Arriving at 44 Ochre Point Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, is like stepping into a time machine back to the 1880s. Past the thirty-foot-tall iron gates and up the gravel pathway lies the grandest mansion in Newport: The Breakers, once the summer residence of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The five-story building stands tall, the carved walls, columns, window trims, and quoins made of limestone prominent as it bathes in sunlight. In 1885, Vanderbilt became president of the New York Central Railroad and bought The Breakers that very same year from Pierre Lorillard, an American tobacco manufacturer.
Tourists dressed in jackets and winter hats stand in awe of the property. They take pictures of everything, even the copper lampposts detailed with a child’s face, rams, and bouquets of flowers and fruits. Trudy Coxe, the CEO and executive director of the Preservation Society of Newport County, has been working in Newport since 1998. When asked in an email about the cultural significance of the mansions, she wrote, “It can’t help but broaden your understanding of American history, culture, art and architecture.” Today the society maintains eleven mansions from the Gilded Age for tours and events.
The self-guided tour begins in the Great Hall. Four bronze chandeliers hang from the fifty-foot-high ceiling. The intricately carved walls are made of limestone, embellished with marbled plaques, which lead up past the decorated banisters of the second floor to the gilded embellishments that surround the sky-painted ceiling. The stunning architecture of this hall is decorated with wreaths, garland, and a Christmas tree for the holidays.
“Gilded Age mansions like The Breakers represent an important and overlooked era in American history. To actually walk through The Breakers, as opposed to simply seeing a photo or reading about it, allows for a much more visceral experience. It helps the visitor feel what it is like to live in that era, as if they were stepping back in time,” said Coxe.
Connecticut resident Christine Whitosky is one such visitor. Dressed in black leggings, a gray T-shirt, and a long black sherpa cardigan, she drove a little over two hours to tour The Breakers. Last year, she toured her first mansion and was hooked. She knew her next excursion had to be for the most famous mansion in Newport. “It was very detailed in decorations,” she said. “I found that the first floor, which had all the big rooms, the dining room, living room, was all very extravagantly decorated and the wallpaper was gorgeous. Everything was beautiful.”
The Vanderbilts owned the cottage for seven years until it burned down in 1892 from a boiler fire. The family hired well-known American architect Richard Morris Hunt to build the popular mansion we know today. “You are always struck by the vast wealth it took to create these ‘summer cottages,’ the imagination of the legendary architects who designed them, and the meticulous attention to detail of the craftsmen who worked on the interior,” Coxe added. “These houses were built to leave an overwhelming impression, and they still do.”
“When you see the look on the faces of visitors walking through The Breakers for the first time, you realize the importance of maintaining these properties for future generations.”
The Vanderbilts succeeded in demonstrating their vast wealth but also constructed a home that would be fireproof. The structure was built using steel, brick, and limestone, with the boiler room built underground in the front lawn. Construction started in 1893 and was completed just over two years later in 1895. Mr. Vanderbilt was only able to spend four summers in his lavish cottage. A second stroke led to his death in 1899, leaving the home to his wife, Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt.
Red velvet ropes guide tourists to the next room on the tour. Passing underneath the second floor walkway, tourists find a marble water fountain built into the bottom of the grand stairway on the right. Even the fountain gets props in the brochure: it “features elaborately carved dolphins and played well into the design of this area being reminiscent of open-aire courtyards in Italy.”
Next is the dining room. The red chairs, carpet, and drapes, complemented with the golds, beiges, and browns of the detailed walls and ceiling, leave Whitosky lost on where to look first. The two crystal chandeliers light the room along with the mounted lamps on each of the alabaster columns that are spread out evenly. Everything, from the marble fireplace, the trimmings around the windows, the cornice that’s wrapped around the room, the plaster statues of life-size men and fruit, has an immense amount of detail. Similar to the Great Hall, the dining room has a painted ceiling of the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora. The Vanderbilts spared no expense to build this seventy-room cottage, which at the time totaled to $7 million, equating to over $250 million dollars today.
One of the most eye-catching rooms is the Music Room. Its red-and-gold color scheme flaunts luxury at every turn. The red curtains, chairs, and stools with the gold-colored sofas, marble fireplace, and trimmings make it easy to imagine how this charming and elegant room was once filled with men in tuxedos and ladies in floor-length gowns for a Vanderbilt celebration. The gold-coffered ceiling surrounds a painting with two crystal chandeliers, lighting the room. This French Baroque interior was designed to mimic places like the Paris Opera House for events such as dances, parties, and weddings. It was designed by Richard van der Boyen and built by Jules Allard in France, where it was disassembled, shipped over, and installed.
From the start of 2024 to the middle of November, attendance at The Breakers totaled over 426,000. The number grows to over 770,000 visitors when you take in all the properties the Preservation Society manages. The cost of preserving eleven properties isn’t cheap. “All of these properties require regular attention. We completed an extensive restoration of Rosecliff that cost $7.4 million. Another project at Isaac Bell House cost $3.2 million,” Coxe says. “The Breakers is much larger than either of those houses and the ever-changing seaside climate takes a toll.”
One of the final rooms on the tour is the butler’s pantry. This pantry has two floors, with multiple windows on the bottom and top and a big ceiling window right in the center. The natural light pouring into the room shines off the polished dark wood walls and cabinets. Both floors have wooden cabinets that are filled with vintage china: plates, bowls, and different types of wine glasses, and tea cups are all on display through the glass sliding doors. Walking around the two big wooden tables pushed together in the middle of the room, another doorway leads you to the downstairs, into the gift shop, and out the exit to the backyard.
Back on the grounds, visitors explore what once hosted Vanderbilt’s summer parties. Beyond the sloped lawn and past the cliff walk, the Atlantic ocean beats against the cliffside. Coxe wrote, “You can’t help but think of all the people who have visited these mansions, either as guests during those renowned Gilded Age parties, or as visitors touring the properties in the decades since they were opened to the public.”
The mansions of Gilded Age millionaires are now open to visitors for picnics or to attend a special event at one of the mansions because of the Preservation Society of Newport County. Their website lists their popular annual events such as the classical music festival, holiday wreath-making workshop, and Sparkling Lights, an outside walk of the grounds that are decorated with thousands of holiday lights. The Preservation Society will continue to work hard to maintain the mansions. “The work of the dedicated staff in our various departments who contribute so much to the condition of these houses and the objects within is immeasurable,” Coxe wrote. “But when you see the look on the faces of visitors walking through The Breakers for the first time, you realize the importance of maintaining these properties for future generations.”
Alexis Fahey is a staff writer for Blue Muse Magazine
Featured image: The front of The Breakers Mansion, courtesy of Alexander Nesbitt Photography, The Preservation Society of Newport County
Looking at these mansions doesn’t do them justice, as seeing them in person. Each mansion more spectacular than the next. You go back in time, and get the feeling of what it was actually like living in the Guilded Age. A visit here is a must for anyone interested in history, architecture or just a nice way to spend the day.
I’d forgotten how glorious the Breakers could be at the holidays. Wonderful feature. Check out Preservation Magazine, which would might like a feature like this.
I’d forgotten how glorious the Breakers could be at the holidays. What a lovely feature. Check out Preservation Magazine, which might love a story like this!