100 Ochre Point Avenue
Newport, RI, USA

Edgewater

Built 1870, for J. Frederic Kernochan (1842-1929) and Mary Stuart Whitney (1849-1922). Their famously ornate Italianate villa with French Second Empire mansard roof was a wedding present from Kernochan's brother, James Powell Kernochan (1831-1897), the former Governor of the Metropolitan Club who built Seaview in the same year. In 1888, Edgewater was demolished to make way for Ochre Court....

The Kernochan brothers grew up in the lap of luxury in New York. Their father emigrated from Scotland and made a fortune in dry goods before co-founding the University Club of New York. Frederic practised law and was involved with several arms of the family's business interests, perhaps most notably as the President of the Arminius Chemical Company which owned valuable mines in Virginia. His wife, Mary, who he married in 1869 was a grand-daughter of Stephen Whitney, one of New York's five millionaires in 1830. Her first cousin, the Egyptologist Stephen Whitney Phoenix, summered at Harborview.

As a wedding gift, Frederic's brother purchased a plot of land for them at Newport and immediately instructed George Champlin Mason Sr. - who built Seaview for James at the same time - to build “one of the finest villas on Ochre Point" for the newly-weds. The land on which their villa was built measured 721-x-121-feet and was purchased from William Beach Lawrence (1800-1881), Governor of Rhode Island. The site chosen for the villa was literally on the Cliff Walk overlooking the ocean which led to the 18,000-square foot mansion being named "Edgewater" on its completion the following year.

The house was built with 65,000 stones comprised of local fieldstone with granite trimmings. The first floor and wraparound porch was built entirely of stone whereas the second floor was faced with diamond-shaped tiles and the French mansard roof with its iron railings was made of black slate. The interior was designed with hardwood furnishings throughout and included a wide staircase with large newels and balustrades while the walls were layered in polychrome wooden shingling.

In 1881, the Kernochans sold Edgewater to Ogden Goelet for $90,000. Goelet and his family summered there for the next six years until he announced that he would be pulling it down to build the now famous chateau that stands in its place, Ochre Court.

Edgewater

Built 1870, for J. Frederic Kernochan (1842-1929) and Mary Stuart Whitney (1849-1922). Their famously ornate Italianate villa with French Second Empire mansard roof was a wedding present from Kernochan's brother, James Powell Kernochan (1831-1897), the former Governor of the Metropolitan Club who built Seaview in the same year. In 1888, Edgewater was demolished to make way for Ochre Court....

The Kernochan brothers grew up in the lap of luxury in New York. Their father emigrated from Scotland and made a fortune in dry goods before co-founding the University Club of New York. Frederic practised law and was involved with several arms of the family's business interests, perhaps most notably as the President of the Arminius Chemical Company which owned valuable mines in Virginia. His wife, Mary, who he married in 1869 was a grand-daughter of Stephen Whitney, one of New York's five millionaires in 1830. Her first cousin, the Egyptologist Stephen Whitney Phoenix, summered at Harborview.

As a wedding gift, Frederic's brother purchased a plot of land for them at Newport and immediately instructed George Champlin Mason Sr. - who built Seaview for James at the same time - to build “one of the finest villas on Ochre Point" for the newly-weds. The land on which their villa was built measured 721-x-121-feet and was purchased from William Beach Lawrence (1800-1881), Governor of Rhode Island. The site chosen for the villa was literally on the Cliff Walk overlooking the ocean which led to the 18,000-square foot mansion being named "Edgewater" on its completion the following year.

The house was built with 65,000 stones comprised of local fieldstone with granite trimmings. The first floor and wraparound porch was built entirely of stone whereas the second floor was faced with diamond-shaped tiles and the French mansard roof with its iron railings was made of black slate. The interior was designed with hardwood furnishings throughout and included a wide staircase with large newels and balustrades while the walls were layered in polychrome wooden shingling.

In 1881, the Kernochans sold Edgewater to Ogden Goelet for $90,000. Goelet and his family summered there for the next six years until he announced that he would be pulling it down to build the now famous chateau that stands in its place, Ochre Court.

Wakehurst

Completed in 1888 for the widowed James John Van Alen (1846-1923). Wakehurst was one of the most ambitious projects of the many mansions built in Newport having been directly modelled on the English manor, Wakehurst Place, built in 1590. Predating many of the better known museum houses (eg. Winterthur etc.), it was Van Alen's that led the way in America for the concept of "museum rooms". Wakehurst was built to cheer up a grieving husband, though much as he had loved his wife there was no love lost between Van Alen and his father-in-law, William Backhouse Astor Jr., and a duel between the two (that's right, pistols at dawn!) was only avoided at the last hour....

