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In the lyrics of Taylor Swift's song, "The Last Great American Dynasty," she tells listeners that her Rhode Island mansion sat empty on the coast for 50 years before she purchased it. She also mentions a woman named Rebekah, and it didn't take fans long to discover that the woman in question was Rebekah West Harkness, an heiress from St. Louis who once owned the property, as reported by The Washington Post. Although the private pop star, 34, hasn’t shared many images of the vacation property herself, several of her A-list pals have given glimpses inside the home while uploading images from the lavish bash — known as Taymerica — to their social media over the years.
You can see Swift giving her guests the tour.
A true Brooklyn girl, she never got “cultured,” and never put on fake airs, like other Hollywood transplants from Brooklyn did. She was kind not just to people who could help her, but to crew members and performers who were coming up behind her. She was, for a time, engaged to Hollywood director supreme Victor Fleming; then she fell hard for shy, strapping, ethereally handsome Gary Cooper—because, well, who wouldn’t?
High Watch
Most recently, Swift gained approval from the Beverly Hills Cultural Heritage Commission to turn the estate into a historic landmark. The mansion used to belong to Hollywood film producer Samuel Goldwyn until Swift bought the home in 2015. She reportedly made the purchase in an all-cash deal, paying a whopping $17.75 million. More recently, she’s made headlines in 2023 for racking up thousands from the city’s Sanitation Department for failing to keep the sidewalks in front of her building clean, according to city records. The song "Great American Dynasty" is part of her set list in the Era's Tour.
Taylor Swift Needs to Become Other People
With seven bedrooms, eight fireplaces, a glorious pool, and shoreline views extending 700 feet, this mansion is one of her most impressive buys. A big star with a big reputation, Taylor Swift is arguably the most well-known of Rhode Island’s celebrities. Dubbed the “Holiday House,” the Watch Hill mansion was bought by Swift in 2013, complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a past that ties it to the Standard Oil fortune. The songwriter spun the story of the house’s past — and the divorcee who lived there, Rebekah Harkness — into the song "Great American Dynasty” in her eighth studio album, "Folklore." Taylor Swift surprised all of us when she dropped her latest album, Folklore, on July 24. While fans quickly went to work decoding the lyrics and searching for Easter eggs in the music video for "Cardigan," another song on the album also caught people's attention.
“Clara Bow,” it turns out, isn’t about Clara Bow the person at all, though it could be said to be about Clara Bow the vibe. Is it possible to be beautiful and charismatic to the point of possessing a kind of cosmic power that draws success to you? The song opens with the lines “You look like Clara Bow in this light, remarkable/ All your life, did you know you’d be picked like a rose?
The 33-year-old superstar—who recently completed the first U.S. leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour—is worth an estimated $570 million, according to Forbes, $150 million of which she has invested in real estate. The eight-bedroom property, known as High Watch or Holiday House, was built on the highest point in Watch Hill and boasts over 700 feet of private beachfront. Several stalking, trespassing, and home invasion incidents have been reported at the house since Swift's purchase.
The Fascinating Story Behind Taylor Swift's Rhode Island Holiday House
The house, which was built in 1929, belonged to oil heiress Rebekah Harkness for over 30 years. In a very Taylor fashion, she was inspired by this romantic lifestyle which led her to put to use her famous storytelling talent. She reportedly bought the crib in 2013 and paid $17.75 million in cash for the 11,000-square-foot property.
Which US states have the most Taylor Swift fans or Swifties?
But imagine our surprise when we heard that one of the songs on the album is a reference to the Grammy Award-winner’s house in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Since then, the musician has put her hard-earned, lavish home to good use by hosting numerous parties with famous friends, known as her squad. Fans speculated the album is mostly about Swift’s six-year relationship with English actor Joe Alwyn and their breakup. Both stars kept the relationship out of the public eye, but this album gives fans more leverage to guess at what happened between the two. "The property owners had inspired my father to want to make it for them and you know he was so thankful for the work at the time that he thought it would be a good tribute to incorporate it into the wall of that property," said Salvatore Cherenzia, the President of Cherenzia Excavation.
Rod Stewart’s Swanky $74 Million Beverly Hills Estate
The company was the largest oil refiner in the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which made Rebekah one of the richest women in the US. Because of their wealth and love for the lavish lifestyle, the Harkness couple purchased the mansion in Watch Hill, RI, which they nicknamed The Holiday House. Swift rented this 1870 brick townhouse, made famous after her well-known lyric “I rent a place on Cornelia Street,” between 2016 and 2017 while her $50 million TriBeCa loft was undergoing renovations. Today, this charming dig is officially on the market for a cool $17.9 million or available to rent for $45,000 a month. Luxury features include double-height ceilings, antique Parisian brickwork, and a variety of glamorous chandeliers.
