If you’re like me and you loved HBO’s The Gilded Age, you probably recognized several of the houses from the series that featured Newport as its glittering locale. Well, a few of those houses are part of the Preservation Society of Newport County’s short season and closing soon. This weekend is your last chance to tour them until they open up again next year.
Among those closing up are three that were featured in the HBO show starring Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski. Of those three, two are closing on Thursday: Chateau sur-Mer and Kingscote and can be taken in with self-guided tours. The hours for both Newport mansions are 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, and they’re well worth visiting.
Chateau sur-Mer
Purchased by the Preservation Society in 1969 and appointed a National Historical Landmark in 2006, Chateau sur-Mer served as the stately, French-inspired home to William Shepard Wetmore, whose son, George Peabody Wetmore would later become Governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator. The epitome of grand elegance in the City by the Sea, Chateau sur-Mer preceded the flashier residences built by the Vanderbilts (The Breakers for one) and functioned as the picturesque backdrop for the 1857 extravagant “Fete Champetre” country picnic that hosted more than 2,000 guests.
On The Gilded Age, Chateau provided several scenes including the exterior of Caroline Astor’s Beechwood House (remember when Bertha Russella had to sneak out the back!), scenes with Oscar van Rhijn (the boarding house) and Agnes van Rhijn’s bedroom.
Have no fear, however, Chateau sur-Mer will also be included as part of the detailed Gilded Age tour being expanded by the Preservation Society and starting up next week, to take place in September only.
Kingscote
Built in 1830, Kingscote is a gem of a house, which I feel kind of got a bad rep on The Gilded Age, due to Susan Blane’s (Laura Benanti) complaints of the “stuffy” interior. The exterior of the house is quite remarkable, a beautiful example of the Gothic Revival style in American architecture, and a distinguished house that marked the beginning of the “cottage boom” that would set the seal on the town of Newport forever.
The interior bedrooms are not only delicately charming, but also surprisingly relatable in their lack of stately formality, such as perhaps The Breakers or Marble House. They’re almost a few degrees above Pottery Barn in some ways, except filled with priceless antiques of course. If there’s one house that can serve as inspiration for your own bedrooms, Kingscote certainly fits the bill. I was especially charmed by one of the children’s bedrooms that featured pictures from the places the family travelled to. I was also enamored with the nursery that included an antique rocking horse. As inviting as the interior bedrooms are, it’s really the fanciful composition of the Medieval-inspired towers, windows, Gothic arches and porch roofs that really makes this architectural marvel sing.
China Trade merchant William Henry King bought the house in 1864, with his relatives leaving it to the Preservation Society in 1972.
The next two houses close after this weekend and can only be toured by special-timed tickets on Fridays and Saturdays only. The last two days are coming up this weekend, with tours six times each day: 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30.
Hunter House
Considered one of the finest examples of Colonial architecture in Newport, Hunter House originated in 1748, when America was still part of the British empire. Constructed for Jonathon Nichols Jr., a prosperous merchant and colonial deputy, the house later changed hands to wealthy merchant Joseph Wanton Jr. Wanton lived there with his first wife, Abigail Honyman, and second wife, Sarah Brenton, along with his seven children.
Because of his Loyalist sympathies, Wanton would later flee the house, which was repurposed into the headquarters of Admiral de Ternay, commander of the French fleet, when French forces occupied Newport in 1780. The property got its namesake from its next purchaser, lawyer and statesman William Hunter. Hunter served as a U.S. Senator and President Andrew Jackson’s charge d’affaires to Brazil. It changed hands several times after that before becoming the pivotal house whose preservation effort formed the basis of the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1945.
In addition, according to the records of the Preservation Society:
“The house was owned by wealthy merchants who furnished it with decorative arts produced by expert craftsmen. Such a luxurious lifestyle depended on the labor of enslaved people of African descent. Recent research by the Preservation Society has identified at least 13 enslaved individuals who lived and worked at Hunter House.”
Hunter House was featured as the office of the Brook family lawyer Tom Raikes on The Gilded Age.
Chepstow
Built in 1860, Chepstow is the outlier among these properties since it wasn’t featured in The Gilded Age. But that doesn’t make it any less magnificent. Designed by Newport architect George Champlin Mason as the Chepstow summer residence of Edmund Schermerhorn, this Italianate-style villa makes a marvelous impact with its expansive exterior and landscaping. The stunning estate was acquired by Mrs. Emily Morris Gallatin in 1911 and the Morris family left it to the Preservation Society in 1986.
For information on how to book any of the timed or self-guided tours, you can check out details on the Preservation Society website, https://www.newportmansions.org/.
The Breakers, Marble House, Rosecliff and The Elms will remain open, although I believe The Elms will close in the month of October for filming of The Gilded Age S3, but don’t quote me on that. The Isaac Bell House is also closing at the end of this month—which offers private-guided tours on the weekend—but will re-open daily for self-guided tours in October.The special Gilded Age tour—that takes you along several of the houses used in filming—will begin September 3. That is a tour not be missed!
