New Port Rhode Island: Homes Of The Industrialists Of The Gilded Age

by MFH Team on January 1, 2010

Rhode Island is home to some amazing mansions. 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. During America’s gilded age, the period between 1865 and 1901, robber barons dominated industry and they were lavish with their wealth. During this time many people demonstrated their wealth by purchasing a summer home in New Port Rhode Island. These summer homes where enormous mansions that stated loud and clear that they were party of the well moneyed class. Many of these mansions has become part of the national imagination , seen as sets for several renowned films. While the Great Gatsby was set on Long Island, the 1974 film was filmed partially in New Port. A few of these mansions have interesting stories.

The Breakers is a so called cottage that the Vanderbilt’s had constructed. The Vanderbilt family built their fortune in boats and trains. After the wooden house burnt to the ground in 1892 Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned a new home with 70 rooms. It has almost 65,000 square feet of floor plan. Referring to the house as a cottage is a bit like calling the Grand Canyon a ditch, or referring to Everest as a mound. The Breakers was designed by one of the most esteemed architects of the time; Richard Morris Hunt. On entering the Great Hall, Hunt’s figure can be seen above one of the six doors leading off the Great Hall. Hunt has some impressive statue friends as the other doors have above them Dante, Apollo, Galileo, and the artist that created the statues, Karl Bitter. The Mansion is furnished with period pieces. The Breakers represents the quintessential example of the Gilded Age lifestyle of the rich. New Port was the center of the affluent social class during the summer, and the Breakers was its beating heart. The mansion is now owned by the Preservation Society.

The Kingscote Mansion was one of the first so called summer cottages constructed. It was crafted in the Gothic Revival style and Kingscote Mansion helped revive the revival. The mansion has arches, gothic towers, and ornate trim. It was perhaps one of the original cottages to encourage the gathering of the wealthy. The mansion is now a museum.

Chateau-Sur-Mer is another cottage in the New Port Style, lavish and nothing close to subtle. Chateau-sur-Mer was perhaps the first Mansion to begin gilded age. It was constructed in 1851 and renovated by Richard Morris Hunt. Great events were always happening during the summer season with guests numbering in the thousands. For many years the mansion was without peer in size until the Vanderbilt’s constructed their cottages. Chateau-sur-Mer is a classic Victorian style mansion all the way down to the furniture, wall paper, stenciling and ceramics. The house is now owned by the Preservation Society.

Theresa Fair Oelrich’s mansion, Rosecliff, was best known for some of the very elaborate and lavish parties that she would host. She used Rosecliff to host magical 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.

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