Pursuitist recently returned from a long weekend in one of the East Coast’s most picturesque cities, Newport, and spent many an hour marveling at the magnificent real estate and historic Gilded Age mansions.
“Seaward,” as this 45-acre property is dubbed, doesn’t boast a historic pedigree, a Bellevue Avenue location or even a particularly massive footprint, but the 7,600-square-foot home and matching 3,500-square-foot guest cottage have southern ocean views and overlook the greens of the tony Newport Country Club.
Once known as the Avalon estate, the property last sold in 2004 for a mere $10.3 million. The only comparable home of this size nearby is Hammersmith Farm, the estate where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis grew up.
The former owners of the property, James and Candace Van Alen, founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame and were well-known Newport socialites.
The home is the most expensive ever listed in Rhode Island, the Providence Journal reported.
Amenities include six bedrooms, an infinity-edge pool, private water frontage and a mooring on Price’s Neck Cove. The home, built in 2009, also features a four-car garage.
The price? A cool $45 million. The good news? The home has been on the market for some time, so there might be a bit of wiggle room there — the Journal reported that the assessed value of the home and land is actually $11.6 million, meaning that the price tag is more of a wish than a reality.
