Ocean House Wins Award & Stars

CENTERBROOK, Conn. – Praising its architecture and ambiance, the international travel publisher and reviewer Andrew Harper has chosen the Centerbrook designed Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island as a Grand Award Winner, one of two properties in North America to be so recognized. The hotel also was named among “the best of the best” by AAA, which rated it one of its 2012 Five Diamond Award winners. The announcement of the AAA Awards was published in a USA Today article featuring a photo of the Ocean House.

Other recent accolades for the Ocean House were its inclusion in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2011 Hot List and Readers’ Choice Picks as well as Travel & Leisure Magazine’s 2011 500 World’s Best Hotels.

Harper began his description of why he chose the new resort hotel this way: “An astonishingly faithful recreation of an 1868 Victorian mansion, with the same sunny clapboard exterior, black shutters, wide verandas and soaring mansard roof. It evokes the charm of another age, but is also a comfortable modern hotel.” He goes on to comment on the “inviting spa” and “meticulously wrought moldings, paneled doors, thoughtfully executed lighting … sumptuous baths with marble vanities, river-stone flooring in the showers, and soaking tubs with their own flat-panel TVs.”

The replicated Ocean House – with 49 rooms and 23 private residences, all with spectacular ocean views – reopened in 2010. Centerbrook, led by Partner Jefferson B. Riley, FAIA, designed the new structure based on the early 20th century core of the original shoreline landmark, while adding some modern architectural strivings and myriad amenities.

Centerbrook has received four awards for the Ocean House, including an Interiors Award from Contract Magazine and a Design Award from the American Institute of Architects, Rhode Island Chapter.