A4 Architecture Blog
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 Significance of the Charles Baldwin House
Charles H. Baldwin House (Newport, Rhode Island) In previous articles, we have discussed many buildings in Newport, Rhode Island that have been listed among the 2500 National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) in the United States. One level below that esteemed honor are...
A4 Spotlight: “Strategic Retreat” in Rhode Island
Rhode Island is called the "Ocean State," and is no stranger to the ebb and flow of the waters. But as climate change intensifies, coastal communities are having to confront a difficult choice: fight or retreat. The concept of "strategic retreat," which is the planned...
A4 Spotlight: Preserving Colonial Newport
52 Thames Street Exterior Before & After Newport, Rhode Island, is a city with a rich history dating back to its founding in 1639. It is home to some of the finest examples of Colonial Era architecture in the United States. However, many of historic houses have...
Newport Architect Spotlight: Richard Morris Hunt (Early Career)
JNA Griswold Design Sketch (Above) and the completed house (Below), 1864 Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) was the first American citizen to be admitted to study at the École des Beaux Arts, the preeminent school of art and architecture in the world during the 19th...
Newport Spotlight: Ida Lewis Yacht Club (ILYC)
Aerial view of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club (Photo Credits: PJ Dougherty) In a city as old as Newport, Rhode Island, which was founded in 1639, many of the buildings and structures of the city have had to function for many different purposes over time. This blog has noted...
Newport Architectural Spotlight: Harbour Court
New York Yacht Club - Newport, RI (Photo by Ross Cann A4 Architecture) Following the death of John Nicholas Brown I (1860-1906), his young widow Natalie (Dresser) Brown (1869-1950) commissioned Ralph Adams Cram of the Boston firm Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson to...
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 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 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, &...
A4 Guide: Vitruvian Ideals
What qualities make architecture successful? This is a debate that has no doubt been going on since mankind first moved out of caves and started creating rudimentary structures in which to live. Interestingly, even in a world of skyscrapers and modern technology one...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Introduction to Touro Synagogue
Newport is famous for many things and for many “firsts” as it was the fifth largest city in colonial America and a major and prosperous settlement before the Revolutionary War. Among the things that Newport takes great pride in for is being a place of tremendous...
A4 Spotlight: Best of Newport
Each year since 1997 the readers of the Newport Life Magazine (and now the Newport Daily News, it’s sister publication under the same ownership), have been invited to vote on their favorite restaurants, stores, and professional service providers in Newport County. A4...
A4 Guide: Online Design Tools & Directories
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the world of interior and architectural design that is certainly true. In the past a well-prepared homeowner might have to comb through dozens if not hundreds of design magazines to find images that they liked and...
A4 Guide: Legacy Houses
Ⓒ Nick Mele When most architectural projects are designed, they are created to meet a specific purpose over a particular period of time. A store might be designed to be depreciated over the period of the lease; a hotel might be designed to capture the attention of the...
A4 Guide: Feasibility Analysis
When you want to do a construction or renovation project but you are not sure it is even possible, what can a property owner do? This is a situation that many of our potential clients come to us with. We have developed an approach to help these people called the “Site...
A4 Guide: Newport Architectural Forum
Newport, as many historians have noted over the years, is an architectural treasure chest. From the Colonial Era, to early Victorian, to the Gilded Age, and finally, to present times, Newport has an amazing breadth and depth of architectural gems for a community that...
A4 Guide: 13 Ways to Scare Away your Architect
There are things that a client can say that will scare a good architect and/or contractor away without you even realizing it. Here are 13 things I have heard said either directly or indirectly over the years that scared me or another professional away. They are a...
A4 Guide: The Why of Me
The Why of Me: “Why do each of us do what we do, and why do we do it where we do it?” are questions everyone can examine closely and find interesting discoveries about their past and realizations about who they are. A long time ago, I was just a boy from suburbia who...
A4 Guide: Salute to Architectural Clients
This is a salute to those people who choose to create special buildings and homes by serving as architectural clients. Undertaking the custom design and construction of a building is not easy, which is why so many people decide to just buy a “builder special,” – which...
