Georgian Home

Daniel Smith House // c.1750

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The Daniel Smith House at 362 Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, stands out in the neighborhood as an uncommon gambrel-roofed Georgian-era residence, but it was not built here! The home was built by about 1750 for Daniel Smith, and may possibly date to around 1725 a year after he was deeded land from his father and the same year he married his wife, Dorcas Harris. If the home does indeed date to around 1725, it would likely be the oldest extant house in Providence! The home was originally located across town on Chalkstone Avenue, and moved to the present site on Benefit Street in 1982 to save it from institutional expansion by Roger Williams Hospital. The hospital set a date to demolish the farmhouse, then covered in asbestos siding, and offered the building for free to someone who could move it off the site. After tense weeks and a nearing deadline, Angela Brown Fischer, a real estate executive, agreed to pay the costs to move the building across town to a site on Benefit Street, where it remains today. The home was put back together and restored by Newport-based architect, Richard Long, who worked as principal architect for the Restoration Foundation of Newport before opening a private architectural practice. What a great preservation success story!

Captain Joseph Tillinghast House // c.1770

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This Georgian house at 403 South Main Street in Providence’s East Side was built by Captain Joseph Tillinghast (1734-1816) a wealthy merchant and participant in the Gaspee Affair, a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. The Gaspee Affair occured in 1772, when a group of men from Providence attacked and burned the British customs schooner, HMS Gaspee. The incident was fueled by colonial resentment towards British customs enforcement, and took place not too long after the Boston Massacre. Joseph built this house for his family on land he inherited from his family, who claimed the land in 1645. Tillinghast was also the owner of a line of packet boats (light shipping of domestic freight and mail) operating between Providence and Newport. After Joseph died in 1816, the property was occupied by members of the Tillinghast family until 1847. By the mid-20th century, urban renewal and the proximity to the new highways caused the surrounding area to suffer, with this historic home threatened. Throughout 2008, the building’s condition continued to rapidly deteriorate, and local preservationists advocated for the home’s future. After attention was brought to the residence and its significance, the house was restored with the assistance of the Providence Revolving Fund, including the stabilization of the foundation, roof and chimneys rebuilt, with clapboards and windows repaired.

Joseph Brown House // 1774

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Constructed in 1774 by architect Joseph Brown (1733-1785) of the Brown family of Rhode Island as his personal residence, the John Brown House of Providence, stands as one of the oldest (if not the oldest) house built by an American architect for his own use. Joseph Brown, while a member of the Brown Family, was not as much in the shipping business as others in his family, instead turning his attention to scientific matters, becoming an expert in astronomy, electrification, and architecture. He was an architect in the Thomas Jefferson-gentleman mode, owning English architectural books from which he selected motifs for inclusion in his designs. It is believed that the eccentric curved ogee gable that caps the façade was adapted from the roof design of a garden house published in William Salman’s Palladio Londinensis, owned by Joseph Brown’s builder, Martin Seamans. The same ogee gable was later replicated in the Colonial Revival period in Providence. The residence’s entrance was originally raised above ground and accessed via symmetrical flights of stairs; in the late 18th century, the entrance was moved to street level in the brownstone basement level. Over a decade after Joseph’s death in 1785, the structure was acquired by the Providence Bank, an enterprise founded by Brown’s brothers John and Moses, and used as an office. The bank occupied the structure until 1929, and the Joseph Brown House was subsequently owned by the Counting House Corporation, and still appears to be owned by descendants of the Brown Family.

Shillaber House // c.1768

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The Shillaber House on Washington Street in Portsmouth, is one of the most photogenic residences in the charming port city. The Georgian-style residence was likely built in the late-1760s, after Joseph Shillaber (1725-1791), a potter, purchased land here in 1766. The residence is of a typical form for 1760s Portsmouth, with a gambrel roof with pedimented dormers and a slightly off-center entry with Georgian style pilasters and pediment. In the later half of the 19th century, the house was “Victorianized” with a bracketed door hood and bay windows at the facade, but the house would be restored by later owners to a version close to its original conditions. The exposed clapboard siding adds to the home’s unique charm.

Joshua Wentworth House // 1770

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The Joshua Wentworth House at 27 Hancock Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is a high-style Georgian residence built before the American Revolution, and was almost demolished in the name of “urban renewal.” The house has a side-gable roof with three broken-pediment dormers and a wood paneled door with segmental entablature, pilasters, and a five-light transom. Joshua Wentworth (1742–1809) the namesake of the house, was a grandson of John Wentworth (1671–1730), who had served as an early Lieutenant Governor for the Province of New Hampshire, and was himself, a merchant and State legislator. The house was originally located in the North End of Portsmouth, but in the 1970s, urban renewal and local politicians sought to raze portions of the town to “revitalize” the port town. If only they knew that Portsmouth would be the largest tourist draw in the state just for people to see historic, walkable neighborhoods! Businessman Harry Winebaum acquired the house and sought to preserve it. The solution: move the house by barge to the south side of town near Strawberry Banke. Luckily for us, the house was moved in 1973 and was restored. It is a private residence.

Drew-Holmes House // c.1760

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This charming Colonial house is located at 51 Landing Road, overlooking the banks of the Jones River in Kingston, Massachusetts. The house is thought to date to 1760, and by 1800, was likely owned by Stephen Drew a prominent local shipbuilder from a family of shipbuilders who operated a shipyard near the property. In 1810, the property was owned by Joseph Holmes (1772-1863), who also would build a wharf and dock on the riverfront of the property. The property remained in the Holmes Family when it was inherited by Edward Holmes, who worked in shipbuilding until the decay of the industry. The house is a great example of a 18th century residence with a 4×2 bay two-story form, clad with wood clapboards and shingles with a large brick chimney at the roof. In 2018, Jones River Landing, a non-profit, purchased the house and ‘seek to provide seasonal lodging and accommodations for visiting students, interns, scientists and advocates who are studying and working in environmental programs in our region’. While there were plans were to restore the house, the landscaping and peeling siding appear to show some deferred maintenance.

Kingston Almshouse // c.1772

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Built on the banks of the Jones River in Kingston, Massachusetts, this large residence is said to date to 1772 and was the home to a prominent ship-building family as well as to hundreds of destitute residents of the community who lived and worked here as the town’s poor house. Land (and possibly an earlier house) was acquired in 1772 by Zenas Drew (1735-1822), the son of Cornelius Drew, a wealthy shipbuilder who employed his many sons to work in the same industry, and the existing house was constructed for his family. From the house, numerous shipyards would be seen with large brigs travelling down the Jones River into Plymouth Bay and the Atlantic. After Zenas Drew’s death in 1822, the Town of Kingston acquired the property for use as the town’s almshouse or poorhouse, and likely expanded the property to its current Federal style configuration. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, almshouses were a reality for society’s most vulnerable people, where these locally run institutions provided living and working conditions in a time before Social Security, Medicaid and Section 8 housing became a reality. These facilities were designed to punish people for their poverty and, hypothetically, make being poor so horrible that people would continue to work at all costs. Being poor began to carry an intense social stigma, and increasingly, poorhouses were placed outside of public view, as was the case here in Kingston outside of the town center at the banks of the river. By the 1920s and 1930s, these institutions began to close, with Kingston’s closing in 1923. The property was sold to a private owner, and has remained as a single-family residence ever since. 

Bildad Washburn Tavern // c.1774

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This stately Georgian style house on Main Street in Kingston, Massachusetts, was originally built in nearby Marshfield and later