The Hard-to-Believe Story Behind Holiday House

Table Of Content

• A-list guests at the Taymerica parties
• Join Hindustan Times
• Matty Healy’s Mom Has Sweet Message To Taylor Swift Amid ‘TTPD’ Controversy
• Harkness family
• Warm White Kitchen
• The Legacy of the Harkness Holiday House
• YouTube star FaZe Rug lives in a lavish $4.4M mansion in Poway, CA
• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will reportedly join Patrick and Brittany Mahomes at F1 Miami Grand Prix this weekend

The Anti-Hero megastar has lately consumed headlines with her Eras Tour calendar or in association with possibly her greatest love story yet with Travis Kelce. However, it's time we reopen the chapter of her marvellous Fourth of July ‘Taymerica’ parties' venue - her Rhode Island estate. Built atop the highest point in Watch Hill, Swift's one-of-a-kind property is known as High Watch or Holiday House. Here’s where the story begins to sound like a myth - Harkness filled her swimming pool with champagne, invited renowned ballerinas and incorporated them into her company. She used to play cards and lose magnificently to her friends, which included the famous artist Salvador Dali.

A-list guests at the Taymerica parties

Regarding her mansion's interior, it's reportedly decorated with neutral-colored furniture, per Page Six. For Independence Day last year, the "Cruel Summer" hitmaker spent time with her "local neighborhood independent girlies" at her seaside estate. Her snaps also showed her massive pool adorned with inflatable swans, unicorns and flamingos, as well as an inflatable activity area. In 2015, Gigi Hadid posed in front of her friend Taylor's "saltbox house" in a red one-piece and a pink volleyball. Taylor Swift is notorious for her autobiographical style of songwriting, incorporating her own life experiences into her music.

Join Hindustan Times

The house was built in 1929–1930 for the Snowden family, owners of an oil company, who named it Holiday House. It was purchased in 1948 by Rebekah Harkness, socialite and Standard Oil heiress, who became notorious amongst the local residents for her lavish lifestyle there. In 1974, businessman Gurdon B. Wattles purchased and renovated the house, renaming it as High Watch due to its location.

Step Inside Taylor Swift's Eight Multimillion-Dollar Homes - ELLE Decor

Step Inside Taylor Swift's Eight Multimillion-Dollar Homes.

Posted: Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Matty Healy’s Mom Has Sweet Message To Taylor Swift Amid ‘TTPD’ Controversy

And the most intriguing one, as of late, is a secret romance that reportedly took place in Tay Tay’s beach retreat. The mansion was once owned by Rebekah Harkness, a high-profile socialite who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune. The master’s suite contains a sitting room with a wet bar as well as a widow’s walk terrace — which is a term used to describe a railed rooftop platform with an inner cupola or turret frequently found in 19th-century North American coastal houses. Back in 2013, Taylor Swift paid a whopping $17.75 million for the 7-bedroom mansion — along with 700 feet of shoreline on Watch Hill, in Rhode Island.

Harkness family

Inside Taylor Swift's iconic $17M Rhode Island vacation home - Page Six

Inside Taylor Swift's iconic $17M Rhode Island vacation home.

Posted: Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

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. Although Swift never got the chance to meet the socialite, Harkness still made an impact on the singer-songwriter, who wrote “The Last Great American Dynasty” about her wild lifestyle. The home, which has eight fireplaces and 10 bathrooms, sits on 5.23 acres and features a sprawling back patio with a massive pool. Lester and Russell play games in their room, which houses the barn-inspired canvas-tented bunk beds and a Windsor chair that once belonged to Nicholas’s grandfather.

Warm White Kitchen

Hadid shared a picture of herself playing on a make-shift volleyball court in Swift’s backyard and another photo of the three girls posing on a spiral staircase. Jennifer found the mudroom’s chippy green cabinet at the Brimfield Antique Flea Market and topped it with some of her vintage landscapes. The painting of the thatched-roof dwellings, which was another Brimfield find, used to hang in Jennifer’s parents’ house. Chopping down the Christmas tree is an annual tradition for the Barones, who head to Allen Tree Farm in Connecticut every year in search of a suitably sizable fir. A mix of handmade and hand-me-down baubles festoon the tree, which is topped by a DIY copper star and ringed with DIY copper chain garland. To cut down on confusion come Christmas morning, Jennifer assigns each kid their own wrapping paper pattern.

