Belcourt Castle
Encyclopedia
Belcourt Castle is the former summer cottage of Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont
, located on Bellevue Avenue
in Newport, Rhode Island
. Begun in 1891 and completed in 1894, it was intended to be used for only six to eight weeks of the year. Designed in a multitude of European styles and periods, Belcourt was designed with heavy emphasis on French Renaissance
and Gothic
decor, with further borrowings from German, English and Italian design. In the Gilded Age
, the castle was well noted for its extensive stables and carriage areas, which were incorporated into the main structure.
Located on Bellevue Avenue at Lakeview Avenue, Belcourt was designed by Richard Morris Hunt
for thirty-three-year-old Oliver Belmont who was still a bachelor during the construction of his 50,000 square foot (4,600 m²), 60 room summer villa. Based on the Louis XIII
hunting lodge at Versailles
, Belcourt incorporated Oliver's love of pageantry, history and horses in its magnificent interior halls, salons and ballrooms. The Belmont Stakes
was named for his father and he was known for his skill as a four-in-hand carriage driver.
Belmont wanted Belcourt designed precisely to his specifications. Hunt was hesitant, but he concentrated on his guiding principle that it was his client's money he was spending. Construction cost $
3.2 million in 1894, a figure of approximately $65 million in 2005. Belmont employed some thirty servants at Belcourt, with aggregate wages of approximately $100 per week.
When construction finished in 1894, the entire first floor was composed of carriage space and a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses. Upstairs, was a master bedroom with wall scenes depicting the life of a nobleman and a bathroom with Newport's first standing shower.
Scheduled to open for July 4 of that year, Belcourt would remain closed for the summer season. Belmont was hospitalized in New York City
, the victim of a mugging. It would be a full year until Belmont saw his completed mansion.
The summer of 1895 witnessed the thirty servants of Belcourt preparing the vast estate for the arrival of its owner. Immediately, Belmont set out to inspect his extensive stables, which constitute the entire southern façade. The building was formed of a large quadrangle, with two story wings connecting to a three-story main block (the north wing). The effect can be viewed today in the form of a large, 80 by 40 foot (24 by 12 m) central courtyard with half timbers in the Norman style. The immense mansard roof is pierced by oval copper dormers and chimneys finished in the same manner as the walls. The symmetrical north façade is where the carriage entrances were located. A narrow wrought iron balcony stretches 70 feet (20 m) on the second floor.
Belmont had disdain for the nouveau riche
who, in splashy displays of wealth, built ostentatious mansions between Bellevue Avenue and the Atlantic coast. As a result, guests entered Belcourt through an entrance on Ledge Road, a short road which runs parallel to Bellevue Avenue. This entrance is a few feet from the curb and the effect was that the back of Belcourt was turned to the nouveau riche on Bellevue Avenue.
Inside the castle was just as magnificent and somewhat eccentric. Belmont housed his vast collection of horses and carriages on the ground floor, accessed by two huge carriage entrances on either side of the north façade. To the west of this vast area was Belmont's Francis I
Renaissance
-style Grand Hall and foyer which exited onto Ledge Road. The monumental Gothic rooms with their huge stained-glass windows were emblazoned with the Belmont coat of arms
. The room's original damask
, blood red in colour, has long since been replaced with the same fabric in gold.
The Grand Staircase, now a replica of the stairs in the Cluny Museum in France
, connects the Lower Grand Hall to Belmont's Upper Grand Hall on the second floor. The details are mostly the same as those of its partner room below. A myriad of formal rooms open onto one another in varying periods of French style and decoration. The galleries and halls of the second floor employ the architect's trademark of vistas framing the views into various rooms.
Belmont married Alva Vanderbilt
, the former wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt
, on January 11, 1896. Eager to reshape and redesign Belcourt, Alva made changes that morphed the already eccentric character of Belcourt into a yet more eccentric hybrid mixture of styles. Alva Belmont converted the carriage room into a banquet hall and transformed a study into a boudoir, importing 18th-century French paneling. In 1899, Belcourt was the host of the nation's first automobile parade.
died in France on January 26, 1933. Belcourt passed to eighty-year-old Perry Belmont
, the eldest Belmont child and Alva's brother-in-law. At the onset of World War II
, Perry Belmont had most of the contents of Belcourt moved to his other estates as Newport was a naval base and potentially at risk of attack. Select pieces of Alva's were auctioned off, as Perry allegedly had no great love for her.
