New Breakers tour plumbs the depths below famous mansion
Posted September 04, 2017 7:00 am
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - Visitors to the spectacular Gilded Age mansion The Breakers in Rhode Island now have the chance to explore its depths with a new tour that shows off the domestic technology that helped make the 70-room building state-of-the art when it was completed in 1895.
The tour of the Newport mansion is a weekend handyman's dream.
It takes place almost entirely underground, and includes a visit to boiler room, a walk through a tunnel as wide as a carriage and time exploring the mansion's basement.
It's a completely different way to look at the house, which draws hundreds of thousands visitors annually.
The Preservation Society of Newport County, which owns The Breakers and several other mansions in Newport, developed the tour in part based on journals kept by a resident house engineer.
This Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo shows the mansion's wine cellar on a "beneath the Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion in Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo visitors on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour listen as tour guid Raymond Roy conducts the tour through a brick tunnel at "The Breakers," in Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo visitors walk through a second floor bathroom at the "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion commissioned and owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in Newport, R.I. The Breakers state-of-the-art 1890's domestic technology seen in the "Beneath the Breakers" tour is what enabled the home to enjoy the benefits of central heating as well as hot and cold running water. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo tour guide Raymond Roy leads visitors through a brick tunnel on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," in Newport, R.I. The tour takes place almost entirely underground, from the boiler room, through a tunnel and into the mansionâs basement. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo tour guide Raymond Roy leads visitors on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," in Newport, R.I. Roy describes the tour as focusing on âthe guts and the gloryâ of the house, as opposed to the âglitz and glamorâ upstairs. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo coal storage bins sit on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion in Newport, R.I. The tour takes place almost entirely underground, from the boiler room, through a tunnel and into the mansionâs basement. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo a visitor on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour views the mansion's original elevator motors at "The Breakers," in Newport, R.I. Visitors to the spectacular Gilded Age mansion The Breakers now have the chance to explore its depths with the new tour that shows off the domestic technology that helped make the 70-room building state-of-the art when it was completed in 1895. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
This Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo shows an air shaft for the gravity feed heating system on a "Beneath the Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion commissioned and owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo tour guide Raymond Roy conducts a tour through a brick tunnel on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion commissioned and owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in Newport, R.I. Roy describes the tour as focusing on âthe guts and the gloryâ of the house, as opposed to the âglitz and glamorâ upstairs. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo a photograph of Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt holding a torch is illuminated by a flashlight during a "Beneath The Breakers" tour at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion commissioned and owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice in Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo visitors on a "Beneath the Breakers" tour walk past duct work attached to one of the coal-fired boilers used to heat at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage mansion in Newport, R.I. The tour takes place almost entirely underground, from the boiler room, through a tunnel and into the mansionâs basement. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 photo visitors on a "Beneath The Breakers" tour view one of the coal-fired boilers used to heat the mansion at "The Breakers," a 70-room Gilded Age summer cottage commissioned and owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in Newport, R.I. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The Associated Press
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