The Legacy of the Harkness Holiday House

Rebekah Harkness was always a figure shrouded in various perspectives of people surrounding her. Of course, Rebekah was more than a punter - she was a legend, a ‘mad’ woman who did as she pleased. As people discover the eccentric house, or rather the previous house owner, people’s interest renews itself all the more as the beacon house for sailors becomes a reverential part of pop culture.

YouTube star FaZe Rug lives in a lavish $4.4M mansion in Poway, CA

These snaps have revealed that the villa's signature indoor colour aesthetic is all for neutral tones, with tan walls and brown-white furniture standing tall. She continued to honour her husband by throwing the lavish parties the couple used to host for Bill’s affluent friends and neighbours. Also known as High Watch or Holiday House, the hilltop home by the sea reportedly has eight bedrooms, eight fireplaces, 10 bathrooms and a back patio with a massive pool. 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. The basement kitchenette was crafted from reclaimed wood the previous owner left in the barn after building the house.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will reportedly join Patrick and Brittany Mahomes at F1 Miami Grand Prix this weekend

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. After their marriage, the happy couple picked out a home and called it a ‘Holiday House.’ The house was built for Pearl Pinkerton McClelland Snowden by her husband in the mid-1910s. Measuring up to an astounding 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2), the seafront house sat on 5 acres (2.0 ha) of Rhode Island. Standing right across a private beachfront, Taylor Swift's Holiday House became hers to call in 2013.

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. 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, the living space boasts high ceilings and seems to be decorated in neutral tones, with white furniture, tan walls, oak hardwood floors and white crown molding.

Whatever you are feeling or going through, we can almost guarantee there is a Taylor Swift song for that. According to the celebrity insiders at Page Six, “Even though Gigi and Bradley have their own properties in New York, they wanted somewhere more private to spend time getting to know each other and Taylor was only too happy to help,” an insider said. But there are plenty of news stories and tabloid speculation as to what goes on in the singer’s secluded abode.

In her day, Harkness was as much of a media darling as Swift is now, and often the target of unfavorable headlines and press coverage. The name is said to come from the wives of mariners, who would watch for their spouses’ return, often in vain as the ocean took their lives, leaving the women widows. 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. However, the pricey pad is just one fraction of Swift’s over $80 million real estate portfolio. Jonas, for his part, posted a photo of he and brother Nick Jonas putting Swift’s bar to good use.

Taylor Swift bought an 11,000-square-foot estate in Rhode Island back in 2013 for a whopping $17.75 million — which she reportedly paid for in cash. Other snaps have also caught her exes, Tom Hiddleston and Calvin Harris, who have also been to her place. The perennially loved Hollywood couple, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively - Swift's close friends - were also welcomed to her Castle on the Hill. At the time, she bought the place for $17.75 million, with the full amount paid in cash (Page Six). Built in 1930, the mansion sits on the highest point in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and features 700 feet of shoreline and views of Little Narragansett Bay, according to the real-estate site Zillow.

Swift purchased the house for US$17,750,000 in 2013, and inspired by its history and Harkness, released the song "The Last Great American Dynasty" in 2020. Taylor Swift's Rhode Island home has eight fireplaces, ten bathrooms, an expansive back patio and a larger-than-life pool. The Lavender Haze singer has retained much of the house's traditional style from the old days. It turns out that Swift's Holiday House has a long history of wealth and lavish parties, and is renowned among locals for its coastal views. 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. Fans got a rare glimpse into Swift's home life in 2016 when she made headlines for an elaborate Fourth of July party, which featured several of her A-list celebrity friends in attendance, including Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and GiGi Hadid.

She succeeded her high-society muse, Rebekah Harkness, as the Rhode Island home's next famous owner. Even though she never actually met the old heiress, Taylor was avidly influenced by Harkness, for whom she wrote the Folklore song, The Last Great American Dynasty. Sneak peeks of her private beachfront and her white kitchen were also seen in the snaps she shared. Back in 2015, several of her famous friends — including Gigi Hadid, Joe Jonas and Martha Hunt — shared photos from the fun-filled weekend to their Instagrams.

The song, titled “The Last Great American Dynasty,” is based on the lives of Rebekah West Harkness (known as "Betty"), a composer and philanthropist who founded Harkness Ballet, and her husband, William Hale “Bill” Harkness, whose family founded Standard Oil. Swift purchased the Watch Hill, Rhode Island, house for $17.75 million (in cash, no less) back in 2013, and has since held numerous—very Instagrammed—Fourth of July parties there. The coastal mansion, located at 16 Bluff Avenue in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, was built in 1930 and sits on the highest point in the coastal town.