A4 Architecture Blog
American Architecture Spotlight: Palladian
The Redwood Library marked the introduction of a new style of American architecture - Palladian - into the city of Newport. It featured such Palladian characteristics as: rusticated panels emulating stone appropriate to earlier models columns and pediment, although...
A4 Guide: The Art of Architecture
People often think of architects as “building” the structures they design, but the reality is far more complicated and interesting. Even a small house would be difficult for a single person to create solely on his own. Architecture is in fact a collaborative process...
American Architecture Spotlight: Early Georgian
Early Georgian religious structures, exemplified by Trinity Church in Newport, RI, share these characteristics: high steeple to emphasize the importance of religion in colonial life pulpit centered on the main aisle family dedicated pews Trinity Church has a ship-like...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Early Newport Settlement Architecture
A residential example of architectural style of the early Newport settlement is Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House. Built in 1697. The residential Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House was an Early Settlement style residence that exemplified these characteristics: saltbox/New England...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: The Redwood Library – Temple of American Enlightenment
The Redwood Library is the nation’s oldest circulating library still in its original building. It was a product of the Philosophical Club, a group of local 18th-century businessmen who gathered around the famous Bishop Berkeley, a colonial-era religious leader, and...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport’s Lost Grand Hotels
Newport hotels seems to be in the midst of a building boom, with three new hotel proposals before various boards and commissions at the time this article is being written. Newport’s reputation as a Gilded Age resort is renowned, and the Newport name has come to embody...
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 Historical Spotlight: Newport and the Future of Planning
While Newport has been dealing with winter blizzards, behind the scenes, forward progress has been occurring on various planning efforts which will hopefully have impacts on the physical design of Newport in this (and future) summers. After a long absence in the post...
Newport Architectural Spotlight: The Future of Planning
The new year is always a time when the real estate industry takes a step back to evaluate the progress it has made in the year past, anticipate the prospects for the year ahead, and open the opportunity for Newport future planning. It is no surprise that the main...
A4 Guide: Storm Window Installation and Insulation Save Money
As the nighttime temperatures begin to fall, it is useful to remember that there are few investments in your home that are less visible, but more valuable, than the installation of insulation. There have been some tremendous advances in the technology of insulation in...
Newport Spotlight: Architectural Symposium: Horace Trumbauer
There are many great architects who worked in Newport over its long and illustrious history. Richard Morris Hunt, Stanford White, and Peter Harrison are all names that have become familiar to those that read the “Archi-Text” column regularly. A somewhat less familiar...
A4 Guide: LEED Certification and Sustainable Design
As energy prices continue to rise and concerns about “global warming” and “carbon footprints” become more widespread, the building industry is beginning to change to address these new concerns. We are currently at the leading edge of the “green building” phenomenon —...
Maya Lin and the Challenge of Creating Public Art
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 an undergraduate student. From among more than...
A4 Spotlight: Preserve Rhode Island Awards
On October 21st, the second annual “Rhody” Awards were presented jointly by Preserve Rhode Island, The RI Historical Preservation, and the Heritage Commission, and Newport County was featured prominently — both in what projects were awarded and where the awards were...
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A4 Spotlight: Renovating in a Historic District
In the realm of architecture change is inevitable. It can come in the form of disintegration or renovation. Buildings are made of imperfect materials and are subjected to rain, snow, heat, and cold. Similarly, as civilization evolves, buildings need to evolve along...
Architectural Spotlight: St. George’s Chapel
The noble, elegant and magnificent architecture of Newport County is not just located in the city of Newport but is found in each of the other five communities that are also part of the county, including Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton and Jamestown....
A4 Spotlight: Waves
Newport’s many great houses are continually going through transformations and evolution. One interesting example is the Waves, which is built on the southernmost projection of Aquidneck Island out into the Atlantic Ocean. Originally a mile from downtown Newport, the...
A4 Spotlight: Beachmound Renovation
Newport, Rhode Island is famous for its grand mansions. There were large houses built during the Colonial Era and the time between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, but it was during the Gilded Age which lasted from 1865 to 1915 that the largest number and...
Newport Spotlight: Rose Island Lighthouse
Rose Island Aerial - Image by PJ Dougherty There is one kind of building type that is only found along the coastlines of the world: the lighthouse. From the earliest days when the great lighthouse at Alexandria was considered one of the great wonders of the...
A4 Spotlight: Ochre Court
Salve Regina University is celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2022. Although plans by the Sisters of Mercy were set in place many years before, in 1947 the nuns received the gift of Ochre Court from the Goelet family. The building was originally designed by Richard...
A4 Spotlight: George Champlin Mason Jr. House
Amongst the many historic structures that populate Newport's rich architectural landscape, one name appears again and again: George Champlin Mason. From 1860 until the mid 1890s, George Champlin Mason Sr. and his son of the same name designed more than 150 notable...
Newport Spotlight: Redwood Library
Among the many firsts that Newport, Rhode Island is famous for and proud of is the Redwood Library, the oldest continuously operating purpose-built library in America. Through it's construction and expansion over time, the building has been an icon of both the history...
A4 Perspective: The Changing Waterfront
In the Colonial Era, Newport’s waterfront served as the community’s front door and its lifeblood. There was no other way to reach Newport than by the Long Wharf that projected out into the Narragansett Bay, and which served as the entry point not just for arrivals to...
A4 Perspective: Air Conditioning
Around the world, the signs of global warming are becoming unmistakable. An arctic glacier is hanging on by the barest of margins. One third of Pakistan was flooded in the recent monsoons, and one heat wave after another has created a record amount of wildfires in the...
A4 Spotlight: 2022 Doris Duke Preservation Awards
Newport is rich with history and historic charm visible through many beautifully designed buildings and homes. Preservation and maintenance of these buildings has fallen to the people who presently inhabit the area. Newport’s culture and history has gone through many...
Newport Spotlight: 141 Pelham
Parkgate, located at 141 Pelham Street, was designed by Newport architect George Champlin Mason Sr. Sitting at the corner of Pelham and Bellevue, the site has a rich historical past. In 1844, the site was home to The Atlantic Hotel. During the Civil War, between 1861...