Personal Finance Guide

Rhode Island hosts some astonishing summer cottages. RI property management can no longer manage many of these as they have been turned into museums. The history of property management RI has collected a million tales to tell. Over a hundred years ago during the end of the last century, robber barons dominated industry and they were lavish with their wealth. One of the favorite ways of vaunting wealth was to purchases a summer cottage in New Port Rhode Island. These summer homes where enormous mansions that stated loud and clear that they were party of the well moneyed class. Many of these mansions has become part of the national imagination , seen as sets for several renowned films. While the Great Gatsby took place on Long Island, the 1974 film was filmed partially in New Port. Some of these buildings have interesting stories.

The Breakers is a so called cottage that the Vanderbilt’s built. The Vanderbilt family built their fortune in Steamships and Railroads. After the wooden house burnt to the ground in 1892 Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned a cottage of 70 rooms. It has nearly 65,000 square feet of living space. Referring to the house as a cottage is a bit like calling the Amazon River a wash, or referring to Everest as a mound. The Breakers was designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt. On entering the Great Hall, Hunt’s figure can be seen above one of the six doors surrounding the Great Hall. He is in good company as the other doors have above them Dante, Apollo, Galileo, and the sculptor himself, Karl Bitter. The Breakers is filled with luxurious furniture, art and fixtures. The Breakers represents the quintessential example of the Gilded Age lifestyle of the wealthy. New Port was the center of the affluent social class during the summer, and the Breakers was at the heart of it all. The mansion is now owned by the Preservation Society.

The Kingscote Mansion was one of the first so called summer cottages built. It was crafted in the Gothic Revival style and is credited for bringing that style back. The mansion has arches, gothic towers, and ornate trim. It was perhaps one of the first houses to encourage the gathering of the wealthy. The mansion is now open to the public.

Chateau-Sur-Mer is another cottage in the New Port Style, large and ornate. Chateau-sur-Mer was perhaps the first Mansion to truly usher in the gilded age. It was built in 1851 and renovated by Richard Morris Hunt. Huge parties were always happening during the summer season with guests numbering in the thousands. The building was the largest until the Vanderbilt’s arrived. Chateau-sur-Mer is a classic Victorian style mansion complete with furniture, wall paper, stenciling and ceramics. The beautiful mansion belongs to the Preservation Society.

Theresa Fair Oelrich’s mansion, Rosecliff, was renowned for some of the very elaborate and lavish parties that she would host. Theresa loved Rosecliff to host magical dinners with entertainment. The mansion itself has been seen in popular culture as it has been used in such films as the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, True Lies, The Betsey, and Amistad. All these stunning homes are now part of the Preservation Society and reveal a piece of the American story.

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