Historic Walking Tours of Narragansett Pier
Left: Earlscourt water tower before the gale. (SCM photo collection) Right: The tower long after losing its
superstructure (SCM photo-jrt 2010)
Earlscourt Water Tower
Between 50 and 51 Earles Court
The Earlscourt Water Tower is a 21/2-story, cylindrical tower of random-coursed ashlar masonry,
set in the center of the road. Built in 1886-87, it had a wooden superstructure consisting of a
water tank surrounded by a balcony decorated with a carving of a giant griffin.The superstructure
was destroyed in a gale, perhaps in the 1940s. The tower was designed by Constable Brothers
of New York to supply water to Edward Earle's Earlscourt development, a colony of four large
summer houses.
A campaign by a local group to restore the tower as an educational center and tourist attraction
began in 2013. The effort is led by Sallie Latimer, a local historian and neighbor of the tower, who
is chairwoman of the group, known as Griffins R Us.