Bellevue Avenue Historic District

	Bellevue Avenue Historic District
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark District
	Major contributing properties
Location	Newport, RI
Coordinates	41°28′13″N71°18′26″W / 41.47028°N 71.30722°W
Area	606 acres (242 ha)
Architect	Multiple
Architectural style	Late Victorian, Mixed (more than two styles from different periods)
NRHP reference No.	72000023
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	December 8, 1972
Designated NHLD	May 11, 1976

Last updated October 01, 2023

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 Gilded Age mansions built as summer retreats around the turn of the 20th century by the extremely wealthy, including the Vanderbilt and Astor families. Many of the homes represent pioneering work in the architectural styles of the time by major American architects.

Geography

The district encompasses an area of 606 acres (245 ha) bounded by Block Island Sound and Narragansett Bay to the south and east, respectively, Spring Street and Coggeshall Avenue to the west, and Memorial Boulevard to the north. This takes in the southeastern quarter of the developed portions of the city on the southwestern neck of Aquidneck Island. Bellevue Avenue itself runs north–south for over two miles (3.2 km) through the middle of the district.

Land use within the district is overwhelmingly residential. Most of its 63 buildings are dwellings either in use or originally built for that purpose. Institutional use is the next most common, with many of the historic mansions now used as historic house museums. One, Vernon Court, is home of the National Museum of American Illustration. Another, Belcourt Castle, is a privately owned house museum. Many others are owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County. Salve Regina University, home to some more historic buildings, including the William Watts Sherman House, is wholly within the district, and there is also a more modern senior citizens home built in the mid-20th century.

Commercial properties are clustered near the Newport Casino at the north end of the district, such as two contemporary strip malls opposite and to the right (respectively) of the casino itself. There are some small parks within the district, the block just south of Vernon Court on the east side of Bellevue is the location of the Frederick Law Olmsted Arboretum, located on the site of Stoneacre, no longer extant. The grounds of Stoneacre were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Rovensky Park is further down Bellevue Avenue and is maintained by the Preservation Society of Newport County. Many of the larger mansions sit on large lots, leaving plenty of open space within the district.

History

During the colonial era and the decades after independence, most of Newport's development remained around its downtown area, where port facilities, the mainstay of the city's economy, were. Early in the 19th century, visitors to the city in the summer months came to appreciate the moderating effects of the sea breezes and the panoramic ocean views. They began building cottages along the higher ground where Bellevue Avenue, then a lightly traveled farm path, now runs.

In 1839, George Noble Jones, a Southern plantation owner, built Kingscote, a Carpenter Gothic building considered the first of the city's mansions. The Civil War and the years leading up to it slowed further development in the area, but then it picked up again during the economic prosperity of the Gilded Age in the later decades of the 19th century. Houses became slightly larger than the original cottages, and experimented with new architectural styles. Chateau-sur-Mer was one of the few built as a year-round residence in 1851, it was later expanded in the 1880s using the Second Empire architecture from France. The Casino and the Isaac Bell House inaugurated the Shingle style, where that material was used as siding instead of clapboard.

More and more wealthy families were drawn to Newport in the summers, transforming the architecture again. William Kissam Vanderbilt's Marble House in 1888 helped spark the transformation of Newport with stone as a building material, Beaux Arts as a style, and set a new standard for size. A few years later, his brother Cornelius spent a record $7 million (equivalent to $246 million in 2022) on The Breakers, sitting above the cliffs at Ochre Point on the eastern shore. The Astors expanded the 1856 Beechwood to suit their needs.

These houses and their occupants made Newport synonymous with wealth and leisure in the early 20th century. Tennis and sailing would become associated with the city and the district through the tennis courts in the Casino, which hosted the early tournaments that became the US Open, and the America's Cup races which began being held in the nearby waters every three years. The onset of the Depression began to change this, as some families, faced with dwindling fortunes, turned their houses over to the public or private nonprofits such as the Preservation Society of Newport County.

As the trend toward tourism continued in the years after World War II, the mansions began being converted into museums and opened to the public; the International Tennis Hall of Fame opened in the Casino in 1955. The 1962 sale of The Elms, the last of the mansions to be owned and operated by the original family, marked the end of the resort era.

Preservation efforts had been going on in the downtown historic district for years, and the city had begun to appreciate their value as tourist attractions. In 1965, it recognized as part of its original local historic district three smaller areas in the Bellevue area, later added to the National Register of Historic Places: the original Bellevue Avenue district along the residential portions of the street itself, the Ochre Point/Cliffs district around The Breakers and the Bellevue Avenue/Casino District in that area.

In 1972 the city applied to the National Park Service to combine all three and expand them into the current Bellevue Avenue district.^[3] Four years later the new district was recognized as a National Historic Landmark District, the second of three in the city. The mansions and museums continue to be a draw for visitors to the city today.

