The Preservation Society of Newport County

What The Preservation Society of Newport County does

The Preservation Society of Newport County, founded in 1945 and operating as a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 05-0252708), preserves and interprets 11 historic properties in Newport and Portsmouth, Rhode Island—seven of them National Historic Landmarks spanning colonial through Gilded Age American architecture. Its flagship asset is The Breakers, a 138,300-square-foot Vanderbilt mansion built 1893–1895 by Richard Morris Hunt; the portfolio also includes Marble House, The Elms, Rosecliff, Chateau-sur-Mer, Chepstow, Kingscote, Isaac Bell House, Hunter House, Green Animals Topiary Garden, and the Breakers Stable & Carriage House. The organization monetizes visitation through tiered admission tickets ($25–$57 adult), annual memberships and Access Passes ($75–$199+), specialty guided tours, venue rentals for weddings and corporate events, on-site dining operated by Stoneacre Restaurants, and museum retail, while supplementing earned revenue with an Annual Fund, planned giving (Conservators Circle), and corporate sponsorships ranging $10,000–$350,000. Its digital ecosystem is conventional rather than technologically distinctive: a responsive website (newportmansions.org) with online ticketing and timed-entry reservations, a free iOS/Android mobile app delivering multilingual audio tours, virtual tours of nine properties, email marketing via Constant Contact, and paid acquisition through Google, Bing, TikTok, and Facebook channels. The society's most powerful distribution asset is its media association with HBO's Emmy Award-winning The Gilded Age, filmed across seven of its properties and converted into paid specialty tours and cross-promotional content.

Name

The Preservation Society of Newport County

Legal name

The Preservation Society of Newport County

Website

https://newportmansions.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1945

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Preservation Society of Newport County is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1945 that preserves and interprets 11 historic properties—7 National Historic Landmarks—in Newport and Portsmouth, Rhode Island, serving hundreds of thousands of cultural tourists annually through ticketed admission, memberships, dining, and events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Historic House Museums

NAICS

Historical Sites (712120), Historical Sites (71212), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

akta.pro primary industry

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Historic Preservation & Landmarks Conservation (BPAGAHAE), City Squares, Old Towns & Landmark Districts (THAJACAJ), Cultural Heritage & Historic District Tours (THAJAAAB)

Keywords

• Historic preservation
• House museums
• Cultural tourism
• Gilded age mansions
• Museum membership programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Newport

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Admission Tickets: The society generates primary revenue through tiered admission tickets for individual mansions and combination packages. Ticket types include: The Breakers ($32 adult), The Breakers + 1 ($45 adult), The Breakers + 2 ($57 adult), and One Property ($25 adult). Specialty tours carry separate pricing (e.g., Beneath The Breakers $25, Inside The Gilded Age $275). Children 5 and under are admitted free.
2. Annual Memberships: Annual memberships provide unlimited general admission to all open properties for one year. Membership tiers include Individual ($115), Pineapple for RI residents ($140), Dual ($160), and Family ($199). Premium membership levels are also available. Members enjoy priority access, discounts, and exclusive events.
3. Access Pass: Unlimited general admission to all open properties for one year for a single named individual at $75 per year. Does not include specialty tours or events.
4. Annual Fund and Charitable Donations: The nonprofit raises essential operational funding through its Annual Fund and capital gift campaigns. Donors can contribute via check, credit card, stock gifts, matching gifts, and endowment donations. The Conservators Circle recognizes planned giving donors including those with bequests, charitable trusts, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and life insurance.
5. Corporate Partnerships and Sponsorships: Corporate sponsorship opportunities range from $10,000 to $350,000 and include visibility benefits. Partners in Preservation (Bartlett Tree Experts, BankNewport, Grande Masonry) make major unrestricted financial contributions.
6. Venue Rentals and Private Events: The mansions serve as venues for museum rentals, weddings, corporate events, commercial filming and photography, and personal photography on grounds, generating rental income.
7. Dining and Retail: On-site food and beverage operations including The Breakers Café, the Chinese Tea House at Marble House (operated by Stoneacre Restaurants), and the newly opened Carriage House at The Elms dining experience. Retail sales at museum stores and the Welcome Center Café.
8. Museum Store Sales: The Newport Mansions operates museum stores at properties and a flagship store at Bannister's Wharf in downtown Newport, selling merchandise related to the properties and collections.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Preservation Society of Newport County is a nonprofit organization that acquires, preserves, and interprets 11 historic house museums and gardens in Newport and Portsmouth, Rhode Island, collectively known as the Newport Mansions. It sells admission tickets, specialty guided tours, annual memberships, and venue rentals, and earns additional revenue through on-site dining, museum stores, corporate sponsorships, and charitable donations. Its core mission is to protect and present 250 years of American architectural heritage, including seven National Historic Landmarks spanning the colonial era through the Gilded Age.

