Summer may be over but that doesn't mean that travel has to end. The Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa in Newporth, Rhode Island is offering a 30 percent savings with its Fall Foliage/Fall into Savings Package to lure guests during the off-season. Guests can enjoy water-view accommodations, a $25 food & beverage credit toward lunch or dinner at Windward Restaurant or Five33, 20 percent off a Pumpkin Facial at the Stillwater Spa and two signature Fireside Kiss Cocktails. The package includes a Rhode Island Fall Foliage Map and eco-friendly launch service to downtown Newport. The package runs from $239 in September, $179 in October, and $159 in November, based on double occupancy. It is valid September 7-November 30.

The other day my colleague Alison Wellner reported on Newport, Rhode Island's Cliff Walk controversy over the much disputed public right-of-way. Not everything going on in the famed seaside town is controversial, however; on a brighter note, The George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom just celebrated the opening of the new Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Visitors Center (above), which has won praise for great design complementing its historical context. The Loeb Center is located at Touro Synagogue, the oldest functioning synagogue building in the nation. First dedicated in 1763, it was designed by America's first architect, Peter Harrison.

The Institute's mission is to promote awareness of the historic roots of religious liberty in America. In addition to the Loeb Visitors Center, the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom supports educational and scholarship programs for individuals seeking to learn about and discuss the origins and development of American religious liberties. John L. Loeb Jr. is the Chairman of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom and is the former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. Through the Institute, he donated both the land and the new Visitors Center building. The Loeb Center further interprets and celebrates the history and architecture of Touro Synagogue, renowned for its beauty.

The Loeb Visitors Center features interactive, multimedia exhibits exploring the meaning and importance of George Washington's 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, the first and clearest presidential expression of support for American's constitutional right to the free exercise of religious belief and the separation of church and state. Writing about the Loeb Center in the Providence Journal, architecture critic David Brussat noted, "It is obviously a classical building, yet it is unlike any other. No work of classicism could possibly depart from canon with greater dignity, hence no building could possibly fit onto a historic street with greater distinction."

The new 41 Super Leggera from Rhode Island's Outerlimits Powerboats can do 100 m.p.h., costs $650,000 and is the closest thing we've seen yet to an oceangoing Lamborghini. The company constructs the awesome 41-ft. powerboat using aerospace technology, materials and engineering, centered on a carbon fiber deck and epoxy e-glass hull. Super fast, strong and light, the design is based on a World Championship race boat, but with all the comforts you'd expect from a craft of this caliber. The cockpit features a dash made of hand stitched leather and suede, a GPS chart plotter, and side-by-side stand-up convertibe bolsters. The full cabin features a shower, a plush V-berth, and plenty of storage for your other toys.

[via JamesList]

Providence is quite the artsy town, what with the Rhode Island School of Design, the creative foment that is Brown University, not to mention all the culinary talent coming out of Johnson & Wales University.

So it's no wonder that the Rhode Island Film Festival, which goes off August 4th - August 9th, 2009, is quite a good one.The festival, now in its 13th year, shows 175 films and videos, and its philosophy is wide open -- it will show work of any type in any subject matter. It's one of the 63 film festivals in the world that's a qualifying festival in the Short Films category for the Academy Awards.

The deadline's been extended for the festival's V.I.P. Package, which costs $1,200 and includes access to everything, from exclusive parties, premiers, and even workshops. If you have an inner film geek, the included Working in Animation workshop with actor John Ratzenberger could be a thrill. And if you have an even geekier inner geek, you can watch William Shatner receive an award for Humanitarian of the Year for his philanthropy to the American Tinnitus Association, among other charities.

The package also includes two nights in the seriously cool Providence Renaissance Hotel, which was built as a Masonic Temple in 1929, and counts as one of the state's largest restoration projects.

Most celebrity real estate hits the market quietly. At best you get a veiled reference to "celebrity-owned" or "star-worthy" but the listing for actress Anne Archer's townhouse on Narragansett Bay in Portsmouth, Rhode Island proudly declares her ownership. The townhouse is part of the Carnegie Abbey Sporting Estate, the elite golf and yachting club in Portsmouth near Newport.

The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties reports that Archer and her husband, executive producer Terry Jastrow, bought the two-story townhouse new in 2003. The modest second home measures approximately 1,600 square feet and has two bedrooms a wet bar and water views that can be enjoyed from a dining balcony. The townhome is decorated in a subtly seaside theme that includes a sailboat model, striped bedspreads and illustrations of marine life.

Carnegie Abbey amenities include the massive Adirondack-inspired clubhouse which offers tennis, a spa, a fitness center and multiple lounges with a view of the Club's signature 18th hole and its beautiful Narragansett Bay backdrop. The townhouse is listed at $1.1 million but membership in the club is required. Membership reportedly requires a $200,000 refundable initiation fee plus $10,000 a month in member dues.


