Astor's Beechwood renovationRestoration of Astor's Beechwood underway 12/30/12



on Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI

Yesterday, while cruising down Newport's Bellevue Avenue, I glanced over at Astors' Beechwood and, much to my surprise, it wasn't there!  After a quick double take I realized the big, beige Italiante mansion WAS in fact there, but it was no longer the cream-colored wedding-cake-of-a-house I remembered, but rather a somber red brick edifice with pale quoining along the corners and roof line.

It's a temporary look, as plans call for the reapplication of the stucco, but the mansion's current "nakedness" combined with the wintery, leafless landscape accentuates the dignity of the original architecture.

Astors' Beechwood is undergoing a complete restoration thanks…

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Hopedene Newport RIHopedene, Newport, RI, sold $16M 12/19/12

It was another stellar day for Newport, RI luxury real estate as word spread that Gustave White Sotheby's brokered the sale of Hopedene for $16M. The sale was Rhode Island's highest recorded sale this year and the second highest ever. 

Located on Cliff Avenue with a sweeping lawn and stunning views of First Beach and the Atlantic, Hopedene was designed by Peabody and Stearns and completed in 1902 for Elizabeth Hope Gammell Slater.

Interior designer Ogden Codman, Jr. built an addition in 1913 and redesigned the Georgian Revival mansion when Charles P. Patterson, a NY antiques dealer purchased the home.

When he died, Mr. Patterson left Hopedene to Newport's Preservation Society and in 1983 Britty Cudlip…

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