2024 Life Logs, Day 88: Newport Mansions Field Trip
Date: Thursday, March 28, 2024
Weather: Rain and More Rain; High Temp 49, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Oh, the weather outside was frightful, but it ended being a great day for touring inside two of Newport’s mansions, Marble House and The Breakers. 
The Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 by the younger Vanderbilt brother, William. It was a 39th birthday present for his most interesting wife, Alva. Three years after its completion, the Vanderbilts were divorced and Alva got custody of the children and the summer cottage, Marble House. Marble House is an opulent 50 room mansion of the Gilded Age, certainly not a cottage. But it was built at the time that the wooden summer cottages of Newport were torn down and replaced with mansions used as summer homes by the wealthy. To the Vanderbilt’s, it was their summer cottage.
The Breakers (phot borrowed from Wikipedia) was rebuilt by the older Vanderbilt brother, Cornelius. The original mansion on the property burned to the ground and was rebuilt to be as fireproof as possible. It is a 70 room mansion built of masonry and steel trusses with no wooden parts in the structure. To give you an idea of size, the front entry way, known as The Great Hall, is the size of a formal ballroom and was used for that purpose. When the rebuild was completed in 1895, The Breakers was the most opulent house in Newport. Unfortunately, Cornelis died four years later at age 55, leaving the mansion to his wife.
The younger Vanderbilt brother, William, and his wife Alva were both forceful personalities. Women’s suffrage was her passion and William loved sailing much more than running the family railroad empire. Marble House had personalities, but The Breakers won my heart with its library
and fabulous kitchen and butler’s pantry, plus the Upper Loggia (second floor) overlooking the water. This is a huge stone and tile porch connecting the bedrooms on one side of the mansion with the bedrooms on the other side and was used as an open-air living room. Today the visibility was zero, so I must visit it again on a sunny day to enjoy the view.
Tomorrow is the beginning of a three-day weekend. As there is no school tomorrow, Ollie is having his trampoline birthday party with friends in the afternoon. We are traveling to Plymouth for that. And then tomorrow evening my dining-in group is gathering at Christina and Warren Brodies. Let the parties begin!
