A4 Spotlight: The History and Transformation of the White Horse Tavern

White Horse Tavern (South Elevation)

The White Horse Tavern: The Evolution of a Newport Institution

Few buildings in America carry as much history within their walls as the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island. Standing on the corner of Farewell and Marlborough Streets, the structure is believed to be the oldest surviving tavern building in the United States. Its story stretches across more than three and a half centuries, encompassing pirates, patriots, preservation, and now  fine dining. (Wikipedia)

Humble Beginnings

It is believed that the first building on this site was constructed in 1652 by Francis Brinley as a residence for his family, where he lived in a two-story, two-room home for the next twenty years. In 1673, he sold the lot to William Mayes, who enlarged the building to become the tavern building that exists to this day. From its earliest days, the establishment served as far more than a place to just eat and drink. Over its first hundred years, this location became the meeting place for the Colonial Legislature, a Criminal Court, and City Council, to name just a few of the functions it adopted over time.

Pirates, Patriots, and the Nichols Family

The tavern’s ownership history reads like an adventure novel. William Mayes Jr. was a notorious pirate who returned to Newport with a pillaged bounty and inherited the tavern from his father in 1702. Pressure from British authorities led him to quickly pass the business along, and Mary Mayes Nichols, William’s sister, and her husband Robert succeeded him as innkeepers. For the next 200 years, with one brief interruption, the tavern remained in the Nichols family. (White Horse Tavern)

It was under this family dynasty that the tavern got its famous name. The operation was formally named “The White Horse Tavern” in 1730 by owner Jonathan Nichols. During the Revolutionary War, the building’s fate grew uncertain. Walter Nichols, a later proprietor, moved his family out of the tavern rather than live with the Hessian mercenaries billeted there by the British. After the war, the family returned and continued operations — though the centuries eventually took their toll on the building and the business. Wikipedia

Restoration and Recognition

By 1954, the old tavern showed years of use and neglect, and through the generosity of the Van Buren family, the Preservation Society of Newport County acquired the property. The Newport Preservation Society took on the job of meticulously restoring the building, and it reopened in 1957 after the restorations were complete. The revival was a triumph of historic preservation. In 1972, the tavern was established by the Secretary of the interior, added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Tavern Today

It was not long before that the Preservation Society concluded that their strength was in restoring buildings and not in owning and operating a restaurant, and so they looked to de-accessioned the tavern. In 1981, the White Horse Tavern again became privately owned when O.L. Pitts of Fort Worth, Texas, and three partners purchased it as sponsors of the America’s Cup. Later, Paul Hogan, a Newport native, purchased and operated it, and in 2014 it was sold to a Newport-based hospitality group. (Legends of America)

Today the tavern continues to welcome guests as it has for over 350 years. No building is believed to be more typical of colonial Newport than the White Horse Tavern, with its clapboard walls, gambrel roof, and plain pediment doors bordering the sidewalk. Inside, its giant beams, small stairway against the chimney, and cavernous fireplaces are the very essence of 17th-century American Colonial architecture. Diners come for the contemporary New England cuisine, but they stay for something rarer — the chance to sit within living history, in a place where colonists, pirates, and Founding-era statesmen once gathered around the same hearths. (White Horse Tavern) The White Horse Tavern is not merely a restaurant. It is Newport’s most tangible and accessible connection to the very early days of American life, and an opportunity for residents and tourists to alike step through a portal in time back to the era when America was a British Colony.

A4 Architecture has been pleased to assist many owners of historic buildings like the White Horse Tavern for both their minor and major renovations. If you have a New England building project in mind where quality and fine design are critical, please reach out to the award-winning professionals at A4 Architecture to assist you in realizing your architectural dreams. We look forward to hearing from and working with you.

 

Ross Cann, RA, AIA, LEED AP, is an author, historian, and is the founding Principal of A4 Architecture located in Newport, RI. He holds honor degrees in Architecture and Architectural History from Yale, Cambridge, and Columbia Universities and has taught architectural history in a variety of settings for nearly thirty years.