Bellevue Avenue
Bellevue Avenue
4.5
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Part of the 10-mile Ocean Drive and home to many well-known mansions.
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Barry N
Coventry, RI3,220 contributions
Jul 2022
Bellevue Ave. in Newport RI is a true Gem. With many shops with a large assortment of Items for sale From Clothing to Toys and just so much more. Tennis Hall of Fame,where you can play tennis on clay courts. Check with the office of course.
Nice food stores and great restaurants are also here. Near a lot of the great homes you may want to visit from the Gilded Age. A nice place to walk with the family with parking on the street. Go further down the street and you will find outstanding shops that have great items you will not find anywhere else in the area. Most people just stop at the Main road. Keep going or you will miss a lot. The buildings in this area are truly old but in great condition. Private homes.
Nice food stores and great restaurants are also here. Near a lot of the great homes you may want to visit from the Gilded Age. A nice place to walk with the family with parking on the street. Go further down the street and you will find outstanding shops that have great items you will not find anywhere else in the area. Most people just stop at the Main road. Keep going or you will miss a lot. The buildings in this area are truly old but in great condition. Private homes.
Written December 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kym H
Middletown, NY15 contributions
Oct 2021
A must see! We were on our Trolley tour and saw all of Bellevue Avenue. Oh the beauty and the mansions. We did the Breakers. A must see, next time we have to get to the Marble house and the Elms. Such a beautiful drive.
Written October 6, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rooindie
Sioux Falls, SD910 contributions
Oct 2020
We did a loop by walking down the Cliff Walk and back up to our car on Bellevue. You can't really see many of the mansions well from the Cliff Walk and of course it's not shaded at all, so this walk is better in that respect - it's shaded and you could see a lot more. There's nice sidewalks to walk on. Of course it's a neighborhood, so no services for food/drink/restrooms. We were surprised how few gardens were to be seen, mostly just big lawns. It was a nice stroll, not a "must do".
Written October 24, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Niwotois
Saco, ME374 contributions
Oct 2018 • Couples
I want to talk about the overall Newport mansions/”cottages” experience as a whole, so maybe this Bellevue Avenue topic is the best place to put this. This is a beautifully preserved slice of what is called the “Gilded Age” of the wealthiest of Americans. Some might consider it the worst of wretched excess. Some might wonder how America avoided a second revolution in the face of this kind of conspicuous consumption. They were a blatant attempt by monied Americans to match the style and scale of European nobility. But, whatever you call it, it is remarkable and unique. Other than Chateau Sur Mer, of the five we toured, all were built within a 10-15 year period from the late 1890s to around 1910.
These mansions, coyly called “cottages” by the elite, were, almost without exception, only occupied by the owners (principally the wives and children) for the Newport “season” which ran for a mere 6-7 weeks of the summer. (The husbands, who visited on weekends mostly, were back in New York working during the week.) The wives ran the show for the season. Then it was back to New York or on to Saratoga for Race Week or off to Europe. Houses like the Elms or Breakers had staffs of more than 40. The Elms had 20 gardeners alone. The Breakers had 35 staff bedrooms on the third floor. Interestingly, only a few of them had more than 2-4 guest bedrooms. They were palaces for a single purpose – entertaining. Rosecliff, with only one or two guest rooms, had the largest ballroom in Rhode Island. They all had huge dining rooms (seating 15-20 or more), gigantic entry halls and numerous reception or sitting rooms. Why were there mostly no guest rooms? Because the cottages sole purpose was to entertain the other wealthy people with cottages in Newport for the season. They were simply the settings for an endless round of parties, balls, dinners and visits.
What is staggering about Bellevue Avenue, the surrounding streets and the campus of Salve Regina University (which now contains some of the mansions as college buildings), is that the handful of mansions operated by the Newport Historic Preservation Society actually is only a relatively small number of all of the mansions. Most are privately owned and it’s nice to know that American wealth lives on and on.
