A4 Architecture Blog
A4 Spotlight: 2017 Doris Duke Preservation Awards
Eleven years ago, the Doris Duke Preservation Awards were established under the auspices of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) and the city of Newport to review, evaluate and honor those projects in the community that best represent the preservation movement. It...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Mid-Georgian Architecture
A residential example of Mid-Georgian architecture in Newport, RI is Hunter House, built in 1748. The Hunter House is a pristine example of Mid-Georgian architecture in Newport. Some iconic Mid-Georgian features of this residence include: The pineapple detail above...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Belcourt of Newport
For the majority of the great houses designed and built along Bellevue Avenue, the carriage house and stables were usually located a distance from the main house. Even at the Elms, with its high-style carriage house design, in the same style as the main house, the...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport Casino – A Tennis Centerpiece
Newport has many notable buildings, but one of the most widely recognizable buildings in the city is the Newport Casino, home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The Casino is really a complex of buildings that are masterpieces of the “Shingle Style” popular...
A4 Spotlight: World Heritage Site – Newport
Once again, Newport is hoping to become a World Heritage site. This column has often argued that Newport is blessed with a broad and deep cultural and architectural heritage. From the city’s rich concentration of colonial houses along Spring Street and in the Point...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: A Mysterious Monument in Newport
Newport is home to an extraordinary number of architectural treasures. For the most part, the architects, owners, and dates of construction for these buildings are well documented. In one case, however, the dates and history of the structure are very much in...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Public Spaces of Newport
When most people think about the idea of “Public Spaces” in Newport, they will often immediately think of parks and public squares. While parks like Touro Park, Queen Anne Square, and Washington Square serve an important role as visual punctuation to the buildings,...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: A Mysterious Monument – The Newport Tower
Newport is home to an extraordinary number of architectural treasures. For the most part the architects, owners and dates of construction for these buildings are well documented. In one case, however, the dates and history of the structure are very much in contention...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport Spring
In 1639, looking for a new place to form a new community, a small group of colonial settlers found what they were looking for: a deep water harbor with a freshwater spring nearby. The colonial charter readers: “It is agreed and ordered that the Plantation began at...
Architecture Spotlight: Rhode Island Lighthouses
A building type particular and special to the coastal areas, both around the United States and around the world, is the lighthouse. Built to aid in marine navigation and warn boats away from hazardous rock outcroppings, lighthouses have existed from the early days of...
A4 Spotlight: Newport World Heritage Site Status
This column has often argued that Newport is blessed with a broad and deep cultural and architectural heritage. From the city’s rich concentration of colonial houses along Spring Street and in the Point District, to the extraordinary collection of Greek revival, Queen...
Historical Spotlight: A New Addition to the National Register
United Congregational Church, photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel This column has often lovingly called Newport the “Metropolitan Museum of Architecture” for the breadth and depth of its collection of important buildings from the colonial times through the early part of the...
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2023 Doris Duke Preservation Awards
Newport is fortunate to not only have buildings by many notable architects, but to be home to some of their very best works as well. But because Newport has been graced with so many beautiful, old buildings, the care and maintenance of these structures has fallen...
A4 Architectural Spotlight: Newport National Register of Historic Places
White Horse Tavern As any regular reader of the A4 Architecture blog well knows, Newport, Rhode Island is a city with a rich history dating back to its founding in 1639. At the date of the Declaration of Independence, it was the fifth-most populace city in the...
A4 Spotlight: The Increasing Importance of Street Trees
Thames Street (Newport, RI) Street Trees provide value In a world where the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, the importance of street trees cannot be overstated. As temperatures rise rapidly due to the alarming effects of climate change,...
A4 Architectural Spotlight: Newport National Historic Landmarks
The Brick Market Newport, Rhode Island is a city with a rich history dating back to its founding in 1639. At the date of the Declaration of Independence, it was the fifth-most populace city in the American colonies and a major center of trade and commerce. As a...
A4 Architecture Spotlight: Kingscote Mansion
A4 Architectural Spotlight: Kingscote Mansion In Newport, houses were frequently built at one moment in time and then modified and expanded later. As a result, their histories can mirror that of the city itself and of broader architectural evolution as well....
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Fort Adams
Aerial view of Fort Adams In the Colonial era, Newport was one of the most populous and prosperous cities in North America. It was a major deep-water port and a thriving shipping center. In December of 1776 the British Fleet sailed into Newport harbor and took...
A4 Architecture Spotlight: Hope Funds at Marble House
A4 Architecture Spotlight: The Hope Funds Galas in the Newport Mansions All photos by Julie Skarratt The grand mansions built during the Gilded Age in Newport Rhode Island were designed with one primary purpose in mind: to allow their owners to entertain lavishly....
Newport Casino: The American Temple to Tennis
Bellevue Avenue Facade of the Newport Casino Next week the eyes of the tennis world will be on Newport as many of the players from Wimbledon will be competing in the Infosys Hall of Fame Open. This is the only ATP men’s tournament played on grass in North...
A4 Architecture Spotlight: The Pell
The Pell Lobby In 1756, the poet Robert Burns allegedly wrote the poem “To a Mouse” on the spot for a mouse whose burrow he had disturbed while plowing his field. It included the famous line “The best laid schemes of Mice and Men/oft go awry.” When A4 Architecture,...
A4 Spotlight: Fairbourne and Thomas Alexander Tefft
Fairbourne House, previously known as "Quatrel" Over its long history, from its founding in 1639 to the present day, Newport has been a destination for some of the most noteworthy architects in America. Some like Richard Morris Hunt and McKim, Mead, &...
The US Pro Singles at the National Tennis Club located at the Newport Casino
Camden Riviere Serving Hidden at the back of the International Tennis Hall of Fame located at the Newport Casino (194 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island) is one of the rare existing examples of an eight-hundred-year-old sport called Real Tennis, which is...
A4 Spotlight: The Grand Tour
Historically “The Grand Tour” of Europe was a cultural and educational journey undertaken by well-to-do young Englishmen from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It was considered an essential part of their education, particularly for those aspiring to become architects....