Click on the images below to see them in our online catalog.
In 1897, Patrick H. Horgan, the owner of the Thorndike Hotel which stood where BankNewport is now, built three summer cottages in the block south of the hotel. The cottages were extensions of the hotel. Families who rented them enjoyed hotel privileges at the Thorndike while still having the privacy and flexibility of their own home.
He named the cottages Betty, Nina, and Myra, after his daughters. The cottages were never identical, and each has been changed somewhat over the past 125 years, losing a balcony or gaining a window, for example, but still presenting a unified façade to the street and the bay beyond.
Only Betty, at 17 Conanicus Avenue, has been winterized. In 2012, new owners undertook the renovation and expansion of the house as a year-round residence. Jamestown architect Abby Campbell-King endeavored to maintain as many historic characteristics as possible.
One feature that was lost to the renovated house but preserved through donation to the historical society was an ‘over door’ stained glass window that originally stood above a pair of pocket doors between the dining room and the front parlor. The window is now on display in Jamestown Town Hall as part of the Resort Era exhibit that decorates the back stairwell to the second floor.
To learn more about the Three Sisters, join us for the 2024 House Tour on September 21 when all of the Three Sister houses will be open to the public.