After calculating the individual admission costs of seeing more than three of the mansions, my wife and I decided to join the Preservation Society for $80/couple. (We actually could have done it cheaper for two $35 individual memberships but it is, to put it mildly, for a very good cause.) I can’t imagine the repair and maintenance costs for these buildings and I have the greatest admiration for the Society’s work. In addition, everyone we met – admissions people, gift shop staff, docents – were so friendly and helpful. Do consider joining the society and supporting their great efforts to preserve some very expensive aging buildings.
After Columbus Day, when we visited, the “big five” mansions remain open: The Elms, Rosecliff, Marble House, Chateau Sur Mer, and (biggest of all) The Breakers. Each one, somewhat surprisingly, is quite different from the others. If you have the time and energy to see all five, by all means do so. They are different in style, decoration, coloration, scale and even (to some extent) purpose. Just a highly subjective few words about each. Chateau Sur Mer is the oldest, originally built in the 1850s on 47 acres (!) when there was nothing in the area but fields, and added onto extensively in the 1890s. In some ways this year-round home was the most interesting and harmoniously decorated. Rosecliff, with its muted colors and (other than the ballroom) almost human-sized rooms, was the one we decided we could live in. Marble House was just over the top in every way. In addition to the marble walls, ceilings and floors, the style of decoration varied widely (almost wildly) from room to room. The Elms is gigantic and set on beautiful extensive grounds. The elms are all gone, but the enormous weeping beeches (also found at Chateau Sur Mer) are worth seeking out, as is the sunken garden. The Elms was the first wholly electrified house in Newport. Save The Breakers for last because it “out-everythings” all the others. I’ve been to the Breakers twice before, many years ago, so I remembered the unbelievable scale of the place, but I forgot just how beautiful it is. If a house with 20 baths (most with tubs with hot and cold salt water and hot and cold fresh waters), 15 guest rooms, and a 57’ high entry hall can be almost “comfortable,” then this was. The decorations all held together beautifully.
All houses offer free tour headsets that give a very helpful, informative overview of what you’re seeing in each room. Sometimes we took the headsets, sometimes we just wandered and gaped on our own. The exception is Chateau Sur Mer where we had a wonderfully informative guide take us on a 45 minute tour of the beautiful house.
One last word. About 20 minutes northeast of Newport is another Preservation Society property, Green Animals. If you are returning to Boston or points north, it is less than five minutes off your route. It is a “small” (compared to the cottages) property with fascinating topiary and gorgeous flowers, particularly (in the late summer/early autumn) dahlias. If you’re a gardener, don’t miss this little gem.
These mansions, coyly called “cottages” by the elite, were, almost without exception, only occupied by the owners (principally the wives and children) for the Newport “season” which ran for a mere 6-7 weeks of the summer. (The husbands, who visited on weekends mostly, were back in New York working during the week.) The wives ran the show for the season. Then it was back to New York or on to Saratoga for Race Week or off to Europe. Houses like the Elms or Breakers had staffs of more than 40. The Elms had 20 gardeners alone. The Breakers had 35 staff bedrooms on the third floor. Interestingly, only a few of them had more than 2-4 guest bedrooms. They were palaces for a single purpose – entertaining. Rosecliff, with only one or two guest rooms, had the largest ballroom in Rhode Island. They all had huge dining rooms (seating 15-20 or more), gigantic entry halls and numerous reception or sitting rooms. Why were there mostly no guest rooms? Because the cottages sole purpose was to entertain the other wealthy people with cottages in Newport for the season. They were simply the settings for an endless round of parties, balls, dinners and visits.
What is staggering about Bellevue Avenue, the surrounding streets and the campus of Salve Regina University (which now contains some of the mansions as college buildings), is that the handful of mansions operated by the Newport Historic Preservation Society actually is only a relatively small number of all of the mansions. Most are privately owned and it’s nice to know that American wealth lives on and on.
