A4 Architecture Blog
A4 Spotlight:1880 in Newport
The year 1880 stands out as a pivotal moment in the Gilded Age history of Newport, Rhode Island. In that year, two seminal events occurred that solidified its reputation as the preeminent summer destination for America’s social and financial elite. While the town had...
A4 Spotlight: Newport Casino: The Temple to Tennis
This year marks a new chapter in professional tennis in Newport, Rhode Island, where lawn tennis was first introduced to the American continent. For the first time, the Hall of Fame Open will include competition by both men and women, who will be competing for equal...
A4 Spotlight: The 150th of the Founding of St. John’s Episcopal in Newport, RI
St. John The Evangelist Episcopal Church & The Clergy House This year, the congregation of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, located at Washington Street in the Point District of Newport, Rhode Island, is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding....
A4 Spotlight: Why Architecture Matters
Hunter House (c.1748 by Peter Harrison) "First we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us," Winston Churchill famously declared, capturing the profound, reciprocal relationship between humanity and its built environment. Architecture is far more than mere...
A4 Spotlight: The Fountainhead, revisited
In a recent blog about the evolution of “The Ideal Architect" over time, it’s not just real architects who play a role, but fictional ones as well. Howard Roark, the protagonist of Ayn Rand's 1943 novel The Fountainhead, stands as a towering figure in literary...
A4 Spotlight: “The Ideal Architect”
Vitruvius & His Orders, Referring to Columns The "Ideal Architect" has not been a static concept over time but is a reflection of evolving societal values, technological advancements, and artistic movements. Over centuries, this ideal has evolved, from the...
A4 Spotlight: An Architectural History of the Point Neighborhood in Newport, RI
The Point Neighborhood Aerial View Easton's Point (known locally as "The Point") is a neighborhood that has seen the full architectural history of Newport, Rhode Island, from its earliest settlement during the Colonial Era, through to the present day. As such, this...
A4 Event: A Tour of Boxcroft by McKim, Mead & White
Located on Red Cross Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, the Samuel Colman House—more famously known as Boxcroft—stands as a prominent example of the Shingle Style, one of the most distinctive artistic and architectural achievements of the Gilded Age. Designed between...
A4 Event: A Tour and History of The Elms’ Grounds
On May 15, 2025, as part of its ongoing educational mission, Jim Donahue—the Curator of Historic Landscapes at the Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC)—led a tour for members of the PSNC and the Newport Architectural Forum of the grounds of The Elms Mansion....
A4 Spotlight: Partner in Preservation: The Newport Art Museum
The Newport Art Museum is a vibrant cultural hub at the heart of Newport, Rhode Island’s artistic community. It has a rich history that mirrors the city’s own evolution as a center for artistic and intellectual pursuits. Its journey began over a century ago with the...
A4 Spotlight: Partner in Preservation: International Tennis Hall of Fame
There are many institutions in Newport, Rhode Island, that boast outstanding architectural monuments, and one of the most important is the International Tennis Hall of Fame. This institution traces its origins to 1879, when the flamboyant publisher of the New York...
A4 Spotlight: Partner in Preservation: The Preservation Society of Newport County
The Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC) stands today as one of America's foremost architectural preservation organizations, safeguarding a collection of 11 properties that span the rich social and architectural history of Newport, Rhode Island. Its...
A4 Spotlight: The Return of the Newport Symposium
After a five-year hiatus, a longstanding scholarly tradition has returned to Newport. On Thursday, April 3, 2025, The Newport Symposium was revived by the Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC), following its absence from the annual event calendar during the...
A4 Spotlight: The Why and How of Recycling
The global climate crisis is no longer a distant threat; it is a present reality, marked by extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and disrupted ecosystems. In this context, seemingly mundane practices like recycling and composting become crucial tools in our...
A4 Spotlight: Heat Pumps for Historic Houses
Chateau-sur-Mer (Newport, RI) Photo Credits: PSNC The Preservation Society of Newport County has embarked on a significant initiative to modernize the climate control systems within its historic properties, with a focus on achieving both sustainability and material...
A4 Spotlight: AC Retrofit
Diagram of AC System in Historic Home, Credit: Pinterest They don’t call climate change “Global warming” for nothing. As the average temperature of the planet increases each year, the need for air-conditioning becomes greater each year. The fact that creating...
