After inheriting Bellevue from his father in 1928, William duPont, Jr. transformed the estate to reflect his own passions. He loved horseback riding, tennis, and country life, and Bellevue became a national center for both tennis and horse racing. His father’s Victorian house on the outskirts of Wilmington was remade into a country gentleman’s home, unlike the formal gardens and elegant furnishings of his relatives in the Brandywine Valley. For ten years, beginning in 1935, he worked with local builder John A. Bauder II on both the house and grounds. Finding the Gothic Revival house he inherited cold and uninviting, they remodeled Bellevue Hall to resemble Montpelier, the Virginia home of President James Madison and for a time duPont’s boyhood home. They also developed the grounds into a first-rate sports center. To the two outdoor horse tracks built by his father, duPont added a quarter-mile indoor track. He had seven outdoor tennis courts built, two clay and five grass, and converted a carriage house into a large indoor tennis and swimming complex. He also added an outdoor swimming pool and guesthouse. By 1945, Bellevue was more than a duPont family mansion; it was a world-class practice facility that contributed to American success in tennis and attracted some of the sport’s most talented players, including Margaret Osborne, duPont’s future wife.

Photo: Devry Becker Jones (CC0)