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.
The Department of Defense and the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) are proud to co-host the Keeping History Above Water® (KHAW): Pacific Workshop in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi on June 13th, 2024, at the Doubletree Alana Waikiki.
KHAW: Pacific is a free, registration-required workshop. Registration will open April 15th. Keeping History Above Water® (KHAW) was founded in 2016 by NRF to foster a global conversation focused on the increasing and varied risks posed by sea-level rise to historic coastal communities. KHAW programs, conferences, and workshops focus on protecting historic buildings, landscapes, and neighborhoods from the increasing threat of inundation. The KHAW: Pacific Workshop will serve as a forum for collaboration to proactively identify climate change solutions for the preservation of Pacific Island cultural heritage. Coastal inundation— which refers to sea level rise, storm surge, abnormally high tides, and persistent onshore winds and waves— is particularly detrimental to the physical and cultural heritage of Pacific Islanders and residents.
The inclusivity of KHAW’s community-focused engagements will develop and strengthen relationships among communities, partners, and experts in relevant fields. Community members, cultural practitioners, preservationists, public historians, museum professionals, archaeologists, planners, floodplain managers, engineers, architects, landscape architects, artists, conservationists, environmental justice advocates, government officials, property owners, resilience officers, and other stakeholders are invited to submit session proposals. All sessions must be directly related to the impacts of coastal inundation on cultural heritage, including built resources, archaeological sites, landscapes, traditional cultural properties, and the intangible heritage of the Pacific.
Presentation proposals should be submitted as Word documents to KHAWPacific@bah.com by 5 p.m. on April 10th, 2024. Sessions will be selected by mid-April 2024.
KHAW is an initiative of NRF focused on addressing climate change’s effects on historic communities worldwide. Since 2016, NRF has sponsored eleven KHAW conferences in communities such as Palo Alto, Charleston, and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Learn more at historyabovewater.org
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In response to a quickly transforming real estate market, the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) has launched a multi-phase energy efficiency project to collect data to improve the sustainability of historic residential buildings. NRF is investigating non-intrusive interventions that are sensitive to historic fabric while also improving energy efficiency in historic structures. The first project site will be 38 Green Street, a c.1730 Newport cottage-style house in the Newport Historic Hill District. The project will be both a case study of the energy efficiency of historic structures and a prototype for solutions that will be beneficial for other homeowners seeking ways to reduce energy consumption and increase livability in their own historic houses.
Frankie Vagnone, President of the Newport Restoration Foundation stated, “One of the fundamental preservation goals of NRF has always been livability. Our founder, Doris Duke, did not simply want perfectly restored, doll house-like historic buildings. She wanted them to be lived in and enjoyed as authentic, contributing elements in the urban landscape. We are honoring her philanthropy by pushing to make historic homes more comfortable and energy efficient”.
38 Green Street was purchased and restored by NRF in 1983 and has remained an active rental in NRF’s tenant-stewardship program. 38 Green Street is typical of many historic houses in Newport, with 1,200 square feet of living space, two floors, and a basement. Just like 38 Green Street, many of Newport’s older houses are unable to meet modern building efficiency standards. In response, many historic homeowners believe their houses cannot become efficient without removing and replacing historic fabric. Historic windows, siding, and doors are often the first elements of a house replaced with modern, ill-suited alternatives to reduce air changes and lower utility bills. Too often, these new features are incompatible with older house construction techniques, fail earlier than the older components they replaced, and reduce the character and appeal of both the interior and exterior of important historic homes.
In Newport, the unique construction techniques of its intact 18th-and 19th-century buildings often lead to energy inefficiencies. Plank construction consists of vertical sheathing boards with clapboards or shingles nailed to the exterior and lath and plaster applied directly to the interior, leaving no wall void. Conventional techniques of adding insulation to the interior or exterior could greatly alter the historic appearance of a property and cause vapor barrier concerns. “Many Newport buildings are of plank construction, and typical interior insulation fixes aren’t always an option,” says Margaret Back, Preservation Projects Manager at NRF. “This study will explore new, innovative ways to both make a historic property more efficient while retaining its historic materials and character.”
NRF has awarded the project to Building Conservation Associates, Inc. (BCA) of Newton Center, MA, a national architectural conservation firm with experience in energy efficiency studies. The project begins in 2024 with a comprehensive energy audit of the study site and research of comparable buildings in Newport. With an understanding of the building and baseline energy data, BCA will propose a series of efficiency retrofits and alterations that consider new technologies and materials, protection of historic fabric, and socially progressive preservation concepts.
NRF will provide real-time updates on the process so that both local and broader historic preservation communities can benefit from the ongoing process of discovery. A successful final product understands there is no “one size fits all” approach but takes a balanced view of improving an energy baseline while sustaining identified historic materials and character.
We understand that as each historic property is unique, there is no “one size fits all” answer for improving energy efficiency. However, we are aiming to create and implement scalable guidelines that we and other historic property owners can implement to improve historic buildings while retaining the historic fabric and character.
Strawbery Banke Museum, the City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire Planning Department and DPW Water | Wastewater | Stormwater Division, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Earth Systems Research Center, and the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) are proud to co-host Keeping History Above Water® (KHAW) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on May 7-9, 2023 at the AC Hotel Portsmouth Downtown/Waterfront.
KHAW® was founded in 2016 by NRF to foster a national conversation focused on the increasing and varied risks posed by sea level rise to historic coastal communities. KHAW programs, conferences, and workshops focus on protecting historic buildings, landscapes, and neighborhoods from the increasing threat of inundation.
As one of the oldest port cities in the nation, Portsmouth has faced sea-borne challenges from the start. As its most historic neighborhoods and treasures find themselves increasingly threatened by sea level rise, more frequent flooding, and groundwater infiltration, the City, UNH, and Strawbery Banke Museum, a living history museum at the heart of that neighborhood – and at the lowest point in the city – are working together to collect data and test solutions.
KHAW: Portsmouth is designed to showcase the latest flood and climate data, discuss strategies and identify best practices, and bring new information to the dialogues on the impacts of sea level rise, recurrent flooding and climate change on historic resources begun at previous conferences. We seek to foster the discussion of how communities can adapt research data into actionable solutions and anticipate attracting presenters and attendees especially from the New England states.
Preservationists, public historians, museum professionals, archaeologists, planners, floodplain managers, engineers, architects, landscape architects, artists, conservationists, environmental justice advocates, government officials, property owners, resilience officers and other stakeholders are invited to submit session proposals.
Sessions may be individual presentations, panel discussions, or workshops, and will generally be scheduled to last 30 or 60 minutes. Please indicate in your proposal the length of your session.
We welcome proposals related to the theme “Water Has a Memory: Preserving Historic Port Cities from Sea Level Rise.” We specifically encourage sessions that:
Proposals should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents to sseacord@cityofportsmouth.com by 5 p.m. on December 10, 2022. Visit historyabovewater.org/2023-portsmouth for more information. Submit questions to the conference organizer, Stephanie Seacord at sseacord@CityofPortsmouth.com. Sessions will be selected by early January 2023.
“Doris Duke did a wonderful thing fifty-some years ago when she preserved these Colonial houses,” he said. “Here we are 50 years later, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the work she did is not lost. To do for Newport a second time what she did for Newport the first time — to save these Colonial properties.” – Mark Thompson, Executive Director, Newport Restoration Foundation
Many thanks to The New York Times for spotlighting the efforts NRF and many others are taking to Keep History Above Water in their piece, ‘We Cannot Save Everything’: A Historic Neighborhood Confronts Rising Seas.
Click here to read the article online.
