This part of Bellevue Avenue reflects the architectural variety of nineteenth century Newport houses, from Gothic Revival and Second Empire French villas of the early eighteen fifties to Stick Style cottages of the eighteen seventies and Beaux Arts Classical mansions of the eighteen eighties and nineties. Many of these houses were continually remodeled to keep up with changing architectural tastes in a summer resort renowned as a center of fashionable life, and today they survive as examples of architectural innovation by the nation’s leading designers. Rough Point, built from 1888 to 1891 for Frederick William Vanderbilt and later remodeled for James B. Duke by Horace Trumbauer, was maintained by Doris Duke until her death in 1993 and is now a public museum. Roselawn, begun by William A. Sweet and completed by Abraham Peckham in 1853, remained in the Rhodes family for 111 years and is still a private residence. Rock Cliff began about 1869 as a Stick Style cottage and was later remodeled into a Classical Revival villa, reflecting Newport’s broader shift in taste, and Ocean View, built about 1866 in the Second Empire French style for the Mills family, also remains a private residence. Belcourt, designed by Richard Morris Hunt for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont between 1891 and 1894 and inspired by a Louis XIII hunting lodge, was among Newport’s early classically inspired palatial villas and is privately owned and open as a museum. Resthaven, a Stick Style villa commissioned by John N.A. Griswold and designed by Hunt in 1869 to 1870, and Quatrel, built in 1853 to 1854 for Earl Mason and later remodeled by Ogden Codman, Jr. for Egerton Winthrop, further illustrate the evolution of Bellevue Avenue architecture and the prominent families who lived there.
