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Earles Court Tower

Restoration of an Historical Landmark

Pictures of Earles Court Tower

January 18, 2014 by EarlesCareTaker Leave a Comment

Pictures of Earles Court Narragansett, RI – Here are several pictures of Earles Court Tower, new and old. Several of these were produced from historical postcards of the area. If you have other historical pictures of Earles Court that are not depicted here, please reach out to us via the Contact page, as we’d be very interested in obtaining a copy for inclusion on this website.

earles court tower
This is one of my favorite photographs of the Earles Court Tower, as the griffin detail is incredible.

earles court tower
An old post card depicts a head-on view of the towers looking generally easterly. This one really shows the assembly of cottages that once populated this landscape.

earles court tower
Another closeup of Earles Court Tower depicted on an early colorful post card. It really is a fantastic rendering and I’m doing some research to find out who drew it.

earles court tower
This is a pretty cool early view of Kantara Green taken from the top of Earles Court Tower, taken in approximately 1912.

earles court tower
If I had to pick my favorite of the Towers, this would be it, as it depicts where I live today. Anyway, this is a terrific view of the Earles Court Tower, the cottages and an Ocean View. Note that lack of any trees all the way to the Ocean. The amount of trees present in this area today are too numerous to count. Again, produced from a wonderful color postcard looking west from Kantara Green.

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Another terrific angle shot of Earles Court Tower and the cottages and a view of the surrounding landscape, naked of trees at that time.

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This a close-up photograph Earles Court Tower, looking directly up the eastern side of the stone base of the tower. I’m proud to say, this photograph was taken by me!

earles court tower
This a picture of Earles Court Tower on the day of the Jubilee and celebration of the first donation towards the restoration of the tower.

earles court tower
This cartoon, drawn by Don Bousquet, appeared on the handout flyer that was provided to attendees of the Jubilee and celebration of the first donation towards the restoration of the tower. I look forward to the day I can take a real picture of this!

Filed Under: Photos Tagged With: earles court, Earles Court Narragansett, earles court tower, Erales Court Tower, Kantara Green, Ocean View, RI

Green Sustainability – An Early Initiative

January 18, 2014 by EarlesCareTaker Leave a Comment

As discussed in Scientific American’s Architects and Builders Edition in March 1887, the unique tower proposed for Earle’s Court, was an early example of green sustainable development that is once again gaining popularity here in the 21st century.

Earles Court Tower

Today, Residential Cluster Developments, or conservation development, is the clustering of residential homes, with shared utilities and extra land utilized as open space, recreation or agriculture, perhaps situated over underground engineered wetlands that treat waste water generated by the homes. It is becoming increasingly popular in subdivision development because it allows the developer to spend much less on land, it is considered sustainable and it makes use of and preserves open space.

As discussed in Wikipedia, in many ways cluster development has been practiced since the earliest communities — from the medieval village to the New England town, like Narragansett. Most of the seacoast properties in Narragansett, RI were improved with unique isolated structures, although several clusters of large summer cottages were also erected, with each cluster having similar design, construction and aesthetics. The most prominent of these clusters became known as Earles Court, which were built between 1886 and 1887, and consisted of four large Late Victorian dwellings along the south side of Earles Court Road. These dwellings were designed by D and J Jardine and Constable Brothers of New York, who were commissioned for the project by Edward Earle. Mr. Earle was a New York Lawyer and an influential summer resident who fell in love with Narragansett and wanted an extensive development with a shared water tower centralized on the property to include a griffin to protect the small community.

As depicted on the Scientific American cover, it appears that the water tower was originally designed to also house a wind mill to generate power that could be shared among the homes. However, there is no evidence that the actual tower was constructed with the windmill. All available photographs of the tower depict it to be topped with a weather vane instead. Either way, Earles Court Tower represents one of the early versions of sustainable development and should be preserved for future generations to learn from.

Filed Under: Green Sustainability Tagged With: Earle Court, earles court, England, Narragansett, New England, Residential Cluster Developments, Scientific American, water tower

About Us

My name is Vincent Jacques and I live within a football field’s length from Earles Court Tower, right in proximity to where one of the first Earels Court cottages had existed. As the owner of VinsDomains, I thought I do my part and create a website in hopes of increasing awareness of the project, raising more funds to get it done and to document the progress of things as they occur.

