Oliver Belmont
Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (
November 12,
1858 -
June 10 1908) was a wealthy
American socialite and Congressman.
Born in
New York City to August and Caroline Belmont. Oliver's father was
August Belmont, a
Prussian Jew who came to the
United States in 1837 as an agent for the
Rothschilds, and accumulated enormous personal wealth. (The oldest race in the
Triple Crown, the
Belmont Stakes, is named for August Belmont).
In 1882 Oliver married Sara Swan Whiting, who was pregnant with his child, in
Newport, but they divorced the very same year. He was never permitted to see his daughter, Natica, who was adopted by her step-father and died in her early 20s.
Oliver received a huge inheritance when his father died in 1890. Oliver was a bachelor at the time of his father's death and decided to build a summer house in Newport.
Richard Morris Hunt was the architect for Oliver's Newport mansion,
Belcourt Castle. Belmont designed Belcourt as he pleased. Hunt was hesitant with the design of Belcourt, but he concentrated on his guiding principle that it was his client's money he was spending. The entire first floor was composed of a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses. The monumental Gothic rooms with their huge stained-glass windows were emblazoned with the Belmont coat of arms.
On
January 11,
1896 Belmont married
Alva Vanderbilt, the ex-wife of
William Kissam Vanderbilt.
Belmont served as United States Congressman from New York's 13th District from 1901 to 1903.
Oliver Belmont died on
June 10,
1908 and was interred in the
Woodlawn Cemetery in
The Bronx. His mausoleum, designed by
Richard Morris Hunt, is an exact replica of the Chapel of St. Hubert at
Château d'Amboise in
France.
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Biography at Belcourt Castle website
