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.
6 Elm Street
The Mitchell Trevitt House was built c.1758 and 1828 and originally stood on the southwest corner of North Baptist and Charles Streets. The Foundation for the Preservation of America's Architectural Heritage (FPAAH) moved the house to the current Elm Street site in 1968. In 1969, it was purchased by the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) and restored in 1970.
The early date stems from the Stiles Map of 1758, which shows that some type of structure existed at the North Baptist/Charles Streets location by 1758. The building's trim and proportions, however, are more indicative of the second date, 1828.
Not much is currently known about the history of this building and thus far no documentary evidence has been found for the structure or for a definitive date. Very little fabric existed on the interior, and the exterior did not really evidence any eighteenth-century material or design. The doorway is Federal and was applied from stock by NRF.
This is one of several properties NRF bought from FPAAH. The FPAAH sought, in particular, to save houses in Newport that were slated for demolition, in order to make way for a housing development for the elderly in the area of Farewell, Coddington, Charles, and North Baptist Streets. It therefore purchased various plots of land in the Point section of Newport, constructed cellar foundations, and then moved the houses, mostly stripped of their interiors, to new locations. When momentum stalled within the organization, the buildings were offered to NRF.
