Newport Historic Scale Model Homes, a local company started by Jan Slee and with the able assistance of Charlene Rich, owner of the dollhouse store” Miniature Occasions”, can help recreated a model of your home. Newport Historic Scale Model Homes got its start by a simple desire to create a gingerbread house for the 2010 Christmas in Newport Historic House Tour.
“Having been asked to show our hou
se for the tour, I felt it important to create something unique for the event which raises money for the Christmas in Newport Organization. Tillinghast, the mid 1700s, and Tuckerman, in the late 1800s were chiefly responsible for the structural and design aspects of the glorious home. Although the house was built c. 1758, some liberties were taken in choices of material….
• Exterior was clad in 1700s straight clapboard, currently it is sided with a beaded clapboard dating back to the late 1880s
• The foundation is made of stones found on a local beach to look like stacked shale, currently it is constructed of pink granite dating back to late 1880s
• The roof is made of 3,300 individual wooden tiles made to look like red scalloped slate shingles with copper roof hips and widows walk dating back to the late 1880s
• The dormers are made of clapboard siding with square shaped red slate roof shingles and a copper ridge cap dating back to the late 1880s
• The interior started as a 4 square Georgian house which meant that each of the 2 floors had 4 equal sized rooms….in the late 1880s the front 2 second floor rooms were combined to form a ballroom
• The first floor rooms were made to look like the original post and beam with plaster walls; paneling in the hall dating back to the late 1880s
• The second floor is all done in quarter sawn tiger oak raised paneling dating back to the late 1880s….originally stained, some room were later painted at the turn of the 20th century….the wallpaper is present day
• The flooring dates back to the late 1800s made entirely of inch square quarter sawn tiger oak lead splined in 9 by square mats laid as tiles
• Most of the art work are photos of some 60 oils painted by my mother…..photos of existing clocks and art work also adorn the walls
Building this scale house was very enlightening experience, it teaches one the 3 Ps; patience, precision and persistence.