My favorite architect is Henry Hobson Richardson. I got a chance to do an adaptive reuse project on a stable for one of his (HHR) most famous designs, the Watts Sherman House on Shepard Avenue in Newport RI. Much of the design was probably by Stanford White who worked in Richardson office at the time. I have two things in common with H. H. Richardson. We both graduated from Harvard University and we both did projects on the Watts Sherman estate grounds.

The first thing I had to do was prove that the stables existed and that H. H. Richardson designed it. A recent book by Jeffrey Ochsner said, “Richardson’s sketchbook includes specifications for a stable which might have been built at the same time as the house, no drawings have survived; and the building, if it was ever built, does not remain.” I sent Mr. Ochsner a photo and asked “what’s this? He replied “oops!” A trip to the Houghton Library at Harvard University to find an entry from H.H. Richardson’s sketch book with his “specification” for the Watts Sherman stable proved the point.

The project consisted of converting and renovating the stable’s second floor rooms, the carriage space below, and a motor car garage on the fist floor south end into apartments. Some exterior restoration was also involved. The project was done for a private client and was an early "Tax Credit project.” It is now the residence for the President of Salve Regina University.

Photographs are courtesy of Salve Regina University https://salve.edu/presidents-house