Newport Casino and Its Neighbors: Commercial Development - Newport, RI - Rhode Island Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

In Newport, along Bellevue Avenue, is the Newport Casino and other buildings making up one of the most significant commercial blocks in America.

The sign is across from the entrance to the Newport Casino, where the Tennis International Hall of Fame is located. The sign is by a walkway into a parking lot to the west.

The sign has the following text on it:

"The Newport Casino and its Neighbors: Commercial Development

The Newport Casino and its neighbors form one of the most significant commercial blocks in the nation. This ensemble of buildings served as the gateway to fashionable Bellevue Avenue and its summer cottages. The architects of these buildings, including Richard Morris Hunt, McKim, Mead & White, and Bruce Price, produced a series of picturesque stick, shingle, and brick structures that became national models for future commercial and club buildings. The centerpiece of the street is the Newport Casino, celebrated as a great American design achievement by the legendary architectural critic Marianna Griswold van Rensselaer (1851-1934). During the 1950s, the historic character of the street was radically changed with the destruction of Stone Villa and its gardens to make way for Bellevue Gardens Shopping Center. The Casino was saved by its transformation into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, while the other buildings on the block continue to function as commercial venues.

Bellevue Avenue: A Preservation History
The Preservation Society of Newport County

Bellevue Avenue National Historic Landmark District

Bellevue Avenue is a treasury of American Architecture from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Generations of the nation's leading architects made Newport a laboratory for design during the city's 'cottage' construction boom. This remarkable architectural legacy in American culture was almost lost through demolitions and neglect during the latter half of the 20th century.

This self guided walking tour consists of several history markers along both sides of Bellevue Avenue. Most of the buildings on this tour are private residences. Please respect their privacy.

The Bellevue History Marker Project is sponsored by The Preservation Society of Newport County, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving Newport's architectural heritage.

For more stories and photos of the architecture, history and preservation of Bellevue Avenue, visit www.NewportMansions.org and click on 'Learn.'

1. Stone Villa (c. 1832-35)
Architect: Alexander MacGregor
Style: Greek Revival

- James Gordon Bennett, heir to the New York Herald newspaper fortune, was Stone Villa's most famous owner.
- In 1879, Bennett dared his friend, Captain Henry Augustus Candy, to ride his horse into the Newport Reading Room, an exclusive men's club on Bellevue Avenue. The Reading Room barred Captain Candy from its premises, and according to local newspapers, this event inspired Bennett to build the Newport Casino.
- Stone Villa was demolished in 1957 to make way for Bellevue Gardens Shopping Center.

2. Paran Stevens House (c. 1866)
Architect: George Platt
Style: Second Empire

- Paran Stevens, a New Hampshire native and self-made man known as the 'Napoleon of Hotel Keepers, ' built this villa. Stevens amassed one of America's greatest fortunes in the hotel industry.
- Mrs. Stevens, a leading Newport socialite, once said of society 'Odd isn't it, how hard we work to get into a world which isn't after all very amusing?'
- Stevens daughter Minnie married into the English aristocracy and socialized with the Prince of Wale's set.
- The house was demolished in 1925.

3. Travers Block (1870-71)
Architect: Richard Morris Hunt
Style: Stick Style

- Business William Travers commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to design a commercial block at the corner of Bellevue Avenue and Bath Road (now Memorial Boulevard). This structures was one of the first commercial developments in the area.
- The building is characteristic of Hunt's earlier designs, when he favored the use of exposed half-timbers and intricate brickwork. The timers on the Travers Block are purely decorative.
- The Travers Block, along with the Newport Casino, King Block, and Audrain Building, is part of an important commercial strip on Bellevue, established in the late 19th century.

4. Newport Casino (1879-81)
Architects: McKim, Mead & White
Style: Shingle Style

- James Gordon Bennett, Fr., a noted sportsman and the publisher of the New York Herald, commissioned the newly formed architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to design a social club on Bellevue Avenue, across the street from his summer estate, Stone Villa.
- The Casino was McKim, Mead & White's first commission in Newport, and helped to establish the national reputation of the architects. They would go on to become one of the most famous architecture firms in America.
- With club rooms, tennis courts, a theater and shops, the Casino became an important place of Newport's social scene during the Gilded Age.

5. King Block (1892-93)
Architects: Perkins and Betton
- Boston architects Perkins & Betton designed the King Block, one of four important commercial buildings along this stretch of Bellevue Avenue.
- LeRoy King, the original owner, lived two blocks away, on the corner of Bellevue and Berkeley Avenues.
- Today the King Block looks much the way it did in the 1890s.

6. Audrain Building (1902-03)
Architect: Bruce Price

- New York merchant Adolphe Audrain hired architect Bruce Price to design this building, which housed medical offices.
- The facade of the Audrain Building is trimmed with terra cotta in the style of the Italian Renaissance artist Luca della Robbia.
- Copies of della Robbia's swaddling infants from the Hospital of the Innocents in Florence, Italy appear on the exterior of the Audrain Building.

Voices from the Past

'. . . the building is . . . dignified enough without being formal or pretentious; rural, but not rustic; graceful, intimate, cheerful, with just a touch of fantasy not out of place in a structure whose ends are distinctly frivolous . . . a Casino which is a mere summer house for 'society's' amusements.'
Maarianna Griswold van Rensselaer ' America's Country Dwellings,' The Century Magazine, May 1886

'Newport's history belongs to all of you. All of you share the responsibility for your city's future . . . Together you can make Newport one of the most interesting tourist centers in the United States. Together you can help preserve America's history in bricks and mortar and do a tremendously important service for the generations which will come after you . . . Some of you may be saying, 'But do we want all these people swarming over Newport?' That is for you to decide-but may I remind you that a lot of things in Newport belong to these people. They are Americans, too, and Newport is part of their heritage . . .'
Kenneth Chorley, President of Colonial Williamsburg, excerpt from 'Only Tomorrow' a speech delivered to an assembly of Newport citizens convened under the auspices of The Preservation Society of Newport County, March 25, 1947"

There are pictures of these buildings, as well as a map marking the locations of the buildings mentioned.

Organization that Placed the Marker: The Preservation Society of Newport County Related Website: [Web Link] Year Marker was Placed: Not listed

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