The Elms (Newport, Rhode Island) facts for kids
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The Elms
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U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Contributing Property |
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The Elms, viewed from its great lawn
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 Location in Rhode Island
Location in the United States
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| Location | 367 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, U.S. |
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| Built | 1901 |
| Architect | Horace Trumbauer |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| Part of | Bellevue Avenue Historic District (ID72000023) |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000021 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | September 10, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | June 19, 1996 |
| Designated NHLDCP | December 8, 1972 |
The Elms is a very large house, sometimes called a "summer cottage," located in Newport, Rhode Island. It was finished in 1901. The famous architect Horace Trumbauer designed it for Edward Julius Berwind, a very rich man who owned many coal businesses. Trumbauer got his ideas from an old French house called the Château d'Asnières.
The beautiful gardens around The Elms were designed by C. H. Miller and E. W. Bowditch. In 1962, the Preservation Society of Newport County bought The Elms and opened it for people to visit. The Elms became a special historic place in 1971 and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1996.
Contents
Exploring The Elms Estate
The Grand House
The Elms was built between 1899 and 1901. It cost about 1.5 million dollars to build, which was a huge amount of money back then! Like many big houses in Newport from that time, it was built to be very strong and not easily catch fire. It has a steel frame, concrete floors, and walls made of brick and limestone.
On the main floor, you enter a grand hall with a big staircase and a shiny marble floor. This leads to a large ballroom and then out to the gardens. On one side of the house, there's a dining room, a breakfast room, and a serving area. The kitchens were actually in the basement! On the other side, you'd find a drawing room, a library, and a glass-enclosed plant room called a conservatory.
The second floor had bedrooms for the family and their guests. It also had a private sitting room where they could relax. The third floor was where the house staff, or servants, had their bedrooms.
Beautiful Gardens and Trees
The gardens at The Elms are some of the best in Newport. They were designed to look like French gardens from the 1700s, matching the style of the house. There's even a special "sunken garden" that is lower than the rest of the ground.
The original American elm trees that gave the estate its name sadly died from a tree disease. Now, you'll see beautiful weeping beech trees that provide lots of shade.
Other Buildings on the Property
At first, there was a large building for horse-drawn carriages and stables for the horses. People who worked with the horses and gardens lived in apartments above this building.
Around 1910, the Berwind family started using automobiles instead of carriages. So, the old carriage house was replaced with a huge new garage. It was one of the biggest private garages in America! It even had a special spinning platform, called a turntable, to help the cars turn around inside.
What Inspired The Elms?
The Elms was inspired by the Château d'Asnières, an 18th-century house in France. However, The Elms is not an exact copy. There are some important differences. For example, the sides of the French château have five window sections, but The Elms has only four.
The decorative railing at The Elms is taller and simpler. Also, the triangle-shaped part (called a pediment) on the garden side of The Elms is probably based on a similar design from another French building called Hôtel Porgès in Paris. The Château d'Asnières does not have a pediment like that.
History of The Elms
The Berwind family started spending their summers in Newport in the 1890s. By 1898, their first summer house was too small for all the big parties they wanted to host. So, they tore it down and hired Horace Trumbauer to build a much grander house that fit their important status.
Edward Berwind was considered "new money" because his parents were immigrants, not from old wealthy families. But by 1900, he was very powerful. His friends included important leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. People even said he was "one of the 58 men who rule America."
Edward Berwind was very interested in technology. The Elms was one of the first houses in America to have electricity without any backup system. It also had one of the first electric ice makers! It was a very modern house for its time. When The Elms opened in 1901, the Berwinds threw a huge party.
For the next 20 years, Edward's wife, Sarah, would spend summers at The Elms from July to August. Edward would only visit on weekends because his coal businesses kept him busy in New York. The Berwinds did not have children, but their nieces and nephews often came to visit.
After Mrs. Berwind died in 1922, Edward asked his youngest sister, Julia A. Berwind, to move in and be the hostess of The Elms. When Edward died in 1936, he left the house to Julia. Julia wasn't interested in new technology, so she kept running the house the old way for 25 more years. For example, she never installed washing machines or dryers.
Julia was well-known in Newport. She would invite children from a nearby working-class neighborhood to the estate for milk and cookies. She loved cars and would drive around Newport every day in one of her luxury cars. This was quite unusual for women in society at that time. People even rumored that her social secretary would check the steering wheel for dust before Julia got in!
Saving The Elms
When Julia Berwind died in 1961, The Elms was one of the last Newport houses still run like it was in the Gilded Age. It had 40 servants, and Miss Berwind's summer social season lasted six weeks. Julia had no children, so she left the estate to a nephew. He didn't want it and tried to give it to other family members.
Finally, the family sold the house to a developer who planned to tear it down. But in 1962, just weeks before it was to be destroyed, the Preservation Society of Newport County bought The Elms for $116,000. This price included the house and other buildings nearby.
Since then, The Elms has been open to the public for tours. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1996.
Besides a self-guided audio tour, The Elms also offers a "Servant Life Tour." This tour takes visitors to the basement to see the coal-fired furnaces and the tunnel where coal was brought in. It shows how Mr. Berwind made sure servants were mostly out of sight from guests. On this tour, you can see the laundry room, storage areas, the huge circuit breaker box, ice-makers, the kitchen (called a galley), and the wine cellar. You also get to climb the service staircase to the servants' quarters on the third floor. The tour even goes out onto the roof, where you can see the gardens and a view of Newport harbor in the distance.
See also
- List of Gilded Age mansions
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Newport County, Rhode Island
- Edward J. Berwind House
Images for kids
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Château d'Asnières in France
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The mansion in 1968
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Gardens of the mansion, 1968
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Statue behind the mansion.
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View of mansion from the grounds.
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Fountain outside mansion
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Staircase and entrance hall
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Mrs. Berwind's bathroom
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Carving above central entrance portal
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Ballroom
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Breakfast room
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Library
