Nestled between “Clarendon Court” and “Miramar” on Bellevue Avenue is a tiny street called Yznaga Avenue that provides access to the garages and outbuildings of those houses. The origin of the name comes from Antonio Yznaga Del Vaille (1823-1892), a Cuban sugar plantation owner, also of New York and New Orleans. In 1860 he purchased a lot on Bellevue Avenue and shortly thereafter erected a cottage called “Reef Point.”
His short time in Newport ended in 1868 when he sold his house to Harry Ingersoll of Philadelphia. After several ownerships, “Reef Point” was demolished by Edward C. Knight after Clarendon Court was completed in 1904. Yznaga’s three children fared well during Newport’s Gilded Age through well planned marriages. Natica married Sir John Pepys, Baronet Lister-Kay; Fernando married Alva Vanderbilt’s sister; Consuelo married the 8th Duke of Manchester and was the inspiration for the naming of Alva’s daughter Consuelo, later Duchess of Marlborough.
Above: Detail of an 1876 atlas showing Yznaga Avenue and Reef Point, under the ownership of Harry Ingersoll.
Photomechanical print entitled “Cliff Walk, North of Rough Point”; Reef Point is the fifth house from left. Circa 1900, NHS Collection, P4173.
Yznaga family home in Trinidad, Cuba. Now the Museum of Architecture. Photo by Bert Lippincott.