The Elms offers "behind the scenes" tours of some normally off-limits
spaces for an additional fee.
Being habitually interested in the underlying
infrastructure of things, our group signed up for it.
Click any picture for its somewhat larger (640 x 480) version.
The tour begins in the servants' areas, with the premise that we'll now see some of the house from the point of view of its support staff. Are we ready to go to work?? |
Water heater tanks |
The coal storage room at the southern end of the house, under the conservatory,
and the beginning of the delivery tunnel that runs under the property all the
way out to a hatch beyond the perimeter wall on Dixon St. The tunnel has coal
carts on rails to shuttle the loads in and move them over toward the boilers.
Unfortunately one of the old carts [that doesn't roll very well anymore] is
parked right in the end of the tunnel here, blocking access into it.
This was one of many aspects of the design of The Elms to completely hide any aspects of the house's operation from the residents and guests -- keeping most servants and all service facilties and infrastructure out of sight, underground or under thick wisteria arbors, and sequestered in special gallery areas. [It's hard to understand how simply being filthy rich could so completely remove anyone's awareness or curiosity about how things really function, whether in a contrived sense or more genuine disinterest, but apparently that was a prerequisite for being a proper and accepted member of high society at the time.] |
Food storage was done both in the usual iceboxes of the time and a little later on, in some of the earlier models of closed-loop refrigerators. |
Back into the kitchen, but on the other side of the barrier ropes for a closer look at the stove and big copper pots. Our guide had us heft one; they're quite heavy. |
That's not all that looks toward the outside; the camera covers the steps up to a small observation deck we'd eventually get out to. Yes, there are security cameras everywhere in all the mansions. |
The bathrooms are unexpectedly well-outfitted. No showers, however. |
The slate shingles are likely original, although the mounting hardware and materials used [esp. in repairs] are modern. |
Up the little scaffold steps, and we get a view out over the lawn and the rest of Newport. Servants obviously wouldn't be doing this... |
The statuary is carved as though it would be viewed from any angle, not just from below on the Elms grounds, and is all anatomically correct even on the backside. Evidently a reporter took this tour once and then wrote about the "best buns in Newport" being right here. One has to wonder how the service staff felt with these figures shooting them a perpetual moon. |