Guide to the Caleb Claggett House Restoration photographs
, 1959-1960
The Preservation Society of Newport County
424 Bellevue Avenue
Newport, RI 02840
Tel: 401-847-1000
museumaffairs@newportmansions.org
Published in 2025
Collection Overview
| Title: |
Caleb Claggett House restoration photographs |
| Date range: |
1959-1960 |
| Creator: |
Hopf, John T. |
| Extent: |
16 photographs
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| Language of materials: |
English |
| Repository: |
The Preservation Society of Newport County
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| Collection number: |
PSNCA.H.041 |
Scope & content
Includes photographs by John T. Hopf of restoration work at the Caleb Claggett House and of a colonial cemetery in Newport. Some images may depict the "Prescott House," which could be either Prescott Farm or the John Banister House, or is perhaps an error.
This collection has been fully digitized and is available for viewing online at
newportmansions.rediscoverysoftware.comAccess Points
Subject Names
Document Types
Subject Topics
Geographical Names
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in one series by the sequential number written on the back of each print (when present), and then as found.
Historical and Biographical Note
The Caleb Claggett House dates to around 1725 and stands at 22 Bridge Street in Newport’s Point neighborhood, which at the time of its construction was on the waterfront.
Notable clockmaker William Claggett (1694-1748), who lived at 16 Bridge Street in Newport, leased the plot of land on which the house stands to his father Caleb, a baker. The lease stipulated that within 25 years he was to build a house “36 ft. long and 18. ft broad and one bake house 40 ft. long and 20 ft. broad,” and furnish the materials “together with the locks, keys, Bolts, Staples, latches, Hooks, Hinges, Windows, door and glass […].” As part of the agreement, William would have access to a wharf on the property. The wharf and bake house are no longer extant.
The two-story house’s wooden frame with clapboards has brick end walls, with S-shaped iron supports. Despite the brick end, the chimney is central, a floor plan which is unique in Newport. The gambrel roof has a steep pitch and lean-to.
In the early nineteenth century, distiller Simon Newton owned the property, conveying it to his daughters Keziah Powers and Sarah Willson around 1808. The house seems to have been in the Powers family until John Powers and Mary Powers of Bellmont, Ohio sold it to Caleb Tripp in 1825. The house remained in the family of Tripp and his descendants for nearly eighty years, and so the house is also known as the Caleb Tripp House. Tripp’s descendent (possibly his daughter-in-law) Charlotte A. Tripp conveyed it to John A. Leary and Michael T. Leary in 1901; John A. Leary conveyed it to Thomas Martellino in 1914. The Martellino family held the property until 1955, when Paul A. Martellino sold it to Restorations Inc.
Restoration, Inc.’s purchase of the house in December 1955 most likely saved it from demolition. A few months later, Esther Wood Bates purchased the home. Restorations, Inc. completed the restoration. The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documented the house around 1959. The house continues to be privately owned.
John Timothy Hopf (1920-2011) was a Newport-based photographer who chronicled the city’s history and buildings throughout much of the twentieth century. The Newport Mercury and Weekly News began publishing his photographs around 1940.
Hopf conducted his business from his home at 10 Red Cross Terrace. He published several books of his Newport photography, and many of the aerial photographs of Aquidneck Island published from the 1950s onward were taken by Hopf. His brochure Picturesque Newport – America’s First Resort in 1965 established his photography as part of the visual language of Newport’s tourism and commerce in the mid-twentieth century.
Throughout his career, Hopf was involved with the Preservation Society, photographing many of its properties and participating in The Elms Fair in 1977. Urban renewal work and development in Newport interested him and were frequent subjects of his work.
