Information
Landmark: The ElmsCity: Newport RI
Country: USA Rhode Island
Continent: North America
The Elms, Newport RI, USA Rhode Island, North America
Overview
The Elms stands among Newport’s most graceful Gilded Age mansions, blending French elegance with bold American confidence, its limestone façade glowing softly in the afternoon sun, simultaneously finished in 1901 for Edward Julius Berwind, a Pennsylvania coal magnate, the estate blends the lavish spirit of its time with the crisp, measured lines of European design.From its spot along Bellevue Avenue, it shows a balanced, restrained elegance, the kind that feels quietly grand-especially beside neighbors flaunting vivid awnings and ornate trim, on top of that edward and Herminie Berwind hired architect Horace Trumbauer to create a home modeled after the Château d’Asnières, an elegant 18th‑century country estate just outside Paris, with pale stone walls and tall, sunlit windows.Trumbauer, celebrated for his command of Beaux-Arts design, crafted a limestone showpiece that echoed French classical ideals-graceful proportions, crisp lines, and ornamentation so subtle it felt like the gentle shadow along a carved edge, subsequently work started in 1899, and by the summer of 1901, The Elms welcomed guests as a retreat grand enough to match any palace in Europe, its marble steps cool beneath the afternoon sun.The estate cost more than $1.4 million-a staggering sum back then-and drew praise for its cutting-edge design, with one of Newport’s first fully wired electrical systems, hidden servant elevators, and heating ducts tucked away to keep the rooms quietly warm, what’s more interior Elegance: Inside the mansion, every room feels balanced and refined, from the soft glow on polished floors to the gentle curve of carved doorframes.Every room carries a steady architectural pulse, adorned with European paintings and worn antique chairs Berwind gathered on his journeys, meanwhile the Ballroom sits at the center of the house, a dazzling room of gilded panels, mirrored walls, and frescoes overhead that make the light seem to stretch forever.The dining room, with its green marble pilasters and glittering crystal chandeliers, was built for lavish dinners, seating up to fifty guests under the soft gleam of polished silver and glass, besides in the Drawing Room and Library, luxury feels closer and more personal, with silk walls that catch the light, carved wood that’s warm to the touch, and fine moldings that quietly speak of care and craft.Tall glass windows frame the Conservatory, which opens straight onto the gardens, letting sunlight spill inside and carrying in the soft scent of fresh blooms, equally important even the service areas tucked away in the basement show remarkable care, right down to the polished brass handles on the doors.Beneath the house ran a maze of secret corridors, rattling lifts, and a coal delivery track that kept everything humming without a sound, a setup hailed as groundbreaking in its day, on top of that the gardens and sweeping lawns of The Elms, shaped by Ernest W, spill out in neat rows and shaded paths beneath tall, rustling trees.Bowditch sprawls over ten acres of terraces, where fountains splash and stone figures stand in the crisp symmetry of an 18th‑century French garden, simultaneously a wide allée guides you between clipped green hedges toward a marble-and-bronze fountain, and marble pavilions with scattered sculptures break up the sweep of the lawns.Behind the mansion, a wide terrace looks out over a tumbling cascade, its spray catching the light between marble railings and the deep green shade of the elms that named the estate, what’s more on summer afternoons, sunlight dances off the water and warms the pale stone, giving the whole scene a gentle glow and making it one of Newport’s most picture-perfect spots.In the Berwinds’ era, Edward Berwind stood out as a disciplined, reserved figure, admired for his sharp business sense and an unyielding commitment to proper etiquette-never a cufflink out of spot, in turn the Vanderbilts chased grand society events, while the Berwinds kept things polished and orderly, like a table set with every fork in its precise region.Just so you know, Their gatherings had a quiet elegance, with paintings on the walls, soft music drifting through the room, and conversations that lingered on ideas instead of showy displays, likewise when Edward died in 1936, his sister Julia Berwind stayed on at The Elms, keeping the grand timeworn mansion just as it had been for decades-the heavy velvet curtains still drawn against the afternoon sun, for the most part She died in 1961, and the house was nearly torn down; donations poured in, and the Preservation Society of Newport County stepped in to buy it, keeping its tall, weathered doors open as a historic landmark, in conjunction with today, at The Elms, visitors step into the calm elegance of Newport’s Gilded Age, guided by audio tours and invited behind the servants’ doors to detect the clinking silver and hidden machinery that kept luxury running.As they wander the corridors, visitors can almost catch the soft shuffle of butlers and maids slipping away through narrow, secret stairs, not only that the gardens are still among the estate’s most captivating spots, especially in the golden glow of late afternoon, when long shadows slip over the marble balustrades and the fountains murmur through the warm air.Just so you know, In the end, The Elms leaves a quieter, more restrained impression, a world apart from the glittering grandeur of The Breakers or Marble House, moreover its beauty rests in balance-the calm harmony of stone and symmetry, where careful craftsmanship meets the quiet patience of restraint.From the rear terrace, the scent of freshly clipped boxwood drifts past as the faint rumble of the sea carries in, and you can feel the quiet perfection of an era that prized elegance above everything.
Author: Tourist Landmarks
Date: 2025-10-26