Product overview

The Preservation Society of Newport County operates 11 historic house museums and gardens collectively known as the Newport Mansions. The portfolio includes National Historic Landmarks (The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Chateau-sur-Mer, Hunter House, Isaac Bell House, and Kingscote) and properties spanning from the Colonial era (Hunter House circa 1748) through the Gilded Age (1890s-1900s). The product ecosystem encompasses physical admission to these properties, complemented by self-guided audio tours and kids audio tours accessible via a free mobile app available on iOS and Android. Specialty offerings include behind-the-scenes tours (Beneath The Breakers, Third Floor Preservation, Servant Life), exclusive experiences (Inside The Gilded Age HBO tour), and rotating exhibitions (Revolution Reimagined). Dining amenities include The Breakers Cafe, Chinese Tea House at Marble House, and Carriage House at The Elms. Membership and Access Pass programs provide tiered recurring revenue with benefits including unlimited admission, NARM reciprocity, and priority access to events.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Breakers The flagship 138,300-square-foot Gilded Age mansion built 1893-1895 by Richard Morris Hunt for Cornelius and Alice Vanderbilt II; a National Historic Landmark open to the public for self-guided and specialty tours.
• Marble House National Historic Landmark built 1888-1892 for William K. Vanderbilt, modeled after French Neo-Classical architecture and a signature social and architectural landmark of Newport.
• The Elms Edward Julius Berwind's 1898-1901 summer estate designed by Horace Trumbauer, modeled after the Château d'Asnières outside Paris; a National Historic Landmark.
• Rosecliff 1899-1902 Stanford White-designed mansion built for Theresa Fair Oelrichs, featuring the heart-shaped grand staircase and Newport's largest ballroom; serves as the primary rotating exhibition space.
• Chateau-sur-Mer 1852 High Victorian mansion built for China trade merchant William Shepard Wetmore; a National Historic Landmark considered Newport's first true mansion.
• Chepstow 1860 George Champlin Mason-designed villa with the original Morris-Gallatin furnishings and significant 19th-century American art collection; offered by guide-led tours.
• Green Animals Topiary Garden The oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States, featuring more than 80 topiary figures across 7 acres overlooking Narragansett Bay.
• Hunter House Circa 1748 Georgian Colonial residence and National Historic Landmark; the founding property of the Preservation Society.
• Isaac Bell House 1883 McKim, Mead & White-designed residence recognized as one of the finest surviving examples of shingle-style architecture in the United States; National Historic Landmark.
• Kingscote 1839-1841 Gothic Revival landmark whose appearance in Newport marked the beginning of the cottage boom era; National Historic Landmark.
• The Breakers Stable & Carriage House

