Billionaire Steve Schwarzman Is Turning One of His Mansions Into a Private Museum

Billionaire Steve Schwarzman is unlocking the ornate, wrought-iron gates to his Neoclassical mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Blackstone CEO, who currently ranks as the 30th richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $43.9 billion, says he and his wife plan to open Miramar estate to the public following their deaths. “Christine and I intend to set Miramar up as a private museum at the time of our deaths for the benefit of the public in perpetuity,” he told Town & Country. “We are honored to have been able to do this for the community and contribute to Newport’s historic preservation.”

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Located on tony Bellevue Avenue, Miramar represents all the glitz and glamor of the Gilded Age. Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer originally designed the extravagant abode for streetcar magnate George Dunton Widener and his wife, Eleanor in the early 1990s. George sadly died aboard RMS Titanic in 1912, before the home was completed in 1915. Eleanor later moved into Miramar with her second husband Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr., and the couple lived there till the 1950s. The storied property changed hands a few times before former Goldman Sachs banker David B. Ford snapped it up for a record $17.15 million in 2006.

The Schwarzmans bought Miramar for $27 million in September 2021 in a deal brokered by Gustave White Sotheby’s agent David Huberman. The couple then treated the century-old pad to a meticulous, three-year renovation to restore it to its former glory. They have carefully curated period-correct art, such as paintings and portraits by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, John Singer Sargent, Vigée Le Brun, and Peter Lely. They have also sourced the finest antique furniture and decor. “In the great tradition of the Gilded Age of Newport and the Gilded Age of New York, they are really taking this seriously and trying to get the very best objects they can find to make this house sing,” Ian Wardropper, director of the Frick Collection in New York, told the magazine.

Miramar and the rarities within will eventually be on show for all to appreciate. The museum, one of Schwarzman’s many philanthropic endeavors, will be run by a private foundation, with an endowment covering operation and upkeep costs.

Miramar isn’t the only historic Newport mansion open to the public—Marble House and the Breakers also offer tours—but the city sounds as if it is ready to welcome another landmark. “Steve and Christine clearly have a love of preservation and that is a trait the people in this community share,” Trudy Coxe, CEO of the Preservation Society of Newport County, told Town & Country. “They know the value of our history and have amassed a remarkable, culturally significant collection. What is even more impressive is that the collection is housed at Miramar, an exceptional example of architecture that could be a museum in its own right.”

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