{"id":19662,"date":"2024-10-12T10:58:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T17:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=19662"},"modified":"2025-01-05T21:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T04:44:15","slug":"mother-jones-on-stephen-scharzmans-extreme-mansion-makeover-a-few-doors-down-from-rough-point-on-bellevue-avenue-whats-now-become-billionaires-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=19662","title":{"rendered":"Mother Jones on Stephen Schwarzman&#8217;s &#8220;Extreme mansion makeover&#8221; a few doors down from Rough Point on Bellevue Ave: the new &#8220;Billionaire&#8217;s Row&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Mother%20Jones%20on%20Stephen%20Schwarzman%27s%20%22Extreme%20mansion%20makeover%22%20a%20few%20doors%20down%20from%20Rough%20Point%20on%20Bellevue%20Ave%3A%20the%20new%20%22Billionaire%27s%20Row%22\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-19668 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-const-Art-crop.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-const-Art-crop.jpg 1462w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-const-Art-crop-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-const-Art-crop-1024x742.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-const-Art-crop-768x557.jpg 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-const-Art-crop-800x580.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>By Peter Lance Oct. 17th, 2024<\/strong><\/span> In an extraordinary new investigative piece for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2024\/10\/newport-stephen-schwarzman-blackstone-private-equity-miramar-construction-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>MOTHER JONES<\/strong><\/a> posted online, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/author\/hannah-levintova\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Hanna Levintova<\/strong><\/a> reports on the tumultuous impact that billionaire financier and erstwhile Trump supporter Stephen Schwarzman has had on Bellevue Avenue, in his epic renovation of Miramar, the former estate of Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice, the famed world explorer, whom I chronicled in <a href=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HOM_CHAPTER-8_MIRAMAR.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Chapter 8<\/strong> <\/a>of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Homicide-Rough-Point-Peter-Lance\/dp\/0996285598\/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;asc_campaign=2b5a785186b501c352c95398a3440b1b&amp;asc_source=01G8XG0GEG1CT4D3C07B4FAY7P&amp;tag=namespacebran131-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>HOMICIDE AT ROUGH POINT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the course of her piece, describing Bellevue Avenue, once known as &#8220;Millionaire&#8217;s Row&#8221; &#8212; in between references to King Louis XIV and Larry Ellison &#8212; she writes: &#8220;There is also the mansion once home to an alleged murderer, a billionaire tobacco heiress who <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.vanityfair.com\/article\/2020\/7\/homicide-at-rough-point\">almost definitely<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>killed her interior designer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That link is to the first of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/contributor\/peter-lance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>my two pieces in Vanity Fair<\/strong> <\/a>on Doris Duke&#8217;s 1966 killing of war hero, Renaissance man and art curator\/designer Eduardo Tirella, whom I prove in my reporting she murdered with intent.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-19665\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot.jpg 2016w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot-1024x598.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot-768x449.jpg 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot-1536x898.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Miramar-Const.-drone-shot-800x467.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What follows is Ms. Levintova&#8217;s introduction to the piece,, which I encourage you to read online as you subscribe to what remains America&#8217;s foremost printed\/online mag dedicated to investigative reporting.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"section-lead\"><strong>Hanna Levintova October 10, 2024<\/strong> The first thing<\/span>\u00a0the neighbors on Newport\u2019s Bellevue Avenue complained about was the helipad.<\/p>\n<p>The 2-mile stretch of Rhode Island coast has long been a playground for America\u2019s billionaires, lined with lavish, historic mansions. But for as long as most could remember, old money had meant an untouchable kind of peace, not the thunderous noise of a chopper. Now the New Yorkers who\u2019d bought 646 Bellevue\u2014a Gilded Age estate known as Miramar\u2014had turned a patch of grass on their 8 acres of oceanfront land into their very own LaGuardia, and folks weren\u2019t happy about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving Sikorskys land in the neighborhood does seem contextually off, noisy, and potentially unsafe,\u201d one neighbor emailed to another, referring to a brand of helicopter. They didn\u2019t even ask Newport\u2019s zoning board, she\u2019d heard. Her concern, she emphasized, was \u201cthe character, livability, and safety of the neighborhood.\u201d This wasn\u2019t about begrudging the mansion\u2019s new owners, Wall Street titan Stephen Schwarzman and his wife, Christine; by all accounts, they were \u201cvery nice people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schwarzman, the 77-year-old CEO of private equity giant Blackstone, had purchased Miramar the year before, in the fall of 2021.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/liladelman.com\/listing\/646-bellevue-av-newport\/\">The mansion<\/a>, which boasts 44,000 square feet of living space, including 22 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and a seven-bed, seven-bath guesthouse, was completed in 1915 for a streetcar magnate who later died on the Titanic. Within months of buying Miramar, Schwarzman also acquired the residence next door, Ocean View, which has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newportrhodeislandrealestate.com\/the-newest-in-extraordinary-real-estate\/bellevue-avenue-estate-is-sold\">15 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms<\/a>, and a six-car garage. Together, they cost $43 million\u2014making Schwarzman\u2019s megaproperty among Newport\u2019s most expensive home purchases ever.<\/p>\n<p>This links to <a href=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-10.10.24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>a pdf of the full story.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-19669\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala-1024x716.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala-768x537.jpg 768w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala-1536x1075.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mother-Jones-Schwarzman-spouse-Met-Gala-800x560.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Mother%20Jones%20on%20Stephen%20Schwarzman%27s%20%22Extreme%20mansion%20makeover%22%20a%20few%20doors%20down%20from%20Rough%20Point%20on%20Bellevue%20Ave%3A%20the%20new%20%22Billionaire%27s%20Row%22\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>&nbsp; By Peter Lance Oct. 17th, 2024 In an extraordinary new investigative piece for MOTHER JONES posted online, Hanna Levintova reports on the tumultuous impact that billionaire financier and erstwhile Trump supporter Stephen Schwarzman has had on Bellevue Avenue, in his epic renovation of Miramar, the former estate of Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice, the famed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19662"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19698,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19662\/revisions\/19698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}