Architecture
Architecture Corner: The Breakers
THE BREAKERS
A summer cottage. That’s what Cornelius Vanderbilt II, one of the wealthiest Americans of his time, called his 130,000-square-foot palace. A cottage. (I wish I had a 130,000-square-foot cottage.) In 1885 Mr. Vanderbilt, who was a grandson of the railroad and steamship baron Commodore Vanderbilt, purchased the original Breakers. The wooden two-story house located in Newport, Rhode Island, burned to the ground in 1892, and the following year Cornelius Vanderbilt II commissioned the building of a new palace that would serve as his family’s summer residence. He insisted that the new residence be fireproof, so not a single stick of lumber was used in the construction of the new, magnificent palace.
The construction of the new Breakers was finished in 1895. It was the most opulent home of its time, costing a then-mindboggling $7 million to build. The Breakers is an Italian Renaissance palazzo with many Victorian elements. Limestone, Italian and African marble were used for the façade, and the roof is terra cotta tile. The property sits on 13 acres in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods on the East Coast, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The home features 70 rooms. Sparing no expense, Mr. Vanderbilt’s architects purchased entire rooms in France, then shipped them to the U.S. and “installed” them in the Breakers. Each room has its own style, with many being gender-specific (based on their intended uses). Rare wood and mosaics from around the world were used for room interiors. The grandest room of all is the Great Hall, which was used for receptions and special occasions. It was created to look like an open air courtyard in the Italian Renaissance style, complete with columns, arches, and a blue sky painted on the ceiling.
Upon the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt, their youngest daughter, Gladys, took over the Breakers. But the property was expensive to maintain, and in 1948 Gladys leased the Breakers to the Preservation Society of Newport County for $1 per year. Several years later the palace was sold to the same non-profit organization which still owns it. Today the Breakers is a registered National Historic Landmark. It is open to visitors, and is said to be the most popular attraction in Rhode Island.
Architecture Corner: Stick House
“To us, our house was not insentient matter – it has a heart and a soul and eyes to see us… and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence.” This is what Mark Twain had to say about his Stick House near Hartford, Connecticut. He loved his house so much, that when he was forced to rent it out due to financial troubles, according to his contemporaries he seemed to have suffered almost as much as if he had lost a close friend.
Stick style is one of several sub-types of Victorian architecture. The most recognizable characteristic is the “stick work” – decorative halftimbering on the outside walls, similar to the Tudor style. However, while with Tudor homes the stick work is a structural element, with Stick houses it’s just there for decoration. Other decorative elements include ornamental gable trusses, and decorative brackets and braces.
Stick houses are almost always made out of wood (another difference between them and Tudor homes), have high pitched gable roofs, and have brightly painted façades. Balconies and porches are also common, and these homes are most commonly two or two-and-a-half stories high. Stick House first appeared in 1860’s, and it was popularized by many house pattern books over the next two decades. However, by the early 1880’s it started being replaced with the more ornate and fancy Queen Anne style. Still, many fine examples can be found today, and Stick House had definitely earned its place on the list of most beloved American architectural styles.
Mark Twain's Stick House