The Old Colony House, also known as Old State House or Newport Colony House, is located at the east end of Washington Square in the city of Newport,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is a

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

Georgian-

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

building completed in 1741, and was the meeting place for the colonial legislature. From

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

in 1776 to the early 20th century, the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

alternated its sessions between here and the

Rhode Island State House The Rhode Island State House, the capitol of the state of Rhode Island, is located at 900 Smith Street just below the crest of Smith Hill, on the border of downtown in Providence. It is a neoclassical building designed by McKim, Mead & White wh ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

. The building has received little alteration since its construction. As one of the best-maintained surviving Georgian public buildings in the

from the colonial era, it was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

(NHL) in 1960. It is also a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

to the Newport Historic District, later designated an NHL itself. The building is still owned by the state, but managed as a museum by the

Newport Historical Society The Newport Historical Society is a historical society in Newport, Rhode Island that was chartered in 1854 to collect and preserve books, manuscripts, and objects pertaining to Newport's history. History of the society Although the society ...

. Besides its political and architectural importance, the building was the site of many important

Revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

events in Rhode Island.

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

and

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War I ...

have both been guests at the building. It has been used as a

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

and a location for a

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

film.

Building

The two-and-a-half-story seven-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

front facade looks down the square to the similar Brick Market (now the

Museum of Newport History The Museum of Newport History is a history museum in the Old Brick Market building in the heart of Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It is owned and operated by the Newport Historical Society at 127 Thames Street on Washington Square. The ...

), another NHL. The entryway is matched by a door and

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

immediately above it, capped by a

trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a convex quadrilateral in Eu ...

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...

with two round windows and a clock flanked by a pair of

dormer window A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s on either side. Atop the roof is an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, w ...

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, f ...

. It sits atop a raised

basement A basement or cellar is one or more Storey, floors of a building that are completely or partly below the storey, ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, ...

History

Previous to the construction of the Colony House, the site had been home to a small wooden courthouse built in 1687. The new building was among several projects undertaken as an attempt to apply formal

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is c ...

to the development of Newport, which had previously lacked it. By putting the home of the colonial assembly at the top of the Parade (as Washington Square was then known), the town's leadership hoped to create a public space similar to that found in the English cities they or their parents had emigrated from. Architect Richard Munday's design, one of his last, emulates

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...

's buildings on the exterior but incorporates an interior layout similar to that of English town or guild halls. The first floor was thus an open space that could be used as a market, with civic offices upstairs.

Revolution

Many of the events leading up to and surrounding the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

in Rhode Island centered on the Colony House. In 1761, news of the death of King George II and his succession by his grandson

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

was announced from the balcony. Three years later, the inaugural board meeting of the Corporation of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island, which became

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, took place in the building. In 1765, Newport's citizens gathered around to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act, which led to riots that damaged the houses of three prominent supporters of the Act, including the nearby Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, an NHL which is today the oldest house in the city. Tensions between the colonies and Britain continued to grow, leading to the

Gaspée Affair The ''Gaspee'' Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS ''Gaspee'' was a British customs schooner that enforced the Navigation Acts in and around Newport, Rhode Island, in 1772. It ran aground in shallow ...

of 1772, in which a ship of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

was burned off present-day

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

by colonists resisting the enforcement of the Navigation Acts. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the incident was convened at Colony House the following year. Although it could have sent any suspects to London to face trial before an

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

court, a provision which greatly concerned most colonists, it found insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone. The incident further galvanized colonial opposition to British rule. The colony's General Assembly began preparing for war, and ordered that weapons be stored in Colony House in 1774.Carroll, ''op. cit.'', 263. Two years later, the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

was read from the front steps. The British

occupied ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...

Newport, then the colonial capital, later that year. During that time the building was used as a

. When the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

joined the war later and drove the British out of the city, they used the building as a

. It is widely believed that a French Army

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...

celebrated Rhode Island's first

Roman Catholic Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Chri ...

at Colony House during this period, but no evidence has been found of this. After the

surrender at Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

, in 1782, Rochambeau held a

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

in the building's first-floor Great Hall to honor

. A portrait of Washington, painted by Rhode Island native

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

, hangs in the first floor. In 1786 Trevett v. Weeden one of the earliest cases of

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...

was decided in the building by the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial N ...

