News and Articles

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part blog series. Lippitt House's full exterior masonry facade is being restored for the first time in its history. This massive undertaking involves repointing the exterior brickwork and repairing or replacing badly deteriorated brownstone trim. “Lippitt House and ‘The Brown Decades’: The Rise, Fall, and Endurance of Brownstone” explores brownstone as an important 19th-century building material and illustrates how the history of brow

Preserve Rhode Island (Preserve RI) is profoundly disappointed by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's (ACHP) July 24 vote to advance sweeping revisions to the regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, 36 CFR Part 800. The tools our nation relies on to protect its irreplaceable historic and cultural resources are under direct threat — and once again, the process by which that threat was advanced should trouble anyone who cares

The co-chairs of the Preserve Rhode Island board today released the following message:

John Virgilio is the executive director of Kent County Community Development, a non-profit community development corporation focused on the acquisition and operation of affordable housing in RI. He has extensive experience in the real estate industry, spanning ownership of single and multi-family rentals, extensive renovations and management of rental property for others, and as a licensed realtor. He has worked side by side with his brother Mike on the operation of Virgilio

Arctic Mill, West Warwick For years, Preserve RI has partnered with Grow Smart RI to advocate for the state’s Historic Tax Credit (HTC) program. This program has a proven track record – it has generated over $2.18 billion in total investment into the state and has generated approximately 20% of all new housing from 2013 through 2023. After unsuccessful efforts to include funding for the program in the Governor’s budget, we worked with key allies in both the House and Senate t

From Louisiana, Bailey is joining the Preserve Rhode Island team as the Preservation Programs Manager. She earned a Bachelor's in Cultural Resource Management and Public History from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2018, followed by a Master's degree in History in 2020. For nearly a decade, she has worked alongside preservation professionals in education, advocacy, and historic preservation programs. Most recently, Bailey served as Louisiana's National Register Coordinat

On Being American | Contemporary Artworks, Echoes of the Past is an exhibition reimagining the historic house through the work of five contemporary artists. each drawing on the house's architecture, time period, and stories to explore the theme "On Being American." Curator Susan Hardy reflects that, "If you look at the whole of the installation, you see so much more than the history you would associate with a 161-year- old mansion. A bigger story unfolds and conversation beg

Entitled Patterns in Color and Flow, Wright’s installation transforms the Lippitt House Music Room through immersive images and regional waterways, offering viewers an opportunity to reflect on the unseen systems of labor and the histories flowing beyond the frame which allow the Lippitt House to exist.

Lynne Harlow’s evocative cotton installation on the floor of the library contemplates the question, “how little is enough?”

Textile artist Amalia Goldona Broche’s trio of textile works center the experiences and memories of the laborers that sustained life at the Lippitt House.