Belcourt Castle is a 27,000 Square foot bachelor pad in Newport, Rhode Island. The mansion was built for Oliver Hazard Perry. He was a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis and later became a Congressman for New York. Belmont was a collector of carriages, coach horses, medieval manuscripts, stained glass, and armor. The summer villa was a 3.2 million dollar construction project that began in 1891 and was completed in 1894. It contains 60 rooms, only one bathroom, a grand stable for his horses, but excludes a kitchen and guest rooms. Richard Morris Hunt designed the home with a French and English theme and it had four wings built around a 80 foot by 40 foot courtyard. The house was designed to allow Oliver to enjoy his interests and to display his treasures as well as his stained glass. 30 servants lived on the second floor of the south wing above his stable for 30 horses. The mansion was intended to be a six-week summer home for Belmont. However, shortly after, Oliver Belmont fell in love with Alva Smith Vanderbilt and they got married in 1896. The bachelor pad was later transformed to fit the needs of those without a bachelor mindset. Oliver died in 1908 from septic poisoning from a burst appendix, leaving Alva the mansion. Alva made some renovations to the mansion to support her needs. She added a kitchen in the passageway from the stable into the courtyard, transformed the carriage room into a banquet hall, and renovated a study room into a bedroom for herself. Alva was a strong supporter of women's movements and added many additions to the house. She died in Paris, France in 1933. Belcourt was inherited by Oliver Belmont's oldest brother, Perry Belmont. In 1940, Belcourt was sold out of the Belmont family and was purchased by George Waterman but on the condition to restore Belcourt as close as possible to the original structure. Waterman did just that. He repaired the third floor roof, removed an addition put in by Alva, and renovated the living space above the stables back into apartments. He planned to turn it into an antique auto museum. However, city officials didn't allow for an antique auto museum at Belcourt, resulting in Waterman selling Belcourt in 1943. Edward Dunn bought the place but never lived there. He rented it out to a nearby military base that used the stable area to make equipment repairs. After the war the windows were boarded up and the structure began to deteriorate so Dunn hired a caretaker Benny Collin, When The house was passed down to her family, then was sold out of the family. It was sold to Edward Dunn, who rented out to the military. It was sold later in 1954, to Elaine and Louise Lorillard to host the Newport Jazz festival. The event was. very popular and successful but Belcourt needed too many repairs that they could not restore so they sold it to the Tinney Family in 1956. The Tinney family restored Belcourt and Harold, Ruth, and their son Donald lived there for many years. When Donald and Ruth died they passed Belcourt down to Donald and his wife Harle. Donald and his wife carried on the traditions of restoring it as well as hosting tours to the castle. When Donald died in 2006, Harle continued to live there and held an auction in November 2008 to raise funds so she can keep repairing. In November 2012 Belcourt was sold to Carolyn Rafaelian who plans to continue renovations and one day open Belcourt as a museum.