In Renowned rooms and gardens, we showcase historical homes, zooming in on a prominent room at each attraction. At Newport Mansions – The Preservation Society in Newport, Rhode Island, we take a closer look at the Morning Room at The Breakers.
The Breakers, the grandest of Newport’s collection of stately homes, is a 70-room Italian Renaissance-style palazzo and was the summer cottage of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, his wife Alice Claypoole Gwynne Vanderbilt and their seven children.
The interior of the house’s Morning Room was designed by Richard Van Der Boijen in France, and reassembled at the mansion.
“The Morning Room at The Breakers faces east to catch the rising sun. Can you imagine a more picturesque setting to start your day?” asks Tourism Marketing and Creative Services Manager Barbara Shea. “The four seasons are depicted on the ceiling while the elements are detailed on the door paneling. Platinum-leaf wall panels feature muses from Greek mythology, and portraits in the room include ones of Cornelius Vanderbilt; Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Széchényi, the Vanderbilts’ youngest daughter; and her husband, Hungarian Count Laszlo Széchényi.”
For more information, email Shea or go to newportmansions.org.
Top photo by Newport Mansions – The Preservation Society
Support for Courier articles provided by:
Cheekwood Estate & Gardens
History Colorado
The Huntington Library
