The Elms to Open for Holidays at the Newport Mansions

Starting Saturday, Dec. 7, The Elms will open for Holidays at the Newport Mansions, joining The Breakers and Marble House with lavish decorations including dozens of Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands, fresh floral arrangements, poinsettias, holiday ornaments, antique toys and more.

The Elms has been closed to the public for the past several weeks as HBO filmed scenes there for Season 3 of Julian Fellows’ Emmy Award-winning series “The Gilded Age.” In its place, Chateau-sur-Mer has been open and decorated for the holiday season for the first time in more than 20 years. Chateau-sur-Mer will close after The Elms opens, while The Breakers and Marble House will remain open daily and decorated as they have been since late November.

All Preservation Society houses and properties will close early (at 2 p.m.) on Dec. 24 and will remain closed on Christmas Day. Holidays at the Newport Mansions continues through Jan. 1, 2025.

The Elms was the summer home of the Philadelphia-based Berwind family until the early 1960s, when it was acquired at auction by The Preservation Society of Newport County to save it from almost-certain demolition. Highlights of the house during Holidays at the Newport Mansions include the elegantly decorated tree and mantel in the spacious, French-style Ballroom, and the upstairs Sitting Room with its display of Santa Claus figures made from around 1870 to 1910 in Germany, Russia and the United States.

The guide-led Elms Servant Life Tour will be offered daily at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., illuminating the lives and labors of the people who worked behind the scenes to support the luxurious Gilded Age lifestyle of the rich. This tour explores the servants’ living and working spaces but does not include the main part of the mansion.

Admission to the mansions during the holiday season is by the Newport Mansions’ regular-admission tickets – The Breakers, One Property, Duo, Trio or Access Pass – or is free with membership in the Preservation Society.

See www.newportmansions.org/events/holidays-at-the-newport-mansions for more information.

The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, is a nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area's historic architecture, landscapes, decorative arts and social history. Its 11 historic properties – seven of them National Historic Landmarks – span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.

For more information, please visit www.NewportMansions.org.