Newport Restoration Foundation Announces Historic Preservation Grant Winners

The wood floor at the Women’s Resource Center in Newport will be refinished, stone work will be repaired at St. Columbia’s Chapel in Portsmouth, Whitehall in Middletown will get some fresh paint and more projects will be undertaken thanks the Newport Restoration Foundation’s most-recent Doris Duke Fund for Historic Preservation grant awards.

The awards, announced Friday, will support small but important projects across Aqudineck Island, said Peiter N. Roos, executive director of the Newport Restoration Foundation.

The eighth annual Doris Duke Historic Preservation Awards, held on September 5, 2014, raised $45,000 to be disbursed in grants to civic and non-profit organizations on Aquidneck Island and in Jamestown. The grants are generally given for bricks-and-mortar projects or project planning.

“While the preservation awards recognize complete restoration projects, they have allowed us the opportunity to support smaller scale projects within our community,” Roos said. “Historic properties are costly to maintain, which can be a challenge for small non-profit organizations. By helping to fund isolated projects we have been able to give back in a way that helps support the historic fabric of Newport.”

This year’s recipients include:

• St. Columba’s Chapel, Portsmouth, for stone work repair
• Whitehall, Middletown, for repair and paint
• Portsmouth Historical Society, Portsmouth, for school house repair
• International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, for porch railing restoration
• Belmont Chapel Foundation, Newport, for roof stabilization
• Newport Art Museum, Newport, for restoration of the north face
• United Baptist Church, Newport, for renovation of the parsonage porch
• Emmanuel Church, Newport, for preservation of existing chimneys
• St. John’s Parish House, Newport, for window repair and restoration
• Women’s Resource Center, Newport, for wood floor refinishing

Support for the 2014 Doris Duke Historic Preservation Awards has been provided by ArtCare Resources, Banfi Wines, BankNewport, Bowen’s Wharf, DF Dwyer Insurance Agency, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Home & Commercial Security, Sandra Liotus Lighting Design, Slocum Gordon, The Cocktail Guru and Van Gogh Imports.

The 2015 Doris Duke Historic Preservation Awards will be celebrated on September 11 at Rough Point. The program is a joint project of the Newport Restoration Foundation and the City of Newport to celebrate achievements in local historic preservation.