Architecture & History

Vastly Victorian, Quaintly Colonial: Newport Architecture Draws International “Students”

Newport's Beacon Rock

The lure of Newport’s historic buildings is irresistible. Each year, architects, historians, visitors and students come from all over the world to view the great architectural heritage of Newport and some of the finest extant works of architects Richard Munday, McKim, Mead & White, Dudley Newton, Richard Morris Hunt, Ogden Codman, and other luminaries of the grand eras of design.

Richard Guy Wilson with Trudy Coxe

With such a treasure trove of period architecture, Newport is a siren call to the Victorian Society of America, which developed an intensive course given here each summer. Since 1979 under the learned direction of Richard Guy Wilson, the distinguished architectural historian and author who chairs the Architecture Department at the University of Virginia, the VSA Summer School is a mix of scholarly information, social history, graduate-level lectures, energetic touring, and social events for participants.

A living laboratory of architecture, Newport is second only to London in the sheer number of surviving buildings from the Victorian era. And a long era it was, as Queen Victoria ruled from 1837 to 1901. Victorian architecture, actually an umbrella term for anything designed and erected during that period, is far more than the elaborately gingerbreaded, overly ornate, turreted and furbelowed houses of excessive ornamentation and dark interior woodwork. The term also embraces Shingle style, Stick style, Queen Anne Revival, Colonial Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Beaux Arts, and the "Gilded Age" palaces. All coexist in Newport.

Pauline Metcalf, Sybil Groff & Paul Miller

Historically, Newport was in its second “Golden Age” during the Victorian period, according to Wilson, which lasted from 1830 to October of 1929. “Roughly, the era is divided into three stages of architectural influence. First came the southerners from 1830 to the l850’s. From the l850’s to the l870’s, the genteel, intellectual set built houses, and from 1870 to l929, Newport entered the "age of excess.”

The Morning Lectures

Most mornings (and some early evenings) began with a lecture by Professor Wilson. Newport Seen attended one on the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, an architectural extravaganza, which progressed, architecturally and socially, to the murder of Stanford White, architect, by Harry K. Thaw, over the former showgirl (and Mrs. Thaw) Evelyn Nesbit. Dr. Wilson pointed to this event as the beginning of scandal/celebrity journalism. Other topics included : "Cottages and `White Elephants', Newport and the Resort Scene in the 19th Century", "Edith Wharton, Ogden Codman and The Decoration of Houses," and "Richard Morris Hunt, American innovator."

The Chicago World's Fair of 1893, an architectural

extravaganza

Tennis Shoe Touring

The unflagginglgy energetic Dr. Wilson literally walks and runs his students through as many of Newport's treasure as can be accessed, including the Colony House, Channing Memorial Church, the Redwood Library, Edith Wharton's former residence, and the Griswold House, now housing the Newport Art Museum, and Kingscote, as well as the private residences. Ther are bus tours to nearby troves of architecture, as well. Bus trips this year included trips to Fall River, Watch Hill, New Bedford, and North Easton, Massachsetts. It is an athletic adventure, not for the faint of sole.

Dr. Wilson giving historical details

The Private Residences

A perennial favorite on the VSA private tour is the Charles H. Baldwin House on Bellevue Avenue, an example of the 1870’s trend of architects reinterpreting and incorporating previous styles and movements. The Baldwin house’s design includes elements of Queen Anne, Shingle style, and American Colonial, with a little English Arts and Crafts movement influence thrown it. Queen Anne style is usually identified by steeply pitched slate roofs, irregular shapes, front facing gables, patterned shingles, cut-away bay windows with large panes one over one , partial or full width porches, patterned masonry, towers, and prominent chimneys. The style, which predominates in the Baldwin house, had little to do with Queen Anne, but a lot to do with satisfying the need of the newly rich of the 19th century industrial era for symbols of wealth and success. More than any other, Queen Anne became the style for the "Gilded Age".

The Baldwin House, designed by the architectural firm of William Appleton Potter and Robert Anderson Robertson, is an American recasting of English styles, and is considered to be a tribute to Philip Webb’s l859 “Red House,” built in England for William Morris and dubbed ”The Tower of Topsy“ for its innovative roof lines.

Replica of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Touring Beacon Rock was a fascinating departure. Designed by Edwin Dennis Morgan, Jr. cousin of financier J.P Morgan, the Romanesque home features a fascinating small replica of the famed Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima monument, designed by Mr. de Weldon, an artist. The dark wood paneling, nearly cantilevered pool,, and the vertiginous perch on rocks overlooking Pen Craig’s orignial building, designed by McKim, Mead & White, was appreciated by the attendees. "Doesn’t everyone have a chandelier in the kitchen?" they mused.

A lookout nook at Beacon Rock

Resident Experts

The Victorian Society course couldn’t do without a distinguished panel of local experts and members, as well as the hospitality of current owners of fine old houses including Richard Nelson, Eve Clulow, William Vareika, and Brian Cunha. A guiding light is social historian and author Pauline Metcalf, abetted by the Preservation Society’s Paul Miller and John Tschirch, and 19th-century painting specialist William Vareika,, who féted attendees with a cocktail reception at his galleries on Bellevue Avenue.

The vertical exterior

According to Pauline Metcalf, “Newport is a place with so many layers, as described by Thornton Wilder in his novel, Theophilus North. In order to understand the 19th and 20th century strains and tastes in architecture, it s necessary to go back to the l7th and l8th centuries. Such architects as McKim, Mead, & White were reinterpreting the classical world, and it’s all here for us to study and preserve.” Ms. Metcalf, who lectured, has a forthcoming book on trend setting designer Syrie Maugham.

Professor Wilson giving a detailed history

At a late thursday reception at the Elms, after a hard day's touring, Trudy Coxe, CEO of the Preservation Society, told the group of dedicated students that there was "a great interest in preserving old buildings," and that their help was quite invaluable.

The Closing Celebration

Newport's Nikolas's Pizza graciously agreed to donate closing party "monogram" pizzas, with Richard Guy Wilson's initials emblazoned in cheese, participants played a "Guess who I am?" parlor game about notable Victorians, and presented Professor Wilson with a bow-tie made of Newport postcards, and a pineapple, in honor of Newport's many pineapple- ornamented over-door pediments, the symbol of hospitality.

For further information on the Victorian Society of America, go to www.Victoriansociety.org.