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. Opening July 1, 2023: NRF and Art&Newport are excited to present a group artists exhibition on cards and card playing: Games, Gamblers & Cartomancers: The New Cardsharps
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 Solarium is one of the Trumbauer addition’s to the house in the 1920s renovation. It is easy to understand why the Solarium was one of Doris’s favorite rooms: it incorporates outdoor and indoor living. The time she spent in this room varied from eating lunches, repairing ceramics, and running Newport Restoration Foundation meetings. A sky scene painted on the ceiling complete the feeling of being outdoors.
On one occasion the Solarium also served as a makeshift shelter for Doris Duke's beloved Bactrian camels, Princess and Baby, who summered on the lawn at Rough Point from 1988 to 1993. During Hurricane Bob in August 1991, the furniture was moved out and the camels were penned up inside the room. Evidence of their stay survives to this day in visible damage to the upper part of the wall mirror to the left of the door to the Yellow Room. Shortly before they were moved outside after the storm, Princess, still somewhat agitated, thrashed her head and it hit the mirror, cracking the crossbar and side pieces.
Pair of cloisonné candlesticks
Portrait bust of Julius Caesar in bronze
Portrait bust of Augustus in bronze
Pair of wrought iron console tables with gilding
Given her deep interest in and knowledge of Asian art, Doris Duke bought this pair of candlesticks (only one shown here) at auction in New York in 1975.
The bust and the pedestal were purchased separately by Doris Duke in 1962 from the sale of the contents of The Elms, the Bellevue Avenue mansion owned by the Berwind family and designed by Horace Trumbauer.
This pair of tables is in the style of later 18th-century French Louis XVI wall consoles, but they were made in the 19th century to match the scale and opulence of Gilded Age mansions. They were originally part of the furnishings of the New York mansion where Doris Duke grew up, but moved to Rough Point’s Solarium at Rough Point in the late 1950s.
