When we imagine Newport during the Gilded Age, we might picture classy, beautiful homes designed by
the masters. But what about the ones that were designed by their untrained owners?
Hi everyone, ken here, welcome to this house. Today we are exploring Belcourt of Newport.
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In 1858, Oliver Belmont was born into an incredibly wealthy family. His father,
August Belmont worked directly under the Rothschild Family as their main point of
contact in the United States. His dealings on behalf of the Rothschilds made him incredibly
wealthy. Naturally, his son grew up in high society, considering himself to be old money
and despising the noveau riche. It is said that Oliver had an attitude problem from a young age.
His father enlisted him in the United States Naval Academy at the young age of 14 years old. Though
it is unclear if he actually passed his classes of his own merit, he graduated at the very bottom of
his class. Upon his graduation, he went to work for his father at the banking firm of August
Belmont and Company. In 1890, his father died unexpectedly and he inherited a massive fortune.
He commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt design for him a sprawling bachelor
pad in Newport Rhode Island, but the more Oliver shared ideas for his dream house,
the more Richard Morris Hunt pushed back. Famously, Hunt washed his hands of Oliver’s
muddied designs declaring that it was Oliver’s money to do with as he wished.
The façade became an amalgamation of French, Italian, and English design
set below a mansard roof. The house was designed around an 80 by 40 foot courtyard,
forming a quadrangle. The majority of the first floor was set aside for stables to house Oliver’s
collection of horses. Though his house was between Bellevue Avenue and the Atlantic Coast,
as were the homes of many other notable families. He thought it would be below him
to share a road with the nouveau rich, so he had the entrance of his home switched to Ledge road.
The estate, which was inhabited only 8 weeks out of the year, required a permanent staff
of 30 people. Oliver was known for underpaying his staff and stifling money from their pay,
so it was no surprise that within the mansion’s year of completion,
Oliver was mugged and hospitalized for an entire year.
When he returned to see his mansion for the first time, he met Alva Vanderbilt, the recently
divorced ex wife of William K Vanderbilt. Oliver and Alva married in 1896, but Alva demanded that
Belcourt be updated to her standards. She brought in Antique French paneling for her boudoir and
nixed the carriage room in favor of a banquet hall so the couple could formally entertain together.
The house boated lavish rooms, such as the Gothic Ball Room with pointed arches barreling towards
the ceilings with cast iron light fixtures suspended from their ribs. Stained glass
windows stood well above the human scale with the Belmont Coat of Arms shining through in blood red.
The stair hall was finished out with wood paneling boasting both intricately carved
architectural elements and some left plain without ornamentation. Large
mismatched doors seemed to pop up randomly, something which Richard Morris Hunt tried
his best to mitigate by incorporating alignments in the design of the ceiling.
The dining room was encompassed by a colonnade rounding out to mimic
the Hellenistic pavilions Oliver was so drawn to.
The banquet hall continued this theme with fluted columns set below large wood beams
with massive crystal chandeliers sparkling just over head.
Oliver enjoyed his time at this house until his passing in 1908. Alva lived out the
rest of her life in her various other mansions, returning occasionally for a vacation in Newport.
When she died in 1933, the house was willed to Oliver’s eldest brother,
Perry Belmont who stripped the house of it’s art work to furnish his own homes. By 1940,
Perry had decided to sell Belcourt and it rapidly switched hands several times,
even selling for as little as 1,000 dollars or the modern day equivalent of about 21,000
dollars. Though in this time, none of the owners of Belcourt had ever moved in.
After 16 long years of sitting empty, decaying with every passing season, the Tinney Family
purchased the home and began restoring it and updating it. They furnished it with their own
art collections, including reproductions created by their son Donald. The Tinney Family opened
the home as privately owned house museum and hired Harle Hanson to conduct tours for visitors. Donald
fell in love with Harle and the two married. Harle continued giving tours for as long as her health
would allow, she had outlived Donald and made the difficult decision to sell the home in 2012.
Thankfully, a buyer considerate of the mansion’s history was found. Since 2014
it has been reopened as a privately owned house museum and can be toured by the public.
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