Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York Central Railroad, which was a pivotal development in the industrial growth of the nation during the late 19th century. The Commodore's grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, became Chairman and President of the New York Central Railroad system in 1885, and purchased a wooden house called The Breakers in Newport during that same year. In 1893, he commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a villa to replace&nbsp;the earlier wood-framed house which was destroyed by fire the previous year. Hunt directed an international team of craftsmen and artisans to create a 70 room Italian Renaissance- style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin. Allard and Sons of Paris assisted Hunt with furnishings and fixtures, Austro-American sculptor Karl Bitter designed relief sculpture, and Boston architect Ogden Codman decorated the family quarters. The Vanderbilts had seven children. In 1915, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt was on the steamship Lusitania when it was sunk off the coast of Ireland at the start of World War I. As the ship went down, he gave his life jacket to a woman who could not swim, and as a result, he lost his life. Their youngest daughter, Gladys, who married Count Laszlo Szechenyi of Hungary, inherited the house on her mother's death in 1934. An ardent supporter of The Preservation Society of Newport County, she opened The Breakers in 1948 to raise funds for the Society. In 1972, the Preservation Society purchased the house from her heirs.

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The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.

The Breakers

This walking tour includes each of the nine mansions that are operated by the Preservation Society of Newport County and open to the public for tours. Please note that the Preservation Society offers a variety of tour packages and programs. In addition to these nine mansions, the Society maintains the Green Animals Topiary Garden and a three-story mansion at 424 Bellevue Avenue that serves as their headquarters. 

William Vanderbilt was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who established the family's fortune in steamships and the New York Central Railroad. His older brother was Cornelius II, who built The Breakers. Alva Vanderbilt was a leading hostess in Newport society, and envisioned Marble House as her "temple to the arts" in America. It was designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt, inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The cost of the house was reported in contemporary press accounts to be $11 million, of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Upon its completion, Mr. Vanderbilt gave the house to his wife as a 39th birthday present. The Vanderbilts had 3 children: Consuelo, who became the 9th Duchess of Marlborough; William K., Jr., a prominent figure in pioneering the sport of auto racing in America; and Harold, one of the finest yachtsmen of his era who successfully defended the America's Cup three times. The Vanderbilts divorced in 1895 and Alva married Oliver H.P. Belmont, moving down the street to Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House, and had a Chinese Tea House built on the seaside cliffs, where she hosted rallies for women's right to vote. She sold the house to Frederick H. Prince in 1932. The Preservation Society acquired the house in 1963 from the Prince estate.  In 2006, Marble House was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, a summer house, or "cottage", as Newporters called them in remembrance of the modest houses of the early 19th century. But Marble House was much more; it was a social and architectural landmark that set the pace for Newport's subsequent transformation from a quiet summer colony of wooden houses to the legendary resort of opulent stone palaces. 

Marble House

In the historic Bellevue Avenue neighborhood,
there sits a grand mansion modeled after the French royal retreat,
Versailles.&nbsp; It was built on the banks of
the Atlantic Ocean in 1899 by a silver heiress named Theresa Fair Oelrichs and
her husband Hermann.Theresa Fair Oelrichs, also known as “Tessie,” was
born in Virginia City, Nevada during its boomtown years. The town grew after
her father and his partners found silver in the nearby mines in the late 1850s.
Theresa’s father was James Graham Fair, an immigrant from Belfast that found one
of the richest silver lodes in history. He made his fortune mining silver in
Nevada. &nbsp;When Theresa was just a child,
her parents divorced, and Theresa, her sister Virginia, and brother Charlie lived
with their mother.&nbsp; They continued to
live a luxurious life.&nbsp; She was eighteen
years old when she went to Newport for a summer and met her future husband,
Hermann Oelrichs, who was playing tennis at the Newport Casino.&nbsp; They married in 1890.&nbsp; A year later, they purchased the Rosecliff property
from the estate of George Bancroft, a prominent American historian.&nbsp; The young couple decided to replace the
original house with the mansion that stands today.&nbsp; The home was designed and built by architect Stanford
White. White modeled the home after the Grand Trainon at Versailles in France.
Rosecliff’s outer walls are constructed of brick and completed with a façade of
white, terra-cotta tile.&nbsp; The terra cotta
and glazed finish give the impression that the home is made of marble. It took three years to complete the home and its
construction cost about $2.5 million. Mrs. Oelrichs was so excited about her new
summer home that she was hosting parties before it was even finished. &nbsp;Her parties were some of the most extravagant
galas thrown in Newport at the time. She hosted a variety of themed parties
such as a fairy tale dinner and an all-white ball (the “Bal Blanc”). Oelrichs even
had the famed Harry Houdini at one of her revelries to entertain the guests.&nbsp; At the famous “Bal Blanc,” everything was decorated
in white and all guests were instructed to come dressed in white (including
their hair, which was to be powdered white).&nbsp;
She ordered a dozen full-sized skeleton ships with white hulls to be anchored
in the water near the home. The boats were lit up to make it look like there
was a full white fleet anchored outside Rosecliff during this extraordinary bash.&nbsp; 







