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They truly had a marvellous time, as Swift says, ruining the double standards of a judgemental society. It includes eight bedrooms, eight fireplaces, and a pool in the back, which was the site of a notable Fourth of July party that Swift hosted this month. Since then, the musician has put her hard-earned, lavish home to good use by hosting numerous parties with famous friends, known as her squad. Swift was so fascinated with Rebekah that another song on Folklore is titled “Betty,” a clear reference to Rebekah Harkness’s nickname. In her now-deleted posts from 2016, she shared a photo of herself with her bikini-clad friends while enjoying the American holiday together. The 11,000-square-foot estate was built on the highest point of Watch Hill, an affluent coastal neighborhood in the town of Wesley, Rhode Island.
A secret love nest for Taylor’s friends?
Taylor Swift’s 2020 album, Folklore, came as a surprise to everyone — including the artist’s celebrity friends, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who had cautiously guarded the name of their third daughter since she was born, only to have Swift’s album reveal the name in a track named after her. The honour extends to her besties, Selena Gomez, the Haim sisters, Abigail Lauren, Gigi Hadid, and other friends, including Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, and Martha Hunt. Holiday House is an icon that has housed two of the most famous women ever - Rebekah and Taylor Swift herself. The legacy of Holiday House will forever remain an exciting emblem of female figures that contemporary culture disapproved of, but these women did what they wanted anyway.
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It should come as no surprise that Swift has a special relationship with her Rhode Island mansion; just last year, during an appearance on Ellen, the singer said that the property is her favorite place to spend holidays. Known as the Holiday House, Taylor Swift’s home in Rhode Island was built in 1930 and comes with 7 bedrooms and even more fireplaces (there are 8 of them throughout the residence). The area had a vintage feel to it, with a built-in cabinet decorated with lots of small knick knacks — including a large “T” sign — as well as several bottles of various alcohols.
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Swift likens her own star-studded parties to the bevy of famous composers and dancers that once frequented the Holiday House in Harkness’ days. Swift’s song highlights some of the most outrageous antics the heiress was known for, which included filling up her pool with Dom Pérignon, dyeing one of her pets green, and having a relationship with Salvador Dali (himself known as one of the most eccentric artists in modern history). According to Rhode Island Monthly, the couple bought the coastal property soon after the wedding, and they became known for their (as Swift points out herself) “tasteful if a little loud” soirees.
The figure of Rebekah Harkness, seen occasionally pacing the rocks adjacent to her home, became more fiction than the truth. She was nearly lost in the annals of time, slowly withering away, until ‘The Last American Dynasty’ revived her and the house. Harkness became a recluse in her later years, even dying a neighbour’s cat lime green after an altercation. "Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name and money," Taylor wrote in the lyrics, allegedly pertaining to Rebekah's second husband, William Hale Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. With the 2020 release of her eighth studio album, Folklore, fans got the opportunity to see a different side of Swift, as she moved away from writing music from her own perspective and, instead, chose to share other people's stories. "I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I've never met, people I've known, or those I wish I hadn't," she explained in a tweet announcing the arrival of her album.
In the same year, the "1989" star's then-boyfriend Calvin Harris posted his first Instagram photo of Taylor while she was cooking BBQ on the patio at her Rhode Island house. Some photos from Swift and her friends through the years gave the singer's followers a glimpse into her luxurious property. The full story of Holiday House is featured in season 3 of House Beautiful's haunted house podcast, Dark House.
In a now-deleted Instagram post (via Business Insider), Swift shared photos of the partygoers on the beach, at the pool, and in front of the giant inflatable water slide that read, Taymerica, causing many to draw further parallels between Swift and the house's predecessor. Harkness was married to William Hale Harkness, whose family founded the Standard Oil Company. After William's death in 1954, it was reported that Rebekah infuriated her neighbors with her quirky and wild antics. Swift includes details in her song about how Rebekah filled the pool with champagne, threw luxurious parties, and played cards with Salvador Dali. The singer also draws parallels between Rebekah's reputation and her own, especially when it comes to their shared tendency to upset society for not always doing what is expected of them. Taylor Swift’s new album, Folklore, was released today, and we’re obsessing over one song in particular that tells the story of the former owners of Swift's Rhode Island home, known as Holiday House.
Taylor Swift
And since celebrity homes are in our blood, especially when they come with their own backstory, we just had to do our due diligence and look up Taylor Swift’s house (and the story behind it), and boy, is it a good one. In fact, the 14-time Grammy winner reportedly offered up her saltbox house on the coast to Hadid and Bradley Cooper during the early stages of their romance last year. Rather than lavish paintings, Swift opted for black-and-white photos of her friends and family — which seemingly line one of her hallway walls. Swift shared a few snaps from the low-key party online, showing the kitchen as well as some her choices in art for the home.
Sneak a peek into Taylor Swift's $17M Rhode Island Holiday House, a hotspot for Gatsby-style parties
L'Officiel has listed High Watch as one of the most expensive celebrity homes in the Americas. A Colonial-style mansion, High Watch sits on a 5-acre (2.0 ha) seafront estate that includes a private beach. The estate is situated atop Watch Hill's namesake hillock, which was used as a strategic lookout point during some battles in the history of the United States.
Inside Taylor Swift's Homes Through Every Era - Architectural Digest
Inside Taylor Swift's Homes Through Every Era.
Posted: Fri, 03 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The threesome, who donned matching red-white-and-blue onesies, were all smiles as they lounged against the white rod iron railing.
The renowned singer-songwriter also talked about the couple's wedding and the home they picked and called the "Holiday House," where they hosted parties. In the lyrics of Taylor Swift's song, "The Last Great American Dynasty," she tells listeners that her Rhode Island mansion sat empty on the coast for 50 years before she purchased it. She also mentions a woman named Rebekah, and it didn't take fans long to discover that the woman in question was Rebekah West Harkness, an heiress from St. Louis who once owned the property, as reported by The Washington Post. Several stalking, trespassing, and home invasion incidents have been reported at the house since Swift's purchase. In 2015, High Watch inspired a proposal by the Governor of Rhode Island to impose a luxury tax on expensive secondary homes in the state. In 2017, Swift was sued over her decision to build a seawall on the beach as plaintiffs argued the beach had been dedicated to the public over the years and Swift had no ownership of it; the courts ruled in Swift's favor.
Since Taylor Swift tends to keep her personal life fairly private these days, details about the house have been hard to come by. What she failed to mention at the time though, is how much she related to the woman who famously owned the house before her. The property spans 5.23 acres and is said to be “the highest point of direct waterfront land on the entire eastern seaboard.” It’s also the most expensive privately owned home in all of Rhode Island.
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