Chateau-sur-Mer- Newport, RI

Chateau-sur-Mer is the OG of opulent Newport Mansions. A predecessor to the flashier Gilded Age cottages, later renovations insured it kept up with the competition. Although not as lavish as The Breakers or palatial as Marble House, it is every bit as architecturally outstanding.

Built in 1854 by Seth Bradford for wealthy New York trader William Shepherd Wetmore, Chateau-sur-Mer was one of the first mansions constructed along Bellevue Avenue. Indeed, at the time it was built it stood alone on the southern end of Aquidneck Island, and had an actual ocean view. Constructed of Fall River granite, with an asymmetrical entry tower, it was an enviable Italianate country estate.

Wetmore filled the house with Chinese goods from his merchant travels, and even constructed a Moon Gate on the grounds in 1860, which offered unobstructed views of the Atlantic from the “monkey seat” on top. Sadly, just a few short years later, Wetmore was dead, and the estate passed to his 16 year old son, George Peabody Wetmore, named after the prominent Maryland merchant and philanthropist (and founder of the Peabody Library).

In 1870, almost a decade after inheriting the house, a newly married George enlisted the illustrious architect Richard Morris Hunt to expand and update the structure. What emerged was an almost unrecognizable Second Empire, with a massive stone porch and magnificent Mansard roof.

The interior was also almost completely reconfigured, adding a billiard room with an oak timbered ceiling and a library that was designed and built in Italy, then transported to Newport for installation. The dining room boasted hand tooled leather wall paper, a wood ceiling, and intricate carvings made of Circassian Walnut.

And then there are the stairs. Markedly different from the sweeping stone staircases found in other Newport mansions, here they take a more organic form. Extremely elegant, they feature polished wood, stately statues, and a prominently painted Tree of Life. The new wing takes its cue from the stairs, with matching woodwork and substantial balustrades along the rectangular open hall.

In 1903, the house received an additional update from none other than Ogden Codman, decorator to the fabulous, and acolyte of Edith Wharton. The result was a sumptuous new space known as the Green Salon, a ladies reception area designed in the Louis XV style.

While George Peabody Wetmore, who later served as Governor of Rhode Island, died in 1921, his wife remained at the estate until her death in 1927. The property then passed to the couple’s unmarried daughters, Edith and Maude, who commissioned John Russell Pope for a 1930s renovation. In 1969, the house was purchased by the Preservation Society, and opened as a house museum.