The palaces of Bellevue Avenue were built for a social season of six to eight weeks and have been hosting receptions ever since. Eight of them now rent their ballrooms, terraces, and lawns, from Preservation Society landmarks to a town owned manor on the Sakonnet River.
Preservation Society houses (Rosecliff, Marble House, The Elms) host evening events with museum staff on site, one per night, ending between 10 and 11pm, and require the caterers of choice list; Rosecliff adds a pre-approved planner. Budget for a field kitchen build out, since these houses were designed to hide their kitchens. Fees run from $2,000 at Linden Place to $40,000 at peak Rosecliff, and winter cuts the top rate by more than half.
8 venues listed
The 1902 Stanford White house holds the largest private ballroom in Newport, 40 by 80 feet, seating 160; fees climb from a $16,000 winter rate to $40,000 for a peak weekend date.
Alva Vanderbilt spent $7 million of the $11 million cost on marble alone; evening events seat 60 in the Gold Room or 120 on the tented terrace, Chinese Tea House behind.
The coal baron who built it in 1901 ran a 150 foot tunnel underground so guests never saw a delivery; cocktail receptions for 200 move through the house and classical gardens.
Richard Morris Hunt's 1892 chateau at Salve Regina requires at least 110 guests, with packages from about $31,301; the three story Great Hall sits under frescoed ceilings, and the back lawn meets the Cliff Walk.
Portsmouth owns this 1923 French style manor on the Sakonnet and prices it like a town: Saturdays $13,000, weekdays $5,000, boxwood parterre included, lights up at 11.
Eisenhower summered here in 1958 and 1960; the state now rents his Fort Adams lawn from $4,500 on a Saturday, your own licensed caterer welcome, lawn tents to 1,000.
Thirty three acres over Narragansett Bay in Bristol, with a permanent 40 by 100 foot clear sided tent on the Great Lawn and June to October Saturdays at $20,900.
An 1810 Federal mansion museum in Bristol where rose garden ceremonies run to 250 outdoors and six hour rentals stay between $2,000 and $4,200, ceremony included.
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