After calculating the individual admission costs of seeing more than three of the mansions, my wife and I decided to join the Preservation Society for $80/couple. (We actually could have done it cheaper for two $35 individual memberships but it is, to put it mildly, for a very good cause.) I can’t imagine the repair and maintenance costs for these buildings and I have the greatest admiration for the Society’s work. In addition, everyone we met – admissions people, gift shop staff, docents – were so friendly and helpful. Do consider joining the society and supporting their great efforts to preserve some very expensive aging buildings.
After Columbus Day, when we visited, the “big five” mansions remain open: The Elms, Rosecliff, Marble House, Chateau Sur Mer, and (biggest of all) The Breakers. Each one, somewhat surprisingly, is quite different from the others. If you have the time and energy to see all five, by all means do so. They are different in style, decoration, coloration, scale and even (to some extent) purpose. Just a highly subjective few words about each. Chateau Sur Mer is the oldest, originally built in the 1850s on 47 acres (!) when there was nothing in the area but fields, and added onto extensively in the 1890s. In some ways this year-round home was the most interesting and harmoniously decorated. Rosecliff, with its muted colors and (other than the ballroom) almost human-sized rooms, was the one we decided we could live in. Marble House was just over the top in every way. In addition to the marble walls, ceilings and floors, the style of decoration varied widely (almost wildly) from room to room. The Elms is gigantic and set on beautiful extensive grounds. The elms are all gone, but the enormous weeping beeches (also found at Chateau Sur Mer) are worth seeking out, as is the sunken garden. The Elms was the first wholly electrified house in Newport. Save The Breakers for last because it “out-everythings” all the others. I’ve been to the Breakers twice before, many years ago, so I remembered the unbelievable scale of the place, but I forgot just how beautiful it is. If a house with 20 baths (most with tubs with hot and cold salt water and hot and cold fresh waters), 15 guest rooms, and a 57’ high entry hall can be almost “comfortable,” then this was. The decorations all held together beautifully.
All houses offer free tour headsets that give a very helpful, informative overview of what you’re seeing in each room. Sometimes we took the headsets, sometimes we just wandered and gaped on our own. The exception is Chateau Sur Mer where we had a wonderfully informative guide take us on a 45 minute tour of the beautiful house.
One last word. About 20 minutes northeast of Newport is another Preservation Society property, Green Animals. If you are returning to Boston or points north, it is less than five minutes off your route. It is a “small” (compared to the cottages) property with fascinating topiary and gorgeous flowers, particularly (in the late summer/early autumn) dahlias. If you’re a gardener, don’t miss this little gem.
Written October 15, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Pnemiller
Kutztown, PA2,187 contributions
This is one of the most beautiful streets in Newport. It is lined with old fashioned street lamps and has many of the grand mansions of Newport, some available for touring. There is a commercial section around Memorial Ave. (some good stops are Katrina's Bakery with out of this world breads, muffins, scones, cookies, etc. and across the street, the Newport Creamery.) North of Memorial are the art museum and Redwood Library as well as other interesting buildings. South of the shopping centers on Bellevue, south of Bowery St., is classic Newport. If possible go for a walk along the street taking in the sights at least down to Ruggles St.--from there you can take the trolley back to where you started. Another way to see Bellevue is to drive south on the street to the end where it curves to the right and goes into the magificent 8 1/2 mile Ocean Drive. One warning--Bellevue Ave. can get very crowded with traffic, especially on weekends and rush hour.
Written June 10, 2006
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alyssa B
New York City, NY66 contributions
Jun 2020
My husband and I drove around looking at the mansions - they were jaw dropping! Unlike any other mansions we've seen before! We weren't able to actually visit any mansions because of the pandemic, but just driving by and staring in awe was enough.
Written July 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NewportTownie
Newport, RI40 contributions
Jul 2017 • Friends
If you are going to visit Newport, you are going to drive down Bellevue. The Avenue is amazing, with many mansions converted to museums, some converted to condos, and more than you would think still privately owned by some very rich folks (who do NOT like tourists, by the way; do not trespass!). Try it early in the morning or after 4 p.m. so you don't get bogged down in traffic, because, after all, everyone else wants to go there. Drive all the way down at sunset and pause at the title parking area after the street veers right, at the end of Coggeshall Ave; magnificent sunset. If you MUST go 9-4, the biggest traffic jam is at the corner of Bellevue and Memorial; you can try to avoid it by turning South at the 7-11 on Memorial and jogging around to the left until you get to Annandale (don't take Annandale just off Memorial because it is REALLY narrow and crowded), or right on Parker and left on Clay, then go right on Narragansett and catch the Avenue where the traffic has opened up a bit.
