What is the Belcourt Mansion in Newport?

Рет қаралды 43,893

Күн бұрын

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? Today, we are exploring Belcourt of Newport.
Location: Newport, Rhode Island
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Info sourced from: NYT archives, the Boston Globe, belcourtcastle.com, Nominal Wages, Cost of Living, and Real Wages in Industry, Trade, and Transportation (1871-1913), boston.com
Photos from: RPD2, harletinney.com
Creative Common 2.0(creativecommons.org/licenses/...) Photos from: Jennifer Macaulay, Wally Gobetz, Jenna Rose Robbins,
Creative Commons 3.0(creativecommons.org/licenses/... from: Stilfehler, Charles v. Hamm,
Creative Commons 4.0(creativecommons.org/licenses/... from: Kenneth C. Zircle
Music from Epidemic Sound

Пікірлер: 99

@clairwaucaush7225 Жыл бұрын

Its great that it still stands. It is odd looking, but a real look into the original owners style. EVERYONE sais, "If I had the money I'd..." well, Belmont DID have the money and did what he wanted! Good for him.

@Kinseydsp Жыл бұрын

Right On Clair

@fishbakes895 Жыл бұрын

A see this house right out of my bedroom window everyday, and It is so cool and unique!

@barbieharris8079 Жыл бұрын

I met mrs tinney right before the mansion was sold in her ghost tour, it was wonderful , also bought a couple treasures from their attic sale at that visit . I felt really lucky to have had that experience !

@nans969 Жыл бұрын

In 2019 I with my husband took a bus tour of Newport. His 1st Newport experience. I'm from Rhode island and have been on a few tours. I love the history. He found it interesting. All new to him. Currently, Belcort was made famous because that is where Jennifer Lawrence was married. And is currently owned by the founder of the jewelry line Alex and Ani.

@Donald_Shaw Жыл бұрын

Thanks for showing us around this mansion, Ken. Great tour as always.

@jamesparciak5387 Жыл бұрын

Hi Ken. It's so nice seeing belcourt so meticulously restored. I have spent many summers in Newport spending time at these homes. Thank you for presenting them.

@tamieckert4548 Жыл бұрын

Always love the beginnings of their foothold onto such beautiful places but sometimes there’s good endings.Interesting change of hands in ownership of these beautifully crafted,buildings,interiors and exteriors😁💖🛡🌟✅

@BenjaminBanks615 Жыл бұрын

As a native of Nashville I have sssooo many questions now. The Vanderbilt/Belmont history needs to be made into a movie. It would be EPIC.

@AprilMHeil-cc1me Жыл бұрын

I adore your channel. Thank you for bringing these old beauties to the forefront of the world today. 👏

@Kinseydsp Жыл бұрын

This House My Mother and I went to Newport and saw all the Mansions i Many years ago when she was living Including Belcourt it was Beautiful.

@amyogden7376 Жыл бұрын

During Covid-19 shutdown, I read 7-8 books about the Vanderbilts, some better than others! How and when Alvah met Belmont is a little obscure, but it was obvious they knew one another from the social set in Newport and NYC. She was an interesting woman, eventually very influential in women’s suffrage. Belmont did have some very strange ideas about his house. Not surprised that Hunt quit, and it took a strong woman like Alvah to insist on changes after they were married!

@ceejay960 Жыл бұрын

You read 7-8 books about the Vanderbilts, but can't even spell Alva's name correctly? lol

@JGumaerTesta Жыл бұрын

Belmont met Alva through her ex-husband William Kissam Vanderbilt II

@andrewbrendan1579 Жыл бұрын

If you haven't already read this Vanderbilt book I'd like to highly recommend "Fortune's Children -- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt" by Arthur T. Vanderbilt II. I could hardly put the book down I found it so engrossing. Alva's daughter Consuela wrote her autobiography "The Glitter and the Gold" with ghost writer Stuart Preston. I know of this book but haven't read it. I did read "The Vanderbilt Era" by Louis Auchincloss. If you're interested in the stories of wealthy Americans in fact and fiction, I think you'll like the work of Louis Auchincloss who was from a wealthy New York family himself. I've read maybe 40 of his many books. I'd like to particularly recommend his book "The House of Five Talents" told in the voice of an elderly spinster who grew up enormously rich durnig the Gilded Age. I don't recall the specifics but Louis Auchincloss and Jacqueline Bouvier became step-siblings or step-cousins when Jacqueline's divorced mother married a member of the Auchincloss family.

