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Newport – Day 5… the Elms’ (not quite a kitchen) kitchen, a wicker toilet and the table that weighs a literal ton.

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Continuing our tour of the Elms, we learned some interesting history of the home before entering the breakfast room.

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When the sister of the original owner passed in 1961, she left the estate to her nephew. Not having the money for its upkeep… he auctioned off all the furniture and sold the property to a developer. Three days before the entire house was due to be demolished, the Preservation Society stepped in, raised funds for purchase and opened it to the public in 1962. Over the decades the Society has bought back a lot of the original furnishings you see here.

But back to the breakfast room. It’s walls are 18th century K’ang Hsi lacquer.

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Superb examples of the art form, this is one of only a few surviving lacquer rooms in the world.

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Next door is the butler’s pantry… where food would be plated before serving.

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The electric dumb waiter connects to the kitchen below and to the upper level of the pantry where the china was stored.

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The silver safe.

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View of the dining room from the pantry.

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Heading up the stairs to the second floor.

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In the center hall sits a large and extreme heavy ( two and a half tons! ) marble table.

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It was sold at the auction of furniture in ‘61… but proved too massive to move and was set to be demolished along with the house.

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The family’s private rooms are on this floor.

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Bedrooms.

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And baths.

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Please note the wicker “throne” in the masters bath below.

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Fit for a king of industry?

The sink is white onyx..

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So, perhaps.

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🤣

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These light fixtures made me smile.

Not sure why.

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Along with the bedrooms, we found the family’s personal sitting room.

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Downstairs was for guests.

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This was a private space, and filled with donated family photos.

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17 thoughts on “Newport – Day 5… the Elms’ (not quite a kitchen) kitchen, a wicker toilet and the table that weighs a literal ton.”

  3. Idiot nephew! Why didn’t he start there – with the Preservation Society and/or when they knew it was for sale why didn’t they step-in from the get go. Yes, rhetorical questions. The place might not be my taste (or in my budget) but it’s significance can not be denied.

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  4. An electric dumbwaiter – now THAT is fancy! As a kid I went to an eye doctor whose office was in an old 3-story house with a dumbwaiter. The lab was downstairs and when I got new glasses they came up on the dumbwaiter – raised by ropes and pulleys.

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