In 1940, Belmont decided to rid himself of Belcourt. Negotiations commenced with George Waterman, an entrepreneur. Waterman envisioned Belcourt as an antique auto museum. The only conditions of the sale were that Waterman had to restore the castle as close as possible to Hunt's original plans. Waterman was responsible for the restoration of the third floor roof and removal of an addition overlooking the courtyard. After paying $1,000 for the castle, Waterman was informed that zoning wouldn't allow his antique auto museum.
In 1943, Waterman sold Belcourt to Edward Dunn. Dunn never lived at Belcourt during the eleven years that he owned it (up until 1954). During the war years when many of the grand mansions were being razed or converted into various institutions, Dunn rented the stables of the rundown castle to the military to use for repairing equipment.
Dunn sold Belcourt to Elaine and Louis Lorillard in 1954 for $22,500. The Lorillards, of tobacco fame, envisioned Belcourt as a seat for the Newport Jazz Festival
. The lawns on Bellevue Avenue could accommodate over 10,000 and the masonry and stucco façade provided an acoustic background. The large central courtyard was the scene for concerts with the open loggia
providing further room for spectators. Inside, the massive rooms were used for workshops and lodging. However, the future for Belcourt as a permanent venue for the festival was dim.
Belcourt had deteriorated, largely uninhabited for over two decades. In November 1956, the Lorillards sold the rundown, mostly abandoned castle to the Tinney Family.
The Tinney Family, of Cumberland, Rhode Island
, bought Belcourt in 1956 for $25,000.
. In addition to changing the name from Belcourt to Belcourt Castle, the Tinneys filled the castle with their own collection of antiques and reproductions. Included are a coronation coach, which the Tinneys made, and a 1701 copy of a Hyacinthe Rigaud
portrait of Louis XIV
, which hung in the Green Room in the Palace of the Tuileries
. The centerpiece of the Tinney additions is an enormous Imperial Russia
n-style chandelier, which holds 13,000 rock crystal prisms and 105 lights. The chandelier hangs a few feet above the rose marble mosaic floor of the banquet hall.
At the time that Belcourt was purchased in 1956, the Tinney family comprised Harold Tinney, his wife Ruth Tinney, their son Donald Tinney, and Ruth's aunt Nellie Fuller (a descendant of Mayflower
passenger Edward Fuller
). In 1960, Donald Tinney married Harle Hanson, who had been at Belcourt to work as a tour guide. Presently, Harle Tinney is the only surviving member of the family and is the owner of Belcourt, which is currently up for sale.
Other artifacts within Belcourt include an immense collection of Persian rugs, French royal art and furnishings, Oriental art and furnishings and numerous religious objets d'art
.
Changes at Belcourt have been numerous in the years following 1956 when the Tinney Family moved in. They raised the ceiling of the Organ Loft 11 feet (3.4 m) to accommodate a 26-rank tracker organ. Between 1966 and 1970, when the coronation coach was being built, an old kitchen area became a coach hall. In 1969, the open loggia
became a French salon. In 1975, they transformed the north-west reception room into a chapel with the addition of German renaissance stained glass. In the early 1980s, the Tinneys built gate piers on Bellevue Avenue and installed gates that they had acquired from the Taylor estate in Portsmouth. The overthrow
was altered to make the gates the tallest of any estate entrance in Newport.
In 1983, robbers attempted a million-dollar heist of Belcourt's antiques. Police recovered many artifacts, but not a 14-pound silver reliquary containing a relic from the third century.
The lawns contain many sculptural pieces in bronze
, terra cotta
, marble
and stone. Depicting scenes from mythology, nymphs and cherubs, the collection is an informal contrast to the strong and robust lines of the French-style château. The driveways and pathways are lined with lush arborvitae, planted by the Tinneys a few years after they moved into Belcourt.
