The billionairess died in 1993 at the age of 80, and though she was a recluse her last few decades, her traumas were well publicized: failed marriages, torrid love affairs, the accidental homicide she committed, her ill-fated late-in-life adoption of a grown woman. And then there was her will - signed, contend some acquaintances, while Duke was mentally incapacitated. It named her shady, alcoholic butler as coexecutor of her estate and included a $100,000 legacy for one of her dogs.
Duke's Newport mansion, Rough Point, was tied up in litigation for several years but is now being opened for public viewing. The 115-room English manor-style structure, completed in 1891 for an heir to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune and purchased in 1922 by Duke's father, James B. Duke (in the early 1900s his company controlled more than 90% of all cigarette sales in the United States), is one of the city's hottest tickets, in part because no more than 72 people per day are allowed inside.
Rough Point, where Duke's coming-out party as a debutante was held shortly after the 1929 stock-market crash, sits at the far end (from town) of formerly exclusive Bellevue Avenue, near other Gilded Age palaces, among them the Breakers, Marble House, and the Elms. The furnishings in most Newport mansions reflect the late 1800s or early 1900s, but Rough Point looks pretty much as it did when Duke last saw it. For all its opulence, the place feels like someone - albeit someone rich enough to endow a museum - still lives here.
The lived-in look provides a contrast to the neighboring houses, but more significant is the quality of the artworks on display. The gems include specimens by Dutch and Italian Renaissance masters, some major examples of English portraiture, Flemish tapestries, and exquisite Chinese ceramics. Doris became skilled at conservation, advising and sometimes even working alongside her restoration experts, many of whom were based at her Somerville, New Jersey, estate.
Duke's singular taste pops up in several rooms, including two of the highlights, the great hall and the music room (by several accounts she was a proficient jazz pianist who even composed a few tunes). But nowhere is her penchant for eccentric combinations more evident than in her bedroom, where the dressers, tables, other Charles X furniture are finished in mother-of-pearl. The lemon-yellow chamber, whose principal fabrics are a rich purple, is so fetchingly overdone that it took me a couple of minutes to notice that a Renoir hangs across from the bed.
The solarium doesn't contain any masterpieces, but with its views of the water and the Newport coast, it's easy to see what made it one of Duke's favorite rooms. Doris is said to have let her pet camels, Baby and Princess, occupy it during a hurricane. The camels, who did a bit of damage that's still visible, were part of the deal when she bought a jet from a Middle Eastern businessman.
Nearly everything about Rough Point seems to have a story connected with it. Even the massive front gate has a shocking pedigree - it's where Doris ran over an interior designer named Edward Tirella with her station wagon one fateful day in 1966, killing him instantly. There were rumblings at the time that his death wasn't an accident and - whether or not it was - that Duke was drunk at the wheel.
Doris Duke was never charged with any crime - though she did pay Tirella's family a high-five-figure sum after a civil trial - but escapades like this one tend to overshadow her accomplishments. She's credited with greatly increasing her father's fortune, an indication that she possessed business smarts, and many Newporters believe that the millions she spent to restore nearly 200 colonial dwellings downtown helped their town survive as a tourist destination.
Despite evidence that her involvement in preservation predates Tirella's death, though, some locals still suspect that Duke's preoccupation with their town's restoration was part of a cover-up. If so, her money didn't buy an end to the rumors, and the opening of Rough Point will only breathe new life into them. But if you walk through her Newport showcase, you'll likely come away with a sense that there was more to this heiress than the gossipmongers let on.
Visiting Rough Point
You can visit Rough Point only on bus tours that leave from the Newport Gateway Visitors Center (23 America's Cup Ave., tel. 401/849-7300), downtown. If you drive to the mansion, you'll be turned away. Only 72 tickets are issued per day, from Tuesday through Saturday, online through Duke's Newport Restoration Foundation or on a first-come, first-served basis each morning - the Gateway center opens at 9 AM. The tours, which leave in the morning at 9 or 10:20 (depending on the day), 1 PM and 3:30 PM, take about two hours - 70 minutes inside the house, 20 minutes outside, and 30 minutes travel time (longer during the summer, when traffic is heavy). The cost for adults is $25.
By Danny Mangin
Danny Mangin is written about travel, film, and other topics for Salon.com, Sunset, the San Francisco Chronicle, SF Weekly, and many other media outlets.
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