Newport Restoration Foundation
{{Short description|Foundation by Doris Duke to preserve early housing stock}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}Image:Prescott Farm Middletown.JPG]]
The Newport Restoration Foundation was founded by Doris Duke in 1968 in Newport, Rhode Island to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of Newport, including 18th century colonial homes. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was the foundation's vice president.{{Cite web|last=Colacello|first=Bob|date=March 1994|title=Doris Duke's Final Mystery|url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/8e9a9c8a-592e-413c-b470-46346122c32a|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829052250/https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/8e9a9c8a-592e-413c-b470-46346122c32a|archive-date=August 29, 2020|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Vanity Fair|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Duke, Doris {{!}} Learning to Give|url=https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/duke-doris|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031111417/http://www.learningtogive.org/resources/duke-doris|archive-date=October 31, 2015|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Learning to Give}}
It is the largest collection of vernacular architecture in the Northeastern United States. In the 1960s, structures in Newport were threatened by redevelopment. Doris Duke purchased and restored over 83 individual houses under her direction. The entire project represents one of the largest preservation efforts undertaken in modern times and is currently led by executive directors, Amy Elizabeth-Winsor, Alyssa Lozupone, and Gina Tangorra.{{Cite web |date=May 9, 2025 |title=People - Newport Restoration Foundation |url=https://www.newportrestoration.org/about-nrf/people/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 9, 2025 |website=Newport Restoration Foundation}}
Properties
File:Rough Point, Newport.jpg]]
The NRF owns 78 significant historical properties, 72 of which are rented to tenants. 67 of the historic buildings are in Newport, and 8 buildings are museums. One of the historical properties includes Doris Duke's Rough Point which was built in 1891 and then added on to in 1924. Rough Point is a Newport mansion with a collection of European and Asian fine arts with works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, and Sir Anthony van Dyck. The property list also includes the Samuel Whitehorne House (built 1811), the William Vernon House (built {{circa|1708}} and expanded 1759), the Buloid-Perry House, King's Arms Tavern, and The Dr. Charles Cotton House, and the Christopher Townsend House, (built 1728). In addition, the foundation runs Prescott Farm, an outdoor history site in Middletown, RI.{{Cite web |title=Newport Restoration Foundation – Dedicated to the preservation of Newport Rhode Island - Newport Restoration Foundation |url=http://www.newportrestoration.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232714/http://www.newportrestoration.org/ |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |access-date=February 29, 2016}}
Recent projects
The Newport Restoration Foundation has been actively restoring and preserving historic buildings, a collection of the arts of cabinetmaking and building trades of the Newport region, and the art and artifacts from Doris Duke's life in Newport. NRF also utilizes these collections for museum tours and educational programs that are open to the public. In regard to preservation, their most recent project (2015) was that Dayton-James House from 1757.{{Cite web |url=https://patch.com/rhode-island/newport/latest-restored-newport-house-may-be-last-its-kind-0 |title=Latest Restored Newport House May be Last of its Kind | Newport, RI Patch |access-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-date=September 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200905083621/https://patch.com/rhode-island/newport/latest-restored-newport-house-may-be-last-its-kind-0 |url-status=live }} In 2005 the Foundation assisted in conducting the first dendrochronology survey of tree rings in several early buildings in Rhode Island to determine their construction dates, including the Wilbour-Ellery House.{{Cite web |url=https://www.dendrochronology.com/weh-1.html |title=Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Wilbour-Ellery House - Rhode Island |access-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027131934/https://www.dendrochronology.com/weh-1.html |url-status=live }} In addition in 2013, the NRF led an effort to create a new park in Queen Anne's Square by artist and architect Maya Lin, entitled "The Meeting Room".
Preservation advocacy and environmental concerns such as climate change are other areas in which NRF works in. For example, they held the [http://www.historyabovewater.org/ Keeping History Above Water] Conference in an attempt to protect historic properties from being affected by rising sea levels.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.projo.com/ri/newport/content/HO_thepoint040608_04-06-08_1J9HNBR_v22.28b0b96.html Christine Dunn, "Newport’s the Point: A mingling of mansions, modest residences," Providence Journal, April 8, 2008]
- [http://www.newportrestoration.com Official Newport Restoration website]
- [http://www.newportrestoration.org/calendar/details/42477-keeping_history Calendar]
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{{New England historical societies}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Houses in Rhode Island
Category:Newport County, Rhode Island
Category:Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island
Category:Historic preservation organizations in the United States