Taylor Swift's $17M Rhode Island Home Is Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper's Secret Idyllic Hideaway - ELLE Decor
Taylor Swift's $17M Rhode Island Home Is Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper's Secret Idyllic Hideaway.
Posted: Wed, 18 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Page Six shared the report of Gigi and Bradley's stay on Instagram, where fans chimed in with their strong opinions—from the cynic's calling out the pair's relationship as a PR move to the many dreaming of borrowing one of Taylor’s pads one day. "@taylorswift can I use one of your places to escape too 😂😂😂 I need a mom time out from my kids lol." Taylor Swift has gone through her many eras accumulating a vast real estate portfolio, and the musician doesn't hesitate to loan a home or two to her celeb friends in need. After recently lending Sophie Turner her New York City apartment, the Queen of Pop is reportedly letting Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper stay in her Rhode Island home (which may be haunted!) to explore their rumored romance. Despite Swift’s jet-set life, she stuck to her roots when purchasing her second Nashville home, a sprawling Greek Revival known as Northumberland Estate. The impeccably designed home, which she purchased in 2011 for $2.5 million, features a 5,600-square-foot main house with a 2,000-square-foot guesthouse, complete with vaulted ceilings, herringbone floors, and marble fireplaces.
Schulberg took a chance on her, only to soon realize that both the camera and audiences adored her. Then he exploited her, farming her out to other studios and pocketing gargantuan profits, even as audiences—and not only men—fell deeply in love with her. The “Clara Bow” lines “You’re the new god we’re worshipping, promise to be dazzling/ Beauty is a beast that roars down on all fours, demanding more” sum up her trajectory well. But not long after her win, she awoke one night to find her mother poised over her with a butcher’s knife, intent on killing her, though Sarah fainted before she was able to go through with it.
It includes eight bedrooms, eight fireplaces, and a pool in the back, which was the site of a notable Fourth of July party that Swift hosted this month. The international Taylor Swift frenzy that followed the pop star’s 2022 release of “Midnights” and the announcement of her record-breaking “Eras Tour” has done nothing but get stronger. The house was built by Guilford Dudley Jr., a former US ambassador to Denmark. The quiet neighborhood isn’t a typical choice for A-listers, which is probably one of the reasons she chose it. It’s rumored that her song “The Last Great American Dynasty” was inspired by this property.
The 11,744-square-foot holiday house boasts 700 feet of shoreline and offers sweeping views of Little Narragansett Bay, per Business Insider. According to See Westerly, Watch Hill was used as a lookout during battles dating back before the French and Indian War. High Watch, formerly named Holiday House but locally known as the Harkness House, is an 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) home situated in Watch Hill, a historic district in Westerly, Rhode Island. These days, when she is in Music City, she is probably spending her time at the grand Greek revival estate known as the Northumberland Estate.
Although the “Anti-Hero” singer took a break from hosting the star-studded party for a few years, she held a smaller gathering this past Fourth of July alongside BFFs Selena Gomez and the Haim sisters. Meanwhile, Martha also posted several snaps of the home’s exterior, showing the tiled patio with white lounge chairs as well as the pool area — which was decked out with inflatable toys and a slide. The Snowdens, beginning with George Grant Snowden's father, James McKean Snowden, who was born in 1831 and lived in Pittsburgh, had made their fortune in oil and gas exploration. George Grant Snowden and his brother, James Hastings Snowden, explored for oil first in Pennsylvania and then in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The Snowden family is of Welsh descent, with ties to Welsh, English, and Scottish royals. Pearl was a descendant of pilgrim Edward Fuller, the House of Stuart, and Robert Burns.
He estimated he spent 19 days at Seafair in 2019, but when he is in town, he is often spotted out and about. He’s tested new material at the Firehouse Theatre, has attended Audrian’s Concours + Motor Week, and has been known to get lunch downtown. In 2014, there was a kerfuffle involving Westerly putting his house up for auction due to him owing $8,000 in back taxes, but it was quickly resolved when the taxes were paid. From the mansions of Newport to more casual homes in Watch Hill and Warwick, here are seven homes that are owned by some well-known celebrities. Plus, Gigi gave a glimpse at the interior, too, showcasing a tasteful spiral staircase with a rod iron railing.
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