WRITTEN BY JENN THORNTON
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY
Splendor, by the Sea
The historic mansions of architecturally diverse
Newport express the spirit and ambition of an age
118 DIGS.NET
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12.15.2017
One thinks of a summer cottage in mostly quaint terms—a place of
some modes, wrapped in quiet, with a nice view. But in Newport,
Rhode Island, once dubbed "e Eden of America" for its postcard
locale, the "summer cottage" produces a far more elaborate picture of
early American progress as seen through some of the country's most
celebrated mansions.
At the start of the 19th century, the once thriving mercantile port of
Newport was settling into its new role as a refuge for American artists
and Southern planters fleeing the summer heat. e conclusion of the Civil War brought
economic reconstruction and industrialization to the country, and, to Newport specifically,
those who profited from it. Lured by Newport's setting and mild climes, some of the nation's
most prosperous families bankrolled stately "summer cottages" of diverse architectural
origin within its beautiful environs, forming a heartland of a certain conceit, removed from
sweltering cities thick with industry.
e boom years of large-scale buildings in
Newport—1880 to 1914, the height of the Gilded Age—
graced it with some 250 villas; showpieces of varying
scale whose construction was motivated, at least in part,
to "an unspoken desire to reinforce one's station in the
social order, or seniori within a family, by building
on an ambitious scale," says Paul F. Miller, curator of
the Preservation Socie of Newport Coun, which
oversees 10 of the area's most beloved mansions turned
museums. But in balance, he notes, with a "conscious
interest in fostering the patronage of American art and
architecture." is two-handed investment—in social
capital and cultural sponsorship—produced a lasting
architectural legacy.
is heritage is as vast as the square footage of Newport's
most famous mansions. Hunter House, a timber-framed
Georgian built aer 1749 for a prominent sea captain,
was an auspicious start, with 8,000 square feet. e
19th century introduced the likes of Kingscote, a Gothic
Revival shadowing the churches of Medieval Europe
from 1841; Chateau-sur-Mer, a grand interpretation of
Victorian era architecture erected in 1852; the Isaac Bell
House, a Shingle Sle jewel on Newport's storied Bellevue
Avenue from 1883; and Rosecliff, constructed in Classical
Revival sle with a glazed terracotta façade in 1902.
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