__________ ______________ __-_____________-________________ -. ‘"I. *II.fl.* *%tØ*** *.‘" **.‘.i --II * y*’ * - *t_ I 9 - * ‘I teul eeA ‘4 I A I I I UNITED STATES IEPASTMENI OF THE INTERIOP ;‘u is NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Rhode Island .5 1 - COUNTY NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Newport INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER I DATE Type ii!! entries - Complete applicable SeCtions NAME -- OMMON - ... The Breakers AN 0/On HISTORIC: * Vanderbilt Corneiius..II Hcnise ftcOCAT!ON .1 ., * ./1..... H :H5.j_ .. H .O H.H/.H::: :- 51 RECT AND NUMBER: Ochre Point Avenue CITY OR TOWN: flewpcrt STATE COUNTY: - *[7m . CODE Rhode I3land, O2flhO Newport 005 -- CATEGORY ACCESSIBLE tn OWNERSHIP STATUS C/reck One TO THE PUBLIC El District iEj Building LI PubIC Public Acc1ui Si’on: LI Occupied Yes: 0 Restricted El Si to LI Structure Private LI 0 P roess Unoccupied LI Unre.trtcsed Er Oblect LI Both [3 Being Considered j Preservation work I. in progress LI No U PRESENT USE Check One or More as Appropriate LI Agriu Iturol LI 0 overn-ten? LI Pork [3 Transportation [3 Comments DC El C OrIImerC i ol [3 Hdju al [3 Pri vote Residence [3 Other SpocI’ I LI Educational [3 Miii tory [3 Religious - Entertainment Museum Scientific ‘I, LI --__ flAkE; S UWNIrRs Alice FHdik, Gladys raljlqt Peterson, Sylvia S. 5zapary, Nanine -I tltz, Gladys P.. thoras, Cornelia Uarter Roberts; Euaene B. R&erts, Jr. -1 S w STREET ANd NLIMBER: Lu The Breakers, Ochre Point Avenue CITY ** STATE: tjfl OR TOWN: - --.*** CODE Newport Rhode Island, 028b0 lili iLocATIoNcrLEGALDEsRIpTwN 7COURTHOUSr, REGISTRY OF DEEDS. NrC: Citymall STREET AND NURSER: Broathrav CITY DR TOWN: STATE CODE Thode Island,028b0 6REPRESENTAUdNIMEXITINSURVEYS TITL.t: 0 NSUIfVE Y: ft z -I - 01 F Sn RV E/: Federal State County Local 0 [3 LI [3 LI N xi C:EFUSITONY IOfi SURVEY FfECORr:s: C z S -o e III C 5TH NE T AND NUMBER; S 01 0 z r CITY or. TOWN: 5101 E: CODE U -I S -j _-- __-_- ___________ .*r.r * :1: -- - - - ! bEClPTRJN I I C/IackOnc I ?&I Excellent I_I Good [3 Fair El Dt,terioroted LI Ruins [3 Unexposed CONDITION ---------------- ---r- - One Cltnck One I C/u.k * I LI Altered [% Unaltered J LI Moved 1 Original Site DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL it knot’n’ PHYSICAL APPEARANCE The Breakers was designed by RIchard Morris Hunt for Cornelius - Vanderbilt, 1.1, and was constructed in the years 1893-1895. It is a large redtancular structure about 250 by 150 feet, steel-framed and faced with limestone, of three apparent storeys and a fourth masked hel the cornice beneath a high, decked hipped roof of tile. It rests on a lorr, halustraded, grassed podium in the middle of flat - lagns. and, to the east, overlooks the sea. To the west are the entrance drives and gateways. In general, the exterior style is that of the Italian High Renais sance--of the XVI-Centuny palaces of Genoa and Turin. There is much rich hut controlled academic adornment: columns, pilasters, rustication, arcades, an elaborate brackettéd cornice, heavily-capned chimneys etc. Entnnce is through a prondnent one-storet porte-cochêre on the west front; a slight projection of the south front has a two-st1orey semi- circular hay; two arts extend east from the main block to embrace ar- m caded loggias at first- and second-floor levels and a halustraded, un roofed gallery at third-floor level; a low kitchen wing forms a north ern extension. Immense and overpowering in scale and mass, the house - is nevertheless correct and handsome in style and o:mament, as one might expect in a work of Richard Hunt. - Containing over seventy rooms, the house was intended, and used, for entertaining on a grand scale. The first floor is given over en tirely to this purpose. Around a large, gafleried cortile which is two - C storeys in height--from which the main stair rises and seaward logdas fl open, are the several f’mal salons and the "statett dining-room, which is also of two-storey height. Ornamentation throuØiout all the recep- - - tion areas is extremely lavish.The -interiors reflect the joint efforts of a corps of -decorators; c-flflfly craftsmen -were brought. from Europe. Various marbles, caned stone, caned applied wooden trim, mcu lded and gilded Z plaster, ceiling paintings etc. are all employed, and there are great us chandeliers ar torchéres of bronze and of crystal. Furnishings of palace proportions and of iriod styles, escially designed for the house, are seen, as are draperies and upholstery of rich damasks. This opulence often out of control in other residences of tithe Gilded Age" as all carefully planned through the. taste and genius possessed by Richard Hunt, and therefore all of the elaborate de:orative detail falls into -its rightful place as an ordered and integral part of the over-all design of The EreaIrs. On the second and