A4 Spotlight: Electrical Infastructure
Recently, one of our clients requested an upgrade to their power supply from the local electrical utility in order to install more sustainable heating and cooling for a building on their property. Because the grid lacked the capacity, they were denied the installation...
A4 Spotlight: Home Insurance
Climate change is significantly reshaping the landscape of home insurance across the United States, with Rhode Island feeling the effects particularly acutely. Rising sea levels, increased frequency of severe storms, and heightened fire and flood risks are forcing...
A4 Spotlight: Water Sustainability
This past year, the price of municipal water in Newport increased by 17.5%. Newport is not alone in seeing the price of water increase even faster than the rate of general inflation. This trend is happening both around the United States and globally. As 2025 unfolds,...
A4 Spotlight: Modern Adaptive Reuse
Newport, Rhode Island, has long benefited from "Adaptive Reuse," which is the practice of repurposing old buildings for purposes they were not originally intended for. Founded in 1639, Newport grew to be the fifth-largest city in the American colonies at the time of...
A4 Spotlight: Aging In Place
Like many cultures worldwide, American society is getting older on average. As people live longer and have fewer children, the demographics of the population are changing rapidly. In the United States, where multi-generational households are less common, the...
A4 Spotlight: Goldman Sachs 10KSB program
When architects, lawyers, doctors and many other professionals graduate from university, they are often well prepared in their area of expertise but exceedingly unprepared to manage a professional practice or business. For generations, these small business leaders...
A4 Spotlight: Green Steel
The Green Steel Cycle Steel is the structural backbone for much of the world’s modern infrastructure. Its widespread use has become a double-edged sword: while it has enabled our progress, its traditional production methods have cast a long shadow on the environment....
A4 Spotlight: American Home Size Trends
Watercolor Render of Historic Single-Family Homes The American Dream of owning a single-family home has significantly transformed over the past fifty years. In tandem with increasing average home size, the average household size in the U.S. has steadily...
A4 Spotlight: Partner in Preservation: The Newport Art Museum
The Newport Art Museum is a vibrant cultural hub at the heart of Newport, Rhode Island’s artistic community. It has a rich history that mirrors the city’s own evolution as a center for artistic and intellectual pursuits. Its journey began over a century ago with the...
A4 Spotlight: Partner in Preservation: International Tennis Hall of Fame
There are many institutions in Newport, Rhode Island, that boast outstanding architectural monuments, and one of the most important is the International Tennis Hall of Fame. This institution traces its origins to 1879, when the flamboyant publisher of the New York...
A4 Spotlight: The 2024 Rhody Awards
2024 Preserve RI "Rhody" Awards at Rosecliff, Newport, RI, Newport RI On October 20, 2024, Preserve Rhode Island celebrated the 2024 Rhody Awards for Historic Preservation at Rosecliff in Newport. This ceremony recognized outstanding achievements in historic...
A4 Spotlight: CAD vs BIM
Proposed First Floor Plan of a Current Residential Project (Newport, RI) Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) has been a cornerstone of architectural and engineering design since the 1990’s. It revolutionized the industry by replacing traditional hand-drafting methods with...
A4 Architecture’s Twentieth Anniversary
In Honor of Our 20 Year Anniversary I graduated from Architectural School in 1990 and received my professional license to practice architecture by passing all eight exams by 1993, which was the earliest I was allowed to sit for the exams following a three-year...
A4 Spotlight: The History and Significance of Hammersmith Farm
Aerial View of Hammersmith Farm (Newport, Rhode Island) Hammersmith Farm is a sprawling estate in Newport, Rhode Island, steeped in history and anchored by a magnificent Victorian Era mansion. It embodies the Gilded Age, an era of architectural grandeur and societal...
A4 Spotlight: Making Architecture from Buildings
East View Before & After of Past Project (Newport, Rhode Island) There is a difference between “Architecture” and “Building.” Architecture is an art form that aspires to create an experience and impact the imagination and mindset of the user whereas building is...
A4 Spotlight: The History and Importance of the Watts Sherman House
Watts-Sherman House The William Watts-Sherman House is an architectural landmark set amongst the opulent mansions of Newport, Rhode Island. It was designed from 1875-76 by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson, and although it is a large and gracious home, it is...
