The Breakers Post 2 Contiued

The Breakers was a home that had many workers. There were butlers and in the butler Pantry was the Vanderbilt's fine china and food. The fine china in the Butler's Pantry was locked in a safe every night. The safe was a steel box with a metal lock.

The room after the pantry was the long and gigantic dining room. Every chair was at least one ton and needed a footman to push them in. The chandeliers were all electric lighting, but if the power failed, then the light switch to gas. Cornelius Vanderbilt designed it so that they will always have light. The gas will light up through the round , transparent , glass balls. The dining room reminds me of the Italian Renaissance or French style designs. It reminds me of Louis the XIV palace in Versailles.

The next room on the tour was the Billiard Room. The Billiard Room is faced from floor to ceiling of matching slabs of grey blue marble and matching alabaster arches. There's a pool table and designs of different animals. Can you locate the turtle?
The turtle is the little animal painted on the ceiling. It is the little animal crawling towards the woman's feet.

Richard Morris Hunt designed this home and lived his life in Newport. He was a French Art Student, but he was from America. He was the well known American Architect for his design of the Statue of Liberty. He was the architect of the 5th avenue facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Hunt died in 1895 and was buried in the Common burying ground and Island cemetery in Newport , Rhode Island.

Next stop is the ballroom, the ballroom was the room for the wealthy family's invited guest parties. The ladies would slide down the stairs without tripping because of the low distance between each step. The ceiling has many unique designs including three acorns. The acorns represent the Vanderbilt family. One represents fortune, and another means wealth. The last one means long living. The ballroom held many parties and three orchestras played here at once. There's a piano at the ballroom.

The next room is the music room.The music room was an extremely important room. This
was the place where Gertude Vanderbilt played her music for the world to hear. The piano is next to the window. From the window, you could see the sea. The Breakers was the Summer's social capital during the Guilded Age. They were able to afford this because they did not have to pay Income Tax. So they kept everything that they earned, but when Income Tax was introduced to the nation, the wealthy could not afford to stay at the mansions. The summer's social capital had music to enjoy, parties to enjoy, and a comfort summer retreat. Gertude Vanderbilt recalls,"I remember my mother would left me practice everyday."

The servants and staffs working at the mansion were mainly immigrants coming to America. The mansion opened around the same time as Ellis Island. The staffs were not to be seen in the mansion by the family. Only the butlers, footmans, and male staffers may be seen. The female staffers are forbidden to be seen. The children of the staffers could stay in the mansion and play. However, they must not touch anything and cannot be seen by the family.

One of those children remembers it as a very large and fun place to be in. Although there were many rooms, "I remember every summer that I come here was an exciting moment because very few children could come and play in the mansions. "

Mr. Vanderbilt's bedroom was very plain because he only lived in it for one summer, but Mrs. Vanderbilt's room was decorated in Louis the 16th style. Her room was later occupied ny her daughter, Countless Laszlo Szecenyi. Mrs. Vanderbilt had a dressing room and a closet that had a hidden section. The door merged well with the wall. The doors back then were all cut out from the walls because the staffers did not want to disrupt the family while working. Mrs. Vanderbilt had her own dressing room and indoor bathroom. Mrs. Vanderbilt and the other ladies during the Guilded Age would wear different clothes during different hours of the day. The staff would wash tons of laundry everyday.

The Marble House

The Vanderbilt Family's home was the Marble House. The Marble House was the home of William J. K. Vanderbilt Junior's home. He was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and son of William J. K. Vanderbilt. He was also the older brother of Cornelius Vanderbilt II.(owner of the breakers)

The Marble House was paid by William J. Vanderbilt for his wife, Alva Vanderbilt. Alva Vanderbilt later divorced William , but kept the house, the children and 30,000 dollars. This house has a unique structure. It has French taste in it. There are french designs and several pieces of the home were designed in France. The house was to model the Petit Trinon in Versailles, France. Simular to the Breakers, this house was also designed by Architect , Richard Morris Hunt.

Richard Morris Hunt studied Beaux- Arts in France and for the rest of his life, he was a architect designing Newport Mansions. He lived in a large house in Newport.

He was extremely famous in the wealthly family group in Newport.

The Marble House has a unique ballroom. This ballroom uses gold leaf. It used gold leaf all around the room. There's at least 22 carrot gold in the ballroom. There are Roman gods carved in to the walls. I saw the relief sculpture of the Roman God Possiant. The sculpture shows the god using his Trident in his underwater kingdom.
This room had lots and lots of detail. The lighting has lots of detail that could have taken a month to make.

The next room on the audio tour was the Gothic room. This room has painted or stain glass windows that shows religious stories. There are portraits of the Commodore and his grandson. The room gives a very Gothic and religious feeling. I would feel frightened of the room if it was at night. The room is very dark and gloomy.

The audio tour directs people to the marble hallway and shows tourists the Chinese Tea house. The Chinese tea house was built by Alva Vanderbilt. Alva Vanderbilt wanted to connect Oriental cultures with Western cultures.

Straight ahead there's a portrait of a French King. Then on your right is the library. Alva Vanderbilt loved books. She wanted to have them all. She placed no strains on what her daughter could or could not read. To her books were like heaven.

Alva Vanderbilt was very unique because she was the first to divorce a Vanderbilt, she fought for women's suffrage, and was very social. Alva and William had three children. Then she married Oliver Belmont. She died in Paris France on January 26, 1933.

In the Dining room, there were famous artworks, heavy chairs and a new way of serving food. They served food one at a time, but the food arrives so quickly that
they have no time to eat their food. They could only eat little of everything. '

The chairs that they sat in weighed more than a ton. They had foot mans push the chairs inwards. Only the male staffs could be seen in public. The female staffers at the Mansion were not allowed to be seen in public.

Their were oil canvas paintings and woven artworks.

On the second floor was Mr. Vanderbilt's room, Alva Vanderbilt's room, and the trophy room. Mr. Vanderbilt's room was pretty large in size. The room had a king sized bed with a portrait of him hanging over the fireplace.

In Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt's room was a good looking wallpaper and a king sized bed on a platform. The original wallpaper faded away, so the National Preservation society at Newport recreated a portion of the old wall paper. The old , colorful wallpaper was framed in a glass for visitors to compare the old and the recreated version.

In the trophy room was all the trophies of another Vanderbilt. There were trophies and portraits. One of the portraits was of Commodore Vanderbilt.

To Be Continued