Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and Newport, Rhode Island, have been intertwined as icons of elegance and style for more than sixty years. Her deep connection to Newport began during her childhood summers, which were spent at Hammersmith Farm. This sprawling estate, overlooking Narragansett Bay, provided a backdrop of understated elegance and Shingle Style charm that would profoundly influence her aesthetic sensibilities. Growing up amidst its comfortable grandeur, Jackie (as she is universally known) absorbed an appreciation for well-proportioned spaces, natural beauty, and a lifestyle rooted in tradition and outdoor pursuits. This early exposure to Newport’s unique blend of colonial history and Gilded Age opulence laid the foundation for her lifelong association with the city as a symbol of wealth and discerning taste.
Crowds gathered the streets of Newport to witness the Kennedy’s Wedding.
Her stepbrother, Hugh D. Auchincloss III (a lifelong Newport resident himself), credits Jackie with the design of the lighthouse outbuilding at Hammersmith when she was a child, demonstrating her early affinity for architecture. Her ties to Newport were further cemented in 1953 with her marriage to Senator John F. Kennedy at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church on Spring Street. This historic church, with its soaring Gothic architecture and stained-glass windows, provided a majestic setting for a society wedding that drew national attention.
The lighthouse at Hammersmith Farm, which according to her brother, Jackie designed.
The subsequent reception at Hammersmith Farm helped transform her childhood home into “the summer White House” during her husband’s presidency. Newport, through this association, gained an unprecedented level of prestige, becoming synonymous with the energetic glamour and sophisticated style that defined the Kennedy era. Images of the First Lady and President sailing on Narragansett Bay, playing golf at the Newport Country Club, or hosting dignitaries against the backdrop of the grand Newport mansions were widely circulated, solidifying the city’s image as a haven for the elite. These images, in turn, gave her the credibility to undertake the restoration and renovation of the White House during the Kennedy presidency.
The Newport Country Club
Even after President Kennedy’s tragic assassination, Jackie’s connection to Newport remained. While she eventually drifted toward other places, the indelible mark of her presence lingered. Her appreciation for Newport’s architectural heritage, from the colonial-era homes in The Point neighborhood to the grand Bellevue Avenue mansions, contributed to a broader awareness of the city’s historical significance. Her own refined taste, honed in large part by her Newport upbringing, influenced fashion and interior design trends across the nation and around the world.
Jackie Kennedy photographed at the Breakers Mansion in Newport, RI.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s lifelong interaction and association with Newport’s architecture, ranging from the intimate scale of Hammersmith Farm to the grandeur of St. Mary’s Church, to the use of Newport’s mansions for stately balls, played a significant role in shaping Jackie’s public identity and, in turn, burnished Newport’s image. Her association elevated the city beyond a mere summer resort, establishing it as an embodiment of elegance, tradition, and impeccable taste in the American consciousness. Even today, Newport evokes a sense of timeless elegance, a legacy deeply intertwined with the iconic presence of one of the city’s most famous and beloved daughters.
If you would like your New England project to help establish you as an icon of good taste and elegance, A4 Architecture would be interested in discussing how we can assist you.
Ross Sinclair Cann, AIA, LEED AP, is an author, historian, educator, and a practicing architect who lives and works in Newport, Rhode Island. He earned architectural degrees from Yale, Cambridge, and Columbia Universities and is the Founding Principal at A4 Architecture and is Founding Chairman of the Newport Architectural Forum.