Newport

Butler House // 1865

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A true Italian Villa can be found in the dense center of Newport, Rhode Island. This is the Butler House, built in 1865 for physician Samuel Butler (1816-1881) and his wife, Emeline. Dr. Butler was born in Maine and was educated at Harvard before moving to Newport to become a member of high-society there. Besides working as a physician, Samuel Butler served on the Newport School Committee and as a director of the Redwood Library. His house was originally built in 1865 (as the right half) in a late-Greek Revival style as a side-hall house with flushboard siding and pilasters between the bays. As Newport continued to grow in wealth as a summer destination, Dr. Butler modernized his home in 1876, adding the oversized corner tower with round arched windows and bracketed cornice. The two aesthetically opposing styles somehow work well together in this eclectic home, which today, is further enhanced by a color palette to accentuate the two sections.

Littlefield-Van Zandt House // 1836

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In the late 1830s, Captain Augustus Littlefield (1803-1878) purchased a house lot on Pelham Street in Newport, Rhode Island and commissioned housewright John Ladd to design and build his new residence. Littlefield reportedly asked his Ladd to design an “authentic copy of an Italian Villa” he had seen during a trip in southern Italy. The result is a more traditional Greek Revival, temple-front house with a portico supported by four monumental columns with capitals that combine Corinthian and Egyptian lotus motifs. The minimal Italian Villa detail can be seen in the bracketed cornice and in the pediment. Built around 1836, the house remained in Littlefield’s possession until his death in 1878. The property was purchased by Charles C. Van Zandt, attorney and later the 34th Governor of Rhode Island. Gov. Van Zandt died in 1894 and was interred at Island Cemetery in Newport. The Littlefield-Van Zandt House remains a significant early, high-style Greek Revival house in the state and one with a great state of preservation.

Old Swedish Lutheran Church, Newport // 1896

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By the end of the 19th century, the summer colony of Newport, Rhode Island continued to see the erection of large summer cottages which required large staffs to maintain them. Scandinavian girls were preferred by the wealthy residents for maids and drivers, and beginning in the 1870s; they joined other ethnic groups, such as the Irish in establishing their own communities in the coastal city. In 1892, organized under the New York Conference of the Augustana Synod, a Lutheran Church for Swedish-speaking residents was established. A small lot on Corne Street was purchased and work began on this small wood-framed church. Completed in 1896, the church was designed by by architect James W. Smith in the Gothic Revival style. It has a central bell tower and a spire and the interior of the church originally had an hourglass pulpit. Gold and white decorations surrounded an oil painting of the risen and ascending Christ. In the 1950s, the congregation purchased land on Broadway in the north end of Newport and built St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. The Corne Street church was sold and is now a private residence.

Cornè House // 1822

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What does this house and the tomato have in common? Keep reading to find out!

Michele Felice Cornè (1752-1845) grew up in Naples Italy and became disillusioned with the Napoleonic Wars. After the French occupation of Naples in 1799, he fled and was brought to the United States on the ship Mount Vernon, commanded by Elias Hasket Derby Jr., and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. Cornè moved to Boston in 1807 and lived and worked there until 1822 when he moved to Newport, Rhode Island, purchasing a property containing a barn. Cornè either had the barn renovated into this 1822 house or built the Federal period house from its timbers. Here, Cornè would paint many maritime scenes as murals in homes and businesses. However, his true contribution to his adopted country was convincing his neighbors to eat the tomato. While in Newport, it is reputed that Cornè introduced the tomato into the American diet. In early 19th century New England tomatoes were thought to be deadly poison. Cornè was accustomed to eating tomatoes in his native land and would regularly eat them without ill effect and, thus, allayed the fears of the residents of his adopted country. Today, the popularity of the tomato in American cuisine can be credited (in part) to Cornè and his love for the tomato.