@JGumaerTesta Жыл бұрын

Add Maverick in Mauve to that list

@amyogden7376 Жыл бұрын

@@ceejay960 I realized that after I pressed send🤦‍♀️

@hugopurpleturban Жыл бұрын

Belcourt Castle is currently owned by Carolyn Rafaelian, founder of Alex & Ani jewelry company.

@GodsFavoriteBassPlyr Жыл бұрын

Fantastic tour. I was just in Newport a few weeks ago... and was completely unaware that private tours were possible. Thanks for this news!

@janedee6488 Жыл бұрын

I liked that he kept horses in the first floor

@racheldianeames3729 Жыл бұрын

Pls do more videos on other historic mansions in NEwport

@michealsmith28 Жыл бұрын

Oh my God we can go tour that house I am there 😳😎 thank you first time you said one week we can go and look and go through all my goodness I'm so excited calling my travel agent

@danielintheantipodes6741 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the video.

@craigaussant5139 Ай бұрын

Just came back from tour. Wow what a family drama. Alva is a woman who played her cards right at whatever the cost was. She was Into Victorian age spiritualism and the Occult. The house pulses with a thick sense of history and mix of happiness and suffering. The dinning room and ball room are breathtaking. The courtyard and surrounding open second floor caught me off guard. Definitely recommend a tour.

@christopherkraft1327 Жыл бұрын

Wow, a staff of 30 people!!! 😲

@tommunyon2874 Жыл бұрын

I've only toured Rosecliff. To me it showed the greatest tasteful restraint when compared to some of the other "cottages."

@mileshigh1321 Жыл бұрын

It is a hodge podge of architecture on the outside! As a country home, maybe not as ornate as a city home! The gothic ballroom with the amazing castle fireplace and stained glass was nice!

@p.mckenzie2921 Жыл бұрын

I love the dining room. The floors and table when you step inside from the 😉sunlight just bounced around the room.I know some people say that it’s too big and they don’t like it. But it’s very beautiful inside. Thank you for showing it and telling us about Alva. Is !there any way that you could tell us more Alva our other homes please.

@MarkAshtonLund Жыл бұрын

First, I love your channel! I toured Belcourt a few years ago. It's a very interesting estate. My favorite in Newport is The Elms.

@chrisparsons9360 Жыл бұрын

On our first trip to Newport we toured Belcourt, when it was still owned by Harle Tinney and in generally poor condition. We went back a few years later and decided to attend service at the 18th century Episcopal church, where we met Harle Tinney. She took a liking to us and spent a couple of hours after the service giving us a tour of the church and discussing her time at Belcourt, including how hwe husband Donald had fallen to his death from the Cliff Walk. We hope to return to see Belcourt in its newly renovated incarnation.

@mstsp9546 Жыл бұрын

This was fun! Oliver sounds like a horrid person though. Not my favorite house, but I caught myself smiling as you showed us around. I am really glad it has been preserved, and I smile even more that all 😊people can now appreciate it.

@dannybeun948 Жыл бұрын

Just perfect

@firecracker3911 Жыл бұрын

Nice 👍

@gandfgandf5826 Жыл бұрын

Remarkable that such an oddity is one to survive. Each to their own. Consider some of the monster houses being built now. If they survive a century, what will be said of them then?

@michealsmith28 Жыл бұрын

Look at that house 🤤

@moxielouise Жыл бұрын

Goodness gracious you talk fast! I had to backup and repeat just to catch it all... Love the content

@kylesteele3936 Жыл бұрын

Thank goodness for Alva. She had already helped create 2 of America's finest homes so remaking this place was easy. Trust and believe if she had complete free will the place would have been majorly different.

@lorimc7989 Жыл бұрын

The fireplace with the castle mantel is the koolest thing, ever🔥🧱🏰

@zajournals Жыл бұрын

I've attended many parties there when the Tinneys owned it. It was called Belcourt Castle.

