Restoration Society Guards Historical Sites

By: Emily Sulock
Posted In: News

It is people such as Doris Duke that made Newport into the historical city it is today. Duke founded the Newport Restoration Foundation in 1968, and the foundation has saved over 70 historic buildings. Buildings that are bought by or donated to the foundation must be maintained in the original 18th century style, as stated by the rules and regulations of the foundation. Morgan Devlin, the marketing and public relations director, works to create public awareness of the foundation’s projects. She works to help the community understand what NRF does and its significance in preserving Newport’s rich history.

Q: Could you explain more about Doris Duke and everything she did for NRF?

A: Doris Duke’s father bought the house here in Newport as a summer house for their family. After a couple of years, her father passed away and her mother kept it up. Doris eventually went off and was married where she traveled around the world collecting priceless pieces of art. Doris eventually came back to visit the house and decided she was going to cut back and focus on the preservation of 18th century buildings in Newport. When she passed away in 1993, she donated all of her money to the Doris Duke

Charitable Foundation. By making this contribution, she has helped save 80 homes in restoration. The Newport Restoration Foundation is in memory to her and everything she had done for Newport. She gave a lot more back than just living a life of frivolousness.

Q: What are some of your more historical houses in Newport?

A: One of them just turned up in the Boston Globe, George Washington’s The Vernon House. It was just recently donated through our organization. There are over 70 houses in our foundation so it is hard to choose which are the most important. There are a couple of houses that have interesting rescue stories such as the Jaheel Brenton Counting House on Washington Street. It is called a rescue story because it was scheduled to be demolished unless bought within 48-72 hours. It was reported to us by an anonymous caller that the house was scheduled for demolition so within that amount of time we bought it out and moved it to Washington Street.

Q: Could you explain some of the latest preservation projects?

A: The Vernon House is one of the most recent ones, but the biggest one is the Almy-Cory House which is located out at Prescott Farm which is on the Middletown-Portsmouth line. It was going to be demolished a few years ago and was just completed fairly recently. It took them about three years to take down, move, and rebuild the house. We didn’t do it continuously because of other projects that would pop up which is why it took so long. It was completed in 2008 which happened to be our 40th anniversary.

Q: Do people live in them or are they more for private residents?

A: All of the buildings are owned by the foundation and rented out to private families. Many of the families have been renting the houses since the foundation first began. Although many of the houses are rented, tourists and visitors are always welcome to experience the walking tour of Newport. Our buildings have signs on them at indicate they belong to the NRF.

Q: Has the economy hurt the NRF?

A: We have been more fortunate with the foundation because of the tours and renting. Tourism has really helped bring in revenue with our organization. But everyone has been very careful with their spending. We are a non-profit. We don’t have a membership for constant donations. One way we receive money is by renting out the houses. Another way we receive money is from Doris Duke when she left a large amount of money to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which has really helped to support the foundation.

Q: Has NRF helped any of Salve’s buildings?

A: We have a funding and grant part of NRF which helps to give money to restore some of the buildings. Unfortunately, we haven’t, but if Salve is ever interested in our funding to restore any buildings then they are more than welcome to use it.

Q: How do you make the Restoration Foundation more user friendly?

A: We have redesigned the Website to put more resources such as how to get a certain paint color on people’s houses or how to fix up an older house. The Director of Education, Liz Spoden, sets up such things as workshops on special lectures to inform the people of Newport and teach new home owners of historic houses how to take care of their home.

Q: Is there any other information that people need to know about NRF?

A: People often confuse the Preservation Society with the Restoration Society. The Preservation Society focuses on preserving the mansions of Newport while the Restoration Society preserves and saves buildings of the 18th century. Doris Duke had a great dedication to Newport and offered much of her time and money into preserving the more 18th century buildings of the city.

This interview has been edited and condensed.