Gray Craig, European aristocracy in Rhode Island

For Sale.

There may be many mock-classical mansions and palaces in the USA, but few with the true provenance and breeding of this fine estate.

With all its history you would almost forget that Gray Craig is owned by Hollywood star Nicolas Cage, who clearly felt an affinity for this magnificent property and its refined, peaceful setting just two miles from the pretty marina of Newport. In reality he is just the latest in an impressive list of prominent owners that begins with members of old America’s landed classes.

Sprawling along 27 acres of lush greenery towards the New England coastline, this is a property that not only looks like an aristocratic European country estate, but actually has similar credentials of its own.

This rural ocean-side setting, which extends to Nelson Pond, with lovely views of the Atlantic Ocean, occupies an estate originally created in the late 19^th century by Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, who enlisted the support of Cornelius Vanderbilt, amongst others, to establish the Gray Craig Park Association. It was a little later, in the mid-1920s, that New York architect Harrie T. Lindeburg built the manor house here for Michael and Mary van Beuren, in whose family the property was to remain for another sixty years.

Lindeburg placed his creation within acres of unspoiled beauty, part of which now encompasses meticulously kept lawns and gardens, while the remainder has retained its meadows and forest groves. Inspired by this parkland setting, with its abundance of birds and flowering species, the architect designed a home that blends the great country house traditions of England and France, with a broad and steeply sloping roofline in the French style, and symmetrically placed square flanks reminiscent of classical English architecture. The finely worked stone he used further enhances this sense, which continues as you step inside an impressive grand hallway framed by a sweeping staircase, one of Lindeberg’s trademark design features.

In keeping with a home of this style and distinction you will find not only a formal living room and stately dining room, both with lovely Atlantic views, but also such delights as a library with barrel-vaulted ceilings, billiard room and a gourmet kitchen with country features such as a stone fireplace and traditional floor tiling.

The home has been upgraded and modernised, yet retains the elegance and rich decorative detail of a period mansion – a real one, that is.

See additional information about this luxury home for sale.

New post on at Wednesday, 12 November, 2008, 3:20 pm and is archived in International News, Lifestyle, Luxury, People, Places of Interest, Rhode Island. Subscribe to answers with RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or make a trackback from your web.