In his latest contribution to America’s architectural record, Michael C. Kathrens gives house enthusiasts a superbly visual & informative book on Newport’s early resort architecture.

The 19th century was an incredibly vibrant period in Newport, Rhode Island’s, rich architectural history. Opulent private houses-or summer “cottages” as they were known-populated the seaside resort half a century before the rise of the European Revival behemoths of the late 1880s & 1890s. The luxury & splendor of many of these earlier homes often rivaled the sumptuousness of the later “Gilded Age” mansions.

In the decades since 1835, when the first private house was built exclusively for seasonal use, scores of magnificent homes were commissioned by a burgeoning summer colony whose members were among America’s wealthiest & most prominent families, including the Schermerhorns, Lorillards, Goelets, & Joneses. They built their summer residences in neighborhoods known today as Kay-Catherine-Old Beach Road, Bellevue Avenue, Ochre Point, & Ocean Drive, commissioning local talents such as George Champlin Mason Sr., Seth C. Bradford, & Dudley Newton as well as nationally renowned architects such as Richard Morris Hunt, McKim, Mead & White, & Peabody & Stearns. These exceptional houses showcased new architectural expressions & displayed the mastery of those who designed them.

The scope of this volume-the prequel to Newport Villas: The Revival Styles, 1885-1935, Kathrens’s first book on Newport residential architecture-extends beyond 1890, providing ownership histories of each of the thirty-six houses profiled, including Cannon Hill, Chateau-sur-Mer, Elm Court, Beaulieu, Land’s End, the original Breakers, Ochre Point, & Chastellux as well as visual documentation of later renovations. Rare late-nineteenth- & early-twentieth-century interior images reflect a shift in fashion from the exuberant Victorian to a cleaner, more classical style that led to the Edwardian elegance of many of the later renovations by architects such as Horace Trumbauer, Ogden Codman Jr., & Francis L. V. Hoppin.

Stunning archival & newly commissioned photography, architectural renderings, & floor plans aid in fully conveying the remarkable legacy of Newport’s majestic cottages built before 1890, presented comprehensively for the first time.

400 Pages

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