Forbes_USA_June_13_2017

SHINE ON Every chandelier in
Belcourt was taken down and
disassembled for restoration,
including one weighing 460
pounds and held up by a nail.
FIRE POWER The crest
above the fireplace in
the library contains the
Belcourt motto, Sans
crainte: “Without fear.”
WORDS TO LIVE BY “First
marry for money, then
marry for love,” Alva
Belmont once famously
said. Her first husband was a
Vanderbilt; her second was
Oliver Belmont.
WHOA The courtyard was once used to exercise
the horses of Oliver Belmont, whose father is the
namesake of the Belmont Stakes.
REAL ESTATE
The
Jewelry
Queen’s
Castle
DESIGNED IN 1891 by renowned
Beaux Arts architect Richard
Morris Hunt, the Newport,
Rhode Island, mansion known as
Belcourt was inspired by Louis
XIII’s hunting lodge at Versailles
and built for banking heir Oliver
Belmont. With 60 rooms and more
than 55,000 square feet of living
space, the estate was intended to
be Belmont’s summer bachelor
pad—with stables on the first floor
for the horse-loving owner. Shortly
after the home was completed, Belmont
fell in love with a neighbor,
suffragist Alva Vanderbilt, who,
after divorcing her husband and
moving out of their mansion down
the street, brought a woman’s
touch to the place. (The horses
were the first to go; then she added
a library and transformed the halls
for entertaining.)
In 1940, the Belmont family
sold the estate, and it has changed
hands several times over the
decades, falling into disrepair and
disrepute: In 1999, Belcourt was
reportedly the site of an infamous
800-person “no underwear” party.
Then in 2012, Carolyn Rafaelian,
the billionaire founder of the
jewelry brand Alex and Ani (see
story, p. 70) purchased the property
for $3.6 million—and the spirit of
Alva Vanderbilt returned. Rafaelian
has invested many millions in the
estate, including a complete renovation
of the library. She also added
solar paneling to the roof and, of
course, restored Alva’s bedroom to
its Gilded Age glory.
JUNE 13, 2017 FORBES | 17