Trust Established to Maintain “The Meeting Room” at Queen Anne Square

Newport, RI, November 18, 2014 – The Queen Anne Square Maintenance Trust has been established for the care and maintenance of “The Meeting Room”, an installation by Maya Lin, at Queen Anne Square in Newport. The $600,000 Trust is designated to support the additions to the park.

The Meeting Room was opened to the public in May 2013. The Newport Restoration Foundation, and its offshoot the Doris Duke Monument Foundation, raised private funds to support the design and construction of the installation as a gift to the City of Newport. As part of the agreement with the City, which holds ownership of the property, a maintenance fund was to be established for the financial stewardship of the installation. Per the agreement a Trust was to be established at $500,000. Due to the generous support of donors, including the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, the Trust is currently valued at $600,000.

“We are pleased with the formation of the Queen Anne Square Maintenance Trust and to pass the torch to the new board,” said Pieter N. Roos, Executive Director of the Newport Restoration Foundation. “It had always been within the plan for the revitalized Queen Anne Square to establish a separate entity for the ongoing care of The Meeting Room. We are confident that the Trustees are as dedicated to providing Newport with a beautiful park as the NRF was to help build it.”

The Queen Anne Square Maintenance Trust will be managed by a board of Trustees including Victoria Mele, President, Virginia Purviance, Vice President, and Scott Wheeler, Secretary/Treasurer.

“The Meeting Room was a generous gift to the City of Newport. Since its opening in May of last year it has been wonderful to see the community and visitors making great use of this beautiful space in the heart of downtown Newport,” said Scott Wheeler. “The Trust will ensure the park is well-maintained and cared for so the public can continue to use and enjoy it.”

Initial funding for “The Meeting Room” at Queen Anne Square was provided by: TheDoris Duke Charitable Foundation, Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust , Hamilton Family Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, Rose and Charles Dana, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Marion Oates Charles, David B. Ford,  Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace, and the Newport Restoration Foundation.

Formed in 2014 as a 501(c)(3) private foundation, the Queen Anne Square Maintenance Trust (QASMT) was created to support ongoing maintenance of Queen Anne Square and the public art installation known as “The Meeting Room”.  The foundation’s goal is to ensure the park’s longevity and beauty for locals, visitors and future generations. For more information regarding the history of Queen Anne Square visit www.QueenAnneSquare.org.

 

Editorial: Visiting, and Revisiting, Queen Anne Square

Newport This Week

It’s been just about one year since Queen Anne Square was rededicated after a $3 million redesign led by the famed landscape architect Maya Lin.

The effort, which was led by the Newport Restoration Foundation and the Doris Duke Monument Foundation, was not without controversy. For months, Newporters went back and forth over the appropriateness of the design and the expense of the project (which was funded solely with private donations). At times, the debate became rather heated as letters to the editor filled endless column inches.

As a community, we tend to take great pride in our surroundings, as we should. Projects such as the one at Queen Anne Square are important, and therefore sensitive…

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‘The Meeting Room’, An Installation By Maya Lin, Officially Opens in Newport, RI

Public Art Project Honors the Effect of Historic Preservation in the City by the Sea 

May 31, Newport, RI – ‘The Meeting Room,’ an installation by world –renowned artist and architect Maya Lin, was dedicated and opened to the public today in Newport’s Queen Anne Square. The Doris Duke Monument Foundation (DDMF), an offshoot of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF), presented the installation and revitalized park to the City of Newport as a gift in honor of the memory of philanthropist Doris Duke. Duke championed Newport’s historic preservation and left an enduring legacy of historic architecture. The installation also honors the effect of historic preservation as a catalyst for community revitalization.

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‘The Meeting Room’ at Queen Anne Square An Installation by Maya Lin Overview

The Concept 

The Doris Duke Monument Foundation (DDMF), an offshoot of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF), has delivered an installation at Queen Anne Square in Newport, RI, with a dual purpose. It was created to honor the memory of Doris Duke, who championed Newport’s historic preservation and left an enduring legacy of historic architecture; and created to honor the effect of historic preservation as a catalyst for community revitalization.

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A History of Queen Anne Square and the Newport Restoration Foundation

By the early 1970s, the area now known as Queen Anne Square was a downtown urban space filled with a wide variety of buildings which were mostly commercial, and many of which were of little note. Some of these structures were largely abandoned. Within the boundaries of the block lay historic Trinity Church, almost completely hidden by the surrounding commercial development. In essence the area had always been a dense urban place even as early as the mid-18th-century. Its appearance by the 70s was oddly misused, compared with its long history of commercial vitality in the heart of the city.

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