Walk through The Elms in Newport and you’ll find rooms that feel surprisingly familiar. Beyond the marble halls and gilded ceilings are kitchens, baths, and bedrooms that remind us that good design—historic or modern—always begins with proportion, craftsmanship, and comfort. These are the spaces that connect Gilded Age grandeur to everyday living.

Walk through the bronze-and-glass front doors and you don’t just enter a house—you step onto a Gilded Age set. (Literally. HBO’s The Gilded Age films here, so it’s easy to imagine Bertha Russell sweeping past.) The Elms was built as a maison de plaisance—a house devoted to pleasure—where every room connects to the garden beyond. Limestone walls, rare marbles, and European art define its precision and extravagance.