Rough
Point

Transitions

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William B. Leeds (1861-1908), industrialist and so-called “tin plate king,” and his wife, socialite Nancy Stewart (1878-1923), purchased Rough Point in 1906. Although they commissioned minor alterations to the façade of the house and redesigned the entrance drive, they ultimately left very little impact on the design of the architecture or the grounds. The Leeds family only spent a few summers in Newport before William passed away.

The Duke Family at Rough Point

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After summering in Newport for several seasons, tobacco magnate James Buchanan Duke (1856- 1925) and Nanaline Holt Inman (1871-1962) purchased Rough Point in 1922 and hired architect Horace Trumbauer (1868-1939) to renovate and enlarge the house as well as improve the landscape. Trumbauer was a natural choice for the renovation at Rough Point: his firm had already designed the Duke’s Fifth Avenue house in New York City and their Lynnewood estate in North Carolina. Trumbauer also had other major commissions in Newport, including The Elms (1899) and Miramar (1913). Nanaline Duke was eager to participate in Newport’s social season, and Trumbauer’s renovations to Rough Point included a new east wing for entertaining with a formal drawing room and a spacious ballroom. More frequent guests at Rough Point created a need for more household servants, and the servant living spaces were also expanded from 11 to 16 servant rooms.

In 1925, James passed away and left a fortune worth over $100 million. After his death, Nanaline and Doris continued to summer at Rough Point and entertain Newport society, including Doris’s 600-guest debutante party in 1930. Rough Point’s name is a reference to the rocky outcrop on the property at the ocean’s edge. While the exposure to the Atlantic Ocean creates spectacular ocean views, it also leaves the property vulnerable to storm damage. After Hurricane Carol in 1954 washed away the Cliff Walk Bridge and severely damaged the grounds, Nanaline Duke decided to close up Rough Point.

Doris Duke Makes Rough Point Her Home

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In 1958, Doris Duke reopened Rough Point and established a seasonal residence in Newport. She relocated the art collection from her family’s 5th Avenue mansion in New York to Rough Point and continued to fill the house with new pieces of art.

A decade after resettling in Newport, Doris founded the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF). Since then, NRF has restored more than 100 colonial buildings on Aquidneck Island. Doris’s impulse to preserve Newport’s architectural and cultural heritage helped created the cityscape as it is today. After her death in 1993, she gifted Rough Point to the Newport Restoration Foundation so that the public would be able to enjoy the house, estate, and collection.

The Rough Point Museum

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Rough Point Museum opened to public in 2000 as a space to learn about her life and legacy and engage with the causes she cared about and continues to impact many of our lives. While Rough Point pays homage to the tastes of her parents, she made Rough Point her own and the furnishings, collections, and arrangements of the rooms reveal her personality and are a part of her lasting legacy.

After her death in 1993, she gifted Rough Point to the Newport Restoration Foundation so that the public would be able to enjoy the house, estate, and collection. Rough Point Museum opened in 2000 as a space to learn about her life and legacy and engage with the causes she cared about and continues to impact many of our lives.

We are celebrating more than 50 years as an organization. Doris Duke founded the NRF in 1968 in order to preserve colonial buildings that were in danger of being destroyed because of urban projects—and in the process, shaped the way people live in, work in, and visit the city today. We’ve continued Doris’s legacy to address current issues that impact us all today—including environmental sustainability, sharing and preserving intangible cultural heritage, and the impact of economic development through historic preservation.

Today, we share the stories of the residents of Rough Point: the former owners like Doris Duke, the staff who lived in and worked at the estate, and Doris’s beloved pets — including Bactrian camels Princess and Baby.