NRF promotes and invests in the architectural heritage of the Newport community, the traditional building trades, and Doris Duke’s fine and decorative arts collections, for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of all.
As a leader in the preservation of early American architecture, NRF supports research and education in areas directly related to its collections and issues of critical concern to the field of historic preservation.
Tour Doris Duke’s art-filled mansion and enjoy panoramic ocean views from the extensive grounds, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Open April to November.
Experience the only museum in the world specializing in 18th-century Newport furniture and related decorative arts.
Explore 40 acres of open space, a tribute to the agrarian heritage of Aquidneck Island. The site is open daily from dawn to dusk for public enjoyment.
Newport Restoration Foundation holds one of the largest collections of period architecture owned by a single organization anywhere in the United States.
Celebrate excellence in historic preservation efforts within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.
Live amidst history by renting one of our many historic properties.
Help us to continue a lived-in legacy by becoming a Restoration Partner today.
Rough Point is a mansion and a museum with an extensive collection of fine and decorative arts and a sprawling historic landscape with panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean. The property is experienced today largely as it was lived in during the lifetime of its most famous owner, the heiress, philanthropist, and preservationist Doris Duke.
Museum Hours The museum is closed for the 2019 regular season, reopening April 7, 2020.
Tickets Adults: $20.00 Students with ID: $10.00 Children 12 & under: Free Scheduled guided museum tours available for an additional $5.
Ground Pass All visitors: $5
Combine Your Ticket Purchase a combined ticket to both Whitehorne House Museum* and Rough Point Museum for only $25! *Whitehorne House Museum is open May 27 – October 25, 2020.
Group Tours For groups larger than 10 visitors, please visit our Group Tours page.
The museum is closed for the 2019 regular season, reopening April 7, 2020.
Guided Tours Highlights of the Museum guided tours introduce the singular personality of Doris Duke through the home she created, the art she collected, and the causes she embraced. The tour visits two floors of the house and special exhibition galleries. Tours last approximately 60 minutes. Available for an additional $5.
Garden Tours 30-minute tour of the historic gardens at Rough Point. Enjoy breathtaking ocean views as we talk about the transformation of the grounds over the seasons and how NRF’s celebrates Doris Duke’s interest in environmental conservation and sustainable horticulture. Weather permitting.
Roam Around Rough Point After hours access to the house, special exhibitions, and the grounds
Wednesdays, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Newport, RI County Residents are free!
Tickets for all admissions available at the door; no advance reservation necessary.
680 Bellevue Avenue Newport, RI 401–847–8344 visit@newportrestoration.org
Parking is available at the property. The estate is fully air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible.
The Visit of the Stadtholder Prince Frederik to the Fleet of the States General at Dordrecht, 1646
Portrait of Raphael Franco by Gainsborough
“Grotto” style piano stool
Portrait of Mountjoy Blount, Earl of Newport and George, Lord Goring by Van Dyck
Louis XVI carved, gilded, and polychromed armchair stamped Falconet
Near Reef of Norman’s Woe by Lane
This marine scene from the Golden Age of Dutch painting was among the last works of art that Doris Duke added to the collection at Rough Point. She purchased it at auction in New York in 1985.
James B. Duke purchased this portrait of Jewish gem merchant Raphael Franco at auction in London in 1910. From 1912 to 1957, it hung in the library at the Duke house in New York. It hung there even after Doris Duke gifted the house to New York University in 1957, coming to Rough Point some time after 1970.
Revolving shell form seat on cabriole legs with hairy paw feet, commonly called a grotto stool.
This is one of two double portraits painted by Anthony Van Dyck for the two men depicted here, one for each. The other portrait is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. It was purchased by Doris Duke in 1963 and was her first major purchase of Old Master paintings and the perfect complement to her father's collection of 18th-century portraits by British painters.
This armchair is part of a set of five pieces purchased by Doris Duke in 1960 that, according to the auction catalogue, came from the collection of the Duchesse de Montmorency at the Chateau of Valencay in the Loire Valley. Made at the beginning of the Louis XVI period, this piece displays some Italian characteristics, but is marked with the name of Falconet, a royal cabinetmaker in Paris. The painted and gilded surfaces are original. The embroidered yellow silk upholstery dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and is an amazing survival from this period.
