A4 Architecture Blog
Newport Architecture Spotlight: A Mysterious Monument – The Newport Tower
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 contention...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport Spring
In 1639, looking for a new place to form a new community, a small group of colonial settlers found what they were looking for: a deep water harbor with a freshwater spring nearby. The colonial charter readers: “It is agreed and ordered that the Plantation began at...
Architecture Spotlight: Rhode Island Lighthouses
A building type particular and special to the coastal areas, both around the United States and around the world, is the lighthouse. Built to aid in marine navigation and warn boats away from hazardous rock outcroppings, lighthouses have existed from the early days of...
A4 Guide: Progress and Continuity
Now that the election season is over for this year, politicians and citizens are left to sort through the results and figure out how to move forward. While some want change, others want continuity and preservation of existing conditions. These two forces have always...
A4 Spotlight: Newport World Heritage Site Status
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 District, to the extraordinary collection of Greek revival, Queen...
Historical Spotlight: A New Addition to the National Register
This column has often lovingly called Newport the “Metropolitan Museum of Architecture” for the breadth and depth of its collection of important buildings from the colonial times through the early part of the nineteenth century. This audacious claim is based upon the...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: The JNA Griswold House
Newport is the repository of many treasures of American architectural history, including the JNA Griswold House. It is noted for the many surviving colonial-era buildings but the true building boom began around 1850 as Newport became a summer escape for southern...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: The Newport Casino
One of the most widely recognizable buildings in Newport is the Newport Casino. This complex of buildings located on Bellevue Avenue was commissioned in 1879 by James Gordon Bennett, who owned an estate across the street on the site where the Bellevue Garden complex...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Washington Square – Birthplace of Newport
Newport has been many things over its lifetime: a Gilded Age resort, a post World War II Navy town, and today, an important destination for historic tourism. But at one time Newport was an early colonial settlement that was made prosperous by its excellent harbor and...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI
With the end of Epiphany this past week, the Christian church has entered into Lent, a period of 40 days of reflection and self-denial. With the cold winter we have had here in Rhode Island and the dramatic climate events occurring around the world with increasing and...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: 375 Years of Great Architecture in Newport
As Portsmouth ends the celebration of its founding 375 years ago, Newport’s celebration of the same birthday is just beginning. There are very few communities in America that have been around longer than Newport and none that are better preserved from an architectural...
A4 Guide: Choosing an Architect or Contractor
The last five years have been a quiet time for building construction and design in the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, the volume of construction in the last 5 years is nearly 30% less than the previous five years and is still lower today than it was...