Rough Point
Rough Point is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum. It is an English Manorial style home designed by architectural firm Peabody & Stearns for Frederick William Vanderbilt. Construction on the red sandstone and granite began in 1887 and was completed 1892. It is located on Bellevue Avenue and borders the Cliff Walk and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. The original gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm. The home's last owner was Doris Duke and it is currently owned and operated by the Newport Restoration Foundation.
In 1894, the Vanderbilts began renting Rough Point to summer guests. William Bateman Leeds, Sr., known as the ‘Tinplate King’, rented the home in 1904 and 1905. He was one of the owners of American Tin Plate Company, a tin plate trust. He purchased the 10-acre (40,000 m2) estate in 1906. After he died in 1908, his wife, Nancy Leeds, used John Russell Pope to make some exterior alterations to the home. She remained the owner until 1922. Their son, William Bateman Leeds, Jr., married Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia.
In 1922, James Buchanan Duke, the founder of fortunes in electric power and tobacco, and benefactor of Duke University, and his second wife Nanaline bought the house. They used architect Horace Trumbauer of Philadelphia to assist in renovating the house; two new wings were added to the home. Nanaline hired design firm White Allom to transform the home's dark interiors. James died at his Fifth Avenue and 78th Street, New York City, white-limestone mansion in 1925, bequeathing his enormous fortune, along with its several residences, to his only child, 12-year-old Doris Duke. Rough Point, which came close to being sold twice at Nanaline's insistence nonetheless eventually became one of Doris' most prized properties, replete with its spectacular rocky coastal setting. Doris's memorable debutante ball was held at the estate in 1929.
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