Newport Mansion Sells for $15 Million - Biggest Sale in RI Since 2013

The largest residential property sale in Rhode Island since 2013 is in the books and a new owner of the famed Fairholme estate will be stretching out with views of the ocean and the famed Newport Cliff Walk.

The property, which sits on 4.3 acres with ocean frontage, closed for $15 million, according to data from the statewide Multiple Listing Service.

Melanie Delman of Lila Delman Real Estate International represented the seller and facilitated for the buyer.

The 1875 Tudor revival is considered a masterpiece and it includes a grand Horace Trumbauer designed ballroom, endless rooms, carraige house, greenhouses, tiled swimming pool and a cabana pavilion that overlooks the Atlantic.

“Fairholme is one of the most beloved estates in Newport,” Delman said.

The seller was John Noffo Kahn of Palm Beach, Fla. He is the heir to the Anneberg publishing fortune and was a third-generation owner.

His grandmother, Janet Anneberg Hooker, sister of the late Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg, bought the mansion in 1992 for $3.35 million.

Kahn lived in the house with his late father Gilbert S. Kahn from 1993 until Kahn’s death in 2010.

The Kahn family has donated millions to local charities and organizations including Newport Hospital, the Redwood Library, Newport Art Museum and the Preservation Society of Newport County.

John Noffo Kahn also has homes in New York City and Vermont.

The Annenberg family owned Triangle Publications, whose media properties included TV Guide, the Daily Racing Form, Seventeen Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as several radio and television stations. The privately-held company was sold to Rupert Murdoch, in 1988, for $3.5 billion in cash.

The property was remodeled in 1905 by John R. Drexel. Under the Drexel’s ownership the home had many notable visitors including The Duke & Duchess of Windsor, and President John F. Kennedy whose family would often use the pool in the summers. Robert A. Young and his wife Anita O’Keeffe, sister of Georgia O’Keeffe acquired Fairholme in 1955. They had one daughter, Eleanor “Cookie” Young, who became one of the much-publicized “Glamour Debutantes” of the Great Depression -era.

Check out a video tour of the property below.