Belcourt Castle is the third largest mansion in Newport, after The Breakers
and Ochre Court
. The castle has been the subject of an ongoing restoration project spanning from the beginning of the Tinney family's occupation of the castle up to and including the present day.
On 26 May 2009, it was reported that the owner of Belcourt Castle, Harle Tinney put the residence up for sale. The home was put on the market for $US 7.2 million. As of June 2011 the price has been reduced to $US 3.9 million. Tinney said she is ready to part with the home after her husband's death in 2006.
Belcourt Castle is open to the public as a museum of antiquities and architectural and social history. Of the 60 rooms at Belcourt, over a dozen may be viewed on tour. A visit to the castle includes viewings of an English library (added in 1910 by John Russell Pope
; the ceiling is a replica of the one in Haddon Hall
's Long Gallery), a banquet hall, a chapel, two of three grand halls, a music room, an Empire-style dining room, a French gothic-style ballroom, two principal bedrooms, a loggia and a gallery. All of the rooms are furnished with pieces from the Tinney Family collections. The first tours of Belcourt were given in 1957 and ever since then the castle has been a fixture on Bellevue Avenue. The collections include furnishings, art and artifacts from 33 European and Oriental countries and 37 other Newport mansions. The Tinney Family's enormous collection has earned Belcourt a notable status within Newport's thriving tourism industry. The castle also offers ghost tours and tours by candlelight on a regular basis. There have been numerous reports of paranormal activity in the castle, particularly in the ballroom on the second floor. The property was featured on an episode of the reality show Ghost Hunters
.
In the fall of 2009, the castle hosted Dracula, a site-specific dance choreographed by Miki Ohlsen and performed by the Newport-based Island Moving Company, with music by composer Felix Ventouras. Utilizing the castle's décor as an interactive set, the production (reprised in March 2010) featured an original score by Felix Ventouras. The stringed orchestra moved from room to room along with the audience; the ballroom housed an aerial acrobatic act, and chase scenes were staged through the hallways. A final reprisal was scheduled for October 2010.
Belcourt Castle is also the only mansion in Newport which is both open to the public and has a private owner in residence. Harle Tinney, the sole owner of the castle, frequently guides tours through her home and is often present to greet visitors when she is in residence.
Oliver Belmont
Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont was an American socialite and United States Representative from New York.- Biography :...
, located on Bellevue Avenue
Bellevue Avenue Historic District
The Bellevue Avenue Historic District is located along and around Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its property is almost exclusively residential, including many of the mansions built by affluent summer vacationers in the city around the turn of the 20th century, including...
in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. Begun in 1891 and completed in 1894, it was intended to be used for only six to eight weeks of the year. Designed in a multitude of European styles and periods, Belcourt was designed with heavy emphasis on French Renaissance
French Renaissance architecture
French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....
and Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
decor, with further borrowings from German, English and Italian design. In the Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
, the castle was well noted for its extensive stables and carriage areas, which were incorporated into the main structure.
Construction and the Belmont years
Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt was an American architect of the nineteenth century and a preeminent figure in the history of American architecture...
for thirty-three-year-old Oliver Belmont who was still a bachelor during the construction of his 50,000 square foot (4,600 m²), 60 room summer villa. Based on the Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
hunting lodge at Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, Belcourt incorporated Oliver's love of pageantry, history and horses in its magnificent interior halls, salons and ballrooms. The Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
was named for his father and he was known for his skill as a four-in-hand carriage driver.
Belmont wanted Belcourt designed precisely to his specifications. Hunt was hesitant, but he concentrated on his guiding principle that it was his client's money he was spending. Construction cost $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.2 million in 1894, a figure of approximately $65 million in 2005. Belmont employed some thirty servants at Belcourt, with aggregate wages of approximately $100 per week.
When construction finished in 1894, the entire first floor was composed of carriage space and a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses. Upstairs, was a master bedroom with wall scenes depicting the life of a nobleman and a bathroom with Newport's first standing shower.
Scheduled to open for July 4 of that year, Belcourt would remain closed for the summer season. Belmont was hospitalized in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the victim of a mugging. It would be a full year until Belmont saw his completed mansion.