John Banister House // 1751

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This deep, gambrel-roofed house is among my favorites in Newport. The house was built in 1751 for John Banister (1707-1767), a Boston-born merchant who moved to Newport in 1736, marrying Hermoine Pelham (1718-1765), a granddaughter of Gov. Benedict Arnold, that next year. Banister quickly established himself as a leading Newport merchant, trading with England, the West Indies, engaging in privateering and the slave trade. In 1752, he held one of the last public slave auctions in Rhode Island at his store, describing them in advertisements as “the finest cargo of slaves ever brought into New England”. The couple also built a country estate in Middletown, Rhode Island. John and Hermione had two sons, John and Thomas, who grew up in this home. John inherited the house after his father’s death in 1767, but the two brothers would soon find themselves on opposite sides of the battle for independence. Thomas was a loyalist, and even enlisted in the British army during the occupation of Newport, while John supported American independence. In retaliation for his patriot views, the occupying British forces seized this house, along with John’s farm in nearby Middletown. The house became the headquarters of General Richard Prescott during the occupation, although John later reclaimed his property following the British evacuation of Newport in 1779. The house has a later Federal entry, but otherwise is one of the best-preserved Colonial homes in Newport. It is a single-family home.

Harkness House // c.1730

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The award for the cutest house in Newport goes to this c.1730 beauty on Green Street! This charming Georgian cape house sits just one-and-a-half stories tall under a squat gambrel roof. The house was originally located at the corner of Thames Street and was moved at least twice until it was placed on its present site by the Newport Restoration Foundation, after they acquired it in 1983, restoring it soon after. The center-hall house has just two rooms on each floor with a central staircase and chimney. The small dormers add some light to the second floor without compromising the historic and architectural integrity of the cottage.

Kinsley Building // 1892

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Established in May of 1854, the Aquidneck Bank begun with a capital of $100,000 with Rufus B. Kinsley as its president. The bank became the Aquidneck National Bank in 1865 and continued growing after the Civil War. The directors of the bank eventually left their former building (across Green Street) and moved into this building at Thames and Green Streets, which was built from 1892 to 1893 by local architect Dudley Newton. They named it after the banks founder, Rufus KinsThe Romanesque Revival style block is oriented to the corner and is built of brick and brownstone trim. Arched entrances are a nice Romanesque touch.

Rufus B. Kinsley Building // c.1860

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This large commercial block on Thames Street in Newport was built before 1860 by Rufus B. Kinsley, a businessman who made his money in express companies (think express shipping) in the mid-19th century. He built this structure to rent out and diversify his income by around 1860. Early tenants included two banks: the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company and the Aquidneck National Bank. The latter would remain here for years before building their own bank across the street.

Newport Congregational Church // 1857

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The Newport Congregational Church on Spring Street was built between 1855-1857 and serves the United First and Second Congregational parishes of Newport whose history began in the late 17th century. The building, designed by Joseph C. Wells a New York City architect, and redecorated on the interior in 1880 by John LaFarge, is an interesting and well-preserved example of the Romanesque Revival, brownstone churches of the mid 19th century. LaFarge had recently completed work on H. H. Richardson’s landmark Trinity Church, Boston, and sought to provide a more elaborate interior than he was able to in Boston. He produced twenty stained glass windows and a series of murals, which today, represent the only fully integrated ecclesiastical interior he produced. The congregation has shrunk in recent years and moved to nearby Middletown, but it’s vestry was committed to the preservation of La Farge’s work. The LaFarge Restoration Fund was established and since the 1990s, the nonprofit has spent $3 million on glass and mural restoration, architectural stabilization and systems upgrades for their former building. The building is used occasionally as an arts center.

Bowen-Newton-Tobin House // c.1825

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Who would have ever imagined that the Federal and Second Empire architectural styles could work so well together?! This is the Bowen-Tobin House on Spring Street in Newport, Rhode Island. The house was originally built around 1825 by Stephen Bowen as a typical two-story Federal style house with five-bay facade and entry with pedimented fanlight above. The property and it remained in the Bowen Family until 1892, when it was sold by his heirs to Mary Bailey Newton, the wife of Dudley Newton, a prominent local architect who designed dozens of summer cottages for wealthy residents in Newport. Dudley Newton “modernized” this house, adding a towered mansard roof, bracketed cornice, new two-over-two windows, and a full-length front porch wrapping around the side. The couple later moved the house, which was formerly set back behind a front garden, to the side and at the sidewalk to lay out Green Place (originally Bowen Ct.) and house lots behind this home, removing the front porch in the process. The house was later sold to the Tobin Family.