mayfairblog

Click on the image for full details

Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty visits 79 Second Street, Newport, Rhode Island to discover a charming family house with an important architectural history and a big debt to a remarkable woman.

On top of this delightful house is a circular turret room.  It is a little like being in a lighthouse.  I can’t remember a much better or lighter room anywhere in which to get away from it all for a good read.  The room reads very well.

This is, in some ways, thanks to a lady called Doris Duke.  If you haven’t heard of her, she was left $80 million in 1925, when she was twelve – that’s almost $1billion in today’s money – and fortunately for Newport Miss Duke later found plenty of ways to spend it wisely.

One of her many philanthropic activities was almost single-handedly to save over 80 late eighteenth and early nineteenth century houses in Newport’s Point and Hill districts from the developers.  This was a piece of extraordinary vision, for without Miss Duke much of Newport’s precious early architectural heritage would now be only be a dusty memory.

In saving these houses and neighborhoods Miss Duke, through her foresight and formidable resources, saved the town’s architectural soul by a level of preservation that few have attempted before or since.

That is not the only remarkable feature of this house on the corner of Second and Pine Streets and only a block back from Narragansett Bay.  This is also an iconic American Shingle Style building.  Designed by Charles Follen McKim, of famous Shingle Style architects, McKim, Mead and White, as a carriage house, the building is now recognized as an important concept piece for the development of this distinctive style. The house was commissioned in 1876 just two years after architect, Henry Hobson Richardson built the very first Shingle Style structure.

But all that was yesterday.  Today I am thinking about that turret room and elegant first floor reception rooms.  Upstairs are great master and guest rooms, but better still are the enchanting children’s rooms and heavenly turret room.  These are the kind of rooms that will surely remain in their young occupants’ memories forever, making this a very special family house indeed.

Here in this Newport house a gifted homeowner, an enlightened architect and a dedicated preservationist, all perhaps unknown to each other, have each played their own part in creating an important but equally comfortable family house.  I thank all three for the delightful and thought-provoking memory.

By Nick Churton

Click on image for full details

Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty takes a look at a very special and secluded house on Rhode Island’s shore.

Over the years I have been in the doghouse on more occasions than I care to remember.  But recently I was very happy to be in a very special doghouse indeed. The Kennel Cottage was once the home of eighteen pampered Pekinese pets – owned by a late lamented Newport grand dame. Fortunately someone with great foresight recognised that it would make an even better home for pampered persons.

For a start this delightful house never fails to deliver.  Inside the colour palate is sophisticated, subtle, natural and calming.  It is furnished with restraint and seemingly effortless good taste to show off the superb architecture and detail with great élan.

But if the house and its interior enthral then the grounds will enchant.  What is extra special about The Kennel Cottage is its secrecy.  It is tucked away on the private 77 acre Grey Craig estate that it shares with only five other homes. Hardly a soul knows that the house is there.  It is a hidden garden kingdom.  Beyond the terrace and pool are almost nine acres of very special landscaping.

Apparently the gardens were designed to emulate those of an English country estate.  Perhaps.  But in some ways these are even better.  No English garden has views to Martha’s Vineyard! But in true English garden tradition the space is divided into distinct areas.  These include a formal rose garden, an amphitheatre garden with lake, walled fruit orchard with pillared Italianate tea house and a shade garden.  Beyond, the land falls gently to a rocky strand and the ocean.

If you want to live in Newport and make a statement to passers by then this is not for you.  There are no passers by.  But if you want total privacy in your own coastal realm then it is hard to see how this can be beaten.  I loved my walkies around The Kennel Cottage.  It certainly makes my ‘I would buy’ list.

By Nick Churton

Click on image for full details

Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty gets a flavor of Newport summer living.

So this is what living in Newport is all about. Starboard House is a summer cottage built at a time and in a place that was the height of Gilded Age fashion.  And what a cottage!

Surrounded by nearly 2 acres of gardens, which feature some of the celebrated specimen trees that help make Newport a citywide arboretum, Starboard House is one of Newport’s earlier stone built homes.  It rather has the look and feel of a fine European villa on the Cote d’Azure or beside Lake Como.

