Third Floor of the Breakers in Newport Opens to Public for First Time in More Than a Century

Photography by George Gray/The Preservation Society of Newport County.

For the first time in 129 years, the public can peek inside the private living quarters of the Vanderbilt family during a new “Preservation in Progress” tour at the Breakers mansion in Newport. Tourgoers can see original fixtures, furnishings and decor and watch preservation efforts while traveling through a timeline that stretches from 1895, when the home was built, through 2017. The third-floor living quarters were originally designed for the sons of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife, Alice. The family’s descendants moved into the space in 1948, when the Preservation Society of Newport County began offering tours of the first and second floors. When the society purchased the Breakers in 1972, it allowed family members to remain on the third floor. The space has been vacant since 2018, when Vanderbilt descendants and siblings Paul and Gladys Szapary moved out amid a dispute with society members. The tour starts in the first-floor gentlemen’s reception room and winds its way through Cornelius (“Neily”), Alfred and Reginald Vanderbilt’s bedrooms, bathrooms and a spacious living area facing the Atlantic where, if you look just so, you can see the spot where the ocean waves break, the inspiration behind the mansion’s name. “The goal is to show that there’s a lot of work that goes into these spaces; it doesn’t just come naturally,” says Leslie Jones, the society’s chief curator and director of museum affairs. “It gives people an opportunity to really see what goes on behind the scenes.” The guided tours take place daily at 3:30 p.m. newportmansions.org