At Newport’s Gardiner House, HBO’s “Gilded Age” History Meets Modern Hospitality
Named after an American impressionist painter, the 21-room boutique hotel beckons with distinction.
Photo by Nick Mele
This article is from the winter 2025 issue of Boston Home. Sign up here to receive a subscription.
Overlooking Newport Harbor, Gardiner House is a love letter to the glories of Gilded Age design. The 21-room boutique hotel was five years in the making, a project undertaken by business partners Howard Cushing and Wirt Blaffer. For those anticipating the opening of the three-story white-clapboard manse that rose from a former parking lot last year—it was a shipyard before that—it was worth the wait.
Gardiner House is named after Cushing’s great-grandfather, Howard Gardiner Cushing—the celebrated American impressionist painter—and much of the hotel’s design elements take cues from his family 1860s Newport “cottage,” the Ledges, which you may have seen on the HBO television series The Gilded Age. The hotel’s soaring entry hall, for one, features a fantastical forest scene against a vivid blue background that’s a re-creation of a mural in Mr. Gardiner Cushing’s entry hall.
The foyer’s curved stairway winds along the fantastical mural created by Twenty2 Wallpaper + Textiles / Photo by Nick Mele
With rich green walls and a fireplace, the Studio Bar features a crafty cocktail menu. / Photo by Nick Mele
The Sun Porch has prime water views. / Photo by Michael P.H. Clifford
From the stone checkerboard floor, the foyer’s curved staircase winds up toward a massive white Murano glass chandelier. The main level’s signature green-lacquered Studio Bar is another design marvel with a gold-leafed recessed ceiling. The glass-encased Sun Porch is a spot for gathering amid majestic water views, while the Harbor Lawn is a lush, verdant oasis to take in the setting. The Gardiner Ballroom has already become a coveted place to hold a grand celebration. The on-site restaurant, Flora, was named for artist and socialite Flora Payne Whitney, daughter of Gertrude Whitney and granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1905, Howard Gardiner Cushing was commissioned to paint Flora, and the stunning portrait serves as design inspiration for many of the elements that are featured in the interior dining room.
The property’s architecture and interior design are a collaboration between Cushing, Blaffer, local architecture firm Herk Works, and New York–based design firm Space Exploration. A cohesive palette of blues, greens, and pops of coral and lilac runs throughout the guest rooms, where rattan accents, bamboo-cane furnishings, and custom upholstered headboards exude a classic, time-honored appeal that feels luxuriously of the moment, too.
Each guest room has its own identity. / Photo by Nick Mele
Photo by Nick Mele
First published in the print edition of Boston Home’s Winter 2025 issue, with the headline, “Gilded Glamour.”