After
her husband abandoned her, Mrs. Oelrichs spent her final days roaming the
mansion, welcoming and seating her imagined party guests. She passed away in
1926. Her son, Hermann Oelrichs Jr., inherited the house upon her death and
lived there with his family until 1941. The home transferred ownership several
times over the next few years. The last private owners, Mr. and Mrs. J. Edgar
Monroe (of New Orleans), gave the home and all of its furnishings to the
Preservation Society of Newport County in 1971.&nbsp;
The Preservation Society opens the home for tours several times
throughout the year.&nbsp; It is also available
for the public’s use as a venue for weddings and other events.&nbsp;

Rosecliff Mansion sits along the historic Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It was built between 1899-1902 by silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs. The architect, Stanford White, modeled the home after the royal French retreat at Versailles.  Oelrichs hosted many parties in the home and was well-known for the elaborate themed occasions. After her death, the home was sold several times. In 1971, the Monroe family gave the home and all of its furnishings to the Preservation Society of Newport. The historic home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today, the home offers public tours and use of its facilities for weddings and other events.  

Rosecliff Mansion

Fairlawn mansion that is located on the famous Bellevue in Newport, Rhode Island has an intricate history beginning in the 1850s. It was one of the first out of eleven mansions to be constructed on Bellevue Avenue. This impressive estate was commissioned by Andrew Ritchie, a Boston attorney. Throughout the years, the mansion endured several different owners. It is currently owned by Salve Regina University who named the estate to honor benefactor Robert. R. Young in 1997. The basement and second through third floors are used as a dormitory for the university’s undergraduate students. However, the first floor of the building is referred to as the Pell Center in honor of Senator Pell. The Center focuses on research for international relations and public policy.	The estate has endured many changes in its architecture. Fairlawn architectural evolution over the years demonstrates the trends in which prominent members of Gilded Age society kept up with. Fairlawn was constructed in 1852 by architect Seth Bradford. The original design of the estate reflects the Elizabethan influence. However, in 1869 the estate was acquired by United States vice president Levi. P Morton, who hired Richard Morris Hunt to add a ballroom onto the house for when President Benjamin Harris visited. This expansion transformed the building to a more&nbsp;English Tudor style house, which stuck out among the more popular Italianate influenced estates in Newport. Later, the property was bought by Townsend Burden who was a key player in New York politics, but made his fortune in the iron industry. It is said that his wife introduced the Gilded Age court jester, Harry Lehr, to the Newport party scene. It has also been said that Eleanor Roosevelt hosted her Debutante ball at Fairlawn. Under Burden, the estate evolved into a shining example of Queen-Anne style architecture. Two prominent architectural firms,&nbsp;McKim, Mead, and White and Peabody and Stearns, designed Fairlawn's evolution. The building&nbsp;has many classic features such as multiple stories, medium pitched roofs, a formal entrance hall, towers, and wrap-around porch. The windows demonstrate the elegance and intricacy of the Queen-Anne’s style. Fairlawn also features Tiffany Co. stained glass windows. This architectural style became popular in the mid- 1800s and became even more ornate as the century went on. However, such style started to lose its influence after 1900 as other styles emerged, such as the bungalow, American Foursquare, and other modern styles. 	The Fairlawn estate fits perfectly into the Gilded Age aesthetic of Newport. Like many other of the picturesque mansions that adorn the northeastern coast. Fairlawn history sets it apart from the rest of the Newport estates because of its architectural evolution which is significant when tracing American architectural trends.The estate provides a history that reflects the modern evolution of culture from Gilded age to present day. <div> </div>

	Fairlawn fits perfectly into the Gilded Age aesthetic of Newport. Like many other of the picturesque mansions that adorn the northeastern coast, the Estate provides a history that reflects the modern evolution of culture from Gilded Age to present day. 


Fairlawn Mansion - Young Building

Wallace Hall is a Tudor Revival cottage that was
built in 1875. Wallace hall was formerly the carriage house, stables and later,
the gardeners cottage, for the Fairholme estate. Architect Frank Furness
designed both the Fairholme estate and the carriage house and stables.

&nbsp;The Fairholme carriage house and stables was
made in a style that mimicked the architectural characteristics of Tudor
England (the early sixteenth century). One of the distinguishing features of the
carriage house and stables is the massive arched entryway for horse-drawn rigs.
Some other distinguishing features are stick-style wooden beams, and
cream-colored stucco surfaces. The steeply pitched roof and the tall windows
are very common features of a Tudor style cottage. Like many Tudor style
buildings, Wallace Hall has brick wall cladding, which is contrasted with the
cream-colored stucco surfaces.

