This vision of Aphrodite is characteristically sleek and winsome, appearing to have “sprung from the sea.” Only in this case, the foam-born beauty is a scale model of a classic ocean-going vessel, The Aphrodite, which once ferried President Franklin D. Roosevelt about during World War II. The six-foot, two-inch-long replica is authentic right down to its ornate brass fittings and individually cut wooden deck planks. It was hand crafted by Patrick McCauley, Centerbrook Master Model Maker and Product Designer.
The model is a gift to the Ocean House hotel in Watch Hill, Rhode Island from Centerbrook, which designed the new five-star resort that reopened in 2010. Much like the hotel, the original 74-foot Aphrodite was restored by Charles Royce of Bluff Avenue L.L.C., which was responsible for returning the Ocean House to its former glory, and then some.
The model now resides in the elegant hotel’s lobby, atop a mahogany table with turned “bubble” legs and bas-relief “waves” designed and built by Jefferson B. Riley, who is a founding partner of Centerbrook and who designed the hotel’s historic replication and expansion. The Aphrodite was built in 1937 by financier John Hay “Jock” Whitney to commute from Long Island to Wall Street. Built for speed, she sports a torpedo stern that allows her to maintain a horizontal posture in the water when traveling in excess of 40 knots. She draws a dainty four feet.
Photography © Derek Hayn/Centerbrook