Significant contributing properties

The builders of the mansions had the means to employ the best architectural talent available to them at the highest level of creativity. "The list of architects", says NPS historian Carolyn Pitts,"embraces almost every major designer of that time and what emerges at Newport is also a study of the development of the taste and skill of men like Richard Upjohn, Richard Morris Hunt and McKim, Mead and White over their professional careers."^[3]

Eight of the district's buildings have been designated as National Historic Landmarks in their own right. Several others are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many are open to the public for guided tours.

National Historic Landmarks

Isaac Bell House : First Shingle Style house.^[4]
The Breakers : Costly Italian Renaissance-style Vanderbilt home is Newport's signature mansion and a symbol of the Gilded Age.^[5]
Chateau-sur-Mer : Originally built in 1851, later extensively remodeled in Second Empire and other late 19th century styles by Richard Morris Hunt. Considered the first of the great Newport mansions.^[6]
The Elms : Horace Trumbauer mansion for coal magnate Edward Julius Berwind was one of the first houses wired for electricity. Classical Revival style imitates Château d'Asnières in France.^[7]
Kingscote : Gothic Revival 1839 cottage by Richard Upjohn is the first large house in the city built for a summer resident.^[8]
Marble House : Hunt's Beaux Arts design for William Kissam Vanderbilt was one of the first stone mansions, and started a trend toward very large homes in Newport.^[9]
Newport Casino : The only non-residential NHL within the district, it was its first Shingle Style building and one of the first American social clubs to include recreational facilities.^[10]
William Watts Sherman House : Henry Hobson Richardson house, with interiors by Stanford White, considered one of his best works. Prototype for the Shingle Style.^[11]

Other major properties

Beechwood : The Astors' Newport home, remodeled from an older one. Formerly living museum with actors playing the family, its guests and staff for visitors, now privately owned and closed to the public.
Belcourt of Newport : Summer home of Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, built by Hunt in a variety of different styles of the time.
Rosecliff : Stanford White's imitation of Versailles' Grand Trianon, built for silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs.
Ochre Court : Châteauesque mansion by Richard Morris Hunt. One of a number of properties also within the Ochre Point–Cliffs Historic District.
Vernon Court : Imitation of a Germain Boffrand chateau. Today home to the National Museum of American Illustration.

Historic District Commission

To maintain the district's historic character, the city created its Historic District Commission (HDC) at the same time as the district itself. It consists of nine citizens appointed to three-year terms by the City Council to oversee not just the downtown historic district but Newport's other historic districts, two of which (downtown and Ocean Drive) are also recognized as National Historic Landmarks. The city considers them all one large district for its administrative purposes.^[12]

The HDC must review any exterior alterations to a building in the district beyond ordinary maintenance and repair, and issue a Certificate of Appropriateness. It cannot order any changes made to a property.^[12]

Related Research Articles

Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately 33 miles (53 km) southeast of Providence, 20 miles (32 km) south of Fall River, Massachusetts, 74 miles (119 km) south of Boston, and 180 miles (290 km) northeast of New York City. It is known as a New England summer resort and is famous for its historic mansions and its rich sailing history. The city has a population of about 25,000 residents.

From the late 1870s to the 1920s, the Vanderbilt family employed some of the best Beaux-Arts architects and decorators in the United States to build an unequaled string of townhouses in New York City and palaces on the East Coast of the United States. Many of the Vanderbilt houses are now National Historic Landmarks. Some photographs of Vanderbilt residences in New York are included in the Photographic series of American Architecture by Albert Levy (1870s).

Belcourt is a former summer cottage designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. Construction was begun in 1891 and completed in 1894, and it was intended to be used for only six to eight weeks of the year. Belcourt was designed in a multitude of European styles and periods; it features a heavy emphasis on French Renaissance and Gothic decor, with further borrowings from German, English, and Italian design. In the Gilded Age, the castle was noted for its extensive stables and carriage areas, which were incorporated into the main structure.

The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.

The Newport Casino is an athletic complex and recreation center located at 180–200 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island in the Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District. Built in 1879–1881 by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., it was designed in the Shingle style by the newly formed firm of McKim, Mead & White. The Newport Casino was the firm's first major commission and helped to establish the firm's national reputation. Built as a social club, it included courts for both lawn tennis and court tennis, facilities for other games, such as squash and lawn bowling, club rooms for reading, socializing, card-playing, and billiards, shops, and a convertible theater and ballroom. It became a center of Newport's social life during the Gilded Age through the 1920s.

The Breakers was a Queen Anne style cottage designed by Peabody and Stearns for Pierre Lorillard IV and located along the Cliff Walk on Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island. In 1883, it was referred to as "unquestionably the most magnificent estate in Newport."

The Elms is a large mansion located at 367 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, completed in 1901. The architect Horace Trumbauer (1868–1938) designed it for the coal baron Edward Julius Berwind (1848–1936), taking inspiration from the 18th century Château d'Asnières in Asnières-sur-Seine, France. C. H. Miller and E. W. Bowditch, working closely with Trumbauer, designed the gardens and landscape. The Preservation Society of Newport County purchased The Elms in 1962, and opened the house to the public. The Elms was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

The Preservation Society of Newport County is a private, non-profit organization based in Newport, Rhode Island. It is Rhode Island's largest and most-visited cultural organization. The organization protects the architectural heritage of Newport County, especially the Bellevue Avenue Historic District. Seven of its 14 historic properties and landscapes are National Historic Landmarks, and most are open to the public.

Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style. It was unparalleled in opulence for an American house when it was completed in 1892. Its temple-front portico resembles that of the White House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chateau-sur-Mer</span> Historic house in Rhode Island, United States

Chateau-sur-Mer is one of the first grand Bellevue Avenue mansions of the Gilded Age in Newport, Rhode Island. Located at 474 Bellevue Avenue, it is now owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County and is open to the public as a museum. Chateau-sur-Mer's grand scale and lavish parties ushered in the Gilded Age of Newport, as it was the most palatial residence in Newport until the Vanderbilt houses in the 1890s. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

The Isaac Bell House is a historic house and National Historic Landmark at 70 Perry Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Also known as Edna Villa, it is one of the outstanding examples of Shingle Style architecture in the United States. It was designed by McKim, Mead, and White, and built during the Gilded Age, when Newport was the summer resort of choice for some of America's wealthiest families.

The William Watts Sherman House is a notable house designed by American architect H. H. Richardson, with later interiors by Stanford White. It is a National Historic Landmark, generally acknowledged as one of Richardson's masterpieces and the prototype for what became known as the Shingle Style in American architecture. It is located at 2 Shepard Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island and is now owned by Salve Regina University. It is a contributing property to the Bellevue Avenue Historic District.

Kingscote is a Gothic Revival mansion and house museum at Bowery Street and Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, designed by Richard Upjohn and built in 1839. It was one of the first summer "cottages" constructed in Newport, and is now a National Historic Landmark. It was remodeled and extended by George Champlin Mason and later by Stanford White. It was owned by the King family from 1864 until 1972, when it was given to the Preservation Society of Newport County.

The Newport Historic District is a historic district that covers 250 acres in the center of Newport in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1968 due to its extensive and well-preserved assortment of intact colonial buildings dating from the early and mid-18th century. Six of those buildings are themselves NHLs in their own right, including the city's oldest house and the former meeting place of the colonial and state legislatures. Newer and modern buildings coexist with the historic structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Drive Historic District</span> Historic district in Rhode Island, United States

The Ocean Drive Historic District is a historic district that covers the long street of the same name along the southern shore of Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1976, in recognition for its distinctive landscape and architecture, which is less formal and generally not as ostentatious as the grand summer properties of Bellevue Avenue.

The John N. A. Griswold House is a historic house located at 76 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. It was built in 1864 for John Noble Alsop Griswold, an Old China Trade merchant and member of the Griswold Family, and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the American Stick style, one of the earliest buildings in that style, and one of Hunt's first works in Newport.

The Ochre Point–Cliffs Historic District is a historic district in Newport, Rhode Island. The district includes a significant subset of the Bellevue Avenue Historic District, a National Historic Landmark District, including all of the major Gilded Age mansions on the waterfront facing Easton Bay between Memorial Boulevard and Marine Avenue. The district is home to famous mansions such as the William Watts Sherman House and The Breakers, one of the largest houses in the area built by the Vanderbilt Family. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District encompasses a one-block section of Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. Although Bellevue Avenue is best known for the large number of Gilded Age mansions which line it, especially further south, this block is a coherent collection of commercial buildings at the northern end of the mansion row. It is anchored around the Newport Casino, now the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and includes three other buildings on the east side of Bellevue Avenue between Memorial Boulevard and East Bowery Street.

References

↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
1 2 "Bellevue Avenue Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
1 2 3 Pitts, Carolyn (February 5, 1976). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Bellevue Avenue Historic District (PDF). National Park Service.
↑ "Bell, Isaac Jr., House". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Breakers, The". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Chateau-sur-Mer". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Elms, The". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Kingscote". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Marble House". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Newport Casino NHL". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
↑ "Sherman, William, Watts House". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
1 2 "Historic District Commission". City of Newport Department of Planning, Zoning and Inspection. Archived from the original on May 6, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2008.

External links

Beechwood Official website
Belcourt Castle Official website
Preservation Society of Newport County—Visitor information for many properties in district
National Museum of American Illustration

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[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[nhlsum-2] 1 2 "Bellevue Avenue Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2008.

[nrhpinv2-3] 1 2 3 Pitts, Carolyn (February 5, 1976). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Bellevue Avenue Historic District (PDF). National Park Service.

[Bell_House_NHL-4] "Bell, Isaac Jr., House". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Breakers_NHL-5] "Breakers, The". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Chateau-sur-Mer_NHL-6] "Chateau-sur-Mer". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Elms_NHL-7] "Elms, The". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Kingscote_NHL-8] "Kingscote". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Marble_House_NHL-9] "Marble House". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Newport_Casino_NHL-10] "Newport Casino NHL". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[Sherman_House_NHL-11] "Sherman, William, Watts House". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[HDC-12] 1 2 "Historic District Commission". City of Newport Department of Planning, Zoning and Inspection. Archived from the original on May 6, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2008.

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