Architect Defends Newport's Newest Mansion

NEWPORT, RI—Andrew DiGiammo, the architect behind the new mansion in the works at 236 Coggeshall Ave., is defending his design. He wants the critics to know he has taken the site and the neighbors into consideration.

"I'm very proud of this work," he said. "My one disappointment, people haven't taken the time to understand what I have tried to do here." Of course, he allowed, critics can always raise questions and form an opinion about a design. But all he has heard from the neighbors, through e-mail messages mostly, has been about trying to stop the house. No one has approached him to ask him to explain the design. Besides the e-mails, they've written letters to the newspapers.

This week, Boston.com published a story about the neighbors' frustrations over the new house, which, they say, looks like s Spaceship, is too big for the property, has too many windows and uses a radial design that doesn't blend with the rest of the neighborhood. The story also quoted uncomplimentary opinions from at least one former member of the city's historical commission.

DiGiammo was hired by Gina and James McCaffrey of Winchester, Mass. The couple has Newport connections, he said. For one thing, they were married here and held their reception at then Aster's Beechwood. Also, they have summered in Newport and have other ties to Rhode Island. He doesn't know how they plan to use it because both still work. However, it is being designed as a year round home. He couldn't say how many rooms are planned.

"I just never counted rooms," he said.

The house is sited (on what used to be two lots) diagonally across the street from the Spouting Rock Beach Association, popularly known as Bailey's Beach. The lots were merged, and are now one lot. An existing structure was demolished to make room for the new construction, DiGiammo said.

"The dwelling is designed in the shingle style with its form being derived through careful analysis of the sun paths, views, prevailing breezes and context," he said, noting Newport is full of examples of shingle style, which the firm of McKim, Mead and White and Peabody & Stearns popularized at the end of the nineteenth century.

The exterior will be red cedar shingle, he said.

"The shingle style by its very nature allows for much plan flexibility and variation," he said and added he used a radial design for this home to take advantage of the "outside natural light and views." With a radial design, the "circulation works from inside out," he said.

The house has a "very nice" water view and does not block any neighbors' view, he said. The new house also doesn't block any neighbors' light.

"We did a lot of analysis of the site," he said. He studied the view corridors, the breezes, and created sun path diagrams for various times of the year.

"The sun travels differently at different times of the year," he said, and those paths affect how light and shade lands on the property.

DiGiammo approached this job the same way he does every project, he said.

"I carefully analyze the site," he said. Then he listens to the owners' ideas and finally "fits the owners' needs to specific site." In fact, the project complies with all the zoning regulations, he said, so there will be no public hearing at the zoning board.

"It's a matter of right," he said and added the issues are typically decided on density.

"Our density is lower than all the neighbors," he said. In reality, his clients could have opted to build two houses on the original two lots.

"So, I just want to stress, we did perform careful site analysis," he said. "I chose to work in the shingle style," which McKim, Mead and White popularized in the late 1800's. Their first example was in Bristol, he said.

"It afforded more design freedom" than the typical colonial reproduction," he said. "Instead of a box, it breaks out," he said. These designs are "very rarely symmetrical" but are more "balanced" and allow the designer "freedom to react to the site." But Newport architecture comes in "every shape, size, form and material," he said.

"People can argue whether they like a design or not," he said, but they can't say this one isn't "in keeping with the context."

Courtesy Graphic Caption: Rendering of 236 Coggeshall Ave.