The Breakers was built between 1893 and 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Richard Morris Hunt designed it, and the family used it as a summer home.
The Vanderbilts had an earlier mansion on the site, but it burned on November 25, 1892. So the new house was built to be fireproof, using masonry and steel.
Today the house is owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1994.