&nbsp;Frank Furness was born in 1839 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. While he studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
is Paris, the only course that interested him was one on architecture. Although
it was always his family’s intention that he study at Harvard, Furness began
training in the office of a local architect, John Fraser in the 1850s instead.
While he was an apprentice under Fraser, Furness became friends with and
eventually worked under another architect, Richard Morris Hunt. &nbsp;Hunt is known as the&nbsp;designer of many of the Gilded Age houses in Newport, Rhode Island including the
Marble House, the Breakers, and Ochre Court. Furness remained an apprentice of Fraser for three years. He met
another young architect, George Watson Hewitt and eventually they formed a
partnership that became Furness &amp; Hewitt. Furness diverged from the
mainstream Victorian architecture of his time and designed buildings that
embraced more Gothic, Classical and diverse features. Over his 45 years of
working as an architect, Furness designed over 600 buildings.

Fairholme Estate was built for Fairman Rogers who was
an American civil engineer, educator, and philanthropist. He was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
where he taught civil engineering from 1855 to 1871. He served in the Union
Cavalry during the Civil War, and fought in the Battles of Antietam and
Gettysburg. He became the chairman of the Building Committee for the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and ran the 1871 design competition for
the museum and art school’s new building. The firm of Furness &amp; Hewitt won
the competition. Fairman Rogers’s sister was married to Horace Howard Furness,
brother of the winning architect Frank Furness. He hired Furness to design
Fairholme Estate, which served as his summer cottage. 

&nbsp;Fairholme is one
of the many Newport cottages built during the Gilded Age. It is located on 4.3 acres
of land near the eastern end of Ruggles Avenue. The carriage house and stables
are also located on Ruggles Avenue.&nbsp;Fairholme Estate was remodeled in 1905 by
John R. Drexel and was sold before 1955 to Robert A. Young. The Fairholme Carriage House went through many owners before being acquired by Salve Regina University.&nbsp;By 1890, it belonged to Catherine Kernochan Pell, in 1922 to Edson Bradley, and in 1930 to Julie F. Shipman. Julie Shipman Fremont sold the property to Anita O'Keeffe Young in 1943. In 1985, the property went to Edwin L. Cox, and was sold to&nbsp;Salve Regina University in 1991.&nbsp;At first the carriage house was used as support for the university's grounds and maintenance programs. In 1998, it was proposed that it be converted into a residence hall.&nbsp;The University named the former
carriage house Wallace Hall after University friends and benefactors, David and
Jean Wallace. The Wallace's made a significant impact on the development of the University's campus through their support and counsel. After a dedication ceremony in April 2000, the Fairholme Carriage House and Stables became Wallace Hall. The carriage house is still being used as a residence hall for Salve Regina University.&nbsp;

Wallace Hall is currently owned by Salve Regina University and is used as a residence hall. It was built in 1875 and used as the carriage house and stables for a Guilded Age mansion, Fairholme Estate. Fairholme Estate was built for Fairman Rogers and was designed by architect Frank Furness. The carriage house and stables were acquired by Salve Regina University in 1991. 

Fairholme Carriage House and Stables - Wallace Hall 

Located right next to the Breakers, the&nbsp;Julia B Eldridge estate&nbsp;and carriage house&nbsp;was completed by architect Dudley Newton in 1883. Newton was a local of Newport who&nbsp;was famous for his stain glass windows,&nbsp;included balconies and various wood furnishings into his work which are shown&nbsp;on&nbsp;the house.&nbsp;Dudley Newton was responsible for one hundred of these structures in Newport alone. He commenced&nbsp;his office in 1866,&nbsp;and invented the "Newton roof" which&nbsp;sealed off gutters&nbsp;with a&nbsp;putty&nbsp;substance.&nbsp;Dying in 1907, he remained a&nbsp;prominent&nbsp;architect&nbsp;of the 19th&nbsp;century.&nbsp; The Styles embedded in this 19th&nbsp;century home included characteristics from colonial revival and Queen Anne styles. &nbsp;Along&nbsp;with its alcoves, balconies, and&nbsp;verandas, the house's wooden shingles characterized the house as a "beach villa." &nbsp;Materials&nbsp;like bluestone and granite were used on the lower stories of the house. &nbsp;This house's exterior was known as one of Newton's best&nbsp;pieces&nbsp;of work. Anita&nbsp;O'Keeffe Young (Sister&nbsp;of&nbsp;Georgia O'Keeffe) gave this estate to Salve Regina University&nbsp;after her death&nbsp;in 1966. The home is still&nbsp;currently in use&nbsp;as the multicultural house,&nbsp;living learning community for&nbsp;students who express and promote&nbsp;diversity among campus.&nbsp;

Although this old home is now referenced as "Ochre Lodge" it was originally called the Julia B. Eldridge house. This cottage and a carriage house were built for Mrs. Eldridge in 1882. She was a widow to Thomas P. Eldridge, a dry-goods merchant from New York who passed at age 45. Ochre lodge is one of the several historic estates that have become a part of Salve Regina University's expanding campus.