In 1876, James Van Alen married Emily Astor (1854-1881). On first glance, this would seem a highly suitable match: James was the son of General James Henry Van Alen (1819-1886) who came from a politically prominent Knickerbocker family and had personally raised and equipped his own cavalry regiment during the Civil War before becoming a multi-millionaire through a savvy investment of $300,000 in the Illinois Central Railroad.

Bad Blood & Pistols at Dawn

However Emily's father, William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829-1892), cared neither for the pedigree nor the wealth of the Van Alens and viewed his daughter's suitor with nothing short of utter contempt. On hearing that the couple wished to be married, Astor was said to roar: "Damned if I want my family to have anything to do with the Van Alens"!

This reaction had so outraged Van Alen that he immediately challenged his would-be father-in-law to a duel! They had chosen their seconds and even agreed on a site before Astor finally buckled under the pretext that he saw, "no reason to waste his life on a Van Alen". Apologies were made, and the couple were married: Now wouldn't you have wanted to have been around for that father of the bride's speech?!

To Distract a Grief-Stricken Mind

Five years later, Mrs Emily Van Alen died giving birth to their third child and left behind her an inconsolable husband. In order to distract the grief-stricken mind of his only son, General Van Alen generously divided his land at The Grange on Ochre Point and gave half of it to his son with the money to start a building project of his choosing. The General died in 1886 and The Grange was knocked down to make room for James' garage.

James Van Alen, like his father, was an out-and-out Anglophile. He was known for sporting a monocle and being fond of not only using English expressions, but had a habit of peppering his conversation with various quotes from Shakespeare... and, we begin to see why the gruff and notoriously unamused William Astor, was, to be frank, unamused!

During his time at Oxford University, James made many friends among the English aristocracy and he and his wife had spent as much time in England as they had in America. It is perhaps then of little surprise that he wished to bring a part of England to Newport when it came to building a house of his own design.

The Exterior

In 1883, he'd stayed as a guest at Wakehurst Place in Sussex where he met Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907) who though better known for stained-glass windows also happened to be an expert on Tudor architecture. It was Kempe's enthusiasm that brushed off on Van Alen and shortly afterwards the pair met again in London by which time Van Alen had purchased the original 16th century architectural plans for Wakehurst's garden front. Kempe drew up the plans for Van Alen's version in Newport, while construction of the house that started in 1884 was the responsibility of local architect Dudley Newton.

Covered by a roof of Vermont slate unique in America, externally the 'E' plan mansion is an exact copy of its English counterpart. The mansion of gray Indiana limestone was approached through wrought iron gates on Ochre Point and up via the carriage house at the foot of the drive. The high stone wall that surrounded its 14-acres cost $40,000 alone.

The gardens at Wakehurst were designed and laid out by Ernest Bowditch, a student of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), the architect of New York's Central Park. Bowditch even threw in a flock of sheep to give the grounds a rural English feel!

The "Museum Rooms"

It was Wakehurst that introduced the concept of "museum rooms" to America: the state rooms on the ground floor came directly from English houses that had been recently demolished. These rooms - complete with tapestries and antiques - had been put together in England before being shipped to, and then reconstructed, in Newport. Ever the traditionalist and in keeping with the antique ambience, Van Alen chose against installing electricity as he might otherwise have done and kept all the rooms gas-lit.

The entrance hall - known as the Long Gallery - was built to blend with the replica Jacobean staircase that faced the front door. To the left, the hall led to the Belgian Dining Room, imported from a Renaissance house in Bruges, and in which can still be seen the 16th century Spanish leather panels on its walls and ceilings.

Adjacent to the Dining Room is the Library, designed for a London townhouse in the 1780s by the most famous of the all neo-classical architects, Robert Adam; it is certainly the first, and possibly the only complete Adam room to have been shipped to America and contains a sofa said to have belonged to Napoleon, or it may have come from the home of chateau built by Napoleon's brother in New Jersey, Point Breeze. On the other side of the hall stood the Drawing Room, the largest room in the house - complete with an Italian fireplace and a chandelier of 136 candles - that later became the ballroom and was filled with the portraits of Van Alen's illustrious ancestors.

Unusually for most mansions, Wakehurst did not have an Art Gallery. This was not to say that Van Alen lacked artwork, or a taste for it, quite the contrary. Instead, he chose to spread his collection throughout the different rooms. His favorite room was the Dutch Renaissance Smoking Room, taken from the London residence of a former mistress (Maria Anne Fitzherbert) of the Prince of Wales.

