SPNEA letterhead on communication between William Sumner Appleton and Norman Isham concerning the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House 1915.
The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), now HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND, was founded in 1910 by William Sumner Appleton of Boston to rescue and restore important historical buildings in New England. In its earliest years, SPNEA formed an alliance with restoration specialist Norman Morrison Isham to address the 1762 Brick Market, 1739 Colony House and 1697 Wanton-Lyman Hazard House, all currently under the care of the Newport Historical Society. The Brick Market was completed in 1914 and the Colony House project was delayed by World War I. The owners of the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House were not able to reach an agreement with Appleton and Isham in 1915. Talks resumed and restoration began under NHS ownership in 1927.