A4 Guide: Buying Architectural & Design Services
"Why is buying architectural and design services different than buying just about everything else?" When we buy most things we are consuming them relatively quickly. A restaurant meal is gone in an hour, a piece of clothing may last a year and even a vehicle may only...
A4 Guide: Being A Good Client
Many people never give even the slightest consideration to “being a good client,” but they are lessening the quality of work they are receiving and probably increasing their cost of service without realizing it. While this is written from the perspective of...
A4 Guide: Architect Fees
“How much does an architect cost?” This is inevitably one of the first questions that people who have not worked before with an architect will ask. But anyone who asks this question is looking at their situation entirely the wrong way round. A better question you...
A4 Spotlight: 2021 Rhode Island Historic Preservation Conference
Rhode Island is a state where historic architecture is a natural resource that helps make the state more attractive to both residents and visitors alike. Tourism is one of the state's central economic drivers. Katherine Warren, the Newport socialite who helped found...
Newport Architect Spotlight: Wharton/Codman – Newport Architectural Symposium
The fourth annual Newport Architectural Symposium, which was held here last Saturday, focused on the creative interaction between the noted American author Edith Wharton and architect and designer Ogden Codman. These two artistic giants began their careers in Newport,...
A4 Project Spotlight: 485 Spring Street
LEED Certified Home in Newport County A4 Architecture projects earn high praise from multiple publications. We are pleased to report that A4 Architecture’s project at 485 Spring Street in Newport, Rhode Island was honored with a national EcoHome design award. The...
A4 Project Spotlight: Barclay Square Newport, RI
Here are some photos of a project we did at Barclay Square, Newport, Rhode Island. Looking to remodel your home? Let’s connect. Join the Architectural Forum to stay up-to-date with architectural news from Rhode Island and abroad. Want to continue...
A4 Project Spotlight: Dixon Street Newport, RI
Here are some photos of a project we did on Dixon Street, Newport, Rhode Island. Looking to renovate your space or create a new one? Let’s connect. Join the Architectural Forum to stay up-to-date with architectural news from Rhode Island and abroad. ...
A4 Project Spotlight: Oakwood Newport, RI
Here are some photos of the renovation we did at Oakwood, Newport, Rhode Island. Looking to renovate your space or create a new one? Let’s connect. Join the Architectural Forum to stay up-to-date with architectural news from Rhode Island and abroad. ...
A4 Project Spotlight: Harborview Condo
Here are some photos of the project we did at a Harborview Condo, Newport, Rhode Island. Looking to renovate your space or create a new one? Let’s connect. Join the Architectural Forum to stay up-to-date with architectural news from Rhode Island and abroad....
A4 Project Spotlight: Brown University – Faculty Residence
LEED Silver Certification Achieved Here are some photos of the project we did at Brown University for their Faculty Residence in Providence, Rhode Island. Besides Brown University, we have also worked with Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, on housing...
A4 Project Spotlight: Salve Regina – Ochre Lodge Carriage House
“A4 Architecture helps see the Ochre Lodge Carriage House converted into a dormitory” For more than forty years, the Carriage House of Ochre Lodge, on the campus of Salve Regina University, had been used as an unheated storage garage. Set in the midst of 19th-century...
Maya Lin and the Challenge of Creating Public Art
Vietnam Memorial (Washington DC, Maya Lin 1981) In 1981, when the judges of the Vietnam Memorial competition opened the envelope on the back of the winning entry board, they found the name “Maya Lin” and the address of a Yale dormitory where the young woman lived as...
A4 Project Spotlight: The Newport Arboretum
Newport is not only known for its concentration of great and important architecture. It is also a cemetery for landscape design and a treasure trove of rare and exotic trees. This is not surprising as the city has always been a port city connected to distant lands by...
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: Arbor Day
Arbor Day, a celebration of trees and a call to action for planting them, will be observed this year on April 25. This annual event has a rich history, rooted in one visionary’s concern for the environment and the well-being of future generations. In 1872, Julius...
A4 Spotlight: Earth Day
Since 1970, Earth Day has been celebrated annually on April 22. This day stands as a vital reminder of our interconnectedness with the planet and the urgent need for environmental stewardship. U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, recognizing a growing awareness of...









































