yellow walls add flair to the formal living
room, a space devoted to entertaining.
Family pieces include the portrait of writer
Washington Irving above the mantel and a
Federal drum table; Rip and Knick Irving
found the chandelier at auction. Generous
swags, designed by Walker Interiors, play to
the room’s Victorian air. The windows
(facing page) are true French-door-style
casements with no center mullion.
Irving, a descendant of the famous 19th-century writer for whom he is
named, built this house on a 2-acre lot in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2005,
the design a result of what he terms “a great team effort.” Irving, who goes
by the nickname “Rip” (a reference to his ancestor’s literary character Rip
Van Winkle), met with Mohamad Farzan, a principal at Newport Collaborative Architects, and Tiverton, Rhode Island, landscape architect Martha
S. Moore over the course of many months to arrive at a suitable aesthetic. A
fourth key collaborator was Irving’s son, Washington Irving IV, who goes by
the name “Knick” (a reference to his ancestor’s invented persona, Diedrich
Knickerbocker).
“From day one, there was great sensitivity to the surroundings,” says
Farzan, noting that the lot was one of the most desirable settings in Newport: nestled on a side street off venerable Bellevue Avenue and containing
beech and chestnut trees so beautiful and mature that some were protected
