Preview
Date
Winter 12-1967
Description
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. Cornelius Vanderbilt II purchased a wooden house called The Breakers in Newport. 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. Hunt directed an international team of craftsmen and artisans to create a 70 room Italian Renaissance- style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin. Allard and Sons of Paris assisted Hunt with furnishings and fixtures, Austro-American sculptor Karl Bitter designed relief sculpture. Novelist Edith Wharton and Boston architect Ogden Codman decorated the family quarters.
Rights
This object from the Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, housed by the Rhode Island College Special Collections, and any of its digital surrogates are the intellectual property of Rhode Island College. This digital object is protected by copyright and/or related rights. The digital material presented here is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This content can be used, shared, or adapted for educational and scholarly purposes. For permissions to use this item please contact digitalcommons@ric.edu. All uses must include appropriate attribution.
Creator 1 Role
Photographer
Creator 2 Dates
1827-1895
Creator 2 Role
Architect
Recommended Citation
Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, MSS-0041, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
Recommended Citation
Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, MSS-0041, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
Keywords
The Breakers; mansions; Newport; historic buildings;
Notes
Bibliography: Jordy, William H, Ronald J. Onorato, and William M. K. Woodward. "Buildings of Rhode Island." Oxford: New York, 2004. p. 561-562.; Yarnall, James L. "Newport Through Its Architecture: A History of Styles from Postmedieval to Postmodern." Newport, R.I: Salve Regina University Press in association with University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 2005. p. 141-144