Vanderbilt family in public spat over family mansion

NEWPORT, R.I. — The Vanderbilt family, once synonymous with American wealth and power, has fallen into a fullblown public spat with a historic preservation organization that now owns one of their spectacular mansions.

The conflict revolves around the Breakers, a landmark 70-room estate in the state of Rhode Island on the Atlantic Ocean, which the Vanderbilts, a family of wealthy industrialists, built in the late 19th century.

In the late 1940s, Countess Szechenyi, the daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a leading railroad magnate who constructed the mansion, leased the downstairs part of the residence for $1 per year to the Preservation Society of Newport County, then a fledgling local group that was trying to save the city’s famous, but vacant, Gilded Age mansions from the wrecking ball. The countess and her family moved into rooms on the third floor.

In 1972, Szechenyi’s heirs sold the house to the Preservation Society for $366,000 US. But her daughter, Countess Szapary, was invited to stay. After Szapary’s death, her children, Gladys, now 62, and Paul Szapary, now 65, were invited to remain on the third floor, rent free.

Gladys Szapary now says that the Preservation Society is out to evict the family from the mansion, where she has summered her entire life. “I’m waiting for them to throw my clothes out the window,” she said.

But there is also another issue at stake — the Vanderbilts believe the home is not being run properly.

They are objecting to a proposal put forth by the Preservation Society to build a visitor centre on the grounds. The society said the centre would be tucked in a little-used portion of the 5.3 hectare estate and would provide a sheltered and handicappedaccessible place to buy tickets, use the bathroom, and purchase snacks and sandwiches.

But many neighbours and preservationists objected, saying it would detract from The Breakers’ status as a National Historic Landmark. They argue the proposal is an example of the society sacrificing its mission to preserve history as it hunts for new ways to make money.