America's Gilded Age - Now Showing in New Port Rhode Island

Rhode Island is home to some amazing mansions. RI property management has lost many of these as they have become museums. The history of property management RI has witnessed an acre of stories in its own right. During America's gilded age, the period between 1865 and 1901, robber barons dominated industry and the accumulation of wealth was often vaunted. One of the favorite ways of vaunting wealth was to purchases a summer cottage in New Port Rhode Island. These cottages where enormous mansions that left no doubt to a casual by-passer that they were in rarified air. Many of these mansions have become part of the national imagination as they have been used in numerous films. While the Great Gatsby took place on Long Island, the 1974 film used the Mansions in New Port. Some of these buildings have interesting stories.

The Breakers is a so called cottage that the Vanderbilt's built. The Vanderbilt's 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. Calling the house a cottage is a bit like calling the Amazon River a wash, or referring to Everest as a mound. It 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 leading of 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. It has become the quintessential example of the Gilded Age lifestyle of the rich. New Port was the center of the affluent social class during the summer, and the Breakers were its beating heart. The house now belongs to the preservation society.

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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 house has arches, towers, and ornate trim. It was perhaps one of the first houses to inspire the affluent to build and congregate in the area. The house is now a museum.

Chateau Sur Mer is another cottage in the New Port Style, large and ornate. It 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 thrown during the summer with guests numbering in the thousands. The building was the largest until the Vanderbilt's arrived. Chateau Sur Mer is a classic Victorian style house complete with furniture, wall paper, stenciling and ceramics. This house is now also owned by the preservation society.

Theresa Fair Oelrich's mansion, Rosecliff, was best known for some of the very elaborate and lavish parties that she would host. She used Rosecliff to host fairytale 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 mansions are now part of the Preservation Society and capture a specific time and place in American History.

America's Gilded Age - Now Showing in New Port Rhode Island

Connor R. Sullivan recently met with an expert in property management RI to help him find office space in the area.

He hired an expert in RI property management to maintain his condo in the area.

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