An extraordinary estate in Newport, Rhode Island has come to the open market. ‘The Bird House,’ the home of late Campbell’s Soup heiress and philanthropist Dorrance Hill ‘Dodo’ Hamilton, is priced at $12.5 million.
The house is a recent build dating to 2012. A contemporary interpretation of a classic shingle-style, it is situated on a bluff overlooking the coast of the Aquidneck peninsula. It’s a grand property from the outset: one set of the home’s gates are flanked by a majestic stone outcropping and a sheltered bit of meadow, and a long arcing driveway extends to the other.
The house itself begins with a porte-cochere, and extends asymmetrically. The roof is capped with a pair of stone chimneys.
The interiors tell the story of a dream-house design: the design and materials of every room was carefully considered and individually approached. Design elements throughout the house vary wildly, but, as the home was a labor of love, it all comes together and extends from the personality of its owner. Geothermic climate control gives the house an eco-friendly dimension.
There’s the shingle-style blend of American aristocratic grandiosity and rustic accents; the fireplace in the double-height great room is contrasted with soaring lines that suggest a lovely sense of continuation and possibility, while the kitchen blends cottagey charm, gothic tropes, and a disarming sense of scale.
The tones used balance cool and warm nicely, sometimes surprisingly, and the naturalistic influence of the wood-clad rotunda dayroom are juxtaposed neatly with the understated sophistication of the library. Visual texture throughout presents the eye with an ever-changing landscape.
The property extends to 3.67 acres, and includes gardens, a scenic pond, and the romantic landscaping common to estates in the Northeast.
Hamilton’s interest ranged from the arts and social responsibility to horticulture and zoology; she founded the SVF—Swiss Village Farm—Foundation in the late 1990’s, which preserves rare breeds of livestock. She passed away this spring. Her net worth was estimated at $1.3 billion.
