70 Room Summer Cottages On The Cliff: The Gilded Age Open To The Public In New Port Rhode Island
Rhode Island is home to some astonishing summer cottages. RI property management can no longer manage many of these as they have been turned into museums. During the passage of time property management RI has witnessed an acre of stories in its own right. Over a hundred years ago during the end of the last century, robber barons dominated industry and the accumulation of wealth was often vaunted. One of the favorite ways of vaunting wealth was to purchases a summer cottage in New Port Rhode Island. These cottages where enormous mansions that left no doubt to a casual by-passer that they were in rarified air. Many of these mansions has become part of the national imagination as they have been used in numerous films. While the Great Gatsby took place on Long Island, the 1974 film was filmed partially in New Port. Some of these buildings have interesting stories.
The Breakers is a home that the Vanderbilt’s had constructed. The Vanderbilt family built their fortune in Steamships and Railroads. After the wooden house burnt to the ground in 1892 Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned a cottage of 70 rooms. It has nearly 65,000 square feet of living space. Calling the building a cottage is a bit like calling the Amazon River a wash, or referring to Everest as a mound. It was designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt. On entering the Great Hall, Hunt’s figure can be seen above one of the six doors surrounding the Great Hall. He is in good company as the other doors have above them Dante, Apollo, Galileo, and the sculptor himself, Karl Bitter. The Breakers is filled with luxurious furniture, art and fixtures. It has become the quintessential example of the Gilded Age lifestyle of the rich. New Port was the where the wealthy went during the summer, and the Breakers was at the heart of it all. The mansion now belongs to the Preservation Society.
The Kingscote Mansion was one of the first so called summer cottages built. The style is Gothic Revival and is credited for bringing that style back. The mansion has arches, gothic towers, and ornate trim. It was perhaps one of the original cottages to inspire the affluent to build and congregate in the area. The mansion is now a museum.
Chateau-Sur-Mer is another mansion in the New Port Style, lavish and nothing close to subtle. Chateau-sur-Mer was perhaps the first Mansion to truly usher in the gilded age. It was built in 1851 and renovated by Richard Morris Hunt. Great events were thrown during the summer with guests numbering in the thousands. The building was the largest until the Vanderbilt’s constructed their cottages. Chateau-sur-Mer is a classic Victorian style mansion complete with furniture, wall paper, stenciling and ceramics. The house belongs to the Preservation Society.
Theresa Fair Oelrich’s mansion, Rosecliff, was renowned for sumptuous and extravagant fests that she would host. Theresa loved Rosecliff to host fairytale dinners with entertainment. The mansion itself has been seen in popular culture as it has been the set such films as the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, True Lies, The Betsey, and Amistad. All these mansions are now part of the Preservation Society and reveal a piece of the American story.
