Newport Mansion: Kingscote

So far I've toured The Elms, The Breakers (a few times), Rosecliff, & The Marble House out of the 9 Newport Rhode Island mansions. Last Tuesday, Evan and I added one more to our list. We toured Kingscote. So I am officially over 1/2 way there in seeing them all. 

Kingscote is the smallest of all the mansions we toured so far but it is considered the first house in the start of the "cottage boom" that Newport is known for (because yes, these mansions were built as summer cottages/getaways). Built in 1839 & 1841 for George Nobel Jones, a southern plantation owner. 

 Built in the gothic style it's a bit darker than the other mansions and since it's much smaller it only took us about 45 minutes to tour. 

 Much of what is known about the house is from 1864 on when the King family took it over, they made their money as China Trade merchants and David King Jr and his wife enlarged, redecorated, and renamed the house "Kingscote" in the 1880's.  


i

If you notice the trim over the interior doors matches the trim over the exterior windows 

The office:

The library had lovely stained glass windows and beautiful picture moldings along with many paintings from and depicting Chinese ports/settlements where King did business.

The dining room contains 1,459 colored glass tiles that cost the family .25 each so $364.75 which is equivalent to $11,808.35 in today's climate. I'm not sure you can really see the dahlia flowers in the upper/transom windows but they were striking in person as was the cork ceiling. 

The tile windows in the dining room are Tiffany! 

This black walnut screen wall divides the dining room from the hallway but could be removed to enlarge the dining room for parties. 

 The parlor was used for family and social gatherings. 

Many of the decorations found throughout the house are reminiscent of the family's trade business in China

The drawing room was used as an entertainment space for guests and could be used to listen to music, play charades, and even acted as a stage with the doors between the drawing room and parlor acting as a curtain and the parlor converted into seating. 

We noticed how much shorter the railings were back then as they didn't even come up to my hips. 


I loved this bookcase that was built curved to mimic the round turret of the house

This room was called the summer bedroom and was David and Ella King's room. They had 2 children: Gwendolen & Philip.

I much preferred the upstairs since it was lighter and brighter

Gwendolen's room. Gwendolen married in 1901 and had 3 children but she was widowed like her mother before her and never married again. 


guest bedroom

This is called the winter bedroom since Gwendolen did move to Kingscote in her later life and live there year round and would move to this bedroom for the winter. 



this bathroom was not original to the house but was an addition of the King family; records do not indicate when exactly it was added.

children's school/play room

a better photo of the exterior Gothic hood ornaments over the windows

We enjoyed this very different mansion tour/house and learned quite a bit about the emergence of the gilded age. 

 


Comments

  1. Maria RineerApril 23, 2026 at 5:16 AM

    Very ornate! The upstairs was a lot lighter! The dining room is pretty but so dark!! How close is the cottage to the ocean?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 23, 2026 at 5:36 AM

      This one isn't that close to the ocean, I'd say a couple of blocks. The dark is all part of that gothic feel and definitely not my favorite. I much preferred the upstairs myself.

      Delete
  2. HollyApril 23, 2026 at 6:11 AM

    Wow! So many interesting furniture pieces and pictures to look at- very ornate- doesn't scream summer cottage to me- ha!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amy ScottApril 23, 2026 at 6:47 AM

    You're so lucky to live so close to the Newport mansions! Did you watch The Gilded Age? They were always going to Newport!

    ReplyDelete

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