Rough Point
Encyclopedia
Rough Point is one of the Gilded Age
mansions of Newport, Rhode Island
, now open to the public as a museum. It is an English Manorial style home designed by architectural firm Peabody & Stearns for Frederick William Vanderbilt
Construction on the red sandstone and granite began in 1887 and completed 1892. It is located on Bellevue Avenue and borders the Cliff Walk and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean
. The gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
’s firm.
to make some exterior alterations to the home. She remained the owner until 1922. Their son, William Bateman Leeds, Jr., married Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia.
In 1922, James Buchanan Duke
, the founder of fortunes in electric power and tobacco, and benefactor of Duke University
, and his second wife Nanaline bought the house. They used Architect Horace Trumbauer
to assist in renovating the house; two new wings were added to the home. Nanaline hired design firm White Allom to transformed the home's dark interiors. James died at his Fifth Avenue and 78th Street, New York City, white limestone, mansion in 1925, bequeathing his enormous fortune, along with its several residences, to his only child, 12-year-old Doris Duke
. Rough Point, which came close to being sold twice, at Nanaline's insistence, nonetheless, eventually became one of Doris' most prized properties, replete with its spectacular rocky coastal setting. Doris's memorable debutante ball was held at the estate in 1929.
Mrs. Duke continued to spend her summers at Rough Point; but, after the New England Hurricane of 1938
that devastated Rhode Island, and with the advent of World War II, Mrs. Duke’s visits became less frequent. In the early 1950s, Mrs. Duke took up permanent residence in New York City and emptied Rough Point of all its furnishings.
In 1962, after Nanaline's death, Doris Duke once again became a frequent visitor to Newport and turned her attention to refurnishing Rough Point. In 1958 and 1959 she began purchasing art and antiques for the house and combined these new pieces with family treasures. Rough Point was reopened in 1962 and, over the years, became one of Miss Duke’s favorite residences; she lived there May through November most years and continued to collect items for the house during her wide-ranging travels.
In 1966, the most controversial event in Duke's entire life occurred at the estate. She and her interior designer Eduardo Tirella were leaving Rough Point by a station wagon. When Tirella left the car to open the front gates to the estate, Duke slid over to the driver's seat to pull the car out of the gates and wait for Tirella to close them again. Accidentally accelerating the station wagon, Duke caught Tirella with the car and dragged him across the street where he was crushed against a tree, instantly killing him. Duke was not charged with murder and Tirella's death was recorded as an accident.
During Hurricane Bob
in 1991, the house's solarium
served as a shelter for Princess and Baby , Duke's two pet Bactrian camel
s. The camels were gifts from billionaire Saudi arms-dealer and businessman Adnan Khashoggi
. The camels summered in Newport when Duke was in residence. She would often buy them peanut butter cookies in large quantities as treats. Baby was the more vicious of the two, often sneaking up and chasing the security guards around the estate at night, biting them if she got close enough.
Rough Point is different from most of Newport's other mansions. Cottages such as The Breakers
and Rosecliff
have been uninhabited by socialites for nearly sixty years and when toured appear austere and museum-like. Rough Point was home to a living socialite well into the nineties; the house maintains a clever mixture of grandeur and hominess that others lack. The house has been preserved in time, nothing removed or added since the death of Duke in 1993. The architectural significance of Rough Point can be attributed to Trumbauer's ability to renovate and enlarge the original structure in a seamless manner. Doris was one of several remaining Gilded Age
socialite
heiresses in Newport. While under the ownership of Doris Duke, the house was filled with hundreds of priceless antiques, while the drapes on her bed were bought at JC Penney. Paintings in the home include Gainsborough
, Van Dyck, and Renoir
.
During Miss Duke's stays, staff at Rough Point would pick vegetables daily for use in the cooking. Vegetables and flowers were shipped from the greenhouses at Duke Farms in New Jersey each spring to be planted, she said. A historical plant list of what was at Rough Point includes artichoke
, squash, cabbage
, lettuce
, onions, peppers, spinach
, eggplant, beans, okra
and cucumbers. The list of herbs is long, too, including basil, chamomile
, chives
, dill
, fennel
, marjoram
, parsley
, rosemary
, sage, thyme
, spearmint
, tarragon
, borage
, which is valued for its cool cucumber aroma and flavor and lovage which looks like extra large celery
leaves.
. Tours are limited to 12 people each occurring from May until November. Since 2003, an exhibit has been in place, being either clothing, jewellry, silver, or furniture, changing each year. The estate also lacks a gift shop, as put by Duke "they were in bad taste," one will never be located on the property
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...
mansions of 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...
