Greek Revival

Judge Alfred Bosworth House // c.1849

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The only two-story temple-front Greek Revival style house in Warren, Rhode Island, the Judge Alfred Bosworth House on Federal Street, is believed to be the work of great architect Russell Warren. Alfred Bosworth (1812-1862) ran a law office in Warren and Providence and represented Warren in the General Assembly from 1839 until 1854 and then served as a justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Bosworth was of counsel for Rhode Island in suits growing out of the boundary question between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, specifically around Fall River. Judge Bosworth died at home in 1862 and his widow, Anne, lived here afterwards. At the end of the century the Bosworth House was converted to an ice cream parlor, named Maxfield’s, which became a very popular attraction in town. The company, owned by Nathaniel and Julia Maxfield, attracted throngs of local residents every summer who would eat ice cream on the front yard of the house. Maxfield’s was even frequented by Providence writer, H. P. Lovecraft, when he was a young man. During the mid-1900s, the house served as a nursing home until 1988, when owners restored the house back to a residence and removed the asphalt siding that was added to the exterior around the time of the Great Depression.

Old Cooper Shop // c.1800

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This stunning Greek Revival house on Lyndon Street in Warren, Rhode Island, was according to historians, built around the turn of the 19th century as a cooper shop! A cooper as a professional, would make wooden barrels, tubs, and casks from wooden staves, which were all made in this building before it was converted and renovated around 1830 in the Greek Revival style for Deacon John J. Bickner, who was likely affiliated with the Episcopal Church across the street, which was designed by architect, Russell Warren. Due to the connection, it is possible that the renovation for Bickner was undertaken by Russell Warren as well. On its facade, the house has two-story applied pilasters which break up the bays and smooth flushboard siding which makes the house even more stately!

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church // 1829

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St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren, Rhode Island, is a small, yet architecturally significant building that was one of the first examples of the Greek Revival style in the community. The episcopal church was formed in Warren in 1828, with members originally meeting in Cole’s Hotel while this site and construction completed on their new house of worship. The well-connected congregation hired architect, Russell Warren, who had just completed the Westminster Arcade, a landmark in the Greek Revival style, in Downtown Providence. Distinguished by its beautiful four columned Ionic portico and canted door frames, the church also originally had a square tower and parapet, which were removed following the 1938 hurricane, and replaced with a simple pediment. The parish closed in 2010 and the diocese sold the building in 2012 to private owners, who converted it about ten years ago into a residence, but retained the historic stained glass windows and character of the building. The entire site today (2026) is being renovated with what appears to be a modern addition on the side (not pictured). Hopefully the architecture of this landmark will be preserved.

First Methodist Church of Warren // 1844

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Located next door to the diminutive Easterbrooks Cottage on Church Street, the First Methodist Church of Warren, Rhode Island, stands as one of the community’s great 19th century buildings. Constructed in 1844 with its iconic steeple completed a year later, the Methodist Church is a great example of a vernacular, Greek Revival style with prominent, south-facing portico with four two-story Doric columns supporting the entablature and pediment above. Built by Perez Mason (1802-1881), a carpenter and later amateur architect, the church stands out for its iconic five-stage steeple, which has long served as a sort of landmark for sailors arriving into the harbor nearby.

Capt. James W. Barton House // c.1842

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One of four seafaring brothers who lived in Warren, Rhode Island, this charming cottage was built after Captain James Barton purchased a house lot at the northwest corner of Liberty and Union streets in 1841, likely building the home within a year. Captain James Barton (1790-1877) commanded a two-and-a-half year long whaling voyage to the Indian Ocean and undertook three subsequent trips to the Pacific. Upon retiring from the sea in 1867, Captain Barton established the Warren Gazette, where he worked as both owner and publisher. Before his time as a sea captain, James Barton had experience working in a printing office in Providence. Upon the Captain’s death in 1877, his wife Mary, continued to reside here with their daughter Nora B. Easterbrooks and her husband. Built as a modest Greek Revival style cottage for Barton’s wife while he was away at sea, the residence features a touch of the romantic Gothic Revival style in its window trim and the stable behind.

Perkins House – Diocesan House // 1832

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Constructed of red brick and trimmed with brownstone, the beautiful townhouse at 1 Joy Street, is one of a few properties in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood to have a front yard. Built in 1832, the four-story residence has its primary facade characterized by a flat entrance with a rounded bay extending upwards to the roof. Designed by architect, Cornelius Coolidge, who designed many other homes in this section of Beacon Hill, the completed house was purchased by Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Jr. (1796-1850), the eldest son of the enormously wealthy and influential Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Sr., who is considered by many to have been the most successful merchant prince of Boston’s Federal period. In 1892, the Episcopal Association purchased 1 Joy Street for use as headquarters of the diocese, and it became known as the Diocesan House. Today, the building is divided up into condominium units, providing residences just steps from the Boston Common.

