Photos show the lavish interiors of The Elms, a Rhode Island mansion built for a coal millionaire in the Gilded Age

• The Elms in Newport, Rhode Island, was the Berwind family’s summer home.
• Edward Julius Berwind made his fortune as a coal tycoon who powered railroads during the Gilded Age.
• Modeled after a French château, the home features French furniture and an impressive art collection.

In 1901, Gilded Age coal magnate Edward Julius Berwind and his wife, Sarah Herminie Berwind, spent $1.4 million, or around $28 million today, to build a summer home in Newport, Rhode Island.

It was a fraction of the $31.4 million fortune he left when he died in 1936 — around $774 million in today’s dollars.

Modeled after an 18th-century French château and built on a 10-acre estate, The Elms was furnished by Jules Allard, a French interior designer who also worked on other Newport mansions including The Breakers and Marble House.