Van Alen filled Wakehurst with exceptional antiques, many acquired through auction from some of the leading homes in Europe. On one occasion when Van Alen was hosting Queen Victoria's grand-daughter, Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, she was amused to recognize several pieces of furniture that she had grown up with as a child!

Life at Wakehurst: A Corner of England in Newport

At a cost of $750,000, Wakehurst was finished in 1888 and christened with a grand ball - one of the many parties to be held here. Van Alen occupied the house from June 13 until September every year and, "gives two or more large dinners every week... entirely prepared by the English cooks" served on the "superb" mahogany dining room table which was almost black. Breakfast was very much an English affair: "there is the urn and tea-caddy on the table, and the rasher of bacon, eggs, marmalade and muffins provided, with a fine sirloin on the sideboard, and game pie". 5 o'clock tea was equally important, when the porch was lined with oriental rugs on which were placed couches, pillows, and low chairs and tables: "Everything was to the minutest detail". In her memoirs, Lady Decies recalled,
The household at "Wakehurst" ran on oiled wheels; its hospitality was famous, for James Van Alen was a connoisseur of good food and good wines. His musicales were wonderful, for although he knew nothing of music he acted on his usual principle, engaged the greatest artists, paid the highest fees.
On one occasion Van Alen boldly took the decision not to invite two of the biggest society names to one such musicale: "Very sorry, my dear (he explained to Mrs Fish), upon my word, very sorry, but I can't have you and Harry Lehr at this party of mine. You make too much noise...!" At this, Mrs Fish threatened to spread a rumor that their cook had a smallpox and she'd then invite all society to the musicale she would now hold. A compromise was agreed upon: "the disturbing elements" would be allowed to dinner at Wakehurst, but they had to promise to stay out on the terrace for the music!

Taking Prohibitive Measures

Van Alen adored Wakehurst, but when Prohibition sank its blunt jaws into Gilded Age America that was enough for him to leave the country altogether, citing the country's "lack of liberty". In February, 1920, he turned his back on America and spent his remaining years between his villa at Cannes on the French Côte d'Azur and his vast and spectacular 15th Century pile that he had leased since 1907, Rushton Hall in England. As at Wakehurst, Van Alen had filled Rushton with hundreds of Elizabethan antiques. He had been planning to return to Wakehurst for the summer season of 1923 but that year ill health caught up with him and "the American Prince of Wales" died in London.

Last of the Gilded Ages Hostesses

James Van Alen died in 1923, ten years before Prohibition was lifted. He left Wakehurst along with a fortune of $26 million to his only son, James L. Van Alen (1878-1927), confusingly also nicknamed "Jimmy". The younger Van Alen - father of the man who invented the tie-break system in the modern game of tennis - died just four years later, and Wakehurst, along with $10 million, now came to his widow, Margaret Louise Post (1876-1969). Known as "Daisy," she was described as "a somewhat menacing dowager" who eleven years later also inherited the Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park.

After her husband's death, she had sold their city mansion in New York and took up permanent residence at Wakehurst where she employed a staff of 37 at a cost of some $100,000 a year. Her domestic staff included a butler, 4 footmen (in black and gold liveried uniforms), the housekeeper, 10 maids, one chef, 2 assistant chefs, 4 under chefs, a scullery maid, chauffeur, a valet for her son and lady's maids for herself and her daughter. The remaining staff worked in the gardens. Her chef was paid $10,000 a year, which made him one of the most highly paid of his profession in Newport.

Daisy was known as the last of the great Gilded Age hostesses, proclaiming in the 1950s that, "Wakehurst is the last home in Newport to be properly run". To give an idea of what she viewed as 'proper,' breakfast for her guests was not toast and coffee. Guests received a full hunt-breakfast (ie., for those about to spend all day in a saddle) served on a 36-piece gold set, even though there was no hunt and by then not even a horse in the stables!

On her death in 1969, Daisy left Wakehurst to her three children. Her daughter, Louise Astor Van Alen (1910-1998), gave up her share when she moved to Paris, as did her eldest son, James Henry Van Alen II (1902-1991), who preferred to make his home at Avalon in Newport. Her second son, William Laurens Van Alen (1907-2003), took sole ownership of the estate. He reduced the staff to nine and quietly sold off much of the art collection and several plots of land to meet rising taxes.

Salve Regina University

Eventually, in 1972 William sold Wakehurst to Salve Regina University for $200,000, moving with his entourage of staff to his preferred base in Newport, Seafair, which was considerably cheaper to run. The grand old mansion was eased of its contents and became a library before serving as it does today as the Student Center and home to the University's Departments of English Cultural and Historic Preservation. In 2001, Wakehurst became part of "Save America's Treasures" instigated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Its counterpart in England was featured in the film As You Like It (2006) which would have no doubt delighted the Shakespeare-loving Van Alen!

