Chateau-sur-Mer Estate
Antone Academic Center involved the unique restoration, renovation and union of two nationally historic and significant carriage house and stables complexes - Wetmore Hall, the original carriage house and stables for Chateau-sur-Mer, and Mercy Hall, the original carriage house and stables for Ochre Court.
The main house of the estate, Chateau-sur-Mer, was built in 1852 for Mr. William Shepard Wetmore, a merchant trader. A decade later, his son, George, Governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator, inherited the estate. While the property's original carriage house and stables are now part of the Antone Academic Center, the Chateau-sur-Mer residence is owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County.
Links to archival photographs of the following properties:
Source: Campus buildings for Salve Regina University.
Antone Academic Center
The Antone Academic Center for Culture and the Arts houses performance areas, studios, offices, classrooms and laboratories for several academic departments and programs, including art, cultural and historic preservation and music, theatre and dance. Dedicated in 2008, the building was named in honor of Dr. M. Therese Antone, RSM, president of Salve Regina from 1994-2009. Sister Therese currently serves as the university's chancellor.
Dr. M. Therese Antone, RSM
While the project was designed to meet all the technological and aesthetic needs of today's academia, the center continues to dazzle with its 19th-century originals: a Belgian block exercise yard with a circular trough at its center, cast iron hardware, Minton tiles, decorative yellow brick flooring, rough-cut sandstone exterior, slate mansard roof and gable dormers.
Source: Campus buildings of Salve Regina University
Mercy Hall Science Lab
Students working in the science lab circa 1947-48 in Mercy Hall. Included in the photo are German Cote, Rose Marie Jalette, and Sarah Conalty. (Photo by Anon Studios)
Books
- Château-Sur-Mer, Newport, Rhode Island: A Look at Victorian Architecture byCall Number: NA735.N67 C42 1970Contains the journal articles "The Transformation of Château-sur-Mer" by Winslow Ames, and "The Outbuildings and grounds of Château-sur-Mer" by Paul L. Veeder.
- Richard Morris Hunt byCall Number: NA737.H86 B34The definitive biography of the man who was widely regarded by his contemporaries as the dean of American architects and who was a seminal figure in establishing architecture as a profession in the United States. Covering all of Hunt's major commissions―including his famous fifth Avenue mansions and Newport "cottages"―the book provides a fresh look at the artistic achievements of America's Gilded Age.
- The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt byCall Number: NA737.H86 A88 1986ISBN: 9780226771687Publication Date: 1986Criticism and interpretation of the architecture of Richard Morris Hunt.
Additional resources
- The Golden Age of Newport: Richard Morris Hunt's transformation of Château-sur-MerThe transformation of Chateau-sur-Mer by architect Richard Morris Hunt is featured in an article in House & Garden magazine in June of 1987.
- History and design of Wetmore and Mercy HallsBrief history of the two buildings that now form the Antone Academic Center, courtesy of RIAMCO (Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online).
- The Outbuildings and Grounds of Chateau-sur-MerProvides extensive history regarding the transformation of the Chateau-sur-Mer estate since its establishment in 1851. The article is authored by Paul L. Veeder II, an architect and a Wetmore descendant, and published in the December 1970 issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
- Richard Morris Hunt, the Continental Picturesque, and the "Stick Style"A research article by Sarah Bradford Landau featuring the Newport villas designed by Richard Morris Hunt. The focus is on Hunt's architectural preference of 'stick style,' an American domestic architecture style infused with foreign ideas. Published in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, volume 42, issue 3.
- Setting the stage for the Gilded AgePreservation Society of Newport County researcher Abigail Howe Steward provides background, history, and design details of the Bellevue Avenue mansion.
- The Transformation of Chateau-sur-MerWinslow Ames, an art historian and museum director known for his writings on drawings, architectural history, decorative arts and genealogy, reveals more about the architectural history of Chateau-sur-Mer in this second article focusing on this property in the December 1970 issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
Mercy Hall
Mercy Hall, the original carriage house and stables for Ochre Court, shown before the renovation. (Photo by John W. Corbett)
Designed by Richard Morris Hunt and built in 1889 for service as a carriage house for Ochre Court estate, this Queen Anne-style structure features a tower, and a red brick and painted wood trim exterior evocative of an 18th-century continental stable.
Source: RIAMCO (Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online)
Wetmore Hall
Wetmore Hall, the original carriage house and stables for Chateau-sur-Mer, is now part of the Antone Academic Center. (Photo by John W. Corbett)
Originally designed by Seth Bradford as a carriage house for the Chateau-sur-Mer estate, this brick structure was significantly enlarged by George Champlin Mason & Son between 1882 and 1883. The building was renovated substantially in 2007.
Source: RIAMCO (Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online)