The summer of 1895 witnessed the thirty servants of Belcourt preparing the vast estate for the arrival of its owner. Immediately, Belmont set out to inspect his extensive stables, which constitute the entire southern façade. The building was formed of a large quadrangle, with two story wings connecting to a three-story main block (the north wing). The effect can be viewed today in the form of a large, 80 by 40 foot (24 by 12 m) central courtyard with half timbers in the Norman style. The immense mansard roof is pierced by oval copper dormers and chimneys finished in the same manner as the walls. The symmetrical north façade is where the carriage entrances were located. A narrow wrought iron balcony stretches 70 feet (20 m) on the second floor.
Belmont had disdain for the nouveau riche
Nouveau riche
The nouveau riche , or new money, comprise those who have acquired considerable wealth within their own generation...
who, in splashy displays of wealth, built ostentatious mansions between Bellevue Avenue and the Atlantic coast. As a result, guests entered Belcourt through an entrance on Ledge Road, a short road which runs parallel to Bellevue Avenue. This entrance is a few feet from the curb and the effect was that the back of Belcourt was turned to the nouveau riche on Bellevue Avenue.
Inside the castle was just as magnificent and somewhat eccentric. Belmont housed his vast collection of horses and carriages on the ground floor, accessed by two huge carriage entrances on either side of the north façade. To the west of this vast area was Belmont's Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
-style Grand Hall and foyer which exited onto Ledge Road. The monumental Gothic rooms with their huge stained-glass windows were emblazoned with the Belmont coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
. The room's original damask
Damask
Damask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave...
, blood red in colour, has long since been replaced with the same fabric in gold.
The Grand Staircase, now a replica of the stairs in the Cluny Museum in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, connects the Lower Grand Hall to Belmont's Upper Grand Hall on the second floor. The details are mostly the same as those of its partner room below. A myriad of formal rooms open onto one another in varying periods of French style and decoration. The galleries and halls of the second floor employ the architect's trademark of vistas framing the views into various rooms.
Alva Belmont
Alva Erskine Belmont , née Alva Erskine Smith, also called Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896, was a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the women's suffrage movement...
, the former wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt
William Kissam Vanderbilt
William Kissam Vanderbilt was a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. He managed railroads and was a horse breeder.-Biography:...
, on January 11, 1896. Eager to reshape and redesign Belcourt, Alva made changes that morphed the already eccentric character of Belcourt into a yet more eccentric hybrid mixture of styles. Alva Belmont converted the carriage room into a banquet hall and transformed a study into a boudoir, importing 18th-century French paneling. In 1899, Belcourt was the host of the nation's first automobile parade.
Changes in ownership
Mrs. BelmontAlva Belmont
Alva Erskine Belmont , née Alva Erskine Smith, also called Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896, was a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the women's suffrage movement...
died in France on January 26, 1933. Belcourt passed to eighty-year-old Perry Belmont
Perry Belmont
Perry Belmont was an American politician and diplomat.-Biography:He was born on December 28, 1851 in New York City to August Belmont. His brothers were Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and August Belmont, Jr....
, the eldest Belmont child and Alva's brother-in-law. At the onset of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Perry Belmont had most of the contents of Belcourt moved to his other estates as Newport was a naval base and potentially at risk of attack. Select pieces of Alva's were auctioned off, as Perry allegedly had no great love for her.
In 1940, Belmont decided to rid himself of Belcourt. Negotiations commenced with George Waterman, an entrepreneur. Waterman envisioned Belcourt as an antique auto museum. The only conditions of the sale were that Waterman had to restore the castle as close as possible to Hunt's original plans. Waterman was responsible for the restoration of the third floor roof and removal of an addition overlooking the courtyard. After paying $1,000 for the castle, Waterman was informed that zoning wouldn't allow his antique auto museum.
In 1943, Waterman sold Belcourt to Edward Dunn. Dunn never lived at Belcourt during the eleven years that he owned it (up until 1954). During the war years when many of the grand mansions were being razed or converted into various institutions, Dunn rented the stables of the rundown castle to the military to use for repairing equipment.
