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The Breakers stands on the site of Pier
Lorillard IV’s mansion which burned down in
1892. Fearing the possibility of another
fire, Vanderbilt insisted that his mansion
be fireproof. Following his clients demands,
Hunt did not use wooden structural elements.
Instead, he utilized the more expensive
steel trusses. The designers used only the best
construction and finishing materials for the Vanderbilt
mansion. Marble was imported from Italy and Africa.
Expensive pieces of art from all over the world were brought
in. After all, the most expensive house should be furnished
and adorned with the most expensive furniture and décor.
The Breakers houses seventy rooms on an approximately six
thousand square meter area. In the basement are the laundry
and servants’ restrooms. On the first floor are the entrance
foyer, the gentlemen’s reception room, the ladies’ reception
room, the Great Hall which can be accessed through six
porticoes, the main staircase, the arcade, the library the
music room, the morning room, the porch, the lower loggia,
the billiard room, the dining room, the marriage chest, the
breakfast room, the kitchen and its pantry. The second floor
contains more private areas such as Mr. Vanderbilt’s
bedroom, Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bedroom, Gertrude Vanderbilt’s
bedroom and Countess Szechenyi’s bedroom. On the third floor
are eight more bedrooms and a beautiful sitting room with
Louis XVI style walnut paneling. The attic, containing the
servants’ quarters and the storage rooms, can be accessed
from the basement without having to go through any of the
three floors.
In 1899, Cornelius Vanderbilt II suffered a second stroke
and passed away at the age of 56. The Breakers was left to
his wife Alice Gwynn Vanderbilt. After thirty five years,
she, too, passed away and the mansion was inherited by their
youngest daughter Gladys. Gladys leased the property to the
Preservation Society of Newport County for an annual fee of
one dollar. In 1972, the society bought the mansion from
Gladys’ daughter, Sylvia Szapary, for three hundred sixty
five thousand dollars. The third floor was barred from the
public as Sylvia and her family continued to spend their
summers there. Sylvia died in 1988, but her children Paul
and Gladys still make use of the Breakers third floor, while
the floors below are explored by tourists from all parts of
the world.
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