Ochre Court

Completed in 1892, for Ogden Goelet (1846-1897) and his wife Mary Rita Wilson (1855-1929). Ochre Court was built to outshine the Petit Chateau in Manhattan, and in turn, the Vanderbilts built Marble House, also in Newport, to outshine Ochre Court. It ranks among the most spectacular of Newport's Gilded Age chateaux and is also one of the Largest Houses in the United States: Ochre Court covers 44,229 square feet which makes it fractionally larger than the Vanderbilt Mansion at Hyde Park and Boldt Castle too. Since 1934, Ochre Court has been the heart of Salve Regina University and visitors are welcome to take tours on class days. In the movie True Lies (1994) its exterior was used to portray the Swiss château in the opening scene.

After the Astors, the Goelets were the second largest landowners in New York City. Their family fortune was established during the American Revolution and when Ogden and his brother, Robert, came into its possession one hundred years later (1879), it had grown to some $40 million, principally imbedded in Manhattan real estate and railroad bonds. Unlike preceding generations of the Goelet family who had gained a reputation for extreme miserliness, Ogden and his brother spared themselves no luxuries and Ochre Court is as good an example as any of their willingness to spend, dazzle, and impress.

In 1881, Ogden Goelet purchased Edgewater on the cliffs of Newport for $90,000 from Joseph Frederic Kernochan (1842-1929). Even before any money had changed hands, Ogden had already had architectural plans drawn up quietly for what he envisioned in its place. Nonetheless, he summered with his family at Edgewater for a further six seasons before work started on its grand transformation. In 1887, he purchased an adjoining parcel of land for his stables from George Peabody Wetmore (1846-1921), Governor of Rhode Island, and that year finally announced that he intended to pull down Edgewater.

Rich Rivalries

Quite unabashedly, the Goelets hired Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), setting out to build a larger, more lavish version of Hunt's Petit Chateau in Manhattan, only recently erected for William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920) and his first wife, the indomitable Alva. This not-so-thinly-veiled societal challenge was met with a quick response: within months, the Vanderbilts re-hired Hunt and started work on Marble House, also in Newport, in what was almost certainly a direct bid to now outdo the Goelet's château!

Hunt started work on both mansions in 1888, and both were completed in 1892. Whereas Alva went to great pains to keep Marble House hidden from prying eyes, the Goelets built theirs in full view and they must have taken some satisfaction when the local newspapers predicted that theirs would be the, "grandest of all the Newport manors, complete with a splendid garden and a great square portico". It was certainly grand: Ochre Court has 50-rooms, covers 44,229 square feet and cost an eye-watering $4.5 million.

The Chateau

Ochre Court is built of white Caen limestone and is punctuated with high slate roofs and gables in the Gothic style of 16th century France. Its rows of mullioned windows are identical copies of those found at the Château de Blois and others to a lesser extent were influenced by the Palais de Jacques Coeur. The grounds were laid out by the Olmsted Brothers, with formal perennial gardens and paths shaded by mature specimen trees that included the towering copper beeches.

Looking towards the ocean, the chateau has a double projecting terrace that opens up onto the lawn and two stone galleries with elaborately carved stone railings. The central room of Ochre Court is the Great Hall which rises up three stories high and is heavily influenced by the design styles of the French Renaissance: intricately carved wooden arches fringed with gilt lead up to the domed ceiling mural that crowns the vast space.

The principal reception rooms radiate off from the hall and each of them incorporate varying styles: the Tudor study is decorated with murals reminiscent of Holbein the Younger; one wall of the dining room was draped in a vast Gobelin tapestry; there was a Louis XV breakfast room; and, the ballroom was of German Rococo, though with the use of a great many mirrors it also resembled rooms found at the Palais de Versailles.

The richness and fine detail of the decorations are prevalent throughout with an array of classical ceiling paintings depicting mythical tales; a profusion of carved fleurs-de-lys representing the Goelet's French heritage; and, an extensive collection of antiques imported principally from France and Germany that include vast fireplaces, marble statues, stained glass windows and, of course, the furnishings. All this was lit up with its own electricity generator - one of the first of its kind in Newport.

During the typical 8-week summer season at Newport, Ochre Court required 27 house servants; eight coachmen and grooms; and, twelve gardeners. When Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich (1877-1943) of Russia stayed as a guest at Ochre Court in the 1890s, he was heard to exclaim, "I have never dreamt of such luxury as I have seen in Newport!"

