The Breakers

History

Gardens

Layout

Basement

• Laundry
• Staff's restrooms

  First floor

• Entrance foyer
• Gentlemen's reception room
• Ladies' reception room
• Great hall – Over each of the six doors that lead from the Great Hall are limestone figure groups celebrating humanity's progress in art, science, and industry: Galileo, representing science; Dante, representing literature; Apollo, representing the arts; Mercury, representing speed and commerce; Richard Morris Hunt, representing architecture; and Karl Bitter, representing sculpture.
• Main staircase
• Arcade
• Library – The library has coffered ceilings painted with a dolphin, symbolic of the sea and hospitality, supported by Circassian walnut paneling impressed with gold leaf in the form of a leather-bound book. Between the ceiling and the gold paneling lies green Spanish leather embossed with gold, which continues into the library from the alcove where the inhabitants played cards. Inside the central library rest two busts; the bronze bust depicts William Henry Vanderbilt II, the oldest child of Cornelius II and Alice, who died of typhoid at the age of 21 while attending Yale University. There is now a library at Yale dedicated to William Henry Vanderbilt II. The second bust, in marble, is of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The fireplace, taken from a 16th-century French chateau, bears the inscription "I laugh at great wealth, and never miss it; nothing but wisdom matters in the end."
• Music room – The room's open interior was used for recitals and dances. Its woodwork and furnishings were designed by Richard Van der Boyen and implemented by Jules Allard and Sons. The room has a gilt coffered ceiling lined with silver and gold, as well as an elliptical ceiling molding which bears the inscription in French of song, music, harmony and melody. Around the edge are the names of well-known composers. The fireplace is of Campan marble and the tables were designed to match. Mr. Vanderbilt was known to play the violin and Mrs. Vanderbilt the piano, which is a Second Empire French mahogany ormolu mounted piano.
• Morning room – This room, a communal sitting room facing east to admit the morning sun, was used throughout the day, and was designed by the French company head Jules Allard. Placed around the room are platinum-leafed panels illustrated with 8 of the 9 muses. All interior woodwork and furnishings were designed and constructed in France, then shipped to America before assembly.
• Lower loggia
• Billiards room – This room, in the style of ancient Rome, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt and shows his competence in stone works. The great slabs of Cippolino marble from Italy form the walls, while rose alabaster arches provide contrast. Throughout the room there is an assortment of semi-precious stones, forming mosaics of acorns and billiards balls on the top walls. The Renaissance style mahogany furniture provides further contrast with that of the colored marble.
• Dining room – The dining room is the house's grandest room and has 12 freestanding rose alabaster Corinthian columns supporting a colossal carved and gilt cornice. Rich in allegory, this room serves as an exemplar of what 19th-century technology could do with Roman ideas and 18th-century inspiration. On the ceiling, the goddess Aurora is depicted bringing in the dawn on a four-horse chariot as Greek figures pose majestically. A 16th-century style table of carved oak seats up to 34. Two Baccarat crystal chandeliers light the room with either gas or electricity, and 18, 22 or 24 carat gold gilt adheres to the wall through rabbit skin glue.
• Breakfast room – The breakfast room, with its modified Louis XV style paneling and furnishings, was used for family morning meals. The furnishings, colors and gilt, although still extravagant in their use, contrast with the dining room's more lavish decoration.
• Pantry – A central dumbwaiter serves to bring additional china and glassware down from the mezzanine level. The pantry was also used for the storage of the family's table silver; this was brought with the family when they traveled, and stored in a steel vault. An intercom system allows the butler to direct the necessary servants to their needed locations, and each number on the caller corresponds to a number on a room.
• Kitchen – The kitchen, unlike others in the time period, was situated on the first floor away from the main house to prevent the possibility of fires and cooking smells reaching the main parts of the house. The well-ventilated room supports a cast iron stove, which heats up as a single element through a coal burning stove. The work table is made of zinc, a metal which served as the forerunner to stainless steel; in front of it is a marble mortar used to crush various ingredients. Ice cut from the local ponds kept the side rooms cool where food was stored, and facilitated a colder room for the assembling of confections. The kitchen and baking pantry each have one dumbwaiter that travels to the basement level where groceries were delivered and refuse removed.

  Second floor

• Mr. Vanderbilt's bedroom – As with the rest of the second floor, Ogden Codman designed this room, choosing Louis XIV Style. The bed is made of carved walnut finish and the mantel is of rouge royal marble, which hosts a large mirror above to bring more light into the room. There lies much memorabilia of family and friends, though Cornelius Vanderbilt II lived only a year at the Breakers in good health, before dying the following year, 1899, of a stroke.
• Mrs. Vanderbilt's bedroom – Designed as a perfect oval, Alice Vanderbilt's room accommodates multiple doors, though they are cut into the wall to leave an undisturbed picture of geometric perfection, that connect the bedrooms. Alice had four closets to allow for her possible seven clothing changes per day, and a pager to administer and relegate family needs to the servants. This room also served as her study and had many bookshelves. Additionally, there are discreetly designed corridors that permitted female servants to maintain the laundry and costume needs of the family in a seemingly invisible fashion.
• Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt's bedroom – Gertrude, daughter of Cornelius II and Alice, was a less conforming character who wished to be loved for her personality rather than her wealth and family, and later found her match in Harry Payne Whitney, and became an artist. Around the room there lie multiple pieces of her art work, including "The Engineer", which was inspired by her brother during World War I, "Laborer", and another that commemorates the American Expeditionary Force of World War I. She moved into The Breakers when she was 19. Above her bed is a portrait by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta of Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt at 5 years old, and beside that, to the left of the bed, is a sketch of her as a young woman.
• Upper loggia – Serving as an informal living room, the upper loggia faces east, and opens to the Atlantic. During the summer, when needed, the glass doors overlooking the great hall could be opened to allow a breezeway. The walls are painted marble, and the ceiling is designed to depict three canopies that cover the sky. The lawn, designed by James and Ernest Bowdwitch, hosted many parties and was well kept by a gardening staff of 20, who also introduced and maintained various non-indigenous trees.
• Guest bedroom – This room exemplifies the Louis XVI style through furniture, woodwork and light fixtures, with Neoclassical style abounding in the interior. The wall paneling has never been retouched, though the rest of the room has been restored by the preservation society.
• Countess Szechenyi's bedroom – Designed by Ogden Codman in 18th-century simple elegance style, this room features an ivory and cream-colored design.
• There are also two other rooms located on the second floor, possibly a nursery and a nanny's bedroom.

  Third floor

Attic floor

Materials

• Foundation: brick, concrete, and limestone
• Trusses: steel
• Walls: Indiana limestone
• Roof: red terra cotta tile
• Wall panels: platinum leaf
• Other: marble, wrought iron

  The architect

New welcome center controversy

Footnotes