The Breakers of Newport

A Study in Gilded Architecture

By Katie Ogletree | Photos by The Preservation Society of Newport County

Let’s paint a small picture.

T he year is 1895 in Newport, Rhode Island. Your last name is Vanderbilt. Your brand-new, and quite grand, home has just finished a two-year construction period. Morning arrives softly, though nothing else about this house is modest. You wake beneath a ceiling painted to rival the skies of Europe—the kind of detail that feels less like decoration and more like declaration. This isn’t simply your residence, but a statement of wealth. You’re making a point to be remembered. Outside your window, the Atlantic crashes against the cliffs, the multi-acre backyard is carefully manicured and symmetrical, and you begin to hear shuffling outside your door.

By the time you step into the hallway, the house is already in full swing. Servants glide past each other, already anticipating the needs of those who occupy the home. Life at The Breakers is a carefully choreographed performance. Every hallway, every arch, every inch of marble has been designed to impress guests who will soon fill the spaces. The breakfast room is waiting for you downstairs, sunlight spilling across the imported stone and gilded moldings. It’s here that plans are made, whether it’s luncheons arranged, excursions laid out, or reminders of upcoming lavish parties. As the day continues, you are reminded that The Breakers is not only where you live, but also how you live. It’s a palace by the sea, built for a family whose name carries enormous weight and whose summers in Newport are as much about visibility as they are about escape. To wake within these walls is to understand that this home is power made architectural.

By the 1890s, Newport had transformed from an old colonial port town into America’s most sought-after spring and summer paradise. The timeframe, known as the Gilded Age, was roughly from 1870 to 1910. This was a period when industrial fortunes began to take over and lifted up a new class of extremely wealthy Americans. Every corner of industry was covered, from railroad barons to steel magnates, financiers, and shipping tycoons.

Cue Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a man with money, power, and no signs of slowing down. At the time, New York represented old money from multiple generations, and the Vanderbilts had a hard time fitting in. Needing a place of their own, they followed the other wealthy folks to up-and-coming Newport. Cornelius soon commissioned the leading society architect, Richard Morris Hunt, to design his residence. It was to be modeled after the palaces of the Italian Renaissance, specifically those in Genoa and Turin, and from that a modest seventy-room stone-and-steel palazzo came to life. Jules Allard was hired to cover the decoration, with his firm most notable for creating French styles for American elites. He acquired antique furnishings and decor for his clients, mainly from the 1700s and 1800s, most of which are still in place at The Breakers.

Now let’s switch things around.

It’s August 1895, the Vanderbilts are hosting their first party to officially celebrate and show off their mansion, and you’ve been invited! Sitting on a fourteen-acre piece of land, five stories tall, and covering about 125,000 or more square feet, here’s what you come across while attending the party.

At the heart of this “summer cottage” is the Great Hall. To say you’re left speechless is an understatement. You are greeted by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife, Alice. Modeled after an open-air Italian courtyard, it stands fifty feet high. As you enter further, massive chandeliers sparkle above you, floral arrangements tower over some of the tallest guests, and silver trays move in and out of each room, carrying drinks in shiny crystal glasses. You notice the walls are carved with French limestone and multicolored marble. In the top corners, sculpted figures and gods look down, a slight nod to European intellect and traditions.

As you make your way back through the maze, you realize that it’s all a carefully curated tour of European grandeur in America, as if you’re traveling across continents. Italian Renaissance planning, French decorative arts, and classical Roman motifs converge under one roof on the Rhode Island coast. You had the time of your life!

Beyond it all, The Breakers reveals something deeper: a moment in American history when wealth, industry, and European influence converged to create monuments of extraordinary scale and beauty. Its decor is not random luxury, but intentional design with symmetry, proportion, texture, and craftsmanship working together to create harmony between interior splendor and the coastal landscape. Now a landmark available for tours through the Preservation Society of Newport County, The Breakers continues to tell a story not only of the Vanderbilt family but also of an era in our nation’s history.

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In 1945, the Preservation Society of Newport County was created by a group of residents specifically to save another historical landmark, the colonial Hunter House. The Breakers was sold to the Preservation Society in 1972. Today, thanks to their stewardship, they own and operate eleven historic properties, including others tied to the Vanderbilt family. Visit NewportMansions.org for more history, tours, and information.