Quantifiable outcome

• HBO's The Gilded Age has been filmed at 7 Newport Mansions across multiple seasons, driving significant visitor interest and media coverage.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transit Authority)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 22 May 2026RIPTA Route 67 trolley provides free, hop-on hop-off service from the Gateway Transportation Center downtown to Marble House, Rosecliff, The Breakers, and The Elms from May 22 through October 31, 2026. Supported by Discover Newport and the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island.
• Stoneacre RestaurantscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorStoneacre Hospitality Group operates dining experiences at the Newport Mansions, including afternoon tea and brunch at the Chinese Tea House (Marble House) and the newly opened Carriage House at The Elms. Reservations are managed through Resy. The partnership provides exclusive dining options for members and ticket holders, enhancing the visitor experience.
• Discover NewportminorGTM or Marketing PartnerDiscover Newport supports RIPTA Route 67 trolley service to the Newport Mansions, promoting tourism and visitation to Newport County properties.
• Episcopal Diocese of Rhode IslandminorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island supports RIPTA Route 67 trolley service to the Newport Mansions, providing free public transit access to the properties.
• HBOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHBO's Emmy Award-winning historical drama 'The Gilded Age' created by Julian Fellowes was filmed at seven Newport Mansions: The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Rosecliff, Chateau-sur-Mer, Kingscote, and Hunter House. The society collaborates on cross-promotional content including a dedicated deep-dive episode guide and 'Inside The Gilded Age' specialty tours, driving significant visitor engagement.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Historic New England: Historic New England is the largest regional heritage organization in New England, operating more than 30 historic house museums across the region with a similar preservation, interpretation, and admissions model. Both organizations steward multiple National Historic Landmark properties, run membership-based access programs, and share overlapping donor and visitor constituencies in the Northeast.
• The Biltmore Company: Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC is America's largest privately-owned historic house museum and a comparable Gilded Age-era Vanderbilt property. Both operate ticketed mansion tours, on-site dining, retail, seasonal events, and membership programs around a single signature historic estate, and they share a comparable visitor demographic and price point.
• Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library: Winterthur is a former du Pont estate in Delaware operating as a house museum, garden, and library with ticketed admission, specialty tours, and membership tiers. It is comparable in scale, mission, and visitor experience to the Newport Mansions, particularly Marble House in its Gilded Age decorative arts focus.
• Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello): Monticello is a National Historic Landmark house museum operated by a private nonprofit foundation, charging timed-entry admission with specialty behind-the-scenes tours and multi-tier memberships. It is one of the closest operating analogs to the Preservation Society in terms of nonprofit governance, scale, and visitor programming model.
• The Frick Collection: The Frick Collection operates a historic Gilded Age mansion museum in New York City with ticketed admission, audio tours, and a membership-driven operating model. It overlaps directly with the Preservation Society in audience, architectural period (Henry Clay Frick's mansion), and use of the historic home as a curated visitor experience.
• California State Parks - Hearst Castle: Hearst Castle is a Gilded Age mansion museum on the California coast offering ticketed mansion tours, specialty tours, on-site dining, and seasonal events. It is directly comparable to The Breakers and other Newport Mansions in scale, Gilded Age provenance, and visitor programming model.
• Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site (National Park Service): The Vanderbilt Mansion NHS in Hyde Park, NY is a National Historic Landmark Vanderbilt estate operated for public visitation under the National Park Service. It shares a direct architectural and family-provenance link to The Breakers and Marble House, and follows a comparable interpretation and tour-based operating model.
• Marble House (cross-listed as distinct peer via Breakers Family estates) - operated by same organization: Marble House is owned and operated by the Preservation Society itself and is the most directly comparable individual asset to The Breakers in terms of scale and Gilded Age provenance. It is included as a benchmark for self-comparison rather than an external peer.

Broad incumbents

• National Trust for Historic Preservation: The National Trust is the dominant U.S. private preservation organization, operating roughly two dozen historic sites nationwide and serving as an advocacy and grant-making umbrella. It sits one level above the Preservation Society in scope but shares the same preservation mission, donor base, and advocacy posture.
• Smithsonian Institution: The Smithsonian operates a portfolio of 21 museums, galleries, and a zoo with a shared ticketing, membership, and educational programming model. It is much larger and federally chartered, but it sits in the same nonprofit cultural-institution ecosystem and competes for tourism, donor, and corporate-sponsor attention.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NewportMansions
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/NewportMansions
• Facebookfacebook.com/NewportMansions
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/preservation-society-of-newport-county
• Instagraminstagram.com/newportmansions

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Preservation Society of Newport County