A4 Spotlight: The History and Importance of the Isaac Bell House
Isaac Bell House While the Isaac Bell House is a relatively modest building compared to the opulent mansions of Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island which surround it, its historical significance is far greater than its size. This structure, originally called...
A4 Spotlight: Accessory Dwelling Units in RI
Carriage House Render (Newport, RI) As part of our ongoing study of the Affordable Housing shortage in Rhode Island, we will examine the current status of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) within the state. ADUs, also known as “granny flats” or in-law apartments, are...
A4 Spotlight: Affordable Housing in RI
Original Condition Axon (Newport, RI) For an ever-increasing percentage of Americans, the dream of safe, affordable housing remains elusive and the situation in Rhode Island is even more challenging than most places. To understand the current landscape, it is helpful...
A4 Guide: Financing your Project
Financing A Project Diagram Let me preface this article by stating I am an architect and not an accountant or a finance professional, but without a proper financial foundation for a project, it cannot happen. For this reason, we have come to understand the many...
A4 Spotlight: The Sherwood Lodge Transformation and History
Edward Willing House (Richard Morris Hunt, 1865) / Sherwood Lodge (Hoppin & Ely, c.1906) Many of the mansions of Newport have undergone major renovations as the owners' needs (and the styles of the times) have changed. Previous A4 Archi-TEXT articles have touched...
A4 Spotlight: The Original Breakers
(Colorized) Breakers designed by Peobody & Stearns (1878) Even today Newport is filled with Gilded Age mansions. But many of the grand houses that once existed from that time have been lost over time and still others have been replaced with different mansions,...
A4 Spotlight: Electrical Back-up
House with a Whole-House generator in a neighborhood with an outage This past week, many New England communities were struck by a winter Nor’easter, bringing record amounts of snow and electrical outages. We were among those affected, receiving a stark reminder of how...
A4 Spotlight: The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Banff National Park Wildlife Overpass, Canada (2006) Architecture has two components: the building and the setting. As responsible citizens, A4 Architecture and the Newport Architectural Forum are both strong supporters of initiatives that lead to greater...
A4 Spotlight: Cliff Lawn Adaptive Reuse
West Facade (Courtesy of The Chanler) Perched above Newport’s first beach at the entry to famous Cliff Walk, The Chanler at Cliff Walk is more than just a luxury hotel; it is a model for the adaptive reuse of a historic structure. Originally known as Cliff Lawn, this...
A4 Spotlight: Castle Hill Adaptive Reuse
There are two types of mansions in Newport, Rhode Island: those prominent buildings located along Bellevue Avenue, which seek to showcase their grandeur to the public, and those along the winding Ocean Avenue that are located on large secluded lots and largely hidden...
A4 Spotlight: The Grammar of Architecture
Sainte Chapelle (Paris, France, Built 1248) People often think of architecture as the "background" of our lives, but to architects, buildings are complex systems and artistic creations. Just as a novelist uses syntax to convey plot or a composer uses...
A4 Spotlight: Tankless Water Heaters
If you’ve ever been the last person in your household to shower and found yourself shivering under a stream of lukewarm water, you have experienced the primary limitation of the traditional hot water storage tank. For decades, the insulated tank was the standard, but...
A4 Spotlight: Newport’s Vanderbilt Gilded Age Buildings
During the Gilded Age, Newport, Rhode Island, transformed from a quiet summer retreat into a glittering stage for America’s "industrial royalty." At the center of this transformation was the Vanderbilt family and the houses they built and owned. While Commodore...
A4 Spotlight: Innovations in Energy Storage
As the effects of global climate change are accelerating, the need to convert away from the fuels that scientists have identified as the cause of these changes becomes ever more essential. The conversion of energy production from hydrocarbon-based fuels to more...
A4 Spotlight: History of Double Hung Windows
Quaker Meeting House (c. 1699, Newport, RI) The double-hung window, characterized by two movable sashes that slide vertically, is one of the most common features of Western domestic architecture. While we often take their smooth, counterweighted glide for granted...
A4 Spotlight: History of Casement Windows
Medieval Casement Windows (England) For more than 500 years, windows have become one of the primary stylistic components of Western architecture. Long before the sliding sash windows of the Victorian era or the floor-to-ceiling glass of modern high-rises, the casement...