, now open to the public as a museum. It is an English Manorial style home designed by architectural firm Peabody & Stearns for Frederick William Vanderbilt
Frederick William Vanderbilt
Frederick William Vanderbilt was a member of the Vanderbilt family. He was a director of the New York Central Railroad for 61 years, and also a director of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad and of the Chicago and North Western Railroad.-Biography:A son of William Henry Vanderbilt, Frederick...
Construction on the red sandstone and granite began in 1887 and completed 1892. It is located on Bellevue Avenue and borders the Cliff Walk and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. The gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
’s firm.
History
In 1894, the Vanderbilts began renting Rough Point to summer guests. William Bateman Leeds Senior, known as the ‘Tinplate King’, rented the home in 1904 and 1905. He was one of the owners of American Tin Plate Company, a tin plate trust. He purchased the 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) estate in 1906. After he died in 1910, his wife, Nancy Leeds {later re-married, this time as Prince Christopher's first wife, whereby—during that onset of political flux for the Greek pretenders—she became HRH Princess Anastasia of Greece; her son, by her first marriage (to Leeds), was introduced to and thereafter married (her now niece) the Princess Xenia}, used John Russell PopeJohn 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...
to make some exterior alterations to the home. She remained the owner until 1922. Their son, William Bateman Leeds, Jr., married Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia.
In 1922, James Buchanan Duke
James Buchanan Duke
James Buchanan Duke was a U.S. tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for his involvement with Duke University.-Personal life:...
, the founder of fortunes in electric power and tobacco, and benefactor of Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, and his second wife Nanaline bought the house. They used Architect Horace Trumbauer
Horace Trumbauer
Horace Trumbauer was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of the campus of Duke University...
to assist in renovating the house; two new wings were added to the home. Nanaline hired design firm White Allom to transformed the home's dark interiors. James died at his Fifth Avenue and 78th Street, New York City, white limestone, mansion in 1925, bequeathing his enormous fortune, along with its several residences, to his only child, 12-year-old Doris Duke
Doris Duke
Doris Duke was an American heiress, horticulturalist, art collector, and philanthropist.-Family and early life:...
. Rough Point, which came close to being sold twice, at Nanaline's insistence, nonetheless, eventually became one of Doris' most prized properties, replete with its spectacular rocky coastal setting. Doris's memorable debutante ball was held at the estate in 1929.
Mrs. Duke continued to spend her summers at Rough Point; but, after the New England Hurricane of 1938
New England Hurricane of 1938
The New England Hurricane of 1938 was the first major hurricane to strike New England since 1869...
that devastated Rhode Island, and with the advent of World War II, Mrs. Duke’s visits became less frequent. In the early 1950s, Mrs. Duke took up permanent residence in New York City and emptied Rough Point of all its furnishings.
In 1962, after Nanaline's death, Doris Duke once again became a frequent visitor to Newport and turned her attention to refurnishing Rough Point. In 1958 and 1959 she began purchasing art and antiques for the house and combined these new pieces with family treasures. Rough Point was reopened in 1962 and, over the years, became one of Miss Duke’s favorite residences; she lived there May through November most years and continued to collect items for the house during her wide-ranging travels.
In 1966, the most controversial event in Duke's entire life occurred at the estate. She and her interior designer Eduardo Tirella were leaving Rough Point by a station wagon. When Tirella left the car to open the front gates to the estate, Duke slid over to the driver's seat to pull the car out of the gates and wait for Tirella to close them again. Accidentally accelerating the station wagon, Duke caught Tirella with the car and dragged him across the street where he was crushed against a tree, instantly killing him. Duke was not charged with murder and Tirella's death was recorded as an accident.
During Hurricane Bob
Hurricane Bob
Hurricane Bob was one of the costliest hurricanes in New England history. The second named storm and first hurricane of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season, Bob developed from an area of low pressure near The Bahamas on August 16. The depression steadily intensified, and became Tropical Storm Bob...
in 1991, the house's solarium
Solarium
Solarium may refer to:* Similar to a Sunroom, a room built largely of glass to afford exposure to the sun. Solariums have glass roofs , unlike sunrooms...
served as a shelter for Princess and Baby , Duke's two pet Bactrian camel
Bactrian camel
The Bactrian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang. A small number of wild Bactrian camels still roam the Mangystau Province of southwest...
s. The camels were gifts from billionaire Saudi arms-dealer and businessman Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi is a Saudi Arabian arms-dealer and businessman. He is also noted for his engagements with high society in both the Occident and Arabic-speaking worlds, and for his involvement in the Iran–Contra and Lockheed bribery scandals, and numerous other affairs...
