The Gilded Age: For Valentine's Day it has to be hearts and roses - a visit to Rosecliff and its heartshaped staircase

The distinctive heart-shaped staircase at Rosecliff

This Valentine's Day we'll be served an extra heaping of love with the fourth episode of The Gilded Age tonight. We're celebrating with flowers, chocolates and Rosecliff, which, per, the book, "The Newport Mansions, The Gilded Age", "epitomizes the lighter, more romantic side of the Gilded Age."

Rosecliff was designed by Stanford White, inspired by a Versailles palace

 

Built in 1898 for Theresa Fair Oelrichs by Gilded Age designer, Stanford White (who also "built" - and dined at -  the Russell mansion of 5th Avenue, across from the not-so-pleased Agnes Van Rijhn in HBO's The Gilded Age).  White modeled it after the Grand Trianon, the 17th century Versailles pleasure palace of Louis XIV of France. 

 In a marriage that blended new money with old, Theresa had the megabucks and her husband, Hermann Oelrichs, was a member of a well-established family in New York society. The bride's father, James Graham Fair, an Irish immigrant, came to America to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush of 1849.  While he didn't strike it rich with gold, he did hit silver ten years later with the Comstock lode in Nevada which made him "instant millionaire". 

Ocean views, but what about the Bellevue address?

 

Theresa Fair Oelrichs preferred the society of Newport to that of San Francisco, so, along with her sister, she purchased eleven acres of oceanfront from George Bancroft. Bancroft was a statesmen and amateur botanists who maintained extensive rose gardens on the grounds which gave the estate its name.

 Although the water views were spectacular, the land did not reach to Bellevue Avenue, the most desired street in Newport. After an agreement with a neighbor to secure access to Bellevue, construction on Rosecliff began.

 

Rosecliff's ballroom measures 40 by 80 feet, enough for high society (and a few party crashers?).

When my husband, Chris, and I visited Newport six years ago, and toured the cottages on Bellevue, Rosecliff was my favorite. It's bright, airy and more approachable than most of its neighboring mansions with their heavy drapery and dark wood furnishings.

 

Heart-shaped staircase

One of Rosecliff's most distinctive features is its heart-shaped staircase. My pictures of the staircase eliminate some of the design, so I am including a photo from "The Newport Mansions, The Gilded Age".

 Theresa Fair Oelrich established herself as a formidable hostess at Newport and held many successful parties. Rosecliff's expansive ballroom measures forty by eighty feet, so enough for a high society gathering and a few party crashers.

Party crashers spotted in the northwest bedroom at Rosecliff.

 

According to last week's The Preservation Society of Newport County's newsletter, viewers of The Guilded Age will catch a glimpse of Rosecliff, but not in Newport. Part of its facade was "lifted" and placed alongside other homes in a New York city street scene. Perhaps we'll see more of Rosecliff in upcoming episodes. 

However, BTS is always there! Perhaps you spotted us in the mirror of Rosecliff's northwest bedroom?

Happy Valentines Day and Gilded Age watching tonight from BTS!