Helen D. Buchanan Estate Donates $1.5 Million to Support Breakers Welcome Center

The planned welcome center on the grounds of The Breakers mansion in Newport is $1.5 million closer to its goal thanks to a donation from the estate of Helen D. Buchanan.

The donation is the largest one-time donation in the history of the Preservation Society of Newport County and brings the fundraising goal for the welcome center just $600,000 shy of its $5.9 million target.

“Mrs. Buchanan was an enthusiastic supporter of the Preservation Society for over 15 years, making significant financial donations to projects such as the restoration of the sunken garden at The Elms. This contribution, her largest, ensures that her community spirit and philanthropic vision will live on for generations,” said Preservation Society Board Chairman Donald O. Ross in a news release.

Fanchon “Monty” Burnham, Helen’s daughter and a trustee of the Preservation Society for many years, worked with the Trustees of the Helen D. Buchanan Trust to make the contribution.

“I am devoted to the Preservation Society and to the state of Rhode Island,” Burnham said. “As a native Rhode Islander, I recognize the value of tourism for our continued economic vitality, and I know that the Preservation Society is a great economic driver for our state. That’s why we need the Welcome Center, to ensure that the Preservation Society’s visitors receive the first-class treatment that they deserve.”

The facility would be located on the grounds of the fabled 1895 The Breakers mansion, the former a summer cottage for the Vanderbilts and the crown jewel in the collection of mansions maintained by the preservation society in Newport.

The Newport Zoning Board in January voted 4-1 to issue a special use permit allowing the welcome center after months of litigation that began shortly after the Preservation Society announced their plans in 2013. Some residents in the Bellevue-Ochre Point Neighborhood Association protested the plan, swaying the city’s Historic District Commission to reject it early on. That decision was overturned by the Zoning Board, that decision was appealed to Superior Court, where it eventually was kicked back to the Zoning Board, which once again affirmed the plan should go forward.

Now, with permits secured, the Preservation Society is eager to break ground.

According to a news release, “the welcome center will create an appropriate, positive first experience for the more than 400,000 people who visit The Breakers from around the world annually, giving them a place to learn about the Preservation Society’s properties and other attractions in Newport, plan their day’s activities, and purchase tickets or memberships. Visitors will also be able to enjoy light refreshments and use clean and accessible restrooms.”

The Breakers is one of the five most-visited house museums in America.

“I cannot find the words to express my appreciation to the Trustees of The Helen D. Buchanan Trust for this contribution, which will ensure a comfortable welcome to the hundreds of thousands of museum guests who visit The Breakers every year. Their generosity and leadership are inspirational to all of us here at the Preservation Society,” said CEO & Executive Director Trudy Coxe.

Helen Danforth Buchanan lived in Exeter and died at the age of 92 on Nov. 5 of 2014.

Buchanan’s first husband, the late John C.A. Watkins, was the publisher of The Providence Journal for 25 years. She was predeceased by her second husband, Patrick B. Buchanan, with whom she lived in Stirling, Scotland, for 40 years.

She returned to the U.S. in 2000 and was active as a philanthropist.

According to her obituary, after the death of Patrick Buchanan she initiated a tapestry weaving project in his memory at Stirling Castle. The project was developed in cooperation with The Metropolitan Museum of Art and involved the weaving of copies of the Unicorn Tapestries to hang in Stirling Castle, and resulted in her being awarded an Officer of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2006.

Photo rendering courtesy: Preservation Society of Newport County