Entertaining at Newport’s turn-of-the-century seaside “cottages” (read: “humongous mansions”) was clearly not a casual affair. But after last year’s austere holiday party season, we must admit that we find the over-the-top opulence of these dining rooms kind of appealing, even if there aren’t exactly any formal banquets looming in our future.
The mansions of Newport were built as summer residences for the barons of the Industrial Revolution and are open to the public year round, but are especially fun to visit this time of year when they are gussied up for the holidays. The first dining room is at the Breakers, a grand 70-room Italian Renaissance-style palace built in 1893 by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The second is at The Elms, built in 1901 and modeled after a French chateau. The third is at Marble House, inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles.
For hours, admissions information, and a listing of holiday events, visit the Newport Preservation Society website.
(Images: 1: John Corbett photo courtesy of The Preservation Society of Newport County, 2: Ira Kerns photo courtesy of The Preservation Society of Newport County, 3: Franco Rossi photo courtesy of The Preservation Society of Newport County, )
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Wow!
Love the Cliff Walk but never dreamed the mansions were so ornate inside. Like the outside better.
view sassydo's profile
Christmas in the Newport mansions was always a huge treat of my childhood. I wish I wasn't now separated by 6(ish) states or I'd totally love to go this season...
view Catherine W's profile
The Newport Preservation Society also has a couple of houses that aren't so guilded. Hunter House -- an 18th century house by the water -- has original Townsend and Goddard furniture, and it's exquisite in a spare colonial way.
There's also a great Victorian house whose name escapes me. It has amazing handblown glass and ceramic fittings in the Arts and Crafts style.
These houses don't have the crowds that the big shiny mansions have, but they're worth the visit.
view Lisa (Montreal)'s profile
Sorry, GILDED, not guilded. (The robber barons were actually pretty bad about guilds and unions...)
view Lisa (Montreal)'s profile
sarah don't be such a tour guide.
There are things goin' on every nite and our friends lived in such freakin' groovy places in Providence.
O dear. should not write when I've been out at night.
view Chloe C's profile
lolz @ Chloe, more late night people like her pls.
view zhenpoo's profile
Seeing how the other half (or, more accurately, the other .05 percent or so) live makes me all the happier for my little pink dining room with thriftshop plates on the wall and no "window treatments" (so I can see the birds and trees and hillside just steps from my house). Thank you, Sarah!
view mirandabee's profile
I'm running for my copy of "The Age of Innocence." God I wish I could eat oysters at that table.
view Britomart's profile
Not exactly my idea of a cozy home.
view mei-ling's profile
I know these rooms are beautifully done and all, but I find them terribly unappealing. Tacky, even. I just wonder if anything REAL could happen in places like these--real conversations, real relationships, real life. They seem so put-upon and pretentious.
view sally305's profile
I was a tour guide at the Newport mansions for years - the Breakers dining room shown above is a fabulous display of gawdy ostentatious decor....but the people love it!!!!!! And showing these homes to visitors is such a hoot.
To see other less opulent homes, go to Green Animals which has a great topiary garden, colonial Hunter House, or the Issac Bell House which is one of the finest examples of shingle style architecture. These homes are such gems. Definitely worth the trip to old Newport, RI.
view lceglie's profile
This kind of interior celebrates and magnifies the people who live within it. It says: "You are a King" (or Queen).
Is it wrong for people to think that way about themselves?
The sterile interiors that we see so often give the opposite vibe: "You are a strand of DNA, nothing more".
Is that a better way to think about oneself?
view ebanfield's profile
ah, i've visited each of these dining rooms...i have r.i. roots...and the elms is my favorite of the bunch. breakers is too big, marble house is too...marble, very cold. great rooms!
view davidsl's profile