. The camels summered in Newport when Duke was in residence. She would often buy them peanut butter cookies in large quantities as treats. Baby was the more vicious of the two, often sneaking up and chasing the security guards around the estate at night, biting them if she got close enough.
Rough Point is different from most of Newport's other mansions. Cottages such as 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 Rosecliff
Rosecliff
Rosecliff, built 1898-1902, is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum.The house has also been known as the Herman Oelrichs House or the J. Edgar Monroe House....
have been uninhabited by socialites for nearly sixty years and when toured appear austere and museum-like. Rough Point was home to a living socialite well into the nineties; the house maintains a clever mixture of grandeur and hominess that others lack. The house has been preserved in time, nothing removed or added since the death of Duke in 1993. The architectural significance of Rough Point can be attributed to Trumbauer's ability to renovate and enlarge the original structure in a seamless manner. Doris was one of several remaining 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...
socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
heiresses in Newport. While under the ownership of Doris Duke, the house was filled with hundreds of priceless antiques, while the drapes on her bed were bought at JC Penney. Paintings in the home include Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, Van Dyck, and Renoir
Renoir
-People with the surname Renoir :* Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter* Pierre Renoir , French actor and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir* Jean Renoir , French film director and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir...
.
During Miss Duke's stays, staff at Rough Point would pick vegetables daily for use in the cooking. Vegetables and flowers were shipped from the greenhouses at Duke Farms in New Jersey each spring to be planted, she said. A historical plant list of what was at Rough Point includes artichoke
Artichoke
-Plants:* Globe artichoke, a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean* Jerusalem artichoke, a species of sunflower with an edible tuber...
, squash, cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
, lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
, onions, peppers, spinach
Spinach
Spinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...
, eggplant, beans, okra
Okra
Okra is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. The geographical origin of okra is disputed, with supporters of South Asian, Ethiopian and West African origins...
and cucumbers. The list of herbs is long, too, including basil, chamomile
Chamomile
Chamomile or camomile is a common name for several daisy-like plants of the family Asteraceae. These plants are best known for their ability to be made into an infusion which is commonly used to help with sleep and is often served with either honey or lemon. Because chamomile can cause uterine...
, chives
Chives
Chives are the smallest species of the edible onions. A perennial plant, they are native to Europe, Asia and North America.. Allium schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old World....
, dill
Dill
Dill is a perennial herb. It is the sole species of the genus Anethum, though classified by some botanists in a related genus as Peucedanum graveolens C.B.Clarke.-Growth:...
, fennel
Fennel
Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...
, marjoram
Marjoram
Marjoram is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours...
, parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
, rosemary
Rosemary
Rosemary, , is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which includes many other herbs, and is one of two species in the genus Rosmarinus...
, sage, thyme
Thyme
Thyme is a culinary and medicinal herb of the genus Thymus.-History:Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage...
, spearmint
Spearmint
Mentha spicata syn. M. cordifolia is a species of mint native to much of Europe and southwest Asia, though its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive early cultivation. It grows in wet soils...
, tarragon
Tarragon
Tarragon or dragon's-wort is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae related to wormwood. Corresponding to its species name, a common term for the plant is "dragon herb". It is native to a wide area of the Northern Hemisphere from easternmost Europe across central and eastern Asia to India,...
, borage
Borage
Borage, , also known as a starflower, is an annual herb originating in Syria, but naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region, as well as Asia Minor, Europe, North Africa, and South America. It grows to a height of , and is bristly or hairy all over the stems and leaves; the leaves are...
, which is valued for its cool cucumber aroma and flavor and lovage which looks like extra large celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
leaves.
Currently
The property remained with Duke until her death in 1993. It was tied up in litigation for a few years and opened to the public in 2000. It is currently owned by the Newport Restoration FoundationNewport Restoration Foundation
The Newport Restoration Foundation was founded by Doris Duke in 1968 to Newport, Rhode Island to preserve early housing stock including 18th century Colonial homes. Historic building preservation was threatened by redevelopment. Individual houses were purchased and restored...
. Tours are limited to 12 people each occurring from May until November. Since 2003, an exhibit has been in place, being either clothing, jewellry, silver, or furniture, changing each year. The estate also lacks a gift shop, as put by Duke "they were in bad taste," one will never be located on the property