Rough Point (Newport, Rhode Island)

USA / Rhode Island / Newport / Newport, Rhode Island
 museum, place with historical importance, estate (manor / mansion land)
An English Manorial style home designed by architectural firm Peabody & Stearns for Frederick William Vanderbilt. Construction on the red sandstone and granite began in 1887 and was completed in 1892. The gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm. Former home of tobacco heiress Doris Duke. Now a museum.

more - 'Rough Point and it's neighbors' - www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=48591
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Point
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°27'18"N   71°18'19"W

Comments

  • one of five residences Doris Duke owned when she died in the early 1990's. This home is now open to the public--well worth the visit. The number of visitors is very limited, so be sure to get in line early for tickets--tickets are purchased in town at the building next to the Marriott Hotel.
  • In 1887,Frederick Vanderbilt commissioned teh largest house that the Newport summer colony had yet seen. Designed by the architectural frim of Peabody and Stearns in what has best been described as the English manorial style, the intent being to evoke the feel of an English country house; however in reality, the design is an interpretation of different Englush sytles of the 16th & 17th centuries--the result in not English at all but unmistakably American. The home has only been ownd by three families--Frederick Vanderbilt, William and Nancy Leeds (who purchased the home when it was only 17 years old), and then James B. "Buck" Duke purchased the estate in 1922 from the Leeds. The Dukes hired architect Horace Trumbauer to make major alterations and additions to the home to better fit their needs, with the firm of White Allom as the interior decorators.
This article was last modified 8 years ago