The Stuart Duncan estate, named “Bonniecrest,” was built for Stuart Duncan (1872-1957), a Midwestern industrialist, on Harrison Avenue, overlooking Brenton Cove in Newport, Rhode Island. John Russell Pope, architect, began work on this mansion in 1912 and continued to work on it throughout the early 1920s. Pope worked with the Olmsted Brothers, the landscape architecture firm of step-brothers, John Charles Olmsted (1852-1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1870-1957), to design the property’s landscape. Bonniecrest was subdivided into condominiums in the early 1980s.
Access is open to members and researchers at the Redwood Library and Athenaeum.
This collection is owned by the Redwood Library and Athenaeum. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Special Collections Librarian of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum.
Stuart Duncan estate architectural records, RLC.Ms.008, Redwood Library and Athenaeum.
This collection consists of architectural drawings and other documents from John Russell Pope and the Olmsted Brothers for Stuart Duncan’s estate, Bonniecrest, in Newport, Rhode Island. Architectural drawings from John Russell Pope served as the plans for certain rooms within the estate such as the breakfast room and the east porch. An undated specification by John Russell Pope of the finish of certain rooms for Stuart Duncan is also found in this collection. This document provides detailed specifics about the materials, dimensions, and expected workmanship by Pope for the vestibule, entrance and stair hall on three floors, living room, gallery, library, dining room, breakfast room, and the corridor under the main stairs for Bonniecrest.
Architectural drawings from the Olmsted Brothers include their plans for planting shrubbery, flowers, and other plants along the estate. A planting order list for the estate from the Olmsted Brothers is also found within in this collection. This list contains the type and quantity of plants to be acquired for the estate and later planted along its grounds. Also included is a topographical map of the Stuart Duncan estate by J. P. Cotton, a civil engineer in Newport, Rhode Island, used by the Olmsted Brothers in the planning.
This collection is arranged in alphabetical order.
Donated by John M. Peixinho, IV in fall 1999.
This collection was first processed in 2000, most likely. Sometime afterward, the large architectural drawings from the Olmsted Brothers and the topographical map by J. P. Cotton were sent to NEDCC for conservation treatment. The drawings were returned fully treated at an unknown date. This collection was fully processed and its finding aid was completed in December 2013.