Belcourt is a former summer cottage designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island.

In the Gilded Age, the castle was noted for its extensive stables and carriage areas, which were incorporated into the main structure.

A 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2), 60-room summer villa, it was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for 33-year-old Oliver Belmont, who during the construction was divorced from Sara Swan Whiting and the father of a daughter, Natica, for whom he denied paternity.

It was based on the Louis XIII hunting lodge at Versailles, and incorporated Oliver's love of pageantry, history and horses in its magnificent interior halls, salons and ballrooms.

[5] When construction finished in 1894, the entire first floor was composed of carriage space and a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses.

[6] Upstairs was a master bedroom with wall scenes depicting the life of a nobleman and a bathroom with Newport's first standing shower.

[3] Scheduled to open for July 4 of that year, Belcourt would remain closed for the summer season while Belmont was hospitalized in New York City, the victim of a mugging.

Belmont had disdain for the nouveau riche who, in splashy displays of wealth, built ostentatious mansions between Bellevue Avenue and the Atlantic coast.

To the west of this vast area was Belmont's Francis I Renaissance-style Grand Hall and foyer, which exited onto Ledge Road.

Alva Belmont converted the carriage room into a banquet hall and transformed a study into a boudoir,[8] importing 18th-century French paneling.

At the onset of World War II, Perry Belmont had most of the contents of Belcourt moved to his other estates as Newport was a naval base and potentially at risk of attack.

During the war years when many of the grand mansions were being razed or converted into various institutions, Dunn rented the stables of the rundown castle to the military to use for repairing equipment.

Included are a coronation coach, which son Donald made,[8] and a 1701 copy of a Hyacinthe Rigaud portrait of Louis XIV, which hung in the Green Room in the Palace of the Tuileries.

The centerpiece of the Tinney additions was an enormous Imperial Russian-style chandelier, which holds 13,000 rock crystal prisms and 105 lights.

Depicting scenes from mythology, nymphs and cherubs, the collection is an informal contrast to the strong and robust lines of the French-style château.

[8] The Tinney family's enormous collection earned Belcourt a notable status within Newport's thriving tourism industry.

On November 12, 2012, Belcourt was purchased by Carolyn Rafaelian, owner of the Cranston, Rhode Island–based company Alex and Ani, for $3.6 million.

[8] Rafaelian is currently restoring and renovating the mansion, which she reopened in summer 2014 as a tour house, art gallery, and event space under the business name Belcourt of Newport.

[14] Belcourt's distinctive exterior appearance was achieved through the use of brick and Westerly granite to frame the windows, doors and fields of stucco.

The numerous exterior railings and gates are composed of wrought iron and bronze, featuring a shell motif and the monogram "OB."