third floors are bedrothm suites for the owner’s family and for guests. These are treated formally hut simply, m nly in panelled and damask-hung adaptations of French XVIII-Century st3:les; they were decorated and furnished under the supenis ion of the quiet and sensitive architect-decorator, Ogden Codman. The fourth floor provides qunrte for the large number of domestics required for this, house and the way of life which it contained. See Continuation Sheet. Y1it v I - I 1 rL 4 P I2 In 10 SOOn U1411 ED STATES DPAkTMtNT or I NE t t RIOR TA1t- 2 italy 1769 IATIONAL PARK SERVICE - ghode Island - c;OL:Nrv - NATIONAL REGISTER OF NISTORC PLACES -. -I Newport INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM - - -L FOR-NPS ONLY -- . j USE - ENTRY NUMBER DATE .-- eonnuatior Sheet - NrirnbI’r RU ,fl ZI n’çI - 7. Description. -- - Th.. site upon which The flreakers stands--about, thirteen acres--is not a large one few in !-Iwnort are; indeed, it is really not large enough for this palace. Therefore, exccpt.i.nr the grassed and paved platform upoh which the house stands, there ‘,:as wisely no attempt to introduce terraces, gardenc, parterres, ornamental plantings. There are, however, trees--now old and large--partially rorderin the property and flanking its entrance drives, and tercar.somolow shrubberies and trim-red ever,’.reens stratc-t gically but "infonially’ placed. The house has not; -oen used as a residence since 1911h, but it and its contents, the grounds, magnificent ii’onwork of fence and gates have all remained intact and brie en t’.moccahly giaintained ever since the Vander- hilt family first took occunancy in July, 1B95. 9. Major Tihliogranhicn.l References. ,‘ Smales, Holbert T.: ""be Breakers Newport, Rhode Island - Newport, Rhode Island, l975TflO pp. - - - . :7t c-pI cflI-’J82 GNiHCACEL: _______________________________________________________________ -. - !P - : ‘* -- *‘; ‘I -. - - ir.’-’- - - "‘ - "j - - I h in "j* -‘: -- - -- - rc . - PERIOD Check One or More as Appropriate El Pre-Co lumbian El lath Century EJ 18th Century fl 20th Century [1 15th Century El 17th Century 19th Century - -- SPEd FtC DATEISI If Appt;cablo"ncf KnoRzs 1893-1B95 - - AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE Chec-c One OFMIre as Appropriate Aboriginal J Educritian El Political El Urban Planning - Prehistoric Other Specify - El TJ Engineering El P.1 ig ion/Phi - l Historic - El El Industry asaphy Social histonr Agriculture Invention El flJ Science - Architecture - TI Landtcope El Sculpture Art Archisecrure El El Social/Human - -__________ Commerce fl U teroture tarian - - - El Communications fl Military El Theater El Cansorvotian ] Music El Trans parta tia STAT EMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE - The Breakers is surely, and as intentionally, th grandest ef many grand summer houses erected for the extremely social summer cob- nists of Newport--for those Americans who had accumulated great for.- tunes in the XIX t Centiiw and who wished to emulate here the princely grandeurs of Europe in oreous centuries. o Always famous in Newport for its size, its luxury, the formality of its entertaining and the - fmidahle social dictatorship exercised by its builder’s widow when the house was lived in, it is now famous thnughout the United States o as a monument to its era and as a well-shot-rn tourist attraction. In American architectural ard social history this house is the palace and performing-platform excellence of the very rich. It is also a high point, £L an oustandin, nrouction, in the career of the brilliantly adap tive and eclectic, unusually tasteful:, architect, Richard Morris Hunt. z Since the late l9h0’5 this house has ‘-‘een leased by the Vander_ - hilt heirs to The Preservation Society of Newport County which, with the. greatest imaginable care for such a treasure, opens The Brsakers LU for several months each year as a house museum. During these months, w many thousands of the Public pass through the house in groups escorted by knowledgeable iides there is also a well-written guide to the hiildThg nublish6d by the society. Additionally, the house is made available for cultural purposes and for social functions similar to those for which it was originally designed: during the summer seasons the great rooms and cortile have frequently been a background for con certs, ballets, receptions, dinners and halls--especially memorable - occasions when the house has been fully illuminated at night. builderls The heirs are to he ccrrimended for entrusting The Breakers to the Preservation Society, and that society is to he car- mended for the manner in which it displays, interprets and utilises this landma mansion. __________ NATICINAL HISTORIC LANDMARK NOMINATION m Pt !9-P - Wfl NRI t’ a. 1-16 O No. I4-I; ThE BREAKERS Page 1 ____ se W PM Sat - Ngja.I bgt & Htie Pbca Reisnt p 1.