newport real estate

Bowler House // c.1760

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This beautiful Georgian house in Newport, with its prominent gambrel roof oriented toward the street, was built by 1760 and owned by Metcalf Bowler (1726-1789), a merchant, politician, and magistrate. Bowler was for many years speaker of the house in the Rhode Island colonial assembly, and it was discovered in the 20th century that he was a paid informant (spy) for the British during the Revolutionary War. The house was owned by Metcalf before he would purchase what is now known as the Vernon House, an even more stately Georgian mansion designed by Peter Harrison. This house was sold, and later owned by Charles Wickham, a Captain in the war, and later to the Burdick and Merrill families.

Langley-Dudley Cottage // c.1870

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This charming mansard-roofed cottage can be found at 54 Prospect Hill Street in Newport, Rhode Island. While presently a residence, the cottage was originally built around 1870 as a stable or carriage house for the former Bowen-Newton-Tobin House at 204 Spring Street. After the Bowen heirs sold the property, this structure was owned by Mr. John S. Langley, an furniture dealer (who also made coffins and caskets) with the firm Langley & Bennett. The building may have been used for the storage of horses or as a workshop until it was purchased by Mary B. and Dudley Newton, a prominent local architect. They appear to have converted the former stable into a cottage, and rented the property out for additional income. In the renovation, Dudley Newton preserved much of the original detailing above the cornice, and altered openings to provide windows and doors convert the formerly utilitarian structure into a cottage.

Shaw-Thurston Double House // c.1760

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This pre-Revolutionary double-house is located at 128-130 Prospect Hill Street in the architectural historian paradise that is Newport, Rhode Island. This property was originally platted and purchased in 1752 by Anthony Shaw. By 1760, local papers advertised the property for sale, giving a built-by date. In 1777, the house was owned by Anthony Shaw Jr. and John Thurston. The property was purchased before the Civil War and went into single-ownership, which has remained to this day. The house, while seemingly a single-family, is preserved lovingly by the owners, who even retained the second front door!

Ellen and Ida Mason Villa // 1902

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This large, low-slung and stuccoed Spanish Colonial Revival house in Newport Rhode Island, looks straight out of Southern California, thats because it is.. kind of. The Ellen Mason Villa was built in 1899-1902 from plans by Irving Gill, a southern California architect, for sisters Ellen and Ida Mason. The two unmarried sisters were daughters of Robert Means Mason a Boston millionaire, who had a summer cottage on the site that the family enjoyed for decades. The old Mason Villa was designed by H. H. Richardson, but burned to the ground in 1899, replaced by this structure. The sisters lived between Boston and here at this Newport estate until their deaths. In 1943, the property came into the ownership of the St. Michael’s Country Day School, who have both preserved the old estate house, but also added new structures to the campus. The house is unique as a rare Spanish Colonial Revival style property in New England, what a treat!

Original Means Villa