The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer cottages and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence. Cornelius Vanderbilt II bought a wooden house called The Breakers in Newport in 1885, some years later he asked architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a villa and replace the framed house which had been destoyed by fire a year before. He built a 70 room house, in Renaissance Italian style inspired in 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin. He had important collaborators from different countries. Gladys, the youngest daughter of the family inherited the house. She opened the house to the public in 1948 to raise funds for The Preservation Society of Newport County, in 1972 the association bought the house and designed it as a National Historic Landmark. We also found a stable and carriage house about half a mile from the house.
Tips
You can buy the tickets on line before your visit; you’ll find different combinations to save many if you take more than a visit for different houses.
You can have an audio guided visit too.
There’s also a shop to buy souvenirs.
