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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty takes a look at a home – now being sold by Rhode Island specialists, Lila Delman Real Estate – that has given generations a wonderful holiday home in the premier vacation destination on the USA’s  North East coast.

For 123 years the Glover family maintained Wild Moor, their luxurious summer getaway on a rocky hill in Newport, Rhode Island. It overlooks Newport Country Club’s 300 acres of open space. The house was built in 1887 having been designed by the famous New York architects, McKim, Mead and White and is regarded as one of the finest examples of the firm’s classic and extensively documented style. Their brief was to create a plan in which layout, materials and site would perfectly complement one another. Over a century and a quarter later they still do – talk about sustainable design!

The Glover family was a large and accomplished one with members pursuing many and varied interests. They included artists, musicians, geologists, an archaeologist and amateur naturalist. The house and its location suited all of them perfectly. It must have done for the family to inhabit this space so enthusiastically for several generations.

The grounds have been given the same amount of thought as the house. Under the guidance of Frederick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux and Samuel Parsons Jr., the gardens blend seamlessly with the buildings. Olmsted is now remembered mostly for masterminding New York City’s Central Park. Together the landscape team at Wild Moor conceived a 23-acre sanctuary that envelops the main house in an elevated position with fine views towards Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

The 17-room house has 6,840 square feet of accommodation and offers comfortable living within the recently renovated historic structure. A delightful living room, spacious dining room, a pantry kitchen and a cosy library occupy the ground floor. Tiffany created the tiles on the fireplaces. The second floor includes a master suite with luxurious bath and three additional bedrooms and baths, while the third floor provides flexible space currently used as 4 bedrooms, an exercise room, family room and full bath.

Outside are a five-room gardener’s cottage ideal as guest quarters, a carriage house with two full apartments and room for more than five cars, a large barn, and an artist’s and musician’s studio.

Here then is a fabulous holiday retreat in one of America’s pre-eminent locations. The house was built for a large family with lots of friends. It looks forward to continuing the trend.