My ultimate goal is to document the construction process with several photos per day, in order to create a time lapse video of its reconstruction. However, like we say throughout this website, there is a long way to go to raise the funds necessary to see this project to its end. I plan to do my part to contribute to any fundraisers that are held and will utilize my online skills to raise outside capital from people who believe some historic preservation is vital to our society.

Let me be the first to express my gratitude for visiting us here and for considering a donation to the cause!

What Can I Do?

What can you do? Glad you asked! While Mr. Briggs donation of $10,000 through the John Paul Mitchell Foundation was an awesome start, many more dollars need to be raised to see this project through. For now, if you would like to make a donation towards the effort, you can make a check payable to:

“Town of Narragansett/ECWT”
25 Fifth Avenue
Narragansett, RI

This project cannot happen without your help! Over the coming months, we will be planning some fundraising events for this cause. So, if you cannot afford a donation at this time, perhaps you can afford to donate your time or gift towards our upcoming fundraising events in 2014. If YOU would like to get involved, please complete the contact form below and we will be in touch soon!

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Earles Court Tower Jubilee

November 24, 2013 by EarlesCareTaker Leave a Comment

Earles Court Tower Jubilee – On Columbus Day, October 14, 2013, a number of citizens from the Town of Narragansett got together at Earles Court Tower to take part in a Jubilee Celebration, which included the first donation towards the restoration of the Tower for $10,000. The event also featured the revealing of architectural drawings of what the restored tower would look like. The event was capped off with a “125” people formation for the Jubilee, which was captured in an aerial photograph taken by Don Bousquet (see the picture below). I was fortunate enough to have attended and video record the event, which can be seen below.

Earles Court Tower Restoration Donation Ceremony

As can be seen in the video, James Callahan of the Narragansett Town Council kicked things off by introducing Keith Lescarbeau, Chairman of the Narragansett District Historic Commission. Mr. Lescarbeau stressed that this is just the very beginning of a long process to get to the finish line. As he stated, once construction begins, the majority of the work to pull the project off will have already been completed. The majority of the work is on the front end, including some serious fundraising that will be required to see this project to the end. He discussed the question as to why take on a project like this during these hard economic times and talked about the dwindling number of historic structures that survive the wrecking ball, fire or mother nature over time and how preserving a select few of these is an important thing to do.

earles court tower

Mr. Lescarbeau, with the help of Sallie Latimer, then revealed the architectural drawing of what is proposed for the tower restoration. The stone base of the tower currently sits at 26’8″ high, while the proposed restored tower will stand an impressive 81′ high, which is as high as The Towers, another restored historical Narragansett landmark along Ocean Road. The finished project will also support a 22 foot carbon fiber griffen, just as it appeared all those years ago. What an impressive sight that will be!

earles court tower

The microphone was then passed along to Mr. James Briggs, who provided Sallie Latimer with a check of $10,000 to start out this project on the right foot. Ms. Latimer, who was responsible for organizing the event, was very much appreciative of Mr. Briggs and talked about his service as a veteran of World War II. With the help of the assistants of Don Bousquet, she then organized the entire crowd to assemble along Earles Court Road in front of the tower to form a human chain 125 to celebrate both the Tower and Narragansett’s 125th Jubilee anniversary. Don Bousquet and his son Nathan Bousquet then utilized there “magic” portable flying camera device to take aerial photographs of the assembled neighbors. It really was fun to be a part of and even more fun to have documented the event for you to now enjoy!