Julia B. Eldridge House - Ochre Lodge

<div>Althorpe Estate is&nbsp;a colonial revival summer home designed by Peabody &amp; Stearn Company for&nbsp;Philadelphia lawyer, John Thompson Spencer and his wife. <div> </div><div>From 1870 to 1917, Peabody &amp; Stearns Company were active in Boston, Massachusetts. Despite their popularity as drafting variet of artitectural designs, they were in competitions with firms such as Mead &amp; White and H. H. Richardson. They put younger draftsmen and artitects to work on different designs. They were a,notion in meeting requests considers and productive.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>Richard Peabody's father was pasto at king's chapel. In 1856, he graduated from Boston Latin High school. Accepted at brunt Van university in 1856. From there, he worked on artitectural offices Bryant and Gilman. He met John Stearns at Ware and Van Brunt. Shortly studying artitecture at mot, he went to England in 1867 admission exams to study ecole de Beaux-Arts in Paris. Under Alfred WTerhous in 1868, he did internship. While traveling in Europe returned to Boston to set up Peabody and Stearns firm opening may 1870. He engaged with clients, making thumbnail design sketches commissions, tsentifive employees. In 1917, ghe grew sick, retiring to marble heads Massachusetts summer home.</div><div> </div><div>John Stearns was born in New York in 1843, attending The school of scientific engineering at Harvard university in 1863.He was head draftsman at Ware and Brunt, assured projects were complete and done by the deadline with budget.his title became an associate for American institute of artitects. Sept 16, he died in Duxberry ma.frank Stearns, his on, and one of his artitects, W. Connell Applrton took over.</div></div><div> </div><div>The exterior of the home, completed in 1890, includes bracketed dormer windows on the wraparound veranda, or a porch, a&nbsp;fan light entrance (receding arches when entering into the common room from the kitchen), and a balustraded roof with the fenced-in peak. The surface of the roof features&nbsp;a decked hip trim (parts of the roof being built below the main portion)&nbsp;with an asymmetrical profile. On the decked hip portions are dormers.&nbsp;The &nbsp;chimney was&nbsp;constructed from&nbsp;Roman bricks, which are twelve inches long, six more than the average modern bricks. The porch/veranda has triple-arranged windows. Althorpe has a&nbsp;clapboard wall cover, with overlapping panels that create rectangular ridges.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>The interior features include high ceilings, an open entrance at the southern part of the house from a bird's eye view. There are two&nbsp;spiral staircase in the common room. The paneled wall, topped with a cornice, or vertices panel along the staircase,&nbsp;leads to a narrow storage space with windows (i.e., dormers),&nbsp;and modernized hallways with&nbsp;dorm rooms. The entire interior&nbsp;is two and a half stories high. The architecture is partially inspired by G. B. Shaw's styles, termed 'shavian'.&nbsp; </div><div>In 1964, Althorpe Estate was purchased by Salve Regina University and&nbsp;became a student residence in 1989.</div>

Located on the corner of Ruggles Avenue and Lawrence Street, Founders Hall used to be the residence of  Philadelphia lawyer, John Thompson Spencer. His villa was designed by Peabody & Stearn Company. The building's architecture resulted from a combination of Georgian architecture, Colonial details, and postmodern features. 

Althorpe Estate - Founders Hall

Born in Albany, New York in 1842, William Watts Sherman began his professional life as a physician in New York City. However, he gave up his medical practice to work in his father’s banking firm of Duncan, Sherman &amp; Company. In 1871 he married Annie Derby Rogers Wetmore, daughter of Old China Trade merchant, William Shepard Wetmore and sister of future Governor of and U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, George Peabody Wetmore. William and Annie Sherman were then given a section of William Wetmore’s estate, Chateau-ser-Mer, on which to construct their new home.The couple employed the services of renowned architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, to design their Newport home. Richardson went on to become a member of the trinity of American architects along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Born in Louisiana in 1838, Richardson is one of the few architects to have a style named after him, Richardson Romanesque. This style combined elements of medieval architecture with the Romanesque style of Southern France. It usually featured rusticated (rough) stonework, semi-circular arches supported by thick, squat columns and rounded arches over banks of windows. However, for the Sherman’s house, Richardson employed some of those elements in a unique style.The first floor of the house is faced with rusticated pink granite ashlar, while the upper stories are constructed of red brick with red sandstone and brownstone highlights, half-timbered panels, textured stucco and wooden shingles. The windows run the length of the house in horizontal bands and the top-heavy structure’s most noticeable exterior feature is a massive single gable at the front of the house. Richardson added smaller gables as well as five large chimneys and a porte cochere to the home’s exterior. Inside, the house is designed around a large central stair hall with equally large fireplace and ornate woodwork throughout. It is generally accepted as the best example of the early shingle style design that would come to dominate New England architecture for decades to come.Three years after construction was completed, Sherman employed one of Richardson’s assistants, Stanford White, to expand his home. White worked under Richardson for six years and helped found the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1879. He went on to design the famous Washington Square Arch in Greenwich Village and Rosecliff along Bellevue Avenue in Newport. White’s expansion, which included a parlor and library, followed Richardson’s design seamlessly and was completed in 1881. The house was expanded again in 1890 when a ballroom and service wing were added under the supervision of local architect, Dudley Newton. Newton also oversaw yet another expansion in 1904. The Sherman’s had two daughters, Georgette and Sybil. However, Annie died in 1884 at the young age of 35. William Sherman later married Sophia Augusta Brown, of the family for which Brown University is named. Sophia bore two more daughters, Irene and Mildred, prior to William Sherman’s death in 1912. As for Sophia, she outlived William by 32 years and died in 1946. The house remained a private residence until it was willed to the Baptist Home of Rhode Island in 1951 and became a retirement home. A hospital wing was added to the rear of the home in 1963 and in 1982 it was purchased by Salve Regina University and repurposed as student housing. Salve Regina has proposed removing the nursing home annex from the house in its recent residence hall project from early 2020.