Dunn sold Belcourt to Elaine and Louis Lorillard in 1954 for $22,500. The Lorillards, of tobacco fame, envisioned Belcourt as a seat for the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
. The lawns on Bellevue Avenue could accommodate over 10,000 and the masonry and stucco façade provided an acoustic background. The large central courtyard was the scene for concerts with the open loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
providing further room for spectators. Inside, the massive rooms were used for workshops and lodging. However, the future for Belcourt as a permanent venue for the festival was dim.
Belcourt had deteriorated, largely uninhabited for over two decades. In November 1956, the Lorillards sold the rundown, mostly abandoned castle to the Tinney Family.
The Tinneys
Cumberland, Rhode Island
Cumberland is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, incorporated in 1746. The population was 33,506 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, bought Belcourt in 1956 for $25,000.
. In addition to changing the name from Belcourt to Belcourt Castle, the Tinneys filled the castle with their own collection of antiques and reproductions. Included are a coronation coach, which the Tinneys made, and a 1701 copy of a Hyacinthe Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud was a French baroque painter of Catalan origin whose career was based in Paris.He is renowned for his portrait paintings of Louis XIV, the royalty and nobility of Europe, and members of their courts and considered one of the most notable French portraitists of the classical period...
portrait of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, which hung in the Green Room in the Palace of the Tuileries
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
. The centerpiece of the Tinney additions is an enormous Imperial Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-style chandelier, which holds 13,000 rock crystal prisms and 105 lights. The chandelier hangs a few feet above the rose marble mosaic floor of the banquet hall.
At the time that Belcourt was purchased in 1956, the Tinney family comprised Harold Tinney, his wife Ruth Tinney, their son Donald Tinney, and Ruth's aunt Nellie Fuller (a descendant of Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
passenger Edward Fuller
Edward Fuller (Mayflower)
Edward Fuller crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower...
). In 1960, Donald Tinney married Harle Hanson, who had been at Belcourt to work as a tour guide. Presently, Harle Tinney is the only surviving member of the family and is the owner of Belcourt, which is currently up for sale.
Other artifacts within Belcourt include an immense collection of Persian rugs, French royal art and furnishings, Oriental art and furnishings and numerous religious objets d'art
Work of art
A work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...
.
Changes at Belcourt have been numerous in the years following 1956 when the Tinney Family moved in. They raised the ceiling of the Organ Loft 11 feet (3.4 m) to accommodate a 26-rank tracker organ. Between 1966 and 1970, when the coronation coach was being built, an old kitchen area became a coach hall. In 1969, the open loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
became a French salon. In 1975, they transformed the north-west reception room into a chapel with the addition of German renaissance stained glass. In the early 1980s, the Tinneys built gate piers on Bellevue Avenue and installed gates that they had acquired from the Taylor estate in Portsmouth. The overthrow
Overthrow (structure)
In wrought ironwork, the overthrow, particularly popular in the Baroque era commencing in the 17th century, refers to the crowning section of ornamental wrought ironwork which forms a decorative crest above a wrought iron gate; the overthrow provides some stabilizing structure tying together...
was altered to make the gates the tallest of any estate entrance in Newport.
In 1983, robbers attempted a million-dollar heist of Belcourt's antiques. Police recovered many artifacts, but not a 14-pound silver reliquary containing a relic from the third century.
The lawns contain many sculptural pieces in bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
, marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and stone. Depicting scenes from mythology, nymphs and cherubs, the collection is an informal contrast to the strong and robust lines of the French-style château. The driveways and pathways are lined with lush arborvitae, planted by the Tinneys a few years after they moved into Belcourt.
Belcourt Castle is the third largest mansion in Newport, after The Breakers
The Breakers
The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion located on Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a National Historic Landmark, a contributing property to the Bellevue Avenue Historic District, and is owned and operated by the Preservation Society of Newport...
and Ochre Court
Salve Regina University
Salve Regina University is a university in Newport, Rhode Island. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, the university is a Catholic, co-educational, private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of Rhode Island in 1934. In 1947 the university acquired Ochre Court and welcomed its first class...
. The castle has been the subject of an ongoing restoration project spanning from the beginning of the Tinney family's occupation of the castle up to and including the present day.
On 26 May 2009, it was reported that the owner of Belcourt Castle, Harle Tinney put the residence up for sale. The home was put on the market for $US 7.2 million. As of June 2011 the price has been reduced to $US 3.9 million. Tinney said she is ready to part with the home after her husband's death in 2006.
Touring Belcourt
John Russell Pope
John Russell Pope was an architect most known for his designs of the National Archives and Records Administration building , the Jefferson Memorial and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.-Biography:Pope was born in New York in 1874, the son of a successful...
; the ceiling is a replica of the one in Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye at Bakewell, Derbyshire, one of the seats of the Duke of Rutland, occupied by Lord Edward Manners and his family. In form a medieval manor house, it has been described as "the most complete and most interesting house of [its]...
's Long Gallery), a banquet hall, a chapel, two of three grand halls, a music room, an Empire-style dining room, a French gothic-style ballroom, two principal bedrooms, a loggia and a gallery. All of the rooms are furnished with pieces from the Tinney Family collections. The first tours of Belcourt were given in 1957 and ever since then the castle has been a fixture on Bellevue Avenue. The collections include furnishings, art and artifacts from 33 European and Oriental countries and 37 other Newport mansions. The Tinney Family's enormous collection has earned Belcourt a notable status within Newport's thriving tourism industry. The castle also offers ghost tours and tours by candlelight on a regular basis. There have been numerous reports of paranormal activity in the castle, particularly in the ballroom on the second floor. The property was featured on an episode of the reality show Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
.
In the fall of 2009, the castle hosted Dracula, a site-specific dance choreographed by Miki Ohlsen and performed by the Newport-based Island Moving Company, with music by composer Felix Ventouras. Utilizing the castle's décor as an interactive set, the production (reprised in March 2010) featured an original score by Felix Ventouras. The stringed orchestra moved from room to room along with the audience; the ballroom housed an aerial acrobatic act, and chase scenes were staged through the hallways. A final reprisal was scheduled for October 2010.
Belcourt Castle is also the only mansion in Newport which is both open to the public and has a private owner in residence. Harle Tinney, the sole owner of the castle, frequently guides tours through her home and is often present to greet visitors when she is in residence.
Materials
Belcourt Castle's distinctive exterior appearance was achieved through the use of brick and stone to frame the windows, doors and fields of stucco.- Exterior wall finishes: brickBrickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
, rough cast, WesterlyWesterly (town), Rhode IslandWesterly is a town on the southwestern shoreline of Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1669 by John Babcock, it is a beachfront community on the south shore of the state. The population was 22,787 at the 2010 census...
graniteGraniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, stuccoStuccoStucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
and half timbersTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns... - Roof finishes: slateSlateSlate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
and copper (oval dormers, flashing and flat areas) - Interior decorative finishes: The interior finishes at Belcourt were completed by 300 imported artisans
- Ceilings: chestnutChestnutChestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
beams, gildingGildingThe term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
, sculpted plasterPlasterPlaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,... - Flooring: oakOakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, marbleMarbleMarble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
mosaicMosaicMosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
, BelgianBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
brick - Wall finishes: painted canvasCanvasCanvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
, oakOakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, mahoganyMahoganyThe name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
, silkSilkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
damaskDamaskDamask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave...
and brocadeBrocadeBrocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and with or without gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli," comes from Italian broccato meaning "embossed cloth," originally past participle of the verb broccare...
, gildingGildingThe term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
, imported panelling, plasterPlasterPlaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,... - Other: stained glassStained glassThe term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, bronze (light fixtures)
- Ceilings: chestnut
- Other: wrought ironWrought ironthumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
(gates, grilles and railings), stone (pilasters, pathways and estate walls) - Structure: SteelSteelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
I-beamI-beam-beams, also known as H-beams, W-beams , rolled steel joist , or double-T are beams with an - or H-shaped cross-section. The horizontal elements of the "" are flanges, while the vertical element is the web...
s, brick (firewalls, structural partitions), concrete, heavy timber (beams, rafters and floor joists), iron (support rods for staircase, ceilings, etc.)- Foundation: concreteConcreteConcrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
and cut stone
- Foundation: concrete