This stunning house located in Newport, Rhode Island, was constructed in the Greek Revival style circa 1840 for Henry Castoff (1803‐1879). His house was one of several dwellings built in the Greek Revival style at that time in the area surrounding Touro Park. Henry was a merchant who dealt in goods from the Indies. In 1868, Henry sold this house at 115 Pelham Street to Robert P. Berry, a local dentist and inventor. Dr. Berry’s heirs sold the property in 1890 to William J. Swinburne (1822‐1897) a former soldier, coal merchant, and Mayor of Newport (1855‐1856). After Swinburne’s death in 1897, the home passed by will to his daughter Elizabeth, who never married. Elizabeth resided in the house until her death in 1918. Under the terms of her will, the home was deeded to the Newport Civic League, who established the Swinburne School there, a school for women for the study of household arts and domestic sciences. The school opened in the 1920s. The Swinburne School operated until 2002, when it was dissolved by the Newport Civic League. The contents of the building were sold at public auction and the school records were deeded to the Newport Historical Society. The building itself was purchased by a Brian O’Neill, who restored it to a single‐family dwelling.
Buildings of New England 
Good morning: Thank you for your work today. It’s not the lives of Plutarch or Pliny, but the timeline of something as human as the human home offers insight and beauty.
What makes this Greek Revival in terms of elements? Specifically, I have two questions: what are those “wings” of the house called? Secondly, much more importantly, what other color, besides white, could one paint this house. If I was a sea-captain, I would not want to look at aqua-marine. For me, as a man, I could not live in a blue house.
Good shabbos to you and yours.
Respectfully,
David Loring, York, Pennsylvania.
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The classical Ionic portico at the entrance, corner quoins which read as pilasters, and the entablature all read more Greek Revival. As for color, as the house is flushboard siding and scored to resemble stone blocks, the house was almost surely a gray color likely with a cream trim.
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