.''Power of Federal Judiciary Over Legislation'' by John Hampden Dougherty (Putnam, 1912) pg. 28-3

/ref>

James Mitchell Varnum James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 559. in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.Wilkins, ''Memoirs of the Rh ...

successfully represented the defendant in the cause.

1842 Constitutional convention

In September 1842, delegates met at Colony House to draft a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

to replace the 1663

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

. The convention, held as a response to the

Dorr Rebellion The Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842) (also referred to as Dorr's Rebellion, Dorr's War or Dorr War) was an attempt by disenfranchised residents to force broader democracy in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, where a small rural elite was in control of ...

, debated questions of expansion of citizenship and suffrage. Prior to 1842, the vote was held only by a small minority of rural elite landowners. By November 1842, a new Constitution was put before the voters of the state. The new Constitution, which passed 7024 to 51, expanded the vote to include African-Americans, becoming the first state to do so. But it also contained a $134 suffrage qualification to block the vote from naturalized citizens.

19th century

The occupation of Newport had forced the colonists to establish their capital at Providence, and it remained there after

. But the

continued to meet in Newport every other year, and one day each May known as 'Lection Day. After the ceremonial meeting, results of the state's April elections would be announced, and the winners

inaugurated In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...

on the spot. It was Newport's most important holiday for many years. Newport RI Courthouse postcard

In 1900, with Rhode Island's current capitol building mostly complete, the legislature ended its tradition of alternating sessions between the state's two largest cities. It subsequently became the Newport County courthouse.

20th century

It continued to serve as the courthouse until 1926. Afterwards, it and the other two future NHLs nearby were the first three historic nearby buildings renovated by

Norman Isham Norman Morrison Isham (1864–1943) was a prominent architectural historian, author, and professor at Brown University and RISD. He was an ardent preservationist and a pioneer in the study of early American architecture. Biography Norman M ...

at the behest of the

. That work was completed in 1932. In 1957, the building received its first sitting American president,

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. In a short speech from the steps, he began a two-day visit to the city and its historic sites by praising the city's hospitality and expressing regret that his wife, who had accompanied him from Washington, could not join him at the building. "It is her great ambition to visit so many of these places," he said, "particularly those where the heroes of the Revolutionary times spent so much of their time." His administration its last year designated the building one of the first

s in 1960. Six years after that, it was duly listed on the inaugural

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Newport's well-preserved historic character drew

to the city in 1997, where it stood in for mid-19th century

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, during

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

for '' Amistad''. Colony House's exterior can be seen in the background in a few scenes, and the courtroom scenes were filmed inside.

Rhode Island Senate The Rhode Island Senate is the upper house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the lower house being the Rhode Island House of Representatives. It is composed of 38 Senators, each of wh ...

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, who represents the area, got the Senate to pass a resolution calling for the legislature to again meet in Newport on the

centenary {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

of their last meeting there in 1900. The

manages the building for the state, which still owns it. It is open as a museum for tours during the summer months. It is also available for event rentals.

Gallery

File:Historic American Buildings Survey, John Rugen, Photographer, before 1917, VIEW FROM THE SOUTHWEST. - Colony House, Washington Square, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,9-7-crop.jpg, Old Colony House before 1917 File:VIEW OF WEST FRONT FROM THE SOUTHWEST - Colony House, Washington Square, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,9-27.tif, West Front File:Historic American Buildings Survey, Arthur W. LeBoeuf, Photographer, 1937 FRONT ELEVATION. - Colony House, Washington Square, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,9-1.tif, Front Elevation in 1937 File:FIRST FLOOR FROM THE SOUTHEAST - Colony House, Washington Square, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,9-29.tif, First Floor File:COURTROOM FROM THE NORTHEAST - Colony House, Washington Square, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,9-34.tif, Courtroom

References

External links

Official website
* {{Rhode Island Government buildings completed in 1739 Former state capitols in the United States National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Museums in Newport, Rhode Island History museums in Rhode Island Georgian architecture in Rhode Island County courthouses in Rhode Island Government buildings in Rhode Island Clock towers in Rhode Island Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Newport, Rhode Island Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Rhode Island 1739 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies