NEWPORT – A national stone trade association bestowed an award this month for the stonework at the visitors center at the Touro Synagogue in Newport.
The Building Stone Institute in Chestertown, N.Y., presented the building’s architect and stonemasons with one of its Tucker Design Awards. The biennial awards honor “those who achieve the criteria of excellence in the use of natural stone in concept, design and construction.”
The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Visitors Center, which opened last year, was designed by Newport Collaborative Architects with the stonework by Kenneth Castellucci & Associates from Lincoln. The building features an Indiana limestone exterior with arched windows and grand columns.
“Built with traditional Indiana limestone, the building echoes the majesty of the monuments in our nation’s capital, and at the same time respects the colonial context with both modest scale and placement along the street edge,” Newport Collaborative said in a project description.
The Bybee Stone Company of Bloomington, Ind., and A Lacroix et Fils Granit in St. Sebastien, Quebec, provided the stone for the 3,000-square-foot center. The $3.4 million building sits next to the Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in continuous operation in the New World, Newport Collaborative said.
