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Welcome to the
Newport Colony House
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The Newport Colony House is the fourth oldest statehouse still standing in
the United States. It was designed by builder/architect Richard Munday, who also designed
Trinity Church and the Seventh Day Baptist
Meeting House in Newport.The Colony House was built between 1736 and 1739 by Benjamin
Wyatt, and tradition maintains that a great number of African-Americans were employed in
its construction. |
 Photos by Aaron Usher III
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| The building replaced a smaller wooden courthouse built about 1687. The Colony House
was constructed as part of the movement to bring formal town planning to Newport, which
until then had developed in haphazard fashion.It was intended to help transform the
Parade, as Washington Square was then named, into an elegant public space in keeping with
the traditions of English cities. The design of the Colony House is derived from the
English Georgian style popularized by the architect Sir Christopher Wren, but its floor
plan follows the customary layout of English town or guild halls, which often had an open
marketplace on the ground floor and civic offices on the second floor. |
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Many important events associated with the shaping of the United States
occurred at the Colony House. In 1761, the death of George II and the ascension of George
III was announced from the balcony. In 1766, citizens of Newport celebrated the repeal of
the Stamp Act in and around the Colony House. In January and May of 1773, the building
served as the meeting site of the Commission of Inquiry into the burning of the British
revenue schooner Gaspee by Patriots in 1772. On July 20, 1776,
Major John Handy read the Declaration of Independence from the front steps. During the
British occupation of Newport from 1776 to 1779, the Colony House was used as a barracks. |
| After liberating Newport from the British, the
French used the building as a hospital. It is often said that a French chaplain celebrated
the first public Roman Catholic mass in Rhode Island in the Colony House, although there
is no evidence of that. In 1782, the Great Hall on the first floor was the location of a
banquet given by General Rochambeau to honor George Washington. Throughout the 19th
century, the Colony House was used in May of each year for "'Lection Day"
festivities. On this day, the results of the Rhode Island April elections were announced,
the General Assembly convened ceremonially, and officials were inaugurated. Visitors from all
over Rhode Island came to Newport to participate in victory celebrations, political
negotiations, and party conflicts. Newporters considered it a more important holiday than
Christmas. |
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The Colony House served as the primary state house of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations from its completion in 1739 until 1901, when the new state house in
Providence opened. From 1901 to 1926 it was the Newport County Courthouse. Between 1926
and 1932, the building was restored by architect Norman Isham, who simultaneously worked
on two other nearby colonial buildings: The Brick Market and the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House. The Colony House contains a
portrait of George Washington, painted by Gilbert Stuart. In 1962, the building was
designated a National Historic Landmark. |
The Newport Colony House is owned by the State of Rhode Island and
managed by the
Newport Historical Society.
For tour information please visit www.newporthistorytours.org
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