By any measure, 1929 was not an auspicious year…except, perhaps, in Newport. For that was the year that an exquisite version of the hunting lodge at Versailles, La Lanterne, was built in our “City by the Sea.” Designed by the New York architectural firm, Polhemus & Coffin, Champ Soleil, a neighbor just down Bellevue Avenue from Parterre, is one of my favorite houses in Newport. Sharing the southern end of the Avenue with Larry Ellison’s Beechwood, the Preservation Society’s Marble House, Belcourt Castle, Miramar, and Clarendon Court, Champ Soleil (like many of its neighbors) is set behind elegant wrought iron gates.
The current owners of 22 years, Kenneth Zarrilli and Joshua McKinney-Zarrilli, having invested $10 million on a “refresh” of Champ Soleil, are now putting this distinguished jewel on the market. Of noteworthy mention also is the fact that Champ Soleil is one of only nine intact estates in Newport!
The 22 room main house has a total of 12 bedrooms and 10.3 bathrooms within 16,600 square feet with many gracious touches and details, starting with the entry hall and continuing throughout the mansion.
Other rooms throughout the large square footage include a ball room and large living rooms…
the formal dining room adorned with a spectacular Neo-Baroque chandelier and and Austrian stove in its own alcove…
the sitting room…
a library built of Louis XV pine panels imported from France…
and a large kitchen, a chef’s kitchen, and butler’s pantry.
Plus, large elegant bathrooms, a massage room, and 3,000 square foot home theatre.
The venerable Long Island landscaping firm of its day, Innocenti and Webel, designed the 5.35 acre grounds, with Newport’s signature beech trees, fragrant rose gardens, a generously scaled swimming pool and one of the finest croquet courts in the country.
As part of the “refresh,” the current owners also updated Champ Soleil with the latest in green design and technology including 26 internet-controlled zones for heating and cooling efficiency, state-of-the-art security, fire protection and an audio/visual system.
So happy you could join me…this seemed the perfect mid-fall post on a topic near and dear to my heart (other than gardens), Newport’s exceptional historic architecture.
Gustave White Sotheby’s International Realty
12 Bedrooms | 10.3 Baths | 16,601 Sq.Ft. | 5.53 Acres
$22,000,000 | Represented by Paul A. Leys & David Huberman
Photo Credit: Mike Osean, Courtesy of Gustave White Sotheby’s International Realty.
I found this very interesting as years ago, Libby Keck, (Mrs. Howard Keck) built a magnificent home in Bel Air on Bellagio Road and named it La Lanterne . She flew in painters. Woodworkers, fabrics from France and the home was just beautiful along with their collection of fine art.
Now I know where the idea came from!
What a beautiful history lesson this post is, complete as always, with magazine worthy photography.
The artisans who made this are…heros!! This will /has been enjoyed for the ages.
TY. ❤️
franki
Mrs. Pardee:
I hope you saw CHAMPS SOLIEL before Mrs. Aitken sold it. The decoration of the house today is a nightmare of bad taste and junk compared to the superb decoration of the early owners, the Goelets and the Aitkens.
John Peters Irelan
Washington D.C.
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