Newport’s Grandest “Cottage” - The Breakers

The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages” and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial pre-eminence in turn-of-the-century America. The mansion was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice, on 13 acres, and is named after the waves that crash at the base of the cliffs. The Italian Renaissance-style mansion replaced a smaller home on the site that was completely destroyed by fire in 1892. Architect Richard Morris Hunt was commissioned to design the house modeled after the 16th century palaces and villas of Genoa. The lavish interiors in the 70-room mansion were the work of Jules Allard & Sons of Paris and Ogden Codman, Jr.

The Vanderbilt’s had seven children. Their youngest daughter Gladys, (who became Countess Szechenyl of Hungary), inherited the house upon her mother’s death in 1934. She was a supporter of the Preservation Society of Newport County. She opened The Breakers to raise funds for the Society and leased it to the organization for $1 per year starting in 1947. In 1972, the Preservation Society purchased the home from Gladys’ heirs for $366,475.00. Family members continued to reside on the upper floor until 2018 when the Society determined that the ventilation, plumbing and electrical systems on the upper floors were no longer safe for residential use.

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Pictured here is the ornate north gate entrance with the initials “CV” integrated into the design.

The rear facade of The Breakers, facing the ocean

Graceful stairs leading from the house to the grounds

The children’s cottage porch detail

The 62,482 square foot mansion was built between 1893 and 1895.

The mansion is extraordinarily beautiful and unbelievably well-preserved.

The intricate details of the limestone building

From the terrace, leading to the garden

The 60 square foot Great Hall rises over forty-five feet through two full floors.

The Great Hall consists of marble, gilded wood and a trump l’oeil painting of the sky on the ceiling 45 feet above.

The arched doorways lead out of the Great Hall to other rooms, and to the terrace, with stunning views of the ocean.

The broad staircase, with bronze and wrought iron railing, rises up from the Great Hall.

The scale of the colossal Grand Hall is overwhelming, and there are intricate details covering every square inch of it.

This is a shot looking up at one of the sixteen lamp Great Hall chandeliers.

The decorative ceiling in the dining room

The huge opulent twin dining room chandeliers were both piped for gas and wired for electricity.

This two-story lavishly decorated dining room seats 34 guests. It contains columns, corinthian capitols, decorative moldings and garlands.

This Music Room or Grand Salon with gilded ceiling, was used for recitals and dancing. It was designed and constructed in France, disassembled, shipped here in crates and then reassembled and installed here.

Opulent imported lighting

This is the beautiful Music Room ceiling with chandeliers.

Elaborate window treatment

Roman-style billards room

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The Billards Room mosaic over the billiard table depicts a mother and two children at a Roman bath.

This is the dark wood paneled library with a beautiful fireplace from Chateau d’arnav-le-Duc, and shelves filled with perfectly preserved books.

A bathroom

The solid bathroom tub was carved from one piece of marble.

Second floor bedroom

Art silhouette

Vanity on the second floor

Wedgwood style bedroom designed by Ogden Codman, Jr.

Wedgewood guest room

Gertrude Vanderbilt’s bedroom

The upper loggia

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This is the Vanderbilt’s huge ground-floor kitchen with an enormous assortment of copper pots.

Copper lamp post detail showing aged patina

This shows the architectural details of the children’s cottage at the Breakers.

Side shot of The Breakers

Another view of the mansion

The ornate north gates of the mansion

The Breakers Stable & Carriage House was built in 1895 on two aces at the corner of Bateman & Coggeshall Avenue. It contained 26 open stalls, two box stalls, parking for twenty carriages, harness room, workroom, office, hayloft, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms for 20 grooms required to operate the stables.

You can also see blogs about other Newport Gilded Age Mansions of , The Elms, Rosecliff, and Belcourt.

Other Vanderbilt family estates include Lila Vanderbilt Webb’s Shelburne Farms in Vermont, Frederick’s Hyde Park in upstate New York, George’s Biltmore in Asheville, NC and William’s Marble House.

What you should know:

• Self-serve food and drinks are available in the Garden Cafe inside The Breakers Welcome Center.

• Self-guided tours use the free Newport Mansions audio tour app. For the best tour experience, download the app before arriving, and remember your ear buds. Guests without smart devices will be provided a paper tour script.

• Restrooms are available.

• There is free parking available at all mansions.

• Tickets can be bought on-line or in person.

• There are self-guided mansion and garden tours.

• It’s open seasonally; check the website for days and hours of operation.

• There are a few house and garden tour options.

• You could spend a couple of hours to an entire day.

Location:

44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport RI

For more information: The Breakers

NEWPORT MANSIONS: The Gilded Age.

By Thomas Gannon, Richard Cheek.

Buy on Amazon

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

By Cooper, Anderson, Howe, Katherine

Buy on Amazon

Fortune's Children

By Vanderbilt, Arthur T., II

Buy on Amazon