Peabody & Stearns designed residences for nearly every housing need; over 70 houses in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood; resort cottages in Northeast Harbor, Maine; Lenox, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island; and suburban and urban dwellings in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. Formats and materials varied according to location and to the client’s wishes.

Vinland, Ochre Point, Newport, Rhode Island
Original Owner: Catharine Lorillard Wolfe
Year Built: 1882
Current Owner: Salve Regina University
Material: Longmeadow, Massachusetts red sandstone.

Wolfe was purported to be the wealthiest single woman of her day. Vinland was enormous—168 long by 58’ deep (later enlarged by Hamilton McKown Twombly), decorated in Aesthetic Movement style, with interior elements by William Morris, Burne-Jones and Walter Crane.
See: Rebecca A. Rabinow. “Catharine Lorillard Wolfe,” Apollo Magazine, March 1998; Sanitary Engineer Magazine, March 26, 1885; George W. Sheldon, Artistic Country Seats (1886-1887).

Rockhurst, Ochre Point, Newport, Rhode Island
Original Owner: Mrs. H. Mortimer Brooks
Year Built: 1891
Current Owner: Demolished. Carriage House privately owned.
Material: Rocky Farm stone and wood

The style of Rockhurst was influenced by the chateaux of the Loire Valley. Mrs. Brooks resided on Fifth Avenue, NYC, and had a summer house on Long Island in addition to this massive cottage on Bellevue Avenue and The Cliffs. The floor plan of Rockhurst incorporated open air terracing and porches into the interior plan to a larger extent than perhaps any other design by the firm.
See: William H. Jordy and Christopher P. Monkhouse. Buildings on Paper: Rhode Island Architectural Drawings 1825-1945. Providence, RI: Brown University, 1982; Russell Sturgis. “A Critique of the Work of Peabody and Stearns.” New York: The Architectural Record Co. , “Great American Architects Series,” No. 3, July 1896; Reprint, New York: Da Capo, (1896) 1971., pp 53-97.

The Breakers, Ochre Point, Newport, Rhode Island
Original Owner: Pierre Lorillard
Year Built: 1877-1878
Current Owner: Destroyed by fire, 1892
Material: Brick and shingle

The Breakers was Peabody & Stearns’ first significant cottage on Ochre Point. Its Queen Anne styling, lavish decorations and lush landscaping (Ernest Bowditch) were well published in contemporary literature. The house was sold to Cornelius Vanderbilt in October 1885, and remodeled; it later burned in November 1892, making way for Richard Morris Hunt’s monumental Breakers which currently occupies the site (Preservation Society of Newport County).
See: George W. Sheldon. Artistic Country Seats. (New York: Appleton, 1886-87; Charles H. Dow, Newport Past and Present, 1880.

Kragsyde, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
Original Owner: George Nixon Black
Year Built:
Current Owner: Demolished
Material: Shingle

Kragsyde was probably Peabody & Stearns’ best known cottage residence, both during their time and for generations after; it is certainly the most frequently published image of their work.