The Most Expensive Home for Sale in RI Has Ties to an Infamous Singer, MLK and Gandhi and Diocese
Friday, July 29, 2022
Left to right: Martin Luther King, Jr. Zachary Smith Reynolds, Libby Holman and Bishop Gelineau. MLK PHOTO: DeMarsico, Dick, photographer
But before it was named “Sandcastle” it was the summer retreat of the Diocese of Providence. The Diocese received it through a bequeathment from a wealthy Rhode Island family in 1942. The Bishops of the Diocese and other members of the leadership used the estate as a summer retreat — it was a favorite of Bishop Louis Gelineau.
Its history, however, is far richer.
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Torch Singer, Tobacco Heir, and MLK and Gandhi
Before the Diocese owned the property, the estate had an intriguing legacy.
According to town records, the home was built in 1930, and two years later, it became the summer retreat of Libby Holman.
Holman was “fresh from acquittal” of murder charges of her new husband Zachary Smith Reynolds, the tobacco company heir. Holman and Reynolds’ best friend were charged with the murder that took place in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at the family's massive estate — "Reynolda House."
Reynolds, at the time, was one of the richest Americans. It is estimated that his estate would be worth $350 million today.
Ultimately, Holman was exonerated — Reynolds' uncle claimed that his nephew's death was a suicide.
Holman moved to the Watch Hill estate with her infant son.
“In1932, torchsingerLibbyHolman, freshfromheracquittalin the murder trial brought following the shootingdeathof herhusband,
Zachary Smith Reynolds of the tobacco family, spent a summer at RimRock withthecouple’sinfantsonandanentourage, which
includedbodyguards,” according to Watch Hill Through Time.
Legacy Helped Fund Civil Rights Movement
Holman and Reynold's only child, their son Christopher, died in a mountain climbing accident in his 20s. A foundation — the Christopher Reynolds Foundation — was established by Holman in his name in the 1950s.
It was funded by the millions he had inherited.
“One of the Foundation’s first grants was to support the trip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to India to study the non-violent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. Early grants also went to the Highlander Research and Education Center and efforts supporting the Students National Coordinating Committee’s work on civil rights,” states the Foundation.
Wealthy Providence Family
ThePercivalO. deSt. Aubinfamilyacquired thepropertyin1936. He was a wealthy Providence industrialist and served on the board of the Rhode Island Foundation. He and his brother owned one of the largest mills. That mill was transformed into one of the preeminent apartment complexes in the Jewelry District.
Before Imperial Place was apartments, it was the location of Imperial Knife. But, the complex was built in the 1890s to house the Vesta Knitting Mills. Vesta was owned by the deSt. Aubin family. In 1941, the mill closed, and the facilities were sold to Imperial Knife.
In1942, the Watch Hill property wasleftunderthewillofMarion deSt. AubintotheRomanCatholicDioceseofProvidence.
Specifically, “she left the church her greatest gifts: $5,000 to her parish, and the rest of her estate to Bishop Francis P. Keough, the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Providence. That included her Watch Hill home, which was worth $35,000 at the time,” according to an article in the Providence Journal.
Forsomesixtyyears,itwasthesummerretreatoftheBishopofProvidence, butin2003 theDiocesesoldtheproperty to pay off the victims of sexual abuse committed by members of the Diocese of Providence.
The home was sold for $7 million in 2003 to the couple from Hartford, Connecticut -- Paul and Camille Daqui -- who transformed the house and are the sellers today.
The estate's history tracks the best and worst of history in Rhode Island and across the globe.
