The Breakers, built in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1893 to 1895 as Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s summer residence, became the grandest of the city’s great summer houses and a powerful symbol of Vanderbilt wealth and Gilded Age ambition. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Renaissance Revival style, with lavish interiors by Jules Allard and Sons and Ogden Codman Jr., it was engineered for fire resistance and filled with imported luxury materials. After passing through the Vanderbilt family, it was leased in 1948 to the Preservation Society of Newport County and opened for tours. Now a year-round historic house museum, it is a National Historic Landmark and one of Newport’s most important historic sites.

Newport, Rhode Island · USA