Price: $17.9 million
Bed: 16
Full baths: 12
Square feet: 12,393
When this Tudor revival was built in the 1870s, Newport was entering its Gilded Age. The immensely rich industrialists and robber barons that hailed from the cities in the Northeast were competing to see who could build the biggest and best homes along Rhode Island's coast.
This estate, dubbed Fairholme (because great estates need names), was -- believe it or not -- one of the more modest efforts. Built for Philadelphian Fairman Rogers, it's one of the few Newport "beach cottages" left in private hands.
Right across the road from The Breakers, the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Fairholme sits on four park-like acres and commands 425 feet of oceanfront property. In addition to the main house, there's a six-bedroom carriage house, three greenhouses and a cabana pavilion.
Inside, the entry hall features silk-surfaced walls, molded plasterwork and a huge limestone fireplace. There's a central great hall from which other rooms radiate out. There's grand ballroom, a colonnaded terrace and a dining room that can seat 120 diners -- comfortably.
Some past dinner guests include President John F. Kennedy, Georgia O'Keefe and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Houses like this do not turn over very often: The last time Fairholme was sold was in 1992. The price then was a mere $3.35 million, a rate of annual appreciation of nearly 10%; few homes could match that over the 19-year period.
For further information: Trulia
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