Alex and Ani owner buys Belcourt Castle

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP/WPRI) -- The owner of jewelry company Alex and Ani -- which already has a diverse portfolio of properties -- is now taking over Newport's largest privately owned mansion, Belcourt Castle

Carolyn Rafaelian told The Providence Journal on Monday that she purchased the Bellevue Avenue mansion for an undisclosed price

Belcourt Castle's website says the mansion was completed in 1894, and designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the designer of other Gilded Age "summer cottages" in the city, including the Breakers, and Marble House. It has 60 rooms and 50,000 square feet.

Rafaelian purchased the home from Harle Tinney. The Tinneys purchased the mansion in 1956.

In recent years, it has been used for weddings and other public events. Rafaelian says she plans to restore and renovate it, then reopen it for events. She says she will rename it Belcourt of Newport.

The portfolio of Rafaelian's company, Alex and Ani, meanwhile, has grown from jewelry, with retail stores in several states, to the acquiring of a local media and marketing company, the purchase of Sakonnet Vineyards, the launching of a small chain of coffee and tea shops, and soon, a professional development center which is now in the works in downtown Providence.

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