Bellevue Avenue
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Bellevue Avenue Historic District
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South view down Bellevue
from Vernon Court, 2008 |
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| Location | Newport, RI |
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| Area | 606 acres (242 ha) |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian, Mixed (more Than 2 Styles From Different Periods) |
| NRHP reference # | 72000023 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 8, 1972 |
| Designated NHLD | May 11, 1976 |
The Bellevue Avenue Historic District is located along and around Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its property is almost exclusively residential, including many of the mansions built by affluent summer vacationers in the city around the turn of the 20th century, including the Vanderbilt family and Astor family. Many of the homes represent pioneering work in the architectural styles of the time by major American architects.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1976. Several of the mansions within the district are also individually National Historic Landmarks, and a number of them are open to the public as museums. The district has become one of Newport's major tourist attractions.
The district encompasses an area of 606 acres (242 ha) bounded by Block Island Sound and Narragansett Bay to the south and east, respectively, Spring Street and Coggeshall Avenue to the west, and Memorial Boulevard to the north. This takes in the southeastern quarter of the developed portions of the city on the southwestern neck of Aquidneck Island. Bellevue Avenue itself runs north-south for over two miles (3.2 km) through the middle of the district.
Land use within the district is overwhelmingly residential. Most of its 63 buildings are dwellings either in use or originally built for that purpose. Institutional use is the next most common, with many of the historic mansions now used as historic house museums. One, Vernon Court, is home of the National Museum of American Illustration. Another, Belcourt Castle, is a privately owned house museum. Many others are owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County. Salve Regina University, home to some more historic buildings, including the William Watts Sherman House, is wholly within the district, and there is also a more modern senior citizens home built in the mid-20th century.
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