NRF promotes and invests in the architectural heritage of the Newport community, the traditional building trades, and Doris Duke’s fine and decorative arts collections, for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of all.
As a leader in the preservation of early American architecture, NRF supports research and education in areas directly related to its collections and issues of critical concern to the field of historic preservation.
Visit Doris Duke’s art-filled mansion and enjoy panoramic ocean views from the extensive grounds. Open late March to November.
The Vernon House is a site for expansive story-telling, contemporary dialogue, and preservation trades skill-building.
Newport Restoration Foundation holds one of the largest collections of period architecture owned by a single organization anywhere in the United States.
Celebrate excellence in historic preservation efforts within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.
Live amidst history by renting one of our many historic properties.
Two of Duke's greatest passions – her love of the water and her love of Islamic art and architecture – came together spectacularly at Shangri La, her exotic ocean front estate in Honolulu and the only home she built for herself from ground up beginning in the late 1930s. In 2016 at Rough Point, Waterscapes explored the theme of water through objects loaned from Shangri La; photographs of the property and other historic sites that inspired its many fountains, pools, and cascades; and home movies of Duke's travels in North Africa, the Middle East, and India to buy art and furnishings for the house.
The exhibition was accompanied by a fully illustrated publication by guest curators and noted Islamic art scholars Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, with contributions by Kent Severson, conservator at Shangri La. Copies are available for purchase at Rough Point, or online here. For more information about Shangri La, which operates today, according to Duke's wishes, as a house museum and a center for the study of Islamic arts and cultures, please visit shangrilahawaii.org
Ewer
Footed ewer
Rosewater sprinkler
