Consuelo Yznaga has twin girs: Alice Eleanor Louise and Jacqueline Mary Alva.
Alva convinces her father-in-law that the Vanderbilts need to display their importance and wealth. Alva hires Richard Hunt as her architect. Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of architecture of the United States. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance façade and Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Fifth Avenue building, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, and many Fifth Avenue mansions since destroyed.
Alva and WK's mansion is on Fifth Avenue. The William K. Vanderbilt House, also known as the Petit Chateau, was a Châteauesque mansion at 660 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The structure, a reflection of Alva's love of all things French, was one of the earliest chateau style mansions in New York City and served as inspiration for many later designs throughout the country by Hunt and others.
The Vanderbilts were shaken when CJ Vanderbilt, WK's uncle, committed suicide. Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt (December 29, 1830 – April 2, 1882) was an American socialite and member of the Vanderbilt family. After having a troubled relationship with his father, Cornelius Vanderbilt, he eventually committed suicide at the age of 51.
Alva is obviously attracted to Oliver Belmont, and he flirts with her. During a party she meets Sallie Whiting, and just weeks later she hears that Oliver Belmont and Sallie have married. In 1882, without his parents' consent, Oliver proposed marriage to debutante Sara Swan Whiting, a popular and beautiful socialite. His parents, August and Caroline Belmont, objected to the engagement, thinking Oliver was not mature enough for marriage because of his gambling and playboy lifestyle. As a result, he was sent to Bremen in Germany to learn the banking trade from the Rothschild family, where his father had been trained. Oliver became dissipated and developed a penchant for absinthe. When Mrs. Belmont realized his decline, she agreed to the marriage.
Alva throws a costume party which becomes the social event of the year. One of the reasons is that she wants to be accepted by Caroline Astor as part of the high society. Determined to bring the Vanderbilt family the social status that she felt it deserved, Vanderbilt christened the Fifth Avenue chateau–situated at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 57th through 58th Street, occupying an entire city block—in March 1883 with a costume ball for 1000 guests. Alva dressed as a venetian noble to the ball, but her sister-in-law Alice outdid her, in a costume highlighting a then brand-new invention: the electric light.
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