2018 - October 26th - Newport and Portsmouth, Rhode Island - Mansions & Animal Topiary Garden

Leaving Connecticut our adventures took us to Newport, Rhode Island. Here are the homes of the rich from the Gilded Age. First on our list was the famous Breakers Mansion. The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York Central Railroad, which was a pivotal development in the industrial growth of the nation during the late 19th century. The Commodore's grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, became Chairman and President of the New York Central Railroad system in 1885, and purchased a wooden house called The Breakers in Newport during that same year. In 1893, he commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a villa to replace the earlier wood-framed house which was destroyed by fire the previous year. They were to create a 70 room Italian Renaissance style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin. And all of this was for a summer "cottage", not a main residence. Vanderbilt insisted that the building be made as fireproof as possible, so the structure of the building used steel trusses and no wooden parts. He even required that the boiler be located away from the house in an underground space below the front lawn.

The designers created an interior using marble imported from Italy and Africa, and rare woods and mosaics from countries around the world. The Breakers is the architectural and social archetype of the "Gilded Age," a period when members of the Vanderbilt family were among the major industrialists of America. It was the largest, most opulent house in the Newport area upon its completion in 1895. It represents the taste of an American upper class who were socially ambitious but lacking a noble pedigree, determined to imitate and surpass the European aristocracy in lifestyle — a taste and ambition which was cynically noted by members of the European upper class. It is true beauty and gushing of money! 

Cornelius Vanderbilt II had The Breakers built and completed in 1895

The main staircase, statues and even a marble fountain on the underside of the stairwell shout unlimited spending.

Marble, carved wood, crystals, fine cloth, wallpapers with platinum woven into it, and precious medals all are abundant in The Breakers.

Many of the rooms had beautiful painted ceiling murals. The bath tubs in the estate were each carved out of one piece of marble. As they were so thick that before bathing, the tub had to be filled and emptied seven times before the bathing water could be maintained at the correct warm temperature to take a bath! Out the windows from the second story bedrooms we could look over the back lawn and the Easton Bay of the Atlantic Ocean. The kitchen filled with copper pots and pans is huge. Between the kitchen and dining room we saw the Vanderbilt family silver and china.

With seventy rooms there are many more pictures that could have been taken. It would take hours to look at all the furnishings and absorb the history of each article and each room. Let it suffice that this really is a grand mansion that very few ever knew.

The Preservation Society of Newport consists of nine houses and mansions. We chose to visit The Marble House as our second tour. The Marble House is another Gilded Age mansion in Newport. Cornelius II, who built The Breakers was the brother of William who became his neighbor. Designed as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt, it was unparalleled in opulence for an American house when it was completed in 1892. The fifty-room mansion required a staff of 36 servants, including butlers, maids, coachmen, and footmen. The mansion cost $11 million of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Upon its completion, Mr. Vanderbilt gave the house to his wife as a 39th birthday present. This was one of their six or seven homes, and like brother-in-law Cornelius II and his Breakers, they only used the home about six weeks a year. The Vanderbilts divorced in 1895 and Alva married Oliver H.P. Belmont, moving down the street to Belcourt Mansion.  She was the first divorcee to maintain her society stature. Alva owned The Marble House herself and used it for many years after the divorce as a large closet to store her seasonal wardrobe and other storage needs.

Marble is everywhere! And where there is not marble, there are walls painted to look like marble! The story goes that with time constraints to finish the building of the summer "cottage", that all of the marble could not be shipped in time so a few walls are faux marble!

Beyond the marble are the furnishings, paintings, accessories, stain glass windows and furniture pieces. Simply stunning!

The chandeliers and the ceiling paintings right down to the corner arch paintings and marble relief frames are all opulent.

The views of Sheep Point Cove from the "cottage" windows are stunning.

Precious metals such as gold are woven in the wallpaper's fabric throughout the cottage. Ava Vanderbilt's bedroom chamber is grand. With all of the servants, the kitchen had to be large in this home as well. In the back garden, Ava had a Japanese Tea House built and was the location for numerous women's rights rallies and social gatherings. Like why use the cottage when you could build your own teahouse, right? While standing next too the Japanese Tea House in the back garden of The Marble House, we looked down the Atlantic Coast's Sheep Point Cove and saw these two huge mansions. Not knowing what they were, doing a little internet hunting, I found their names on the Cliff Walk map of Newport. They are both private residences, not open for public tours. The one on the left is the Fairholme private home and next to it on the right, the Anglesea private home. The Anglesea property boarders next to The Breakers. Not a bad neighbor and neighborhood, eh? Fairholme private home Anglesea private home This whole area in Newport is great to drive and just see some of the architecture and old homes. Driving through the neighborhood, this is one of the homes we passed. Quite a day of seeing that very small part of society life and all of the opulence of Newport. We wanted to drive over to Portsmouth, Rhode Island and visit the Green Animals Topiary Garden also under the Newport Preservation Society. We arrived to gorgeous lush grounds and gardens. Green Animals is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. Green Animals Topiary Garden remains as a rare example of a self-sufficient estate combining formal topiaries, vegetable and herb gardens, orchards and a Victorian house overlooking Narragansett Bay.

The gardens are beautiful full of a variety of flowers that add to all of the topiary animals and sculptures. Beautiful walking paths and a central garden fountain top off the garden experience.

This small country estate in Portsmouth was purchased in 1872 by Thomas E. Brayton, Treasurer of the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company in Fall River, Massachusetts. It consisted of seven acres of land, a white clapboard summer residence, farm outbuildings, a pasture and a vegetable garden. The gardeners were responsible for creating the topiaries. There are more than 80 pieces of topiary throughout the gardens, including animals and birds, geometric figures and ornamental designs, sculpted from California privet, yew, and English boxwood. The Victorian house overlooks Narragansett Bay. And I didn't know until now when I was internet searching that the estate hosted a coming-out party for Jackie Bouvier during the 1947-48 season. As we know, she went on to marry President John F. Kennedy. Her stepfather resided in nearby Newport and she was wed in a local church. How about that!

After checking into the lovely Cleveland House Inn in Newport, we were off to dinner. What a way to end a magnificent day than with a New England cocktail, right girls?

Complete photo album link.