Portal:Rhode Island/Selected article/18

Belcourt Castle is the former summer cottage of Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. Construction was begun in 1891 and completed in 1894, and it was intended to be used for six to eight weeks of the year. The mansion was designed in a multitude of European styles and periods, with heavy emphasis on French Renaissance and Gothic decor and further borrowings from German, English, and Italian design. In the Gilded Age, the castle was noted for its extensive stables and carriage areas, which were incorporated into the main structure located at 659 Bellevue Avenue. Belcourt was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for the heir of August Belmont, a Hessian Jew who came to the United States in 1837 as an agent for the Rothschilds and accumulated enormous personal wealth as a banker. When construction finished in 1894, the entire first floor was composed of carriage space and a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses.