Chepstow is an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

house museum located at 120 Narragansett Avenue in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, built in 1860. It originally served as a summer "cottage", but the

Preservation Society of Newport County The Preservation Society of Newport County is a private, non-profit organization based in Newport, Rhode Island. It is Rhode Island's largest and most-visited cultural organization. The organization protects the architectural heritage of Newpor ...

now owns the property. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the

Ochre Point-Cliffs Historic District Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

in 1975 and within the Historic District of the City of Newport.

History

Edmund Schermerhorn hired George Champlin Mason, Sr. to build the house in 1860 as a summer home. Schermerhorn was a first cousin of

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

(formerly Caroline Webster Schermerhorn), one of Newport's most active hostesses. In 1911, it was sold to Emily Lorillard (née Morris) Gallatin, the wife of Rolaz Horace Gallatin, a cousin of

Albert Eugene Gallatin Albert Eugene Gallatin (July 23, 1881 – June 15, 1952) was an American artist. He wrote about, collected, exhibited, and created works of art. Called "one of the great figures in early 20th-century American culture," he was a leading proponent ...

and nephew of Commodore

Elbridge Thomas Gerry Elbridge Thomas Gerry (December 25, 1837 – February 18, 1927), usually called "Commodore" Gerry due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club from 1886 to 1892, was an American lawyer and reformer who was the grandson of U.S. Vice P ...

. The property, named for

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western ...

, the town in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

that the Morris family came from, overlooks Narragansett Avenue. Emily was first cousin of Lewis Gouverneur Morris who married

Anita de Braganza Anita Stewart Morris (August 7, 1886 – September 15, 1977) was an American socialite and heiress who married Prince Miguel, Duke of Viseu, grandson of King Miguel I of Portugal, and the eldest son of Dom Miguel, Duke of Braganza, who was Migu ...

and owned

Malbone Malbone is one of the oldest mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. The original mid-18th century estate was the country residence of Col. Godfrey Malbone of Virginia and Connecticut. The main house burned down during a dinner party in 1766 and th ...

in Newport. The property remained in her family's possession until it was donated to the Preservation Society in 1986 upon Alletta Morris McBean's death. The house has been altered through additions, the most recent in 1979 with the addition of the garden room (also called the sun room) by architect John K. Grosvenor. It opened to the public in 1998 following Peter McBean's death.

Present day

Beginning in June 1998. The property houses a dynamic collection of art and furniture, including some from other Morris family residences. Among the American paintings bequeathed to the Society that hung at Chepstow were works by George Harvey,

Fitz Hugh Lane Fitz Henry Lane (born Nathaniel Rogers Lane, also known as Fitz Hugh Lane) (December 19, 1804 – August 14, 1865) was an American painter and printmaker of a style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light. Biography ...

and

Granville Perkins Granville Perkins (1830–1895) was an American illustrator and painter, best known for landscape and marine subjects. He contributed illustrations to numerous journals and books of the 1870s and 1880s. He also painted in oils and watercolors ...

. Among the furnishings is a walnut Queen Anne side chair reportedly owned by

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Official site
{{Newport Mansions Houses completed in 1860 Italianate architecture in Rhode Island Museums in Newport, Rhode Island Historic house museums in Rhode Island Villas in the United States Schermerhorn family