Lyman-Gray House // 1834

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Mount Vernon Place is a short, dead-end street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The street was once an entire block of eight rowhouses, and was developed in the 1830s on land formerly owned by John Hancock and his family. The residences numbered 1-5 Mount Vernon Place were torn down during the 1910s to accommodate the expansion of the landscaped grounds of the State House, leaving just 6, 7, and 8 Mount Vernon Place. The center rowhouse, 7 Mount Vernon Place, was built in 1834 and is believed to have been designed by Alexander Parris, a prominent local architect who designed Quincy Market and mastered the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles with many notable buildings all over the east coast. The residence has a three bay facade and brownstone sills, lintels, and door surround and has been preserved for nearly two centuries. The house was long-owned by George W. Lyman, an industrialist who lived nearby on Joy Street. The residence was rented for decades until it was purchased by Francis C. Gray a physician, and inherited by his grandson, Ralph Weld Gray, an architect through the 1940s.

Cutler-Paine House // 1834

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Mount Vernon Place is a short, dead-end street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The street was once an entire block of eight rowhouses, and was developed in the 1830s on land formerly owned by John Hancock and his family. The residences numbered 1-5 Mount Vernon Place were torn down during the 1910s to accommodate the expansion of the landscaped grounds of the State House, leaving just 6, 7, and 8 Mount Vernon Place. The easternmost rowhouse, 6 Mount Vernon Place, was built in 1834 and is believed to have been designed by Alexander Parris, a prominent local architect who designed Quincy Market and mastered the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles with many notable buildings all over the east coast. This house was purchased in 1834, when still unfinished, by William Savage, a merchant, who sold the property to Pliny Cutler, president of the Atlantic National Bank, who appears to have bought it for his son, Dr. William Ward Cutler (1812-1870). The property was owned in the early 20th century by Robert Treat Paine Jr., who likely rented the home to boarders. The residence has a three bay facade and brownstone sills, lintels, and door surround.

Tuckerman-Parkman Mansion // 1825

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The Tuckerman-Parkman Mansion at 33 Beacon Street, like its neighbor, was built in 1825 from plans by architect, Cornelius Coolidge, in the Greek Revival style. The residence was originally purchased by Edward Tuckerman, a wealthy merchant and father of Professor Edward Tuckerman, a prominent lichenologist for whom Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington was named. Tuckerman Sr. lived here at 33 Beacon Street until his death. The next owners, Mrs. Eliza Parkman and her son, George Francis Parkman (1823-1908) moved here after the brutal murder and following sensational trial of her husband, Dr. George Parkman (1790-1849). The 1849 trial of Parkman’s murderer, Professor John White Webster of the Harvard Medical School, was called the “case of the century”. Professor Webster owed Dr. Parkman a substantial sum of money. The professor lost patience with Parkman’s constant reminders that his payment was long overdue and killed Parkman in a rage, dismembered his tall, lanky frame and concealed the body parts in a wall of a Harvard Medical School laboratory. With the help of a janitor, Dr. Parkman’s body was discovered. A murder trial ensued, and Professor White was found guilty and subsequently hung. The murder trial has been widely cited as one of the earliest uses of forensic evidence to identify a body. Seeking refuge from the attention and pain from the loss of the family patriarch and trial, Ms. Parkman and her son, George, moved to this home in 1853. Widow, Eliza Parkman died in 1877 and George F. Parkman lived in this home until 1908. In his will, Mr. Parkman bequeathed his mansion and over $5 Million to the City of Boston for the maintenance of the Boston Common. The Tuckerman-Parkman Mansion was restored by the City of Boston in 1972 and used almost exclusively as the Mayor’s residence until 1984. The house is now the official reception hall of the Mayor’s office and appears much as it did when built 200 years ago.

Russell-Bradlee Mansion // 1825

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The land at the corner of Beacon and Joy streets in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood was once John Hancock’s west pasture for his grand manor (razed in 1863) until 1819, when subdivision of the Hancock estate began following his death. In 1821, Israel Thorndike, one of the leading land speculators of early nineteenth-century Boston, began buying out the Hancock heirs and house lots overlooking the Boston Common were sold to John Hubbard and George Williams Lyman, who hired architect Cornelius Coolidge, to build some stately Greek Revival townhomes for wealthy Boston elites. The house at the corner of Beacon and Joy streets, 34 Beacon Street, was built in 1825 for Nathaniel Pope Russell, a leading Federal period China Trade merchant. By 1850, James B. Bradlee, a wealthy merchant, had acquired the property. Bradlee’s grandson Ogden Codman Jr., the influential late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architect and interior decorator, was born in this house in 1863. Codman later collaborated with novelist and tastemaker Edith Wharton on ‘The Decoration of Houses‘, a book that had an enormous impact on the direction of interior design when it was published in the 1890s. Little, Brown and Company, a publishing company founded in 1837, purchased the former residence and moved their headquarters here in 1909. The publishing company sold the property in 1997, and it converted to a single-family home. In 2007, the residence was purchased by Northeastern University and has since been the President’s House.