High Tide (Newport, Rhode Island)

 house, place with historical importance, cottage, mansion / manor house / villa

High Tide, the William Starr Miller House (1900; Warren & Wetmore [New York], architects;

Odgen Codman, Jr. [Boston and New York], architect for interiors): Built at the edge of a hillcrest above Almy Pond, the centerpiece of this 71⁄2-acre estate is a stone-foundation, stuccoed, U-plan, high-hip-roof house in the Norman mode with a 21⁄2-story main block to the south, a 11⁄2-story wing perpendicular to the main block, and a 1-story wing perpendicular to the wing and parallel to the main block; because of the change in grade, the basement story is fully exposed on the east and north elevations. The main block, with semi-octagonal-plan east and west elevations and a semicircular-plan bay extending south from the center of the south elevation, has round-arch French doors on the south and west elevations and casement windows on the remaining elevations as well as the upper story, and a balustraded balcony encircles the second story of the south bay; the principal entrance is within a semi-octagonal-plan pavilion in the courtyard at the reentrant angle between the main block and the perpendicular wing. Six tall parged chimneys extend from the roof of the main block, and there are 2 chimneys on the north wing and 1 chimney on the east wing. The 1-story north wing has hip-roof dormers, a square-plan cupola at the west end of the ridgeline, and vehicular entrances on the north elevation at the basement level. A small, L-plan, hip-roof service building is located northeast of the main house. The property is simply yet picturesquely landscaped, and a swimming pool is located to the northeast of the house.

Industrialist Miller (1857-1935, Harvard, 1878, Columbia LL.B., 1880) was a brother-in-law of architect Whitney Warren. This is the only house by this firm in Newport, and their only other built commission is the Newport Country Club at 264 Harrison Avenue (q.v.). (2 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site; 1 non-contributing structure)