@thefrogbert6295 Жыл бұрын

You definitely should do a video about the Edsel & Eleanor Ford Estate

@ericalbany Жыл бұрын

Under the Tinney family the house got a bit peculiar. A visitor described the interior as "Brimfield (an outdoor antiques flea market) with a roof". You've also greatly simplified the soap-opera like struggle in the family.

@LJB103 Жыл бұрын

This video makes it seem that Oliver didn't meet Alva until after his return to see his house. He was an old friend of her husband Willie K Vanderbilt, and they knew each other for years. In 1887, Oliver was one of the guests on the Vanderbilt cruise to Egypt.

@warrenwinslow4266 Жыл бұрын

What a terrible friend.

@LJB103 Жыл бұрын

@@warrenwinslow4266 Not sure that Willie K was all that upset to get rid of Alva. Reminds me of Mary Cushing throwing Brooke Russell in front of her husband Vincent Astor so they would marry and she'd be free of him.

@MomCat6000 Жыл бұрын

My my - he was so scornful of the nouveau riche … and then …. married Alva V!!! 😄

@normajeanmcdaniel4491 Жыл бұрын

Dig the content 👌

@andrescintron1618 Жыл бұрын

Please please please do Seaview Terrace in Newport. That house was moved brick by brick from Baltimore I believe to Newport and then added on to. Also famous on a show back in the day.

@dre4011 Жыл бұрын

Corner of Ledge & Lakeview 👍👍👍

@mikec7176 Жыл бұрын

I toured this house in th 70’s.

@DETROIT1948 Жыл бұрын

Home Is Good.

@ronniedelahoussayechauvin6717 Жыл бұрын

Sounds Shadey☂️

@picasso7721 Жыл бұрын

You are excellent at this.

@StormBringer- Жыл бұрын

Before he married he would bring the horses into the house. Belmont race track. They showed this house on American Pickers episode.

@susanchapman7332 Жыл бұрын

How can I say which room was my favorite as you only showed part of the main floor? Otherwise, I love the glimpse and the history of the homes you show

@samanthab1923 Жыл бұрын

Always remember it from when the Tinney’s owned it & the whole scandal.

@ericalbany Жыл бұрын

Oh yes- I recall mud being flung: "That "Russian Crystal" chandelier came from a movie theater in Fall River Massachusetts!"

@brooke3312 Жыл бұрын

Wow what a story! Side note! You guys need to check your DM’s on Instagram

@foxworthhall726 Жыл бұрын

I met Mr Tinney back in the 1990s on a house tour. Mr. Tinney's ghost now resides there. Ghost Hunters did an investigation of this home.

@bethanyfisher6037 11 ай бұрын

There was an awesome door, I took pictures, on Ledge Rd. Found it running, most intricate, beautiful door I have ever seen with snakes as doorhandles. It’s gone now, but I wonder where it came from and where it went.

@bethanyfisher6037 11 ай бұрын

It’s in your video, rounded top

@zkbf2000 Жыл бұрын

Dear Ken, thank you so much for your hard work to creat these videos. I love your Chanel as I spent my teenage years until age of 27 in USA . Currently I am living in London UK working in a busy hospital. Could I please ask you a favour and that is could you please speak slowly to explain the history of each house? You speak too fast and I had to go backward so many times to understand the history. Thank you so much and I am so sorry to mention this to you as it is not a criticism but only a feedback. One again thank you ever so much for all hard work.

@Tristan_Nelson Жыл бұрын

Wow it really was Alvas way or GET OUT 😅 hood thing she had that good expensive taste

@lee_minhyuk Жыл бұрын

How gaudy that house

@andrewbrendan1579 Жыл бұрын

Well, the house is....interesting. Wasn't there a murder at Belcourt or a death situation with a contested will back in the 1980;s? As I recall, the handyman had become very involved with the elderly lady of the house and got her to go out in society and have a good time but there was concern that he was taking advantage of her. I remember watching an A&E network show, I think it was "City Confidential", that dealt with the case and I'm sure it involved people who lived and worked at Belcourt.