Access & Use
| Access to the collection: |
The collection is open to the public, and there are no restrictions on access. However, the collection can only be seen by scheduled appointment. |
| Use of the materials: |
All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the PSNC Archives and Special Collections are requested to contact the archivist, prior to reproducting, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although the Preservation Society has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim copyright ownership. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the copyright and to obtain any necessary permission from them. |
| Alternate form: |
Digital versions of collections items are available for viewing at newportmansions.rediscoverysoftware.com |
| Preferred citation: |
"Courtesy of the Preservation Society of Newport County." |
| Contact information: |
The Preservation Society of Newport County
424 Bellevue Avenue
Newport, RI 02840
Tel: 401-847-1000
museumaffairs@newportmansions.org
|
Administrative Information
| ABOUT THE COLLECTION |
| Acquisition: |
Unknown source; found in collection. |
| Accruals: |
Additional accruals are not expected. |
| Processing information: |
Archivist Genna Duplisea processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in April 2025. |
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| ABOUT THE FINDING AID |
| Encoding: |
Finding aid encoded by Genna Duplisea, Archivist 2025 April 22.
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| Descriptive rules: |
Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) |
Additional Information
| Location/Existence of copies: |
Digital versions of collections items are available for viewing at newportmansions.rediscoverysoftware.com
|
| Bibliography: |
“200-Year-Old Claggett House Sold,” Newport Daily News, Thursday, September 6, 1955, p. 5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/57439468/. Accessed April 14, 2025.
“50 Booths are Taken for The Elms Fair,” Newport Mercury and Weekly NewsFriday, September 2, 1977, p. 2 https://www.newspapers.com/image/16381246. Accessed April 14, 2025.
“Bridge Street House Sold to Restorations, Inc.,” Newport Daily News, Friday, December 16, 1955, p. 2. https://www.newspapers.com/image/57463337/. Accessed April 14, 2025.
“Camera Club Awards Announced at Meeting,” Newport Mercury and Weekly News, Friday, March 29, 1940, p. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/16373448/. Accessed April 14, 2025.
Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Boucher, Jack E, photographer. Caleb Clagget [sic] House, 22 Bridge Street, Newport, Newport County, RI. Newport Rhode Island Newport County. Documentation Compiled After 1933. https://www.loc.gov/item/ri0043/.
Downing, Antoinette, and Vincent J. Scully, Jr. The Architectural History of Newport, R.I. Second edition—Revised. (New York: American Legacy Press, 1982.)
Jordy, William H. et al., "Caleb Claggett House", [Newport, Rhode Island]. SAH Archipedia. Eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-NE35.
“Local Briefs,” Newport Mercury and Weekly News, Friday, Mar 31, 1939, p. 6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/24494028/. Accessed April 14, 2025.
Newport County real estate records. https://i2l.uslandrecords.com/RI/Newport/D/Default.aspx
“Photographer Seeks Urban Renewal Work,” Newport Mercury and Weekly News, Monday, September 35, 1961, p. 4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/56790174/. Accessed April 14, 2025.
Williamson, Frederick C. "Newport National Historic Landmark District nomination form." Records of the Department of the Interior, Record Group 79: National Park Service. National Archives at College Park, MD [online version available through the Archival Research Catalog at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41375046; April 22, 2025].
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Inventory
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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View of Golden Hill Street looking south from cemetery with slate headstones
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| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Parlor or dining room with fireplace and wainscoting
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14 November 1959 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Fireplace bordered with decorative tiles, and equipment and pipe in foreground
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14 November 1959 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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View through doorway of sink with two water taps
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14 November 1959 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Brick fireplace and chimney with debris in fireplace and on floor
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Oblique view of brick fireplace and chimney, labeled "Prescott House"
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Partially-deconstructed brick fireplace
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Brick fireplace and chimney in basement
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Two people working on restoration in room with fireplace, labeled "Prescott House"
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Room with two fireplaces, one converted to hold a woodstove
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Wide floorboards partially visible under construction debris and a later layer of flooring
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Fireplace with mirror resting on mantel
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1 March 1960 |
| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Workers on ladders and wooden scaffolding outside the Claggett House
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| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Partial view of brick end and back of Claggett House
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| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Detail of woodwork on the edges of a flight of stairs
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| Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Corner of a room with wood moulding around the doors and windows
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