Bell, Isaac, House
About this property
The Isaac Bell House (also known as Edna Villa) is a historic house at 70 Perry Street, at the corner with Bellevue Avenue, in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Designed by McKim, Mead, and White, it is one of the country's outstanding examples of Shingle Style architecture. The house was built during the Gilded Age, when Newport was the summer resort of choice for some of America's wealthiest families, and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. Isaac Bell Jr. was a successful cotton broker and investor, and the brother-in-law of James Gordon Bennett Jr., publisher of the New York Herald. Bell hired the New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White (Charles Follen McKim, William R. Mead, and Stanford White) to design his summer cottage. Known in Newport for designing Newport Casino, and later in Boston for designing Boston Central Library, they also designed Pennsylvania Station in New York City. Construction took place between 1881 and 1883. Shingle Style was pioneered by Henry Hobson Richardson in his design for the William Watts Sherman House, also in Newport. This style of Victorian architecture, featuring the extensive use of wooden shingles on the exterior, acquired some popularity in the late nineteenth century. The Isaac Bell House exemplifies this through its unpainted wood shingles, simple window and trim detail, and multiple porches. It combines elements of the English Arts and Crafts movement philosophy, colonial American detailing, and features a Japanese-inspired open floor plan and bamboo-style porch columns. Interior features include inglenook fireplaces, natural rattan wall coverings, wall paneling and narrow-band wooden floors. During its life, the house has variously been divided into apartments and served as a nursing home. With the help of Carol Chiles Ballard, the house was bought in 1994 by the Preservation Society of Newport County, which won awards for its restoration, and now operates it as a museum. The Isaac Bell House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997. List of National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places listings in Newport County, Rhode Island Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. RI-308, "Isaac Bell House, 70 Perry Street, Newport, Newport County, RI", 10 photos, 8 measured drawings, 14 data pages 2001 Victorian Society Award Archived January 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Bell, Isaac, House listed on the National Register?
Bell, Isaac, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 13, 1972.
What type of historic resource is Bell, Isaac, House?
Bell, Isaac, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Bell, Isaac, House?
The period of significance for Bell, Isaac, House is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Bell, Isaac, House?
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