Miramar Mansion

On this day in Newport history, Miramar Mansion was inaugurated on August 20th, 1915.

Located at 646 Bellevue Avenue, it was intended as a summer home for the George D. Widener family of Philadelphia. George and his son, Harry, Widener lost their lives aboard the RMS Titanic.

Eleanor Elkins Widener, George’s widow, who was rescued in a lifeboat from the Titanic, completed the project and construction was undertaken during 1913 and 1914 and opened to friends with a large reception on August 20, 1915.

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Miramar was used by Andrew Panteleakis as a private residence with business offices from 1971 through 2006. Panteleakis, who purchased the property for $118,000 in 1956 from the estate of Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr., sold it at auction conducted by Michael Fine in November 2006 for approximately $17.2 million. It was purchased then by retired Goldman Sachs partner David B. Ford and at the time was the most expensive single family home ever sold in the State of Rhode Island.

via @100yrsago2day on Twitter

This story was originally published on August 20, 2015. Sources: Some information obtained from Wikipedia.

Ryan Belmore is the Publisher of What'sUpNewp. 
Belmore has been involved with What’sUpNewp since shortly after its launch in 2012, proudly leading it to be named Best Local News Blog in Rhode Island by Rhode Island Monthly readers in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and an honorable mention in the Common Good Awards in 2021.

Born and raised in Rhode Island, Belmore graduated from Coventry High School and the Community College of Rhode Island. In addition to living in Newport for 10 years, he has lived in Portsmouth, Coventry, Providence, Smithfield, Burrillville, and East Greenwich.

Belmore currently serves as Vice President of the Board Of Directors for Fort Adams Trust and on the Board of Directors for Potter League For Animals. He previously served on the Board of Lucy's Hearth and the Arts & Cultural Alliance for Newport County.

Belmore and his wife, Jen, currently live in Alexandria, Virginia, a move they made in 2021. Read more about that here - https://whatsupnewp.com/2021/09/letter-from-the-publisher-some-personal-news/

Belmore visits Newport every couple of weeks to support the 12+ paid contributors What'sUpNewp has on the ground across Rhode Island, a place he called home for 39 years.

Belmore is a member of Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, Society of Professional Journalists, and the North American Snowsports Journalists Association.

In 2020, Belmore was named Member of the Year by LION and won the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Newport County's Dominque Award.
Belmore can be contacted at ryan@whatsupnewp.com and 401-662-1653.