Written July 20, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
CleverCat
317 contributions
Oct 2015 • Solo
Bellevue Avenue, along with Ocean Drive, are two of the most prestigious addresses to have in Newport. Bellevue Avenue is famous for its lavish mansions that line the road and used to serve as summer "cottages" for wealthy families and socialites. It is also home to the Newport Tennis Hall of Fame, which you will find right near the intersection of Memorial Blvd and Bellevue Avenue.
Continue further south along Bellevue and you will get a peek at an array of beautiful homes, although some are tucked behind lofty ivy-covered walls. As a tourist, you may be interested in visiting some or all of the mansions that are open to the public. The best time to visit is when the weather is nice since touring the grounds of the properties is a lovely part of each visit.
Most famous estate is The Breakers, which is just off Bellevue Avenue, and fronts the ocean. It was once the 70-room summer home to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who amassed his fortune in the railroad business. It's an absolutely stunning mansion that may also be viewed from the Cliff Walk that runs along the shoreline on the other side of the property (although you can't enter the grounds from the Cliff Walk).
Other mansions on or near Bellevue Avenue include Chateau-Sur-Mer, The Hunter House, The Elms, Marble House, Kingscote and Rosecliff. Admission is charged at each mansion, but I believe they offer a discount if you visit multiple mansions in one day. Students can get a 1-year all access membership to all of them for about $40 and individuals can acquire a membership for $50 annually. Adding up the costs of each mansion you want to visit may help you decide whether buying a membership is a better value.
When you come to the end of Bellevue Avenue, the road curves in a westerly direction toward Ocean Drive, which is a stunning road that is not to be missed. It winds along the bay and offers gorgeous views and terrific scenery.
Continue further south along Bellevue and you will get a peek at an array of beautiful homes, although some are tucked behind lofty ivy-covered walls. As a tourist, you may be interested in visiting some or all of the mansions that are open to the public. The best time to visit is when the weather is nice since touring the grounds of the properties is a lovely part of each visit.
Most famous estate is The Breakers, which is just off Bellevue Avenue, and fronts the ocean. It was once the 70-room summer home to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who amassed his fortune in the railroad business. It's an absolutely stunning mansion that may also be viewed from the Cliff Walk that runs along the shoreline on the other side of the property (although you can't enter the grounds from the Cliff Walk).
Other mansions on or near Bellevue Avenue include Chateau-Sur-Mer, The Hunter House, The Elms, Marble House, Kingscote and Rosecliff. Admission is charged at each mansion, but I believe they offer a discount if you visit multiple mansions in one day. Students can get a 1-year all access membership to all of them for about $40 and individuals can acquire a membership for $50 annually. Adding up the costs of each mansion you want to visit may help you decide whether buying a membership is a better value.
When you come to the end of Bellevue Avenue, the road curves in a westerly direction toward Ocean Drive, which is a stunning road that is not to be missed. It winds along the bay and offers gorgeous views and terrific scenery.
Written February 13, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jake23
New Jersey6,855 contributions
Nov 2022
It starts as a main street with some shops and restaurants and then turns into a street with some of the nicest mansions in Newport. Definitely worth seeing the start and end of the avenue.
Written November 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
thomasg42
Naples, FL112 contributions
Jul 2020
Grab your coffee, put on some comfortable shoes and just walk up and down Bellevue soaking in the splendor, the architecture, the landscape and the history. Simply one of the most impressive collection of homes (mansions) one could ever see in this beautiful coastal city.
Written July 14, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
They are all independent, but most belong to the association listed below.
Written November 28, 2018
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