One of the few residential structures designed by famed American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, the William Watts Sherman House was completed in 1876.  Regarded as the harbinger of the shingle style of American architecture, the house was built for banking tycoon, William Watts Sherman after he married Annie Wetmore, the daughter of wealthy Newport resident and owner of Chateau-ser-Mer, William Shepard Wetmore.  The house went through various expansions over the years and served as a retirement home during the mid-20th century.  It was later acquired by Salve Regina University in 1982 and now serves as a residence hall for sophomore students.  The William Watts Sherman House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

William Watts Sherman House

William Shepard Wetmore was apprenticed
in the shipping trade from an early age. &nbsp;Over the next few decades, he built a great
fortune by shipping teas, spices, coffee and other goods from China.&nbsp; By 1852, he had retired from shipping and
relocated to Newport, Rhode Island with his family.&nbsp; He purchased fifteen acres of land built the
palatial “Chateau-sur-Mer.” 

The mansion was one of the early grand
estates on Bellevue Avenue in Newport. It was the most majestic in the area
until the construction of the Vanderbilt houses (the Breakers and the Marble
House) in the 1890s.&nbsp; William Wetmore
died decades before those homes were built. After his death in 1862, most of
his fortune was left to his second son, sixteen-year-old George Peabody Wetmore.
He went on to become a U.S. Senator and a Governor of Rhode Island. Annie Derby
Wetmore, William’s only daughter, received a great inheritance as well. 

In 1869, George married Edith
Keteltas. Just a few years after their marriage, they arranged a trip overseas
and enlisted architect Richard Morris Hunt to renovate the Chateau-sur-Mer in
their absence. They chose to redecorate William’s High Victorian home to have
more modern Second Empire style features. The couple returned to a magnificent
mansion where they hosted grand parties. On several occasions, the Wetmores
entertained over a thousand guests on the grounds, such as the debutante ball
they hosted for their daughter Edith in 1889.&nbsp;


George led his own successful
path until his death in 1921. He had studied law and although he never
practiced, he used his experience to enter politics later in life. Wetmore was
elected twice as Governor of Rhode Island (1885-1886). In 1894, he won his
first term in the United States Senate. He was elected twice more and served
until 1913; he declined to run for a fourth term.&nbsp; During his time in the Senate he served on
two committees: Committee on Manufactures (Chairman); and the Committee on the Library.
Wetmore died in Boston in 1921, leaving the Chateau to his wife, Edith Keteltas
(she died in 1927) and his two unmarried daughters: Edith and Maude.

The last Wetmore (Edith) died in
1966.&nbsp; Three years later, the lavish home
was sold to the Preservation Society of Newport County.&nbsp; In 2006, it was designated as a national
landmark.&nbsp; The mansion is open to the public
for tours several times throughout the year.

The Chateau-sur-Mer was built by William Shepard Wetmore in 1852 after he made his fortune in mercantile shipping. The home is a landmark of High Victorian architecture. His son, George Peabody Wetmore, added to the mansion and redecorated it in the Second Empire style during the 1870s. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Chateau-sur-Mer stood as one of the most palatial homes in all of Newport, Rhode Island. Spectacular parties were held on its grounds, including the "Fete Champetre", an elaborate country picnic for over two thousand guests held in 1857 and the debutante ball for Miss Edith Wetmore in 1889. The historic home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1968.  Today, it is open to guests as a museum. 

Chateau-sur-Mer

The large, white home located on
Narragansett Avenue was once the summer home of the Schermerhorn family and
later the Morris family, until it was bequeathed to the Preservation Society of
Newport County in 1986. Edmund Schermerhorn had his “summer cottage” built in 1860.
It was designed by Newport’s resident architect George Champlin Mason. The home
is a large Italianate-style villa located not far from the popular Bellevue
Avenue. &nbsp;Italianate architecture is
characterized by square towers, overhanging eaves, low-pitched roofs, and windows
that are tall and narrow.&nbsp; The first-floor
windows at Chepstow are further detailed with a round arch.&nbsp; The property was sold to R.
Horace Gallatin in 1911 for “one dollar and other valuable considerations.” R.
Horace Gallatin was the great-grandson of Albert Gallatin, secretary of the U.S.
Treasury from 1802 to 1814. Two years later (1913), R. Horace Gallatin deeded
the property to another family member, Emily Morris Gallatin.&nbsp; Chepstow stayed in her family until 1986,
when it was left to the Preservation Society of Newport County.&nbsp; The last Morris to occupy the
property was Mrs. Alletta Morris McBean.&nbsp;
She passed away in 1986.&nbsp; Her estate
bequeathed the real estate to the Preservation Society as well as its
furnishings and art collections.&nbsp; Other
documents left behind by earlier members of the Morris-Gallatin family were
also found by the preservationists. &nbsp;Furnishings
and other important 19th century paintings from their other residences
were brought to Chepstow to complete the historic home museum. Years later, McBean’s niece spoke
about her time at the home. Her name is Alletta Morris Cooper, and she was the daughter
of McBean’s sister, Frances Elizabeth.&nbsp;
Cooper told an audience at the nearby St. Michael’s Country Day School
that she spent time at Chepstow during the summers in the 1960s.&nbsp; Her aunt threw fancy dinner parties and later
they would play charades in the sunroom.&nbsp;
She also said that the home looked the same fifty years later, except
that it was missing the flowers that her aunt used to decorate the rooms.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;







Chepstow is part of the Ochre Point-Cliffs Historic District
which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The district
consists of multiple buildings in Newport, including some of the Gilded Age mansions,
on about 230 acres of land near the water. &nbsp;Today, the home is open to the public on a seasonal
schedule.&nbsp;

Chepstow is one of the lavish mansions that makes up the Ochre Point-Cliffs Historic District in Newport, Rhode Island.  It was built by Edmund Schermerhorn in 1860 for his family, who summered there for fifty years until it was transferred to R. Horace Gallatin in 1911.  The home was bequeathed by Alletta Morris McBean to the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1986.  It has been restored to its early 20th century grandeur. According to the Preservation Society of Newport County, “Chepstow is highly evocative of the taste and collections of a descendant of one of America’s founding families, placed in the context of a contemporary Newport summer home.” Today, it is open to the public for tours on a limited schedule. 

Chepstow

Around the turn of the twentieth century, the Bellevue Avenue neighborhood of Newport, Rhode Island was the trendiest place to build a summer home - but only for the wealthiest families in America. The Berwind family was one of them, with the Vanderbilts, the Oerlichs, and others. Edward Julius Berwind was a successful coal businessman from Philadelphia. He enlisted the help of architect Horace Trumbauer to build a summer home on the Atlantic. The new home was modeled after the mid-eighteenth century French chateau called d’Asnieres, built outside Paris circa 1750. In 1898, Trumbaeur designed a home for the Berwinds in the Classical Revival style. Construction lasted three years and cost approximately $1.4 million.The Elms was actually the second home built in Newport for the Berwind family. They had a smaller cottage where they began entertaining guests in the early 1890s. Their guest lists were too long for their first home so they planned to build something bigger to rival the homes of other Newport families, such as the Oelrichs’ “Rosecliff” and the Vanderbilts’ “Breakers” and “Marble House.” The second home was elaborately decorated with the assortment of artwork that Mr. and Mrs. Berwind had collected during their travels, including Renaissance ceramics, 18th century French and Venetian paintings and jade pieces from the Far East. The interior decorating was designed by the Paris firm of Allard and Sons. It was also one of the first homes in the country that relied on electricity (there was no backup system) and one of the first to use electricity to make ice. The home features beautifully landscaped grounds that were cultivated between 1907-1914. The gardens contain fine specimen trees, marble pavilions, and fountains. The home’s landscaping has been restored in recent years. There is also a separate carriage house and garage on the property as well as dining room terraces with marble and bronze sculpture.The Berwind family continued to live in the home for sixty years. Mrs. Berwind had passed away in 1922. At that time, Mr. Berwind asked his sister (Julia) to host the parties and other events held at the mansion. Mr. Berwind died in 1936, leaving the home in the hands of his sister who continued to live there until 1961. After her death, the beautiful home was purchased by a private developer who intended to raze the structure. Two weeks before the planned demolition date, the property was purchased by the Preservation Society of Newport County, who restored it and opened it to the public.  In 1971, the Elms was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Twenty-five years later (1996), it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The Preservation Society of Newport County opens the home for tours several times throughout the year.

The Elms is the name of one of the grand mansions constructed in the Bellevue Avenue neighborhood of Newport, Rhode Island. The home was built for a wealthy businessman named Edward Julius Berwind and his family in 1901. The Preservation Society of Newport County purchased the home in 1962 after the last of the Berwind family passed away. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1996. Today, it is operated by the Preservation Society as a historic house museum and is open for tours several times throughout the year.

The Elms

After completing the Newport Casino in 1881, the new architectural film of McKim, Mead and White was hired by&nbsp;Isaac Bell, Jr., the brother-in-law of newspaper tycoon James Gordon Bennett, who had commissioned the construction of the casino, to construct a house for himself and his wife, Jeanette Bennett. Bell, who came from&nbsp;an old, wealthy family, had been a successful cotton broker and had invested in the first transatlantic cable, retiring&nbsp;at the young age of 31. (Later in life,&nbsp;Bell would become involved in politics. President Cleveland appointed him
Minister Resident to the Court of the Netherlands in 1885. Bell died in 1889 at the age of only 42.)&nbsp;&nbsp; The architectural firm was founded by Charles McKim and William Mead in 1874, and the legendary Stanford White joined them five years later. This was a fertile period in the history of Newport as many artists and writers gathered there during the summers. Newport's colonial architecture intrigued both McKim and White. The&nbsp;English Arts and Crafts movement was also an influence. When completed in 1883, the house with its gables, piazzas, towers and
shingled façades&nbsp;won much favorable attention in the press.&nbsp; According to its NRHP nomination form, the house is "a
unique combination of antiquarian interest in colonial American architecture
with the most avant-garde English approaches to house design." The structure consists of four stories. The first story's exterior is made of red brick. The upper stories and the roof are&nbsp;constructed of wooden shingles, but in unusual wave and diamond patterns. Scholars regard the interior of the Bell House as one of McKim, Mead and White's most successful. The first floor interior is dominated by its main feature, the central hall, from which a drawing room, a reception room, a library, a dining room and a kitchen can be accessed. Particularly noteworthy is a fireplace/alcove which contains antique Breton&nbsp;wood. The various spaces&nbsp;on the first floor can&nbsp;be closed off by sliding doors for privacy, or can&nbsp;be opened to create a single, vast&nbsp;interior space. The second floor of the Isaac Bell House consists of&nbsp;four large bedrooms, two baths, a sitting room, a dressing room, one laundry room and a large stair hall. The third floor contains two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nursery, a stair hall, servant's hall, two servant's bedrooms, and several storage areas.&nbsp;The fourth floor contains several storage rooms and&nbsp;an attic. It should be noted that the design does not include features derived only from American and English models. The porches, for example,&nbsp;have bamboo-style supports,
reflecting the popular Japanese influence of&nbsp;the time. The scholar Henry-Russell Hitchcock featured the
Bell House in his book Rhode Island Architecture, first published in 1939; many consider the house the "crowning achievement" of the Shingle Style. In 1891,&nbsp;Bell's widow sold the property to Samuel Barger, who had previously&nbsp;rented the property from Bell for several years&nbsp;while the latter was in Europe. Barger rechristened the house Edna Villa, after his wife. In the 1950s, after changing hands several times, the house was operated as a nursing home. It was sold yet again in 1971 to a couple who in turn sold it to the Preservation Society of Newport County. Despite the many changes in ownership, the house has retained its structural integrity. Guide-led tours of the house are currently available. The house was made a National Historic Landmark
in 1996 and won a Victorian Society in America’s 2001 Preservation Award.

This famous house, considered an early landmark in the Shingle Style of American architecture, was designed and constructed by the legendary architectural film of McKim, Mead and White in 1981-1883 for Isaac Bell, Jr., a young, wealthy cotton broker and investor. (The house is also known as Edna Villa, after the name of the wife of a subsequent owner.) It is considered a turning point in both the history of the firm and in the history of the city of Newport as a pioneer of architectural style. Consisting of a granite foundation, and a combination of brick and wooden shingle walls in distinctive patterns, it combines English, continental and oriental influences with American colonial traditions. After a period of decay, the house in 1994 was purchased by the Preservation Society of Newport County, which took charge of its restoration. The exterior has been completed restored, though the interior is still several years away from completion. It was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.  

Isaac Bell House, a.k.a. Edna Villa

Kingscote is a stunning example
of the Gothic Revival style architecture popular in the nineteenth century.&nbsp; It was one of the earliest homes built in the
popular neighborhood, originally constructed before the Vanderbilts and other
wealthy families arrived in Newport.&nbsp; George
Noble Jones came to Newport from Savannah, Georgia and built the home in
1839.&nbsp; Jones had made his fortune as a
planter and speculator in the South.&nbsp; He
decided to build a summer cottage for his new family after he married his wife,
Delia Tudor Gardiner. At the time, the path that would soon become the trendy
Bellevue Avenue was just a dusty dirt road on the outskirts of the town.&nbsp; Jones met the architect that would design the
house, Richard Upjohn, through his father-in-law’s connections. &nbsp;Upjohn designed an ornamental cottage in the
Gothic Revival style for the Jones family. Its layout included towers, Gothic
arches, and roofs over the dining rooms made to look like medieval tournament
tents. &nbsp;

George Noble Jones and his family
remained in their mansion until the American Civil War broke out in the early
1860s. He sold the cottage to William Henry King in 1864.&nbsp; King was a wealthy merchant who made his
money trading goods from China.&nbsp; In 1876,
King’s nephew, David, inherited the home and made some renovations, including
the addition of a new elaborate dining room.&nbsp;
The firm of McKim, Mead and White was hired to design the improvements
to the mansion. &nbsp;According to the
Preservation Society of Newport County, “The room combines Colonial American
details with exotic ornament - reflecting the architects' interest in combining
eastern and western motifs. The innovative use of materials was also important,
such as cork tiles as a covering for the wall frieze and ceiling, and an early
installation of opalescent glass bricks by Louis Comfort Tiffany.” 