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The Swanhurst Manor House in Newport, Rhode Island was built in 1851 and was one of the first of twelve Newport Mansions established along Bellevue Avenue. The home was passed down over the years from mother to daughters in the Swan family before being willed to the Newport Art Association. The will said that the home must always be known as Swanhurst. The home is on 1.56 acres of landscaped grounds. The home has been kept true to its 19th century style and features a foyer with a classic stairway, a double living room, a formal dining room with a fireplace, gentleman's library, and a sitting room. The kitchen has been remodeled with granite countertops and new appliances. There are six bedrooms on the second floor including a master suite with a fireplace and new master bath. This home is listed at $5.6 million.

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The small state of Rhode Island will have an added dose of excitement this New Year's Eve as it hosts a drawing for its first million dollar raffle. The raffle's 120,000 tickets at $20 a piece are all sold out. The tickets were issued in sequence and there are also 10 drawings for $10,000, 100 chances to win $500 and 500 chances to win $100. The overall odds for winning one of the 611 prizes is 1 in 196. The drawing will take place at 10:59 p.m. in Twin River's Lighthouse Bar and will be aired live on television.

[via Providence Journal]

The Gray Craig home in Middletown, Rhode Island as been on my radar since it was for sale for $19 million in 2005. Since then it was bought by serial house flipper Nicolas Cage for, as the Boston Globe reports, $15.7 million which is just $200,000 off from the current $15.9 million listing price.

The home is on over 27 acres of land that extends to Nelson Pond and includes views of the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The grounds feature a pool, tennis court, fish pond, stone terrace and heated garages. The brick and stone home has 12 bedrooms and was built in a grand style. Public rooms include a library with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, a formal living room with water views, dining room, vintage conservatory, billiard room, and a kitchen with a stone fireplace, custom hickory ceilings, and antique terra cotta floor tiles.

Like the Real Estalker, I find the fact that the library is now dominated by a flat screen television and a ling dining room table to be a bit disconcerting.The home is full of all sorts of huge spaces that will need more than those charming fireplaces to keep them warm in the winter months. But it is a truly impressive home for someone who has the time and money to maintain it.

Cage seems to be in a selling mood lately. We've seen both his Las Vegas home and his Bel-Air mansion on the market. but he still has plenty of properties all around the world.

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Real estate commenter extraordinaire, Spectacular Bid directs us to the video for the home made the last time it was on the market. It is after the jump.

UPDATE: This home is now listed at $12 million as of August 2009.

Beechwood, the Mrs. Astor's 39-room Italianate mansion in Newport, Rhode Island and one of the last great relics of the Gilded Age, is now being offered for sale for $14.9 million. The 19,000-sq.-ft., 15-bedroom house on Newport's famous Bellevue Avenue, was listed at $16 million last year (as my colleague Deidre Woollard reported) and has since served as a "living history museum" showing what life was like for the Gilded Age idle rich before they were forced to sell off their mansions.

The museum is a bit cheesy, with events like "An Evening With the Astors", but Beechwood does have a very rich history. In fact, with the $1.1 million discount it might even be something of a bargain. Cole Porter was said to have written Night and Day, one of his most famous songs, while visiting Beechwood, and the house also made an appearance in the 1956 Bing Crosby / Frank Sinatra / Grace Kelly movie High Society. Originally constructed in 1851 by Calvert Vaux - co-designer of Central Park - and Andrew Jackson Downing for drygoods magnate Daniel Parish, it was on the market when well-bred debutante Caroline Schermerhorn married billionaire merchant William Backhouse Astor Jr., giving the Astors some much needed social cachet.



Mr. Astor owned the Ambassadress, the largest private yacht in the world at the time, and a beautiful Hudson River mansion called Ferncliff. "The Mrs. Astor" as she soon insisted upon being referred to, intended to entertain in grand style with her husband's money and needed a Newport mansion in which to do it during the summer season, which lasted for eight precious weeks. The Astors bought the place in 1881 and spent $2 million on improvements, including the addition of a mirrored waterfront ballroom by architect Richard Morris Hunt (who designed the Fifth Avenue facade of Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art) complete with bas reliefs depicting Poseidon and Aphrodite.

Mrs. Astor soon became the reigning queen of New York society, and her Summer Ball at Beechwood was the highlight of the season. She and social arbiter Ward McAllister then founded the famous "Four Hundred", referring to the strictly limited number of socially acceptable families (i.e. not nouveau riche) in New York - which some people are still trying to get into. Her son, John Jacob Astor IV, who inherited Beechwood, later went down on the Titanic, the ship's wealthiest passenger.

Another beautiful Newport, Rhode Island house has hit the market. Wrentham House was recognized in 2008 with the Rhode Island historic preservation and heritage commission award. The granite and brownstone oceanfront estate,which was originally known as Indian Spring, was the first collaboration between Richard Morris Hunt, legendary founder of the American institute of Architects, and esteemed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted. The 14,400-square-foot mansion was created in 1891 for yachtsman and defender of the America's Cup J.R. Busk. The twenty-two room masterpiece on five acres was recently restored and is located on Ocean Avenue with prime water views.

