Inside the Breakers, a Gilded Age Vanderbilt Mansion in Rhode Island

The Vanderbilts hired architect Richard Morris Hunt to design the Renaissance-style home.

Hunt modeled the Great Hall after the Opera House in Paris and the open-air courtyards of Italy in the 16th century, according to the audio tour.

In a nod to the Vanderbilts’ steamship and railroad business ventures, the cherub on the left held an anchor as a locomotive chugged past it. On the right, the other cherub held a sledgehammer and railroad spike.

“It’s really humorous to see classical cherubs celebrating the rise of an industrial empire,” architectural historian John Tschirch said in the audio tour. “But that’s what the Gilded Age was all about — combining the old imagery of the classical world with the technology of the new.”

Outdoor spaces functioned as additional rooms in Gilded Age mansions.

The room was decorated with alabaster columns and Baccarat crystal chandeliers powered by electricity, a state-of-the-art technology during the Gilded Age.

The Gilded Age was named for the practice of gilding, or covering surfaces with a thin, decorative layer of gold.

Mark Twain coined the name as a criticism of the inequality that existed during the period, implying that while the displays of wealth were beautiful on the surface, they also signified an underbelly of corruption.

Marble mosaics covered the entire floor and ceiling. The wrought-iron and bronze light fixture over the billiard table was so heavy it had to be attached to the structural beams of the Breakers in order to stay up.

On an episode of the HBO show “The Gilded Age,” Alderman Morris and George Russell played a round of billiards in this room after dinner.

The acorn symbol represented strength and long life, according to the audio tour. I spotted acorn designs throughout the home on its gilded ceilings and ornate carvings.

In a technique called bookmatching, each piece of marble was cut in half to create two identical slabs for a uniform look throughout the room.

Allard operated interior design branches in Paris and New York during the Gilded Age. The Preservation Society of Newport County possesses the largest collection of Allard’s works.

Conservators assumed that panels on the walls were decorated with silver leaf, but when they never seemed to tarnish, tests with a portable X-ray machine revealed that they were actually made of platinum, chief conservator of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Jeff Moore, said on the audio tour.

Cornelius Vanderbilt played the violin, and his wife, Alice Vanderbilt, played the piano.

In the show, the wealthy Russell family hosted their daughter Gladys’ debut ball at their mansion. The Music Room at the Breakers stood in as the Russells’ ballroom.

The centerpiece of the room, the stone fireplace, came from a French chateau and dates back 500 years.

The walls in the cabinets in the room were crafted from Circassian walnut imported from Russia and Turkey.

Every other box featured dolphin imagery, a symbol of hospitality in the Gilded Age.

Rooms on the second floor featured simpler furnishings designed by interior decorator Ogden Codman.

A portrait of Gladys, who later became known as Countess Széchenyi, hung above her bed.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II only spent one summer in the Breakers before he had a stroke in 1896 and died three years later.

The bathroom next to Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s room featured a marble tub so thick that it had to be filled and emptied several times before it stayed warm enough. Carved from a single block of marble, the tub’s design emulated that of a Roman sarcophagus.

Like most wealthy women in the Gilded Age, Alice Vanderbilt went upstairs to change her clothes several times a day depending on the activity.

The phone connected to call buttons for butlers, housekeepers, and other staff members.

Gertrude Vanderbilt married Harry Payne Whitney, became a sculptor, and went on to found the Whitney Museum in New York City.

The room featured four Neoclassical panels representing the four seasons of the year.

The steps on the grand staircase were designed to be 2 inches shorter than regular stairs. This helped women in long ball gowns descend more easily.

The Breakers contained 33 bedrooms for its 40 staff members, accessible through a servant staircase.

The butler’s pantry also featured a warming oven to keep food warm between courses and cabinets of the family’s china and crystal.

The Breakers’ kitchen appeared as part of the Russells’ mansion in “The Gilded Age.”

The 13-acre property included colorful flower gardens and views of the Atlantic Ocean.

The trees, which can grow up to 45 feet wide, served as a status symbol on large Gilded Age estates.

The Breakers mansion remains one of the finest examples of the extravagant displays of wealth that defined the Gilded Age. Walking through enormous rooms glittering with gold furnishings, painstaking mosaics, and painted ceilings, I felt as if I were touring a European palace — just as its millionaire owners intended.