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Carey Mansion
View from the northeast.
Former names	Seaview Terrace
General information
Architectural style	Châteauesque
Location	Newport, Rhode Island, USA
Address	Ruggles & Westmore Avenues
Construction started	1923
Completed	exterior 1925 interior 1925
Client	Edson Bradley
Owner	Privately owned
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Howard Greenley

Carey Mansion, originally called SeaView Terrace, is a sprawling French Renaissance château located in Newport, Rhode Island. It was the last of the great "Summer Cottages” constructed, and is the fifth-largest of Newport's mansions — after The Breakers, Ochre Court, Belcourt Castle, and Rough Point.

The television show Dark Shadows used its exterior as the fictional Collinwood Mansion. Until recently, part of the main house and some of the outbuildings were leased to Salve Regina University.

History

From the 1850s to the early 20th century, fashionable wealthy families built elaborate mansions in Newport to be used for entertaining during the summer season.

SeaView Terrace

In 1907, liquor millionaire Edson Bradley built a French-Gothic mansion on the south side of Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. It covered more than half a city block, and included a Gothic chapel with seating for 150, a large ballroom, an art gallery, and a 500-seat theatre — 90 feet by 120 feet, and several stories tall, completed in 1911 — known as Aladdin's Palace.

In 1923, the 71-year-old Bradley began disassembling his Washington, D.C. mansion and relocating it to a Newport property at Ruggles and Wetmore Avenues. Seaview, the 1885 Elizabethan-Revival mansion already on the site, was incorporated into the design, and lent its name to the new chateau. Work on the exterior continued for two years, and required the use of many railroad cars and trucks. Rooms that had been imported intact from France and installed in Washington, D.C. 20 years earlier, were moved again and reassembled in Newport, and the new building was constructed around them. When the interiors were completed in 1925, there were 17 rooms on the first floor, 25 on the second, and 12 on the third. It is believed to have been one of the largest buildings to be moved in this manner.

Seaview Terrace cost over $2,000,000 to build. The main house featured turrets, stained-glass windows, high arching doorways and, in keeping with its seaside location, shell motifs. The Architectural League of New York awarded Bradley's architect, Howard Greenley, a 1928 medal for "Seaview Terrace", calling it "the most beautiful and unusual residence in this country" Mrs.Bradley died in August 1929, and her funeral was held in the house's chapel. Within months after the death of his beloved wife, Edson Bradley gave the estate to his daughter and son-in-law, Bishop and Mrs. Herbert Shipman. Bishop Shipman, Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, died in 1930.After the death of Bishop Shipman, Mr. Bradley and Mrs. Julie Shipman continued to summer at "Seaview Terrace", until Mr. Bradley's death in London in 1935. Three years after Mr. Bradley's death, the great hurricane of 1938, unleashed its fury on RI's coastline. Many of the Newport estates were damaged. "Seaview Terrace" was lucky, in that the damage was minor. A rumor that had circulated that the tower was destroyed, was wrong. There was water damage inside the house, and of the 30 trees on the property, more than a half dozen were destroyed. Mrs. Shipman had the water damage cleaned up, and trees removed. She continued to summer at "Seaview Terrace" until 1941. That year, she held an auction to sell the house and furnishings. A bid of $25,000 for building and furnishings was rejected. In 1942, she allowed the City of Newport to claim the property, as she owed the city three years back taxes. Soon after, the estate was leased to the U.S. Army as an Army Barracks. From 1944-1949, it was known as Newport's biggest "White Elephant", as looters and the weather wrecked havoc on the 54 room French Renassiance Villa. In 1949, the City of Newport sold the estate to a real estate broker for $8,000. He then sold it to Mrs. George W. Emerson of Northampton, Massachusetts for $24,000.