The home's has beautiful woodwork with impressive carved details. There are eight bedrooms total along with staff quarters. The 1,800-square-foot master suite has his and hers marble baths with an adjoining study with mahogany built-ins and a wet bar. The huge living room has a cathedral ceiling and an orchestra balcony. Three sets of French doors open onto an 80-foot ocean front porch. The mahogany-paneled library and the elegant dining room feature ornamental plaster ceilings and attractive fireplaces. The home also has a multilevel home theater, a billiard room, a wine cellar, a pair of family rooms and a modern gourmet kitchen with a butler's pantry. Modern systems include security, intercom, and central vacuum. This home is listed at $12.75 million.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

The high-end condo market seems to be thriving in Newport, Rhode Island. The new complex, the Residences at Brown & Howard Wharf in Newport went on the market last month and six of the 16 units have been sold or are under contract which is pretty impressive in today's worrisome real estate market. The condos are pretty expensive by Rhode Island standards ranging up to $3.6 million. The 16 harborside homes have perfect views of Newport Harbor and dockage for yachts up to 250 feet in length.

Condo units range from 2,300 to 3,200 square feet and have open-plan interiors with numerous balconies. Owners can work with the on-site interior design coordinator to select finishes and style elements. Living rooms will have a gas fireplace, kitchens and laundry rooms feature an appliance package, with a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Wolf gas cook-top, ventilation hood, microwave and oven. Asko 4-cycle dishwashers and Bosch washers and dryers are also included in the unit.

[via Providence Journal]

This Newport, Rhode Island home is a beauty with a long history. The home was built in 1881 for Edwin Dennison Morgan III, of the J.P. Morgan family and became a studio for sculptor Felix de Weldon, who created the statue of The Flag Raising on Iwo Jima. The home sits on three acres of rolling lawns and boasts beautiful harbor views. The home is an 11,000 square foot residence which has luxurious details such as gold brick domed ceilings and hand painted Gracie murals. The home is completely modern but the exposed brick and hewn beams show the original home's bones. The home has a lavish master suite and four additional en suite bedrooms. The property also includes a fitness cottage, landscaped grounds and a small pool. It is listed at $9.9 million.

Another grand old home in Newport, Rhode Island has hit the market. Braden Keil's Gimme Shelter column in the NY Post alerted me to the fact that Hopedene, a grand home on Newport's famous Cliff Walk is for sale. Hopedene was built in 1889 and is called Peabody and Stearns's most monumental Colonial Revival residence. The home is on six acres and is approached via a private lane to gilt and wrought iron gates, The property includes a main house, a large carriage house with guest quarters, an ocean facing pool and spa, tennis court, gated service entrance, and an FAA approved heliport.

The home itself has gorgeous details including a marble vestibule with a mosaic floor and Italian Renaissance style center hall and a beautiful wood-paneled library. The semi circular ballroom is currently used as a dining room. The home includes remnants of a grander age such as a butler hall, parlor, and cooks and butler's pantries, kitchen library and a flower room. The upper floors are given over to bathrooms and bedrooms, many of which with marble fireplaces. The carriage house includes a game room with a bar, a full bath, a nautical library and French doors opening to bluestone terraces and the pool, and a heated garage. On the second level there are five bedrooms a full kitchen and laundry and bathrooms.

The NY Post reports that the owners are Palm Beach socialites Craig Millard (the retired chairman of Prudential Preferred Properties) and his wife, Michele. This home is listed at $22.5 million.

UPDATE: This home is now listed at $19.5 million.

Another prime Newport, Rhode Island estate has gone on the market. Like Beechwood, another Newport estate we have covered as an estate of the day, Oakwood has a connection to the Astor family. It was the 19th-century summer residence of Mary Alida Astor Carey, the daughter of William Backhouse Astor, a son of John Jacob Astor. The home was built in the late 1860s and was one of the first summer retreats for the rich in the area. It was added to in the 1870s with a three-story tower, music room, ballroom and kitchen wing all added.

The Boston Globe reports that the current owner is J. Brian O'Neill, a Pennsylvania-based real estate developer who bought the property in 2004. He has shepherded it through a redesign that included expanding the master suite and adding a luxury bathroom above the enclosed rear terrace that overlooks the pool. The home has maintained some of its grandeur, the most beautiful room in the house is the dining room that has walls lined with 56 hand-painted Chinese panels, but has also been updated for today's less formal society with a family room and a home theater. Key details in the seven-bedroom home include parquet floors, a Baccarat chandelier in the music room, carved mantels and beautiful woodwork. The nearly six-acre property includes a six-hole putting green, a lawn tennis court, a reflecting pool stocked with koi, a rose garden, and ancient oak and split-leaf beech trees. It is listed at $10.75 million.

Today's home is another of Rhode Island's famous summer cottages. The J.B. Lippincott House in Jamestown, Rhode Island was originally known as Meeresblick and was built in1892-93 for J.B. Lippincott, son of the founder and later president of the J.B. Lippincott Co. publishing firm. After Lippincott's death in 1940 the house went to his daughter and her descendants still own the home. The shingled home sits on a waterfront parcel on Mackerel Cove and has charming fieldstone details. Inside the allure comes from the original woodwork, and beautiful glass windows and brick fireplaces. Unfortunately we don't get any of the all-important kitchen and bathroom shots with this listing so some updates may be necessary. it is listed at $4.9 million.