The footprint of the house covers approximately one acre (0.4 hectares) or 43,000 square feet of the 14-acre (5.7-hectare) estate on the cliffs overlooking Easton Bay of the Atlantic Ocean.

[4] The previous mansion on the property was owned by Pierre Lorillard IV; it burned on November 25, 1892, and Vanderbilt commissioned famed architect Richard Morris Hunt to rebuild it in splendor.

[6][clarification needed] The Breakers is the architectural and social archetype of the "Gilded Age", a period when members of the Vanderbilt family were among the major industrialists of America.

The Preservation Society bought The Breakers and approximately 90% of its furnishings in 1972 for $365,000 (equivalent to $2.66 million in 2023)[4] from Countess Sylvia Szapary, Gladys's daughter, although the agreement granted her life tenancy.

Informal plantings of arbor vitae, taxus, Chinese juniper, and dwarf hemlock provide attractive foregrounds for the walls that enclose the formally landscaped terrace.

The wide borders paralleling the wrought iron fence are planted with rhododendrons, mountain laurel, dogwoods, and many other flowering shrubs that effectively screen the grounds from street traffic and give visitors a feeling of seclusion.

Flat-roofed French classical houses built in the area at the time allowed a concealed wing for staff, whereas the Breakers' design did not permit this feature.

Originally installed in the Vanderbilts' 1 West 57th Street (New York City) townhouse dining room, the skylight was removed in 1894 during an expansion of that house.

[citation needed] The house makes an appearance at the end of the establishing shot of the 1990 American drama Reversal of Fortune, where it stands in as the Newport mansion of Sunny and Claus von Bulow, which was instead the nearby Clarendon Court.

Various sites around Newport, Rhode Island – including The Breakers, Salve Regina, and other spaces along the Cliff Walk – will host the collection before it is moved to New York, Miami, Montana, and Los Angeles.

Lantana camara is an invasive weed in India, and threatens elephants and other herd populations by restricting their access to more viable vegetation necessary for survival.