marble from ancient Greece and Rome, Italian marble, with Renaissance-style furniture.

The living room is a French-style room designed by a French company, which is mainly used for family members to spend their morning time with excellent lighting.

Tingtao Villa has been listed as one of the national historical landmarks in the United States 1994. Every room in the mansion embodies the owner's admiration for the styles of European countries. There is no uniform style in the whole room, and each room has its own elements. European building materials and furniture were sent to the United States for assembly and relocation. Xiao u himself felt that it was a mess compared with the palaces visited in Europe, but it also reflected that the United States and the movie "Biography of the Tycoon" had the same gilded time and space background.

Then I came to the round room, the music room for dancing and music that little U liked quite much. The ceiling is gold and silver, and the piano is mahogany and gold-plated bronze of the Second Reich of France.

The library is a completely different style. It is magnificent.

Then I went to the first room on the second floor, Vanderbilt's daughter's room, which looked quite simple.

The bedroom will communicate with the bathroom, which is a relatively simple bathroom.

Then I will go to Vanderbilt's little daughter's room, connecting the dressing room to the bathroom, and the bathtub made of marble is very luxurious in this era. What is more distinctive is that there are four faucets, which can turn on hot tap water, seawater, cold tap water and seawater, because seawater immersion was popular in the upper class at that time to make the skin smoother and more delicate.

Then I went to the mature woman's room, where we could have a special look at the hostess's exaggerated four wardrobes to accommodate the space she needed to change seven sets of clothes every day.

Then it leads to a child's room of Vanderbilt artist.

Tingtao Villa is located in a place surrounded by the sea on three sides. On the second floor, there is a veranda facing the sea, and chairs can blow the sea breeze to cool off the heat.

Finally, from the second floor, you can feel the excellent perspective of the host and hostess overlooking the banquet from the top, and then you can return to the first floor from the narrow servant ladder.

The space between the servant and the master is completely separated, even the corridor is completely different, so that the servant will not affect the master's life when he works, and the kitchen in this area on the first floor is quite far from the hall to avoid the smell of the kitchen from reaching the main house.

The tour of Tingtao Villa also ended in the activities of the servants. In fact, in terms of modern home design, Tingtao Villa is really a super mix and match style, which may also stem from the expectation of American upper class to Europe. If you are interested in the story of Vanderbilt's descendants, you can also watch the documentary Princess America, which describes the story of Conswello Vanderbilt who is worth more than Bill Gates, or watch the movie Tiffany, which is said to be based on the story of actor and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt.