"Belcourt" (Newport, Rhode Island) | mansion / manor house / villa, listed building / architectural heritage

USA / Rhode Island / Newport / Newport, Rhode Island / Bellevue Avenue, 657
 residence, mansion / manor house / villa, listed building / architectural heritage
"Belcourt" (1891-94) is the third largest estate in Newport and the largest estate that is privately owned. It has been opened for tours continuously since July 1957 and has been owned by the Tinney Family for that entire time. The castle is modeled on Louis XIII's hunting lodge at Versailles, which forms the present-day nucleus of the Palace of Versailles. Belcourt has 60 rooms and contains thousands of antiques and artifacts, with major pieces dating back to the tenth century.

Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, it was built for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and was completed in 1894 after three years of construction. In 1896, Belmont married Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt of Marble House (just down the avenue) and gave her the deed to Belcourt. Alva extensively remodeled the castle during her marriage to Belmont and into her widowhood (from 1908 onward). Belcourt was sold after her death in 1933 and changed hands many times until the Tinneys bought it in 1956 for $25 000.

(Before Alva remodeled the first floor was all for the horses with small high windows, inside were thirty horse stalls separated by carved teakwood partitions. In its day the Belmont stable was the envy of Newport "society".)

In 2012, it bought by Carolyn Rafaelian, founder and majority owner of the jewelry company Alex and Ani.

archive.org/details/americanestatesg00ferruoft/page/n11...
books.google.com/books?id=DLwBHOacZ9IC&lpg=PA187&dq=%22...
 Add place (company, shop, etc.) to this building
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belcourt_Castle
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°27'27"N   71°18'29"W

Comments

  • Currently for sale. Asking price: $4,000,000.00
  • Actually, it's cumulatively $4.625 million.
  • Carolyn Rafaelian, founder and majority owner of the jewelry company Alex and Ani, announced Monday that she has purchased Belcourt Castle in Newport. The price was not disclosed. Rafaelian bought the mansion from Harle Tinney. After restoration and renovation by Rafaelian, the house and grounds will be renamed Belcourt of Newport and will be reopened, as it has been, for tours, weddings and charitable social events. It has been agreed, Rafaelian said, that Mrs. Tinney will be involved in the evolution and will contribute her knowledge and experience of Newport and the manor. http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/11/hold-for-jk.html
This article was last modified 5 years ago