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earles court tower

A big hat’s off to Richard and Sallie Latimer; Mr. James Briggs and family; James Callaghan , Town Council President; John Paul Mitchell Foundation; Don Bousquet and son; James Transue; Mark Hintsa; The Gibson Avenue Association; Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner; Patty Roosa; Michael Delucca; David Presbrey; Keith Lescarbeau; Shaws of Wakefield and Jerry’s Hardware. A big thanks as well to Narragansett Town Council, Narragansett Department of Public Works, Narragansett Community Development Department, Narragansett Parks and Recreation Department and the Narragansett Police Department, who also contributed to this event.

earles court tower

Earles Court Tower Restoration Donation Ceremony

Earles Court Tower Restoration Donation Ceremony

Filed Under: Tower Jubilee Tagged With: Don Bousquet, earles court, earles court tower, Narragansett, Sallie Latimer, tower restoration, water tower, water tower restoration

Earles Court Water Tower History

November 24, 2013 by EarlesCareTaker Leave a Comment

Earles Court Tower History – In the 1880’s, Narragansett, RI, specifically Narragansett Pier, was a bustling go to summer destination for statesmen and highly regarded professionals from around the country.  By that time, Ocean Road was already lined with numerous hotels that were primarily built between 1856 and 1871.  People from as far as Chicago, St. Louis, Washington, Richmond, New York and Philadelphia  frequently visited and revisited Narragansett Pier, which was gaining popularity for its fine bathing and sandy beach.

With the increase of summer populations, various churches were constructed, the Narragansett Pier Railroad was added and numerous structures were added around the landscape.  In 1882, Ocean Road was extended all the way to Point Judith, through the estates of John K. Brown and Joseph Peace Hazard, large land owners in the area at that time.  Shortly thereafter, land from these estates were sold to others, were stipulations that the land never be used for commercial purposes.

Most developed these seacoast properties with unique isolated structures, although several clusters of large summer cottages were also erected, with each cluster having similar design,  construction and aesthetics. The most prominent of these clusters became known as Earles Court, which was built between 1886 and 1887, and consisted of four large Late Victorian dwellings along the south side of Earles Court Road.  These dwellings were designed by D and J Jardine and Constable Brothers of New York , who were commissioned for the project by Edward Earle. Mr. Earle was a New York Lawyer and an influential summer resident who fell in love with Narragansett and wanted an extensive development.

earles court tower

Earle’s Court Tower History

A similar cottage cluster known as The Sherry Cottages was constructed just to the west in the late 1880s.  These dwellings were arranged around a grassy court commonly referred to as Kentara Green, situated at the head of Earles Court Road and featuring Sherry’s Casino, a centralized restaurant serving the clustered cottages.

Aside from the eclectic and eye-catching cottages themselves, a shared water tower set in the middle of Earles Court Road, served as one of the very early green initiatives and beginning of a trend of clustered homes with shared common utilities/services.  It certainly was the first of its kind in Narragansett. The original tower consisted of a wooden superstructure, which sat upon a cylindrical stone base and included a balcony that incorporated a spectacular giant griffin. The tower was built between 1887-1888, the same year the Town of Narragansett was incorporated.

Before being constructed, a drawn design of the structure appeared on the cover of the Architects and Builders Edition of Scientific American in March 1887.

earles court tower

Earle’s Court Tower History

According to Wikipedia, a griffin is a legendary creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion and with the head and wings of an eagle, with the eagle’s talons as its front feet.  As the eagle was considered to be the king of birds and the lion the king of beasts, the griffin was a powerful and majestic creature that was considered the king of all creatures.

earles court tower

Griffins were known for guarding priceless possessions and treasures, which may be why it was constructed there in the first place.  Unfortunately, the power of the griffin and the water tower itself was not enough to stop an awful fire that destroyed three of the cottages in 1912.  This fire actually started in the kitchen of Sherry’s Casino and with heavy winds sometimes typical of the area, crossed over Gibson Avenue to do more damage.  The early stages of the fire were actually photographed and can be seen in an historic postcard from that day.

Earles Court Tower

In 1928, a violent storm destroyed the upper wooden portion of the tower, but the cylindrical stone base of Earles Court Tower still stands today and serves as a reminder of the rich historic past and interesting architectural history of the area. It is rumored that the former owner saved the griffin, although it has never be found.

In 1999, the Town of Narragansett acquired the tower as a gift from Anthony and Lucille Micacci. As can be seen on this website, there is an effort underway to raise funds to restore this wonderful piece of history for all future generations to cherish and learn from.

earles court tower

Earles Court Tower History

Filed Under: Earles Court Tower History Tagged With: Earle Court, earles court, Earles Court Road, earles court tower, Narragansett, Narragansett Pier, New York, tower restoration, water tower, water tower restoration

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