Walk past Broadway in Newport, Rhode Island, and you’ll see plenty of grand Gilded Age mansions. They’re shiny. They’re massive. But if you’re looking for the soul of this city, you have to look at the crooked, dark-red building sitting at 17 Broadway. The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House isn't just old. It’s a survivor. Built around 1697, it has outlasted empires, riots, and the brutal New England weather for over three centuries.
Most people just walk right by it. That’s a mistake.
While the Breakers and Marble House get all the Instagram love, this house tells a much grittier story about what life was actually like when Rhode Island was still a fledgling colony. It’s the oldest standing house in Newport. Think about that. When this frame was raised, the pirate Captain Kidd was still sailing the Atlantic.
The Riots That Nearly Tore It Down
The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House isn't famous just because it stayed standing. It’s famous because people tried to pull it apart. In 1765, the Stamp Act Riots turned Newport into a powder keg. At the time, the house was owned by Martin Howard Jr. He was a lawyer and a Loyalist—basically, he sided with the British Crown, which was a very dangerous thing to do in a room full of angry, taxed-to-the-brink colonists.
The mob didn't just protest. They went wild.
They smashed the windows. They broke the furniture. They literally tried to dismantle the house piece by piece to show Howard exactly what they thought of his "loyalist" views. Howard ended up fleeing to a British ship in the harbor, eventually leaving for England and never coming back. If you look closely at the structural history of the building, you can still see the scars of that night. It’s not just a museum; it’s a crime scene from the American Revolution.
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Architectural Layers and the "Great Room"
Architecturally, the house is a mess. But a beautiful one.
It started as a simple two-story structure with a central chimney. Over the years, every family that lived there added something new, chopped something off, or painted over the past. This is what historians call a "transitional" house. It bridges the gap between the heavy, dark seventeenth-century style and the more refined Georgian symmetry that would later define Newport’s "Golden Age."
The roofline is the first thing you'll notice. It has a distinctive "kick" at the eaves. That’s a classic Flemish influence, a nod to the diverse group of craftsmen who were building Newport at the time. Inside, the "Great Room" serves as the heart of the home. Back then, "great" didn't mean big in the modern sense. It meant functional. This was where everything happened—cooking, sleeping, working, and probably a lot of arguing about the King.
The Newport Historical Society, which now owns the property, has done a phenomenal job of not "over-restoring" it. You won't find faux-velvet ropes everywhere. Instead, you see the plaster peeling back to reveal the original split-oak laths. You see the massive summer beams that hold the whole thing together. It feels heavy. It feels real.
Three Families, One Address
The name is a mouthful: Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House. Why three names? Because houses back then were multi-generational assets, not just flip-and-move investments.
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- The Wantons: They were a political powerhouse. They produced several governors for the colony of Rhode Island. They were Quakers, which meant they were supposedly "plain," but their wealth and influence were anything but.
- The Lymans: Daniel Lyman was a Continental Army officer. He moved in after the Revolution, symbolizing the shift from British colony to American state.
- The Hazards: This family held onto the property until 1927. Think about that timeline. A single family line maintained this structure through the Civil War, the Gilded Age, and the dawn of the automobile.
Because the Hazards lived there for so long without doing a "modern" gut renovation, the house stayed remarkably preserved. They were essentially accidental preservationists. They kept the old fireplace cranes and the wide-plank floors simply because that’s what was there.
The Mystery of the "Folk Magic"
Here is something the glossy brochures won't always tell you: the house is full of protection marks.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, people were incredibly superstitious. Even "rational" Enlightenment thinkers still worried about witches or "evil spirits" entering through the chimney or the windows. When you tour the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, look for "daisy wheels" or burn marks on the timber. These weren't accidents. They were ritual marks intended to protect the household.
It’s a chilling reminder that the people who built this country lived in a world of shadows. They were terrified of the dark, the woods, and the unknown. This house was their fortress.
Why You Actually Need to Visit
Newport can feel like a theme park sometimes. It’s easy to get lost in the "wealth porn" of the 1890s mansions. But those mansions were built with "new money" by people who spent maybe six weeks a year in Rhode Island.
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The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House is different.
It represents the people who actually built the city. The merchants, the lawyers, the enslaved people who worked in the kitchens, and the revolutionaries who risked their lives for a new country. It’s one of the few places left where you can stand in a room and know for a fact that George Washington or the Marquis de Lafayette might have walked past the very same windows.
It’s also surprisingly small. Modern visitors are often shocked at the ceiling heights. People weren't necessarily shorter back then, but heating a house was a nightmare. Smaller rooms meant staying alive during a Rhode Island winter.
Actionable Tips for Visiting
If you're planning to stop by, don't just show up and expect the doors to be open. It’s a delicate site.
- Check the Calendar: The house is typically open for tours on a seasonal basis through the Newport Historical Society. Usually, this means June through October.
- Book the "Old Quarter" Tour: The best way to see the house is as part of a broader walking tour of the colonial district. It puts the building in context with the nearby Colony House and the Friends Meeting House.
- Look for the Garden: There is a small colonial-style garden in the back. It’s a quiet spot that many tourists miss, featuring plants and herbs that would have been used for medicine and cooking in the 1700s.
- Ask about the Kitchen: The hearth in the kitchen is one of the most intact examples of colonial masonry in New England. Ask the guide about how they managed "fire safety" in a wooden house before fire departments existed.
The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House isn't just a pile of old wood. It’s a physical timeline of the American experience. It has survived riots, neglect, and the pressure of urban development. Standing in its shadow, you realize that Newport isn't just a playground for the rich; it's a place where history actually happened, loudly and violently, right on the corner of Broadway.
To truly understand the site, start your visit at the Newport Historical Society Museum on Touro Street. They hold the original documents and artifacts that were salvaged from the house, including pieces of furniture that survived the 1765 riots. Seeing the physical damage on a 250-year-old chair before walking into the room where it was smashed provides a visceral connection to the past that no textbook can replicate. Plan for at least ninety minutes to cover both the house and the surrounding colonial trail to get the full picture of pre-Revolutionary life.