The house remained in the King
family until 1972, when the last descendant left it to the Preservation
Society. Today, Kingscote is considered a National Historic Landmark since the
construction of Kingscote for the Jones family began the “cottage boom” that
would embody Newport, Rhode Island in the latter part of the nineteenth
century. &nbsp;It is also a rare example of a
Gothic Revival house and landscape setting preserved intact with original
family collections. The Preservation Society opens the home for tours several
times throughout the year.&nbsp;

Kingscote is one of the older summer cottages in Newport, Rhode Island and a landmark of Gothic Revival architecture.  It was originally built by George Noble Jones in 1839. Jones made his fortune on the cotton plantations in the early American South. After the Civil War, Jones sold his property to the King family who owned it for several generations. The Kings remodeled the home and named it “Kingscote” in 1880. By the early 1970s, the last of the King family had left the home and it was gifted to the Preservation Society of Newport County.  The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1996. Kingscote is now open to the public for tours several times throughout the year.  

Kingscote

Edward King, the third of four sons born to Dr. David King Sr and his wife whose maiden name was Gordon, made his fortune as a China trader in the employ of Russell &amp; Company. The eldest King, George, a lawyer and a member of the U.S. House of representatives, was the only one of the four who did not have his fortune tied to China while his brothers David Jr. and William joined Edward at Russell &amp; Company. William would go on to purchase Kingscote Mansion in Newport in 1864 but lived there only a few years as his brothers had him committed to an insane asylum in 1866. Kingscote was later leased to David King Jr. in 1876.Back in 1845, after returning from a trip to China, Edward King contracted with the architect who designed Kingscote in 1839, Richard Upjohn, to design a similarly unique mansion for his family. The British born Upjohn arrived with his family in America in 1829 after being apprenticed to a builder and cabinet maker and becoming a master mechanic back in England. After settling in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he eventually made his way to Boston where he became a U.S. citizen in 1836 and designed the entrances to Boston Common in 1839. That same year he moved to New York City where he designed the third version of Trinity Church in Manhattan in 1846. Thus, began his long architectural association with churches, especially Gothic Revival ones, the structures he his best known for. Upjohn went on to design numerous structures throughout the United States, to include Pennsylvania, Texas, Alabama, and Wisconsin prior to passing away in 1878.As for King’s request, Upjohn designed one of the first examples of an Italianate mansion in the United States. The brick structure features a pair of three-story towers of different heights that flank a central recessed main entrance. Upjohn’s outline of the mansion is intentionally varied with both gabled and hipped roofs and its windows are of varying shapes and sizes, most of which are round-arched while others feature pedimented flat arches. The exterior walls are also broken up by balconies, verandas and overhangs. Inside, the first floor is built around a long central entrance and stair hall with diamond-shaped parquet floor. Also located on the first floor were a parlor, drawing room, dining room, library, butler’s pantry, and kitchen with attached laundry room. The second-floor housed bedrooms while the third floor was home to the servant’s quarters accessed by a set of rear service stairs. Upjohn designed parquet floors throughout the mansion while the woodwork is heavy rather than ornate. In 1850, King’s house was featured in Andrew Jackson Downing’s "The Architecture of Country Houses," to include several engravings. The property also contained a gatehouse and stables surrounded by a rusticated brick wall, all of which have since been removed.   In 1912, the house and property were donated to the city of Newport by Edward King’s son and became the Newport Public Library in 1914 while the land surrounding became known as Aquidneck Park. The former mansion served as a library until a new, more modern one was completed in 1968. After some minor renovations, the house began its new life as the Edward King House Senior Center. It still serves as a facility that provides information, referrals, health and wellness, social interaction, performances, artistic expression and movement to Newport’s senior citizens. In 2019 it was closed for a time for a sewer realignment project and the second-floor ballroom was converted into theater space.

Completed in 1847, the Edward King House is one of the earliest examples of the Italian villa or Italianate architectural style in the United States.  Designed by famous American architect, Richard Upjohn, for wealthy China trade merchant, Edward King, it was one of the largest homes in Newport at the time.  Its asymmetrical outline, square towers, round-arched windows, balconies and verandas influenced other architects throughout the country.  It remained in the King family until 1912 when it was donated to the city and converted into a public library.  It served that purpose until 1968 when it became a popular senior center which it remains today.  The Edward King House has been a National Historic Landmark since 1970. 

Historic Newport Mansions Walking Tour

The Breakers

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information