It was built for a member of Newport’s summer colony in 1860 and past owners include Edward Ogden of New Orleans, William F. Weld of Boston and Forsyth Wickes. Wickes housed his priceless collection of French furniture, paintings and decorative objects here, and later donated them to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts that built a whole new wing to display them.

Of course I loved the reception rooms with their fine proportions and lofty ceilings, and the sensational black and white tiled hall with sweeping staircase.  But then I adored the kitchen too.  Here is a vast old Vulcan stove – de rigueur years ago.  It is a wonderful, warm, great black slumbering pet of a thing.  It reminds us that although antique it will produce an omelette just as well as any new-fangled cooker, but it looks far more magnificent.  Move into Starboard House and it will soon become an important part of your family.

On paper the rooms go on and on, but inside this is a more intimate palace.  It has now been fully updated to an impressive degree and stands ready to welcome the summer influx.  It will then thrive at doing what it was designed to do best – providing stylish living to stylish people in a very stylish town.

By Nick Churton

Click on image for details

Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty takes a look at Fairholme, one of the very fine homes being marketed through broker, Lila Delman Real Estate.

Where does one begin when describing a visit to Fairholme? Where does one begin with such an iconic house with a dazzling social history, imposing and distinctive elevations, breathtaking location, and faultless interior?  Well, Jack Kennedy used to swim in the pool and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor often partied here.  How’s that for starters?

Fairholme isn’t as large as its close neighbour, The Breakers – one of the world’s great superhomes.  But in many ways Fairholme may be all the better for that, especially in this day and age. This is a grand house certainly, but on a more manageable scale.

It may be a house that does not overwhelm, but it does greatly impress. Its architecture leans towards the Tudor and its views lean towards the Atlantic.  Everything about it is impressive, from the stately elevations, the comfortable and stylish reception rooms, the elegant and spacious bedroom suites and the exceptional ocean view to the rear.

Just as impressive are the 4.3 acres of Gilded Age coastline estate with picturesque six-bedroom carriage house, three interconnected greenhouses, and a sybaritic swimming pool with pavilion and outdoor living area overlooking the Atlantic.

In the early years the house was the summer home to some of the best of Philadelphia society.  Indeed, when I visited, if Dexter Haven had popped over from next door or Tracy Lord emerged from the pool I don’t think I would have been too surprised.

For good or ill those days have gone and the world now is a different place.  But today the old residents with names like Vanderbilt, Astor, Van Buren and Belmont are steadily being replaced by a fresh intake of billionaires.  It would be churlish to name names but the new list is richly impressive.

It is only a personal view, but while there may be plenty of houses in the US with higher price tags, few have the pedigree of Fairholme.  Also, I have the impression that Newport’s star is very much on the rise again. Other areas like the Hamptons have become highly fashionable over the past few years.  But it would be difficult to find another place which has the history, tradition, fame, name and cachet of this extraordinary Rhode Island town.  In Newport one walks with giants.

Nick Churton

Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty takes a look at a magical estate on the Rhode Island shore.

Last night I dreamt I went to Plaisance again . . . To an Englishman there is something of Daphne Du Maurier about this spectacular house. Perhaps it is the rugged coast, the rocks and the crashing waves beneath. Perhaps it is the haunting romance but I have thought about Plaisance every day since I was there.

Over the years I have seen many houses with fine views – houses all over the UK and the US, houses in France and Italy and in lots of other places too. All these views have been different, special and spectacular. But I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like the view from Plaisance.

In the ‘fifties this was an important stop for Newport socialites. The house has style, location and an extraordinary presence – everything that was needed for society and entertainment. Today it still has its romance, but no longer its parties. Its gilded past still resonates but now it seems to be a house in waiting.

There are some homes with the capacity to become almost as famous as the people who lived in them. In the UK Churchill had Chartwell and Vita Sackville West had Sissinghurst. In the US Thomas Jefferson had Monticello and even Elvis Presley had Graceland. Plaisance has that quality and potential.

Plaisance will present its new owner with the unique challenge of restoring an iconic property. This will take care, flair and vision and will not suit everyone. But whoever meets this challenge will restore a house of true celebrity. Not necessarily a house for celebrities but better, a house capable of possessing its own celebrity. I long to see Plaisance again.

Nick Churton

Details of Plaisance