During my Newport visit, I continued my tour of the Vanderbilt summer homes located in the pristine neighborhood of the Bellevue Avenue Historic District. Walking through tall wrought iron gates and down a long tree-lined pathway, I found myself at the most visited attraction in the area: The Breakers. At the time of its completion, The Breakers was the creme de la creme of castle-like architecture ever built in America's most exclusive summer resort community. It was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the second Vanderbilt brother to build a European-inspired "summer cottage" worthy of the Vanderbilt name. It was built between 1893-1895 at the lofty price of $7 million; basically, $150 million in today's configuration! It is interesting to note that the Vanderbilt name stemmed from a Dutch forebearer's village (De Bilt) in Utrecht, Netherlands which later merged with the Dutch words "van der" meaning "of the/ from"....and thus a prominent surname was born. Despite the family's financial decline in the early 20th century, it still remains the seventh wealthiest family in American history. Modern day celebrities from Cornelius Vanderbilt II's branch is his granddaughter Gloria Vanderbilt, and her son CNN 360's Anderson Cooper.
The east wing looking out to the gardens.
Back view of the The Breakers and its oceanfront view below.
Interior pics were not allowed, but these pics were found on the internet.
The Breakers was a 70-roomed mansion that sits on a 13 acre oceanfront estate, that was a "paltry" 65,000 square feet. Until the youngest Vanderbilt brother completed his summer getaway NC home on Christmas Eve of that same year, The Breakers was the most impressively built home in the Vanderbilt family, and in Newport, RI - THE social capital of America at that time.
