In 1748, the Peter Harrison designed the Redwood Library in the Palladian style, a classicizing school inspired by the 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio.  Modeled after Palladio's San Giorgio Maggiore and Inigo Jones's early 17th-century Casino for Sir Charles Hotham, the most distinctively classical feature of the library is the portico on its west facade.  Designed according  the Doric order, it sports a plain pediment with a simple raking cornice whose pattern is carried over unto the half-pediment beneath it which forms the slanted roofs over the two side offices.  This entire structure is classically Doric.  The library is slightly elevated by a set of temple-like stairs which raises it above the level of the street, giving the community's center of learning a lofty position of authority.   Elevation was key for the classical temple and was often incorporated by Palladio in his designs, which were an eclectic assembly of various classical architectural principles.  Palladio characteristically used elongated rectangular windows crowned with the square attic windows similar to those seen in the library's west facade.  The decorative, flaring cap work above the first story windows is common in Palladian designs as well.  Despite the wealth of Newport, the expense of building in stone was unaffordable.  The Redwood Library, therefore, is entirely constructed from rusticated, sanded, and painted wood.