The Duchess' Wedding

Only five years after Ochre Court was finished, Ogden Goelet was accidentally run down by a car during the Cowes Regatta on the Isle of Wight. His distraught widow upped and left for Europe with their two children and only returned to the States three years later. That season (1900), she came back to Newport and re-opened Ochre Court to host the coming out/debutante ball of her only daughter, Mary Goelet (1878-1937).

In 1903, all eyes of Newport's fashionable society once again turned to Ochre Court when Mary's wedding reception was held here following her marriage to Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe. The dashing Duke was a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill, who he knew well being all but the same age, and the $8 million dowry his new wife took back to Floors Castle was given a further $20 million boost after her mother's death in 1929.

Dumped for Art

In 1904, Mrs Goelet gave Ochre Court to her only son, Robert Wilson Goelet (1880-1966) as a wedding present for him and his first wife, the broodingly good-looking, artistically inclined Elsie Whelan (1880-1959). While he worshipped her, she was careless of him and his money, and yearned for an artistic life. After ten years, she divorced him and then shocked everyone when she fled American society with her new husband, the eccentric sculptor Henry Clews Jr. (1876-1937), taking up residence with him on the French Riviera.

Goelet's Russian "Princess"

As the First World War continued to rumble on in a bloody stalemate across the north of Europe, Robert's ex-wife left for a life of idle pleasure in the South of France, while Robert headed to Northern France as a Captain to fight in the trenches. While on leave in Paris, he met another beauty, the married Fernanda Riabouchinsky (1885-1982) whose background was as dubious as that of her husband's empty claim to be a Russian Prince.

The Riabouchinskys came to the United States soon after 1918 and so ensued a scandalous year: Fernanda, still married to her 'Prince', was now frequently seen out in public with Robert, bedecked in ever-increasing displays of sparkling jewellery. Tongues wagged even more when Robert was seen in angry remonstrations with Fernanda's now bankrupt 'prince', and they went into a frenzy when it was heard that Fernanda might star in a movie wearing next to nothing! In 1919, Fernanda obtained a divorce from her husband before Robert whisked her off to Paris where they were discretely married.

Robert's mother was beside herself with anger. She refused to acknowledge her Russian daughter-in-law, let alone the marriage, and couldn't even bring herself to be on the same continent as the newly-weds, removing instead to Floors Castle with her daughter.

Undeterred, Robert and Fernanda returned to the States and attempted to carry on as usual. They opened Ochre Court for the season and sent out invitations... only to be met with embarrassing results. In return, the few invitations that came through the door at Ochre Court were addressed only to Mr Goelet, never "... and Mrs Goelet". Even from the remote grouse moors of Scotland, Robert's redoubtable mother maintained her considerable reputation as one of the leading hostesses in America and she made it very clear that anyone who recognized her son's new wife would be snubbed for life. Only her own sister, Grace, who'd previously eloped with Cornelius Vanderbilt III, dared defy her.

Home is where the Heart is...

Robert and Fernanda retreated back to Paris where they had a son, but she quickly tired of the struggle to achieve social prominence and fell in love with a man far removed from the world she'd been living in. Robert cut his losses and they divorced in 1924. The following year, he was married for a third time, but this time to a Newport girl, Roberta Willard (1893-1949), and with this happy news his mother finally returned to the States.

The End of the Era

By the Second World War, Robert and Roberta were finding the cost of opening Ochre Court for the eight week summer season a serious financial burden. For several years, they rented smaller properties in Newport before eventually buying Champ Soleil that required a mere five servants as opposed to the thirty needed at Ochre Court.

But, disposing of Ochre Court had not been easy: the real estate market was on its knees, so there was no hope of selling Robert's relic of better times. He offered it first to his youngest daughter, Mary Eleanor Goelet, who was then studying at Vassar College, but it was not practical for her and she turned down her father's generous offer. Then, in the knowledge that the United Nations was looking for a new home, Goelet proposed donating Ochre Court for that purpose, but the competition was stiff and his offer was politely declined. In 1947, he at last found a willing recipient in the Sisters of Mercy.

Salve Regina University

In 1934, the Sisters had established Salve Regina University, but they were lacking a building to house their project. Delighted with the acquisition of Ochre Court, the Sisters hired a special architect to carefully reconfigure the chateau so as not to spoil its magnificent interior, and classes were first held here by the end of the year.

Today, their campus covers some 60-acres and is comprised of almost a dozen historic buildings in the area, but Ochre Court remains very much the heart of the university. During class days, visitors are welcome to the building and a great many make the detour off the Cliff Walk to enjoy its grounds. In 2000, Ochre Court was added to the Save America's Treasures program, led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.