Rare African and Italian marbles adorn this Rhode Island mansion – and you can visit

The Breakers’ International Army of 2,000 Craftsmen

When fire burned down his Newport home in 1892, Cornelius Vanderbilt II didn’t think small. He hired top architect Richard Morris Hunt to build something fireproof and grand.

Soon after, an army of 2,000 workers took shifts day and night for two years straight. The $7 million project brought in skilled hands from across Europe.

Entire rooms, like the Music Room, were built in France, taken apart, shipped across the ocean, then put back together by French craftsmen who came just for this job.

The Breakers stands today as America’s most jaw-dropping Gilded Age mansion, where you can walk through rooms built by artisans from around the world.

Flames Destroyed the Original Breakers in a Single Night

Fire tore through Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s wooden Breakers mansion in November 1892, leaving nothing but ashes. Vanderbilt quickly decided to build a fireproof replacement and hired famous architect Richard Morris Hunt.

Hunt got right to work, finishing complete designs within just six weeks after the fire.

The New Plans Called for an Italian Palace on American Soil

Hunt showed Vanderbilt drawings for an Italian Renaissance "palazzo" like the 16th century palaces in Genoa. The huge home would have 70 rooms across 138,000 square feet of living space.

Safety came first with fireproof steel framework and solid masonry throughout. Vanderbilt set aside $7 million for the project, worth more than $200 million today.

Workers Raced Against the Clock to Finish in Two Years

Construction teams started in spring 1893 with a tight deadline.

The Vanderbilts wanted to use their new summer mansion by the 1895 season, giving builders just two years to finish what should have taken five years or more.

Hunt created a new way to manage construction that allowed for amazing speed by overlapping work phases and using ready-made parts.

Thousands of Workers Came From Across the Globe

More than 2,000 workers built The Breakers. Skilled craftsmen came from Italy, France, Austria, and other European countries to join American workers at the site.

Teams worked around the clock in shifts, with construction going day and night without stopping. The project needed so many foreign workers that temporary housing went up nearby for the European experts.

Steel Beams Formed the Backbone of the Mansion

A New York engineering firm designed the steel framework to support the massive building. Workers put together ready-made steel beams from Pittsburgh factories.

The outer walls used Caen limestone brought from the French coast.

Every material in the home helped make it fireproof, from the steel skeleton to the clay floor tiles that replaced wooden floors.

Rare Materials Traveled Across Oceans to Newport

Marble for The Breakers came from quarries in Italy, Africa, and South America. Italian stone experts came to Newport to handle the cutting and setting of these rare materials.

Workers made wood paneling and parquet floors using timber from various European forests. The Morning Room featured stunning red alabaster columns from Algeria.

The Music Room Took a 3,000-Mile Journey from Paris to Newport

The most amazing part was the Music Room, built completely by Allard & Sons in their Paris workshops. French craftsmen made the entire room in France, including walls, ceiling, and all decorative parts.

They took it apart into thousands of pieces and shipped everything across the Atlantic Ocean. A team of French artists came to Newport just to put the room back together.

Each Tiny Tile Was Placed by Hand to Create Stunning Floors

European mosaic masters came to Newport to create the detailed floor designs in the Billiard Room and double loggia. These artists placed each small tile by hand in complex patterns that took months to finish.

The careful work needed special skills passed down through generations of European craftsmen. Some parts of the mosaic floors had thousands of tiny pieces in a single square yard.

Language Barriers Didn’t Stop the International Team

Bilingual construction managers helped coordinate workers who spoke different languages. Austrian-American sculptor Karl Bitter led the decoration teams, working with both European and American artists.

French designers worked with American builders despite not speaking the same language. Special workshops opened on site where craftsmen from different countries could create custom pieces for the mansion.

The Final Months Saw a Push to Honor the Fallen Architect

The last six months of construction saw busy activity with even more workers added to the site. Hunt personally checked every detail as the project neared the end.

Sadly, the architect died suddenly on July 31, 1895, while still watching over the final touches. The construction team doubled their efforts to finish the mansion in Hunt’s honor and meet the summer deadline.

The International Team Left a Monument That Still Stands Today

The Vanderbilt family moved into their new summer home in August 1895, just two years after construction began. The Breakers stood as Hunt’s final and greatest work of architecture.

The international construction methods used on the project influenced how Americans built grand structures for decades afterward.

The mansion still stands today in perfect condition, showing the incredible quality of craftsmanship from workers around the world who came together to create this American landmark.

Visiting The Breakers, Newport

The Breakers at 44 Ochre Point Avenue showcases the massive construction project that brought over 2,000 workers from Europe and America to build Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s summer home from 1893-1895.

You need timed entry tickets ($45 adults, $14 youth 6-17, under 6 free) bought online ahead of time.

Download the Newport Mansions app for audio tours and try the "Beneath The Breakers" tour to see the underground systems. Free parking available on-site.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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