George Champlin Mason (1820-1894)
was born and raised in Newport, RI
to a prominent local family. As a
young man, Mason traveled through
Europe, where he studied
architecture and drawing. He started
his architectural firm in 1860.
Mason's first commission was
Starboard House, a
large stone summer cottage located
on Narragansett Avenue in Newport.
 Mason’s interests were not limited
to architectural design. Before he
launched his career as an architect,
he was, at the age of 29 named
editor of the Newport
Advertiser and was a
correspondent for the
Providence Journal and
the New York Evening
Post. Even during the
height of his career as an architect
he wrote several books such as
Newport and its Cottages
(1875) and The Old House
Altered (1878). In
1854 he was one of several prominent
Newporters that helped to found the
Newport Historical Society.
Mason was also a trustee of Newport
Hospital from its foundation in 1873
and was a director of the
Redwood Library
(America's oldest lending library)
for over thirty years. He designed
its East Wing, known as the Delivery
Room.
Some of Mason’s more visible works
that survive today include the
Jeremiah Stitts House
(1879), which is the present day
Elks Lodge on the corner of Pelham
Street and Bellevue Avenue and the
Fort Adams Commandant House
(1873), the building was used as
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's
Summer White House from
1958 to 1960.
Other notable designs included
Chepstow (1861)
built as the summer residence of
Edmund Schermerhorn (and presently
open for tours by the
Preservation Society of Newport
County) and the
United States Naval War College
Administration Building
(1882), which was his last
commission.
In 1873 Mason designed his own home,
Woodbine Cottage on
Sunnyside Place. For his house, he
chose the Swiss Chalet style, which
he had grown fond of during his
travels in Europe. Externally the
house has an over-hanging second
story, broad projecting eaves, and
gables (filled with tracery of a
Swiss chalet), pretty balconies, a
beautiful piazza and terrace.
At the time of its completion,
 the
house garnered attention for its
intricate exterior woodwork and
beautiful interior. After Mason's
death in 1894 the house remained a
single family home until 1996 when
Sheila and Harlan Tyler acquired the
property and transformed it into the
Architect's Inn. They had lovingly
restored many of the rooms and
furnished it with period antiques.
Just as Sheila and Harlan started to
consider retirement, they were
sought out by old friends and
colleagues, Nick and Brian, who now run the Inn and
continue to share this elegant
private home with guests from around
the world. |
