After a morning of lectures we headed out to Belcourt Castle. Belcourt is a R. M. Hunt building( 1891-94). The house was built for Oliver Hazzard Perry Belmont, with changes done when he married Alva Vanderbilt once she divorced William.
The house has been purchased by Carolyn Rafaelian, founder of Alex and Ani. She is restoring the house, and we were told that it would become a museum, however, she is maintaining an apartment on the top floor.
The house, especially the ballroom, is rather over the top, granted it is in a complete state of disarray and in the midst of construction but here goes:
As you can see today was a very, very rainy day, so there will be a handful of photographs that are a tad “wet”.
Belcourt was built as a sort of French hunting lodge. There is English half timbering and French style masonry work essentially drawing from varying periods.
Belmont was an accomplished horseman, establishing Belmont Raceway with it subsequent Belmont Stakes, so the first floor was occupied by elegantly furnishes stables. Alva was given Belmont House as a wedding present when she married Oliver and in the beginning she toned down the “masculine” touches then, after his death she converted the tack room into a dining room.
There was a storage room that is just chock-a-block full of cast off’s, and was a treasure hunters dream.
When Alva removed the stables, the front entry was changed, this caused a complete realignment of the stairway.
The stained glass window is in the dining room.
The dining room, as I said is just over the top!
This is for Deb at Sullivan Masonry. I am truly frustrated with terms, there is a constant interchange of the word plaster and stucco, often confused with mortar, but this was the ultimate HUH? I was told that they were spending a lot of money repointing the brick so I was excited to take pictures for you – well here you go.
Next stop was Beacon Rock. It too has an interesting heritage. While perfect symmetry and Greek sensibilities reign on the exterior, the interior feels as modern and frankly as McMansion as you can imagine.
Beacon Rock was done for Edwin Morgan of the Morgan Family. Edwin Morgan was Commodore of the NY Yacht Club and owner of several America’s cup defenders.
The landscape was done by Frederick Law Olmstead, fresh off his work on Central Park, he incorporated this aqueduct styled bridge that serves as the entry way to the property.
After three decades of Morgans the home was eventually sold to Felix DeWeldon, best know for sculpting the Iwo Jima Memorial. There was a falling of fortunes, and then a sewage debacle and the house was purchase by attorney Brian Cunha from Boston. There was a complete overhaul of the property and today you can rent it for around $125,000/month.
Here are some of the finer details of the home.
Italian marble was brought in to recreate the ancient Athenian Stoa of Attalos and Agora.
The original Stoa of Attalos
This is Roman Brick. Modern “Roman” bricks were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. They are invariably longer and flatter than other modern brick types, but there are no fixed dimensions. We had seen a house earlier this week with Roman Brick – below- the Commodore William Edgar house which was a MMW house.
Continuing with the Beacon Rock House:
Yep, loved the landscape and the views, but again the house was fabulous on the exterior but…
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Earlier, we had been given one of the most fabulous lectures regarding the way that the house staff works and lived in these homes by John Tschirch. John is engaging, and an excellent lecturer, and made the entire subject one you want to go running out and learn so much more about. The next stop was a behind the scenes walkthrough of The Elms.
Walking the five stories to the servants quarters.
The Bell call system
Overlooking the ground from the roof.
The laundry room, there were originally 5 sinks in the laundry room, with lye soap to boot.
This was amazing, the owner designed a coal delivery system underground. The coal car ran 50 feet down under the lawn to the street and the manhole in the middle of the street. The coal was loaded up and rolled to the boilers. The ashes from the fireplaces were removed via the same system. No dust, no muss.
Interior of the iceboxes
The kitchens – can you imagine how hot this must have been running 24 hours a day on coal.
While this looked like a short day, it was filled with hours of lectures, and ended with a lecture by RGW at the Newport Art Museum to open the newest show Very Simple Charm – The early work of Richard Morris Hunt.
Dinner at the Black Pearl and back to the dorms with the funniest, smartest young group I have had the pleasure of rooming with.
Here are some final shots of the day
I absolutely love sculpted faces in the ornamentation of building, I was in seventh heaven today.
William Morris Hunt placed himself in every single house he designed, this one is in Belcourt Castle.
Found this little guy on the back of a chair.
And this of course is the maquette of the Iwo Jima statue in front of some fabulous murals. – And yes – I find that silk flag horrible too!