In 1974, Town & Country featured Beaulieu, one of Newport Rhode Island’s most storied cottages, purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Wiley T. Buchanan Jr. over 50 years ago. In 2016, the family’s summer home had hardly changed, and T&C revisited Beaulieu with an inspiring message: “Do it once and do it well.”
Built in the mid 1800s, Beaulieu was designed to resemble a French château. It is one of the oldest homes still in private hands on Bellevue Avenue, and its grounds remain just as the landscape architect Calvert Vaux originally designed them. Interior designer Valerian Rybar, known as the world’s most expensive decorator, is responsible for the timeless interiors.
Last fall, my friend and doyenne of Newport, Bettie Bearden Pardee, featured Beaulieu on her blog Private Newport stating “Everything about Beaulieu invites you to step back in time and reflect on a Newport lifestyle that existed many years ago.” And Beaulieu’s chatelaine Ruth Buchanan, now a vibrant centenarian, continues to live a version of that life today, imparting traditions to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Image via Town & Country
“Mother still rules the house with an iron fist. She lives in fear someone will change the color of the kitchen. It’s a little bit like living in a museum, but with an emphasis on living. My children, grandchildren, and I play ball in the yard and run around the house, the way I did and my mother did,” said Dede Wilsey.

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country
Beaulieu has hosted countless fêtes, dances, luncheons, garden parties, formal dinners and cocktail parties. “My grandparents entertained beautifully, said Trevor Traina, Ruth Buchanan’s grandson. “Their signature party was a Fourth of July white tie ball, which started at 10 p.m. They would give a small dinner first. As children, we were allowed to sit with our nannies at the top of the gigantic internal staircase and look down and listen to the music and watch people dance. Today we live differently from the way my grandparents did. When they first moved in, they had two butlers. Now there’s a cook, a housekeeper, and people who come in during the day to help polish the marble. My grandmother still has a butler, but as she likes to put it, ‘Compared to how I used to live here, today we’re camping.'”

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport
One tradition that has not changed, much to the bemusement of her friends, is the elaborate, two-week process known as “closing up the house” that occurs every September as the summer season ends. Bettie reports that Mrs. Buchanan is the only one left in Newport who still carries out this ancient regimen. “It’s really so old-fashioned in today’s world that it’s ludicrous, but I can say it does pay off,” said Buchanan. “Every curtain, chair, picture, and light fixture is covered. Even newspapers are put on the wool carpets because moths are not partial to newsprint. It looks exactly as though we had died and gone to heaven.”

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country
“In today’s age, who closes up a house at the end of a season? Who drapes the furniture and covers the paintings? It’s kind of the end of an era,” said Trevor Traina. “The house has a patina. Certain rooms have faded, and certain pillows are a little bit shallower than they used to be, but everything still works, and everything still looks right and appropriate. The definition of a great house is a place where everyone can convene and where family relationships are nurtured.”

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country

Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country

Photograph by Mick Hales via Private Newport

From left: Alexis Swanson Traina, Johnny Traina, Katie Traina, Ruth Buchanan, Trevor Traina, Todd Traina, Daisy Traina, Dede Wilsey, Delphina Traina. Photograph by Douglas Friedman via Town & Country
Impeccable style and taste runs in this family, and not to be missed are the homes of Dede Wilsey and Trevor Traina and his wife Alexis Swanson Traina.
To read more about Beaulieu, please visit Town & Country and Bettie Bearden Pardee’s blog, Private Newport. I also highly recommend Bettie’s book Private Newport… it features an entire chapter on Beaulieu! And to bring a little bit of Newport into your home, please click here to learn more about the iconic Parterre Bench by Bettie Bearden Pardee.

The Parterre Bench by Bettie Bearden Pardee, Private Newport

Andrea, what did this family do to amass the money necessary to continue this lifestyle?
Just curious, because it has to cost a fortune to maintain/keep/pay the taxes, etc. for this home.
Thank you for an interesting article!
Mr. Buchanan came by his fortune the time-honored and old-fashioned way: he inherited it. He was heir to a Texas cotton, lumber and oil fortune. Unfettered by the mundane need to earn a living, he served as ambassador to Austria and Luxembourg during the Eisenhower administration.
Mrs. Buchanan is a Dow Chemical heiress. Her grandfather founded that company.
Wow! That house is perfect for its location and the history surrounding it. It’s so exciting that she still follows tradition living her life in the same manner she always has and far above any trends. What’s more, however, is she really looks like a lovely woman. Not just beautiful, but lovely.
She is perfectly lovely!!
I had a rehearsal dinner for one of her grandchildren at our house in Pasadena years ago. (I just provided the house and garden).
She was so appreciative, and so gracious. She exclaimed, “I was dying to meet the lady who let us have a party at her beautiful house never having met us”!
They were old friends of my dearest friends.
It was great fun!!
Excellent taste really runs in that family. What lovely houses! That was a lot of eye candy for one morning, and boy, I needed it. I love that she is such an excellent steward that it all looks great after nearly 50 years. That is as it should be. In our throwaway society, people don’t understand that if you get it right the first time, it won’t need to be done again for a VERY long time. It’s a big investment to have a room done up properly, so it makes good fiscal sense to take good care of it and enjoy it for as long as possible. Another good reason not to go trendy. Classic is always in style and never dated.
Where does Mrs. Buchanan go when the season is over in Newport? I’d love to see her other house(s).