Newport Drawing Tour 2023: A Retrospective

"In many of the great works in Architecture there is an sublimity of thought, a fertility of invention, and a boldness of design, which exalted minds alone could produce…..The Student …..should not only reflect on what he has read in his study but he must, from actual mensuration’s taken by himself, make finished sketches of such structures as are most valuable; he must closely meditate upon the original purposes for which they were raised; he must consider how far situation and materials influenced the architects these structures. The mouldings, the ornaments, the most minute details, must not escape his observation…"

—Sir John Soane (1753-1837): Royal Academy Lectures I and XII

The ICAA holds two drawing tours each year, one international and one in the US. This year’s domestic program took place in Newport, Rhode Island, May 18-21. The program was led by Stephen Chrisman, Partner at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, and ICAA Fellow, and Tommy Vince, Project Designer at David M. Schwartz Architects. Newport was selected this year as an ideal location to study a sophisticated range of American architecture, with outstanding examples of late seventeenth through eighteenth century colonial architecture; the American Shingle Style of the late nineteenth century; and the so-called “cottages”—large stone country houses based on European Renaissance villas and palazzo—all within short walking distances.

“Per square foot, Newport possesses more great architecture than any other American City.”

—Richard Guy Wilson, Architectural Historian

Participants in the program ranged from architectural students, architects, interior designers, landscape architects, a lighting designer, and several who had previously attended other ICAA programs such as Drawing Tours, the Summer Studio in Classical Architecture, Intensives, and University Workshops.

The focus of the drawing tours is an intensive, all-day effort of studying buildings through measured and analytical drawings. This practice follows the rigors of how architects have studied buildings since the Renaissance, but is rarely utilized in conventional architectural education today.

The program began with an opening reception held at the 1750 Redwood Library, the first Doric temple-front civic building in the US, designed by architect Peter Harrison. The keynote speaker was local architectural historian John Tschirch, who presented an overview of Newport’s architectural history, which gave the group a foundational background from which to study the city.

The first full day of the program started early at the Brick Market (1772) at the west end of Washington Square, near the original docks and messy merchant life of Newport—an outstanding example of a market hall, based on English precedents, designed by Peter Harrison with an Ionic pilastered order above a brick arched base.

We next walked through Washington Square to the oldest house in Newport—the Wanton Lyman Hazard House (1696), where we had private access to the restored interiors. The group began with measured drawings of unique colonial details including mantels, doors and windows, stairs, and interesting millwork details.

The Colony House (1739), originally the Rhode Island State House, is located at the eastern end of Washington Square. As John Tschirch noted in his lecture, the Colony House was built as a beacon or overseer of the merchant activities below. The architect was Richard Munday, who was well-known for his exceptional early architecture of Newport. With private access, the group studied the interiors of the original State Hall with its free-standing Doric piers (with entasis) down the center of the room like a Grecian hypostyle hall.

The afternoon of the first day found the group back at the Redwood Library, where the focus was on the Doric portico and its details, including the rusticated wood façade. Newport, well-known for the wood construction of vast majority of its buildings, has a good number of examples that employ wood rusticated blocks with a sand paint finish that resemble blocks of stone.

The last stop of day one was a private visit to the millshop of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRP). The director of the millshop, Peter Raposa, described how the NRP meticulously maintains and restores the over 80 historic houses and buildings it owns in Newport. The group learned about contemporary techniques for restoration, and reconstruction of doors, windows, paneling, millwork, and more.

The second day began at the Newport Casino, designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1879—their first major commission. The Casino is an eclectic design that incorporates precedents from northern France, such as the bell-shaped turrets, to the English Arts and Crafts architecture of Richard Norman Shaw. Here, McKim, Mead & White replace the wall-hung tile found in England with wood shingles. We encountered rain during this visit, so the group found many covered spaces to draw in the entry vestibule and the variety of covered porches or loggias, or as McKim noted—"piazzas.” The impressive architecture was studied through measured, analytical, and perspective drawings.

The early afternoon of the second day was spent at McKim, Mead & White’s Isaac Bell House—an incredible tour-du-force of American Shingle Style architecture. We had private access to the interiors, and everyone took the opportunity to carefully study the wide range of details including mantels, stairs, doors and windows, paneling, and a wide variety of mouldings.

The day concluded at The Breakers (1895), the 62,480sf Renaissance palazzo designed by Richard Morris Hunt for Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Hunt was the first American architect to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. We had a quick tour of the house and as the rains continued, we were able to study and draw in the second floor loggia that looked out on the ocean, as well as the famous cliff walk.

With the sun shining on the last day, we returned the Bell House to focus on the exterior composition of the massing, and details. Here, we had interesting and revealing discussions about the exterior composition of the façades, based on the careful drawings generated by the participants.

The final lunch was held at the Midtown Oyster Bar, overlooking the harbor and accompanied by the sounds and smells of an historic American seaport town. The group discussed possibilities for the next American drawing tour, which included Boston; Philadelphia; Portsmouth, RI; Santa Barbara, CA; and a return to Newport.