Must have been like Downton Abbey

Wednesday September 18, 2013
Newport Rhode Island

 

 

 

Although no one lives in these “cottages” anymore, there are similar houses here and elsewhere with similar extravagant lifestyles. 

 

 

We are hoping to see two of our four remaining mansions cottages today so we are at The Breakers when it opens.  Unfortunately a tour bus load of people is also here .  SO, we dawdle listening to all the extras our audio tour provides and let them all move on their way.  It works and soon there are vastly fewer people touring with us.  I doubt I would come to Newport in the summer.  Just too many people vacationing.

 

 

 

 

The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer homes and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial power in nineteenth-century America.  Or so The Guidebook to Newport Mansions says.  Not sure the owners of Marble House or The Elms would be happy to hear this but I fear it is the fact.  I think I prefer The Elms but the Breakers really is over the top.

 

 

It has 70 rooms on 12 acres of ocean front property in what was one of the most expensive locations during the gilded age.  What in the world do you do with 70 rooms??

Richard Morris Hunt, who earlier designed The Chalet,  was the architect.  He drew his inspiration for The Breakers from the palaces built for the merchant-princes of Genoa and Turin in the 16th Century.

 

So who owns this lavish mansion in the style of princes?  Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice.  Here’s the gossip I read on the two.  True by most accounts and fun to read. 

 

 

 

When William Henry Vanderbilt, the richest man in the world at the time, died, he left most of his $200 million estate divided equally between his 2 eldest sons, Cornelius "Corneil" and William "Willie". Cornelius was older than William so Alice, Cornelius's wife, assumed that Cornelius was head of the Vanderbilt family. Cornelius had also been given an extra $2 million plus the portrait and marble bust of Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, objects that had always been given to the head of the family. Willie was perfectly fine with letting Cornelius be head of the family, but Willie's wife, Alva, was not okay with letting them rule the family and launched a campaign to make her husband and their children the leaders of the Vanderbilt clan. Alice also launched a campaign, to put Alva firmly in her place and The Breakers was a big part of it.  Alva and William had built Marble House several years before The Breakers was built so Alice knew her competition well.

Corneil was considered a saint, giving most of his not-needed income to charities.  Alice was beautiful, pious and rich in her own right.  They met while teaching Sunday school.  Alice was spoiled by her constantly doting husband.  She was accustomed to getting what she wanted.  Apparently the Alva/Alice rivalry was notorious.  But then there was one upmanship all around town.

 

 

 

 

It seems so funny to me that in the latter 18th century  we were intent on throwing off king and aristocracy.  In the latter 19th century it seems the wealthy were going all out to appear to be the aristocracy.  Don’t these mansions look like those in Britain or Downton Abbey.  :-)

 

 

 

Can’t you just see the servants lined up to welcome the master and mistress home as they step from their carriage under the drive through portico.

 

 

We go in, get our headsets and the tour of opulence begins.  The house truly is gorgeous inside but OVERdone I think.  It looks like a palace.  So did The Elms.  And like The Elms, no pictures allowed.  I obey the rules but I do find a few pictures on line to give you some idea of the jaw dropping interior.  Thanks to the internet for the Vanderbilts’ pictures as well.

 

The pictures don’t enlarge as sharply as I would like but you can get the picture of tapestries, crystal chandeliers, ornate moldings and carvings in the formal dining room.

 

 

The ceilings are among the most amazing features to me.  The artistry there is beyond belief.

 

This is the morning room.  I guess you can have your choice of rooms in the afternoon.  :-)

 

 

 

And of course the music room with its grand piano.
The windows here overlook the sea.

 

 

 

As usual we listen to every part of the tour and all the extras so it is after noon by the time we are outside looking at the side and back of the house and the grounds.

 

 

 

The lawns all around the house are expansive.  I’m sure the Vanderbilts had numerous gardeners but I wonder how the Preservation Society keeps the grounds of the homes they own so neat.  And how DO they heat them in the winter??  I guess they sell a lot of tour tickets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the tiled roof of one of the outdoor “porches”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course the house overlooks the ocean.  Even though it doesn’t look like it from here, it’s a serious hike across the lawn to get to the water.

 

 

 

Thankfully, no garden parties here.  That will make more sense in a minute.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s 1:00.  We’ve been here 4 hours and we are Breaker-ed out.  So we think we’ll use one of the nice benches for a picnic lunch on the grounds.  NOPE!  Not allowed.  I guess there are just too many messy tourists and gardeners don’t want to pick up trash or empty trash cans. 

OK so we find a nearby park.  It’s a glorious day.  David does the one armed lean back lunch photo.  I read aloud from my Newport Mansions book about the other homes that we might visit this afternoon.  

 

 

 

 

We choose Marble House, the home of William and Alva Vanderbilt.  I want to see what I think about the Alice/Alva rivalry.  We go over and start the tour but then we see that outside on the porches and patios are boxes of things stacked up, umbrellas, tables and chairs.  Awnings cover the back of the house.  There are tons of little worker bees.  They are having the Wine and Food Festival at Marble House on Saturday and Sunday.  So they have already begun the set up.  I definitely recognize the society’s need to generate revenue but I don’t really want to see Marble House set up for a 20th Century party.  Seems unfair to Alma in comparing.  :-)   They very kindly give us a rain check which is also good “forever”.

 

We leave our car at Marble House and walk two doors down the street to Rosecliff.  Two doors down of course is a block and a half.  They too are having some event and have the back awning up so it is very hard to appreciate the back of the building or see its patios and porches.  By this time it is 2:30 and we won’t have time to see anything if we keep house hopping.  So we stay at Rosecliff.  But that’s for another post.