The following houses were featured in the 2014 House Tour:
• Bellevue House: This Federal-style house, designed by Ogden Codman, Jr., in 1910, includes a stunning original entry hall with black-and-white marble floor, spiral staircase, and soaring rotunda; several first floor rooms have original furnishings. The grounds of the property offer even more delights with follies and gardens galore, including new garden fountains recently completed.
• Commodore William Edgar House: Designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1886, this elegant brick mansion features a distinctive upper story colonnaded porch and many original interior details such as coffered ceilings, quarter-sawn oak floors, built-in bookcases, a cherry-paneled library, and a drawing room that has been re-imagined as a splendid kitchen/great room with painted trompe l’oeil ceiling intact.
Hillside, Photography by Warren Jagger
• Hillside: This Shingle Style house designed by Peabody & Stearns in 1882-1883 features a sweeping porte cochere, multiple gables and porches, and original interior details including quarter-sawn oak paneling and fireplace inglenooks. The 2.5-acre property is known for its specimen trees, beautiful gardens, and springtime display of more than 100,000 daffodils.
Ossory House, Photography by Nat Rea
• Ossory House: Designed in 1867 by George Champlin Mason, this handsome house features a wraparound porch and mansard roof, and an interior that integrates original paneling, stairway, and fireplaces with a renovated open-plan great room/kitchen at the rear of the house overlooking a pool and bluestone terrace.
Wind Shadows, Photo by Larry Lambrecht
• Wind Shadows: Set on a breathtaking 20-acre property in the Ocean Drive area of Newport, this 2004 estate designed by Jamestown architect Ron DiMauro includes a main house, guest cottage, and sail loft. The main house exhibits a traditional approach to design details with the use of paneled wainscoting, beadboard walls, pickled oak floors, coffered ceilings, a mahogany-paneled library, and numerous ocean-facing bedrooms.
Photography courtesy Gavin Ashworth/The Preservation Society of Newport County
• Isaac Bell House: Considered one of the best surviving examples of Shingle Style, the Isaac Bell House was designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1883, and features distinctive towers, gables, and porches and an innovative interior layout. The Isaac Bell House is a property of the Preservation Society of Newport County.
Paradise Farmhouse at Norman Bird Sanctuary
• Paradise Farmhouse: Recently renovated, this historic farmhouse dates from 1750 and occupies a pastoral setting on the grounds of the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown.