Burnham-by-the-Sea=== In 1950, it became an exclusive all-girl summer boarding school, and was known as "Burnham-by-the-Sea". The house was owned and the summer school run by Mrs. George Waldo Emerson. During the academic year, Mrs. Emerson was a headmistress for the Mary Burnham School for Girls in Northampton, Massachusetts. From 1951 to 1961, Mrs. Emerson leased the estate to Mr. Lloyd H. Hatch, for his private school for boys, Hatch Preparatory School for Boys. When the Hatch school left in 1961, it was leased for the Newport School for Girls. In 1968, the Mary Burnham School merged with the Stoneleigh Prospect Hill School to become the Stoneleigh-Burnham School, which took over operation of the summer school.

From 1966 to 1971, the Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows used Burnham-by-the-Sea as the exterior set for the fictional Collinwood Mansion.

Carey Mansion

In 1974, Martin T.and Millicent H.Carey of New York, purchased the mansion. They reported that they were going to use the house as a business school, for training executives. The Newport Executive Center was scheduled to open at the former Bradley-Shipman estate by December of 1974, after renovations were made. The Executive Center never materialized, and the house was not restored. Within a few years, Mr. Carey leased the mansion to Salve Regina College, for use as a girls dorm. In the mid eighties, Salve Regina, now University, removed the clinging ivy vines from the facade of the house, as it was causing damage to the exterior. Salve also began to house male students in the mansion, and damage to the sculptures and interiors were extensive. Salve Regina University often invited the Bradley family friend and historian, Michael Seggie, to "Seaview Terrace", to lecture about the history of the house, in order that the students would appreciate the unique building that was their dormitory.

Salve Regina University expired the lease of "Seaview Terrace" on August 31, 2009. Since then the Careys, with contributions from the fans of the tv series, "Dark Shadows", have begun extensive renovations including repairs to the roof, chimneys, facades and interiors such as the Solarium, Great Hall and Ballroom. Their daughter, Denise Carey, an architect from New York, currently resides there with her fiance Christopher Bettencourt, a builder from Massachusetts. Together, they oversee the restoration of the mansion.

Features

Whispering gallery

Cecilia Hall features a whispering gallery, an elliptical room reminiscent of Saint Paul's Cathedral, in which a person standing at one of the foci can hear the slightest whisper uttered at the other.

Stained glass

"The Flagellation" (circa 1544-47) was an early-Renaissance stained-glass window designed for Milan Cathedral. It was part of a series portraying the Passion of Christ, and believed to have been made in the workshop of Currado Mochis da Colonia. The window was bought by Edson Bradley for the house when it was located on DuPont Circle, and may have once been owned by Stanford White.

Estey organ

Carey Mansion's pipe organ, Opus 2140, was made by Jacob Estey of Estey Organ Company, Brattleboro, Vermont. It has a Tremolo Electric Detached Console Automatic Player which includes Great pipes, Swell, and multiple pedals. It is no longer operational, and the console is missing.

No fences

Carey Mansion has never throughout its history had any sort of fencing or wall surrounding the property. There are two main gateposts, but around the rest of the property a decorative hedge is used, rather unsuccessfully, to keep people away, making it the largest of its kind in Newport with such a characteristic.

Notes

1. "Here's A Brand New Use For Wealth—Build A Theatre Right In Your Home!" The Sunday Morning Star (Wilmington, Delaware), 12 November 1911, p. 9.
2. Vertiges of Seaview, the 1885 mansion originally on the site can be seen in the chateau's north wing.
3. During the summer of 1973 the movie The Great Gatsby was filmed next door. All the children at the school, who had a 9 pm curfew, spent the evenings listening to the filming of the cars driving up and down the old Oelrichs property, Rosecliff.
4. The Flagellation
5. The Flagellation
6. Estey Pipe Organs Opus List

External links

• Official Website

• Photos of "Carey Mansion"

• Castles in the United States
• Châteaux
• Dark Shadows
• Salve Regina University
• Houses in Newport County, Rhode Island
• Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island