The Breakers still turns heads because its tech-forward bones, electric lighting installed throughout the mansion, frame some of the most photogenic interiors of America’s Gilded Age. Built between 1893 and 1895 for New York Central Railroad president Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the 70-room, 138,300-square-foot Renaissance-Revival “cottage” cost about $7 million (over $250 million today) and sits on 13 ocean-front acres laid out by architect Richard Morris Hunt. The house was set up for both electricity and gas, allowing fixtures to burn whichever current was available—a dazzling safety net in 1895 that still feels forward-thinking.
A Quick Walk-Through of Seven Like-Magnet Spaces
Great Hall
Hunt replaced the usual entry vestibule with an open, 50-foot-high stone court inspired by Italian palazzi. Caen-limestone walls carry plaques of rare marbles, while sculptor Karl Bitter’s figure groups over each doorway celebrate science, art, and industry.
Dining Room
At 2,400 square feet, the Louis XIV-inspired dining room feels more throne room than breakfast nook. Twelve rose-alabaster Corinthian columns support a gilded cornice, and twin Baccarat chandeliers were wired for both gas and electricity, perfect for incandescent sparkle then and now. The ceiling fresco of Aurora ushering in dawn adds a share-worthy burst of color.
Music Room
Assembled in Paris by Jules Allard & Sons, dismantled, shipped, and re-erected in Newport, the oval-ended Music Room features a silver-and-gold coffered ceiling inscribed with composers’ names. This is one of the most stunning rooms in all of the Newport mansions.
Billiards Room
Hunt dressed this masculine retreat in book-matched Cipollino marble and rose-alabaster arches. Mosaics of acorns (the Vanderbilt emblem) pattern the marble floor, while small round plaques near the cornice hint at billiard balls—little Easter eggs that pop beautifully in close-ups.
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Morning Room
Facing east, the family sitting room was designed to catch first light on eight platinum-leaf reliefs of the Muses—platinum chosen because Atlantic salt air can’t tarnish it. Eight relief panels portray eight of the nine Muses; conservators first assumed they were silver, but portable X-ray fluorescence revealed pure platinum that never tarnishes.
Library
Circassian-walnut wainscot stamped in gold leaf meets gold-embossed Spanish-leather panels under a dolphin-painted coffered ceiling (dolphins symbolized hospitality). A 16th-century French marble mantel anchors the space.
Upper Loggia
The lower loggia’s vaulted ceiling is clad in hand-set mosaic tile, whereas the upper level is painted to resemble striped canopies against the sky; both spaces overlook the Atlantic, and acorn-and-oak motifs gleam in afternoon light.
From its electrified chandeliers to its platinum dawns, every corner of The Breakers was engineered to stun. A century later those choices still guarantee likes—proof that good design, like electricity, remains a live wire.
