Architecture Here and There

Illustrations: Above, view of Ocean House, in Watch Hill, with addition, at right, to replicated original (photo by Jeff Riley, Centerbrook Architects). Below, Watch Hill; Ocean House prior to demolition in 2005 (artinruins.com); Ocean House today; Ocean House in 1868; postcard of Ocean House circa 1910); Ocean House today; porch prior to demolition (artinruins.com); porch today; view from condo deck of tiers of hotel rooms and condos; view of tower from condo deck; see also link below to photo tour of Ocean House

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Rhode Island beats all other states in unnatural beauty per square foot. To name just a few, we have Newport, Providence, Little Compton, Woonsocket and, nestled in the out-of-the-way (by Rhode Island standards) southwest corner, Westerly. And now its storied neighborhood of Watch Hill, at Westerly's most westerly point, has seen a beloved beauty arise literally from the grave.

In 2005, Ocean Staters mourned the demolition of Ocean House at age 137 -- and then, wonder of wonders, beheld a plan by owner Charles Royce to rebuild the old anew. Razed and raised. The Ocean House is dead, long live the Ocean House!

The plan came from Centerbrook Architects, of Centerbrook, Conn., hired by Royce to determine whether the hotel could be revived. But old age and poor maintenance had taken its toll. "Sagging ceilings, drooping floors, sinking columns," said Centerbrook. "Of 247 double-hung windows, all apparently original, 90 percent were inoperable. The building violated nearly every applicable building and life-safety code." Rebuilding the old dowager seemed an unlikely prospect. Nevertheless, the ribbon-cutting ceremony is today.

Legend says Westerly's lighthouse keeper took in boarders, then in 1844 built the Narragansett Inn, the first of Watch Hill's resort hotels, and the only remaining original. The lighthouse keeper's son, George Nash, built Ocean House in 1867-68. In 1906, its memorable round porch was added, a feature of its Gilded Age heyday.

In Buildings of Rhode Island, the late Brown University architectural historian William Jordy wrote that behind its "veranda columns, bracketing under the eaves, and giant pilasters at the corners of its central tower," it was "both plain and crude."

Well, most Westerly residents and visitors to Watch Hill will beg to disagree, and will applaud its respectful reconstruction by Royce, led by Centerbrook's Jefferson Riley. It was a rather brave endeavor, insofar as "copying the past" is considered verboten by most architects, architectural historians and even preservationists.

But like virtually every alleged case of copying the past -- as those who make the charge are fully aware -- the new Ocean House isn't a literal copy of the old Ocean House. The status quo, circa 1908, deemed the most notable of its phases, is faithfully replicated. Riley calls that portion its "kernel." But additions to the kernel, largely blocked from the street by the rebuilt form of the original, extend the hotel considerably rearward and even underground. How much change? The original 247 windows are now 564, offering ocean views from 49 hotel rooms and 23 condos. The room rates start at $450 and the asking prices for the condos range from $1.49 million to $6.95 million.

This is not your father's Ocean House. Again, like most works of new traditional architecture accused of copying the past, the Ocean House is as modern as any contemporary building, from the building- and safety-code upgrades that were, of course, mandatory to the most luxurious aspects of its priciest accommodations. These include high-tech amenities cloaked in traditional raiment that fits them comfortably into the beauty that visitors may be expected to desire.

Even those who will not be happy without some obvious touch of "creativity" may enjoy, here and there, classical ornament pumped up or stretched out to the point of novelty, if not absurdity.

Jeff Riley gave me and a family from Connecticut a tour last week, proudly showing everything from the underground garage -- whose passage into the condos' common area is flanked by a pair of massive Doric columns -- to the spiral mahogany staircase twisting up into a tower topped by a widow's walk. From here, and indeed from many of the windows, balconies, terraces and other observation points, Watch Hill's graceful beach may be seen curving into the distance.

Few tours of buildings have astonished me as much as this tour of Ocean House. The diligence of Centerbrook, and the general contractor, Dimeo Corp., in copying the past was brilliant, including the extensive reuse of lobby furniture, stonework and ornament salvaged from the sainted old Ocean House. Just as amazing was the equally faithful-to-the-past use of the building's historical style in the additions that transform it from an old to a new building. In every corner of the new Ocean House the spirit of the old Ocean House lives on.

I wish I had a nickel for each time some dolt has told me that new traditional architecture is like a doctor using the surgical practices of 1910 to remove a kidney in 2010. Ocean House does many things very well, but it refutes that low, dishonest jive better than any place that I have ever had the pleasure to visit.

David Brussat is a member of The Journal's editorial board (dbrussat@projo.com). His blog at projo.com is called Architecture Here and There.

 Tags  Architecture Centerbrook Architects Dimeo Jeff Riley Ocean House Preservation Watch Hill Westerly RI

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