Newport Day 2

August 24th

I love Newport. It is packed with cute shops, awesome boats, old style New England charm, and wicked old society money that built some extraordinary architecture. With the limited time we had, Chris and I squeezed in tours of The Breakers and Rosecliff Mansion. (Too see all the photos, go here.)

Here's a succinct description of The Breakers as cut and paste from Wikipedia:

The Breakers was built as the Newport summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy United States Vanderbilt family. Designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt and with interior decoration by Jules Allard and Sons and Ogden Codman, Jr., the 70-room mansion boasts approximately 65,000 sq. ft. of living space. The home was constructed between 1893-1895 at the then-astronomical cost of more than seven million dollars (approximately $150 million in today's dollars adjusted for inflation).

We were only allowed to take photos on the verandas and of the exterior. Even at that, I think you get the idea. This place was pretty amazing... in a heavy handed 1800's way.

I sort of want to own this chair.

This was the playhouse for the Vanderbilt children. This sucker is three times the size of my current Brooklyn apartment and I have total little girl envy that kids got to play house in here.

Rosecliff was a less oppressive demonstration of cash and an awesome example of the architectural stylings of Stanford White. You may recognize this mansion as it was used for scenes for the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, The Betsy, High Society, True Lies, Amistad and most recently Evening.

Nice view off the back of the property, eh?

We ended our Newport time with a quick jog down Ocean Drive. The fog was thick and the houses amazing. Some even had their own private coves to store their boats.