@garycombs5721 Жыл бұрын

Had Commodore lived longer he would’ve bitch-slapped Alva.

@michealsmith28 Жыл бұрын

It was abandoned how can you abandon something like that 😢

@nans969 Жыл бұрын

It's very expensive to upkeep those cottages. Especially when they originally were built to be used for only 6 weeks a year for parties. Most of Newport mansions were abandoned at one time.

@StamperWendy Жыл бұрын

I'm wondering where they kept the carriages after the carriage hall was transformed into a banquet hall. Perhaps they built a separate carriage house?

@ericalbany Жыл бұрын

He no longer had as extensive a collection of carriages and horses - and I believe the remainder were housed in a separate structure.

@123pb 3 ай бұрын

Yeah well back then I had a few extra bucks lying around and bought the dam place. (And then I awoke from my dream)

@sharitobias Жыл бұрын

$21,000 dollars!!!!

@JGumaerTesta Жыл бұрын

Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont's Mansion.

@kellingtonlink956 Жыл бұрын

I think this might be the first period home that leaves little to no impression on me. I don’t particularly find any attractiveness on the inside. Its not any one thing, but rather the house as a whole. Interesting nonetheless. Thanks for the video.

@michealsmith28 Жыл бұрын

God he had to sleep with that I would give me nightmares.

@RADIUMGLASS Жыл бұрын

The Tinney family paid $25,000 for it in the 1950s.

@Hballbiscuit Жыл бұрын

Hello!! This is one of my least favorite mansions of Newport, I prefer Marble house. I can't believe Alva, who was such snob, could ever stay there. Just like Mrs. O. H. P belmont, Edith Rockefeller Mccormick was a snob. I heard she wouldn't speak to any staff but her butler, and if she wanted something from the cook she would talk through the butler. Would you consider doing a video on the Edith Rockefeller Mccormick mansion from Chicago?

@jakecavendish3470 Жыл бұрын

It's a mansion in Newport

@glennmcgee1729 Жыл бұрын

The exterior design shown wasn't that off putting, I've seen much worse. The room with the large castle mantle demonstrated the owner's sense of whimsy architects might have struggled with then. I wonder how much that mugging altered his behavior towards others.

@christophermyers3758 Жыл бұрын

I don't think it would have SMELLED great, with all those stables on the first floor, below the banquet hall and the formal dining room?! 😝🐎💩

@D.Garcia007 Жыл бұрын

I'm pretty sure the father died unexpectedly

@ryeguyseattle Жыл бұрын

Ken definitely trying to change the sound of his voice now. And I’m not a fan.

@ThisHouse Жыл бұрын

Ken recorded these last few videos while he was sick. Expect a couple more to sound different as he recovers! -Dalton(the editor)

@gregrenn2138 Жыл бұрын

@@ThisHouse Speedy recovery wishes for Ken!

@michealsmith28 Жыл бұрын

I'm gross can you imagine that coming to bed oh God 🤔😳🤢🤮

@carolynsaffoe8718 Жыл бұрын

The whole thing is a hot mess.

@elmonteslim3711 Жыл бұрын

Old Money snobs....that means they inherited someone else's money and didn't have the brains to earn it themselves.

@here_we_go_again2571 Жыл бұрын

That is one ugly grand house! (The place can't hold a candle to Marble House) I am surprised that Alva agreed to stay Belcourt it at all.

@lizlittle1641 Жыл бұрын

I think they should have kept the carriage room instead of having a banquet hall. I don't like this house.

@mariashelly4812 Жыл бұрын

That mix of styles is just sad. They'd have to pay me to walk through that mess.

@monkeygraborange Жыл бұрын

That is one ugly house.

@SymphonyBrahms Жыл бұрын

What an ugly house, outside and inside.

@amesavis Жыл бұрын

Well he was one of the few Jews to be in the upper class and married his best friend's wife so that tells you about his morals. The house reflects this disordered thinking - a dark baronial manor with armor and groaning boards, so inappropriate for one's seaside cottage. alma was notorious for torturing her children making the girl wear a metal brace to enlongate her neck and correct her posture, while neglecting her two boys who stayed together in a small room and were repressed in every way.