Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United States / Newport / The Vanderbilt
The Vanderbilt
Newport, Rhode Island, United States · Auberge Resorts · High Luxury
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt commissioned 41 Mary Street in 1908, as his marriage to Elsie Tuck French collapsed and Newport gossiped about Agnes O'Brien Ruiz. George S. Chappell finished the Colonial Revival house in 1909; Alfred gave it to the YMCA in memory of Cornelius II and never slept there. He died in 1915 giving his life jacket away on the Lusitania. Auberge restored it in 2018, and it remains the Vanderbilt house in Newport you can actually spend the night in, now with a Michelin Key.
- 33 rooms
- Opened 2018
- Neighborhood: Historic Hill
- Rooms from 300 sq ft (28 m²)
About The Vanderbilt
- The Hidden Bar is a tucked-away speakeasy; Lawn Bar & Restaurant pours New England seasonal cooking for locals as well as overnight guests.
- A private 1920s yacht takes guests onto Newport Harbor, the same water Alfred once coached four-in-hand along Ocean Drive.
- Thirty-three rooms sit an easy walk from the Cliff Walk; AAA holds Four Diamond for 2025.
- Entry-level rooms start at 300 sq ft (28 m²).
History
The building at 41 Mary Street in downtown Newport carries a history more tangled and romantic than its restrained Colonial Revival facade suggests. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, third son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and one of the wealthiest young men in America, commissioned the structure in 1908 at a time when his personal life was unraveling spectacularly. He and his first wife, Elsie Tuck French, were moving toward divorce, and Newport society was alive with the story of his affair with Agnes O'Brien Ruiz, the wife of a Cuban diplomat. Some accounts hold that Alfred built the mansion on Mary Street for Agnes; others maintain it was always intended as a YMCA memorial to his father. Whatever the original purpose, the building was designed by George S. Chappell of the New York firm Erving and Chappell, completed in 1909, and donated to the Newport County YMCA by Alfred in memory of Cornelius II.
Alfred Vanderbilt never occupied it. He died in 1915 aboard the RMS Lusitania, torpedoed by a German submarine off the Irish coast, reportedly giving his life jacket to a woman passenger who could not swim. The YMCA used the building for sixty-five years, until the Newport County YMCA relocated to Middletown in 1974. Doris Duke's Newport Restoration Foundation then held the property as a workshop before selling it in 1995 for conversion to a hotel, at which point a substantial new wing was added.
The building reopened as a hotel under several flag changes before joining the Auberge Resorts Collection in 2018 following a comprehensive restoration that recalibrated the interiors toward the glamour of Newport's Gilded Age. The Vanderbilt — as it is simply known — occupies an unusual position among Newport's luxury addresses: where the famous Bellevue Avenue cottages like The Breakers and Marble House are museums closed to overnight guests, this is the only property that allows visitors to sleep within a building commissioned by a Vanderbilt for himself, whatever his actual intentions may have been.
The hotel is deliberately social in character, with its Lawn Bar and the tucked-away Hidden Bar speakeasy drawing locals alongside guests. A private 1920s yacht allows guests to cruise Newport Harbor on the same waters where Alfred Vanderbilt once drove his coaching horses and coached four-in-hand along the Ocean Drive. The property sits walking distance from the Cliff Walk and Newport's great historic mansions — an ideal staging ground for the concentrated splendor that Newport remains.
The setting
Mary Street in downtown Newport, walking distance from Cliff Walk and the Newport mansions.
Restaurants and bars
- Lawn Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant · New England seasonal
- Hidden Bar — Bar
- The Dining Room at The Vanderbilt — Restaurant · Contemporary New England
- The Conservatory — Restaurant
- The Roof Deck — Bar · New England (cocktails, Rhode Island oysters, light New Engl
- The Reserve Room — Restaurant
Experiences
- The Green Hour — Cocktail hour on a plush velvet sofa in the reimagined Mezzanine, listed among curated time-on-the-coast options.
- Behind the Oyster — Listed among curated Newport experiences offered by the hotel.
- Sunday Roast at the Mansion — Listed among curated Newport experiences offered by the hotel.
- Into the Cask Whisky Tasting — Whisky tasting run from The Reserve Room, the interactive whisky lounge honouring The Macallan.
- Sailboat ride on Narragansett Bay — Sailboat ride on the Narragansett Bay, mentioned as a way to explore Newport.
- Scrimshaw learning — Learning about the time-honored tradition of Scrimshaw.
Amenities
- Spa
- Yacht
- Pool
- Sauna
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Four Diamond (2026)
- MICHELIN One Key (2025)
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