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Set on a sprawling 13-acre lot, the Breakers estate has an impressive total of 70 lavishly-furnished rooms spread across 60,0000+ square feet of living space. Cornelius Vanderbilt II purchased the property in the fall of 1885, and it served as his family’s summer home for almost a century. The last Vanderbilt descendants to call it home were Gladys and Paul Szápáry, who moved out in 2018. New York City's iconic Grand Central Terminal (pictured) is a direct result of the original family scion's railroad-tycoon brilliance. The Commodore also dabbled in philanthropy, turning a small college in Tennessee into the venerable Vanderbilt University in 1873 with a $1 million endowment.
Mansions & Gardens
In addition to the usual house tour, check out "Beneath the Breakers," which explores the underground tunnels, boiler room, and basement to give a fascinating view of how emerging technologies like electricity changed daily life during the Gilded Age. Separated by a sister and a brother who died in infancy, William Kissam Vanderbilt was six years younger than Cornelius II. His Newport “cottage,” designed by the same architect who designed The Breakers, is known as Marble House. Because this swanky beaux-arts mansion inspired by Marie-Antoinette’s estate at Versailles features 500,000 cubic feet of American, Italian, and African marble. Although Americans are now more likely to travel by car or plane than boat or train, you can relive the glory of the Gilded Age by admiring the opulent homes the Vanderbilt family built up and down the Atlantic Coast. Many of the glamorous Fifth Avenue townhouses and mansions built by three generations of Vanderbilts in the 1800s and 1900s have been demolished.
Sale and tax history for 2307 Vanderbilt Ln Unit C
The Gilded Age mansion is located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, in Newport, Rhode Island. The Preservation Society moved on with the project, and the $5.5 million, 3,750-square-foot welcome center opened in June 2018. The Society had considered another site for the project, on land they owned right across the street, but decided instead to stick to the estate’s garden.
The House Institute Children’s Center
It’s easy to be impressed by Marble House’s gilded details, grand staircase (made of marble, of course), elaborately painted Venetian ceilings, and cathedral-length stained glass windows. After all, Marble House was used to film scenes for the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan. In the digital age, pioneers like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college to build business empires that would ultimately land them on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in America. Explore the mansion at your own pace with an audio tour narrated by park rangers. Picnics by the lagoon, leisurely strolls through gardens awash in summer’s colors, tastings at our outdoor wine bar… all this and more await your discovery at significant savings!
New faculty appointed to lead residential colleges
Without children of his own, he left the house to Louise’s niece, Margaret Van Alen. At the suggestion of Vanderbilt’s neighbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Van Alen conveyed the house and furnishings along with 200 acres to the United States government. By the time Frederick Vanderbilt purchased Hyde Park in 1895, it already possessed an appealing and illustrious history.

And the world-renowned Whitney Museum of American Art was founded by sculptor and patron of the arts Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney—none other than Gloria's aunt. This imposing Beaux Arts–style mansion, the estate of Frederick W. Vanderbilt from 1895 to 1938, is a true example of a Gilded Age country house. It has been designated a National Historic Site and sits on 200 acres preserved by the National Park Service.
The Breakers Audio Tour
Open house for faculty interested in residential colleges set for Oct. 26 - Vanderbilt University News
Open house for faculty interested in residential colleges set for Oct. 26.
Posted: Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The architectural lines of new house built for the Vanderbilts was derived from the 1847 Langdon mansion that preceded it. Both houses exhibit the same classical concepts of simple blocks articulated by pilasters and a semicircular portico on the river facade. The new mansion, distinguished by its sturdy classicism, is grand, but not overwrought—a testament to McKim’s reserved use of classical vocabulary. Today it’s a National Historic Site, with 200 acres of National Park Service land. The estate is surrounded by Italian—style gardens, with a rose garden added by Frederick himself, complete with nearly 2,000 rose bushes. The third floor offered additional staff bedrooms, as well as a sitting room designed by Ogden Codman in a style inspired by Louis XVI.
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April 4, 2023: Bianca Stone, poetry reading – 7 PM, Buttrick 101 Department of English - Vanderbilt University
April 4, 2023: Bianca Stone, poetry reading – 7 PM, Buttrick 101 Department of English.
Posted: Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Seeing themselves as their American equivalent, they wished to emulate the old world dwellings on American soil, and spent extravagantly to do so, often seeking to one-up each other. Concentrations of such homes developed in the financial centers and resorts of the Northeast, the industrial heartland of the Upper Midwest, and in the rapidly expanding regions of the West Coast, with vacation homes also appearing prominently in Florida. Gilded Age mansions were lavish houses built between 1870 and the early 20th century by some of the richest people in the United States.
Interested in a group tour?
We provide hearing healthcare solutions and hearing aid service suited for your individual needs with Hearing Health Centers located in Bakersfield, Encino, Santa Monica, Orange County and downtown Los Angeles. Gladys’ presence at the Breakers after 1948 was part of a $1 lease between her and the Preservation Society of Newport. She and her family moved into the third floor, installing a “small gate on the grand staircase, to stop any curious visitors from sneaking onto the floor, and converted a servant’s room into a kitchen,” explained Cooper and Howe. Cornelius Vanderbilt II only lived for four years after the house was built, dying of a stroke at age 55. Alice continued to summer in the house until her death in 1934, at which point the house was given to Gladys Vanderbilt, who was then known as the Countess Gladys Széchényi following her marriage to a Hungarian count.
The lavish interiors were designed by Jules Allard and Sons and Ogden Codman, in a style reminiscent of French chateaux like The Versailles. He enlisted the help of renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt, who’s also responsible for the Biltmore Estate, to rebuild the Breakers at 44 Ochre Point Avenue. It was built along the Cliff Walk on Ochre Point Avenue, set on a sprawling estate with jaw-dropping views of the ocean. The Vanderbilts were one of the nation’s wealthiest families, owing their fortune to Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, the 19th-century industrialist and railroad magnate. Tours of the mansion are available, and the property also features an extensive science museum—William was a natural-history enthusiast—as well as a planetarium and observatory. The fairy-tale-like Biltmore House was the summer home of another of Cornelius's brothers, George Vanderbilt, and his wife, Edith.
From a perch above the Hudson River in Upstate New York to the forested hills of North Carolina, you’ll find impressive Vanderbilt estates all along the East Coast. Although women didn’t have the right to vote in America in the 1890s, the Married Women’s Property Act of 1848 paved the way for William to gift Marble House to his wife on her 39th birthday. Alva Vanderbilt would go on to use her beautiful new home — and its spectacular Chinese Tea House, which was modeled after a 12th-century temple — to host women’s suffrage rallies. The Breakers was built by America’s pre-eminent architect for one of the richest families in the world.
As with The Breakers, you’ll want to allow about 90 minutes to tour both the mansion and the grounds of this estate. For detailed information about accessibility, contact the Newport Mansions Preservation Society. As the oldest son of his oldest son, Cornelius Vanderbilt II was a big deal to the Commodore; he was rumored to be his favorite grandson. It is believed that the elder Cornelius was less impressed with the young man’s given name and more by the strong work ethic he displayed at an early age. While the Commodore was a self-made man, Cornelius II inherited $5 million from his grandfather, $70 million from his father, and ultimately took the helm of the family’s transportation empire.
By harnessing the power of steamboats and railroads, he created a transportation empire that would earn him the nickname “the Commodore” and make him the richest man in America by the end of his life. Visitors must bring their own smart device with earbuds/headsets and download the free Newport Mansions tour app before your visit. Printed scripts are available at most mansions and staff appreciate your questions. Before it became the popular Vanderbilt Museum (complete with a planetarium), this Spanish Revival house in Suffolk County was home to William K. Vanderbilt II until his death in 1944. It was built by the architecture firm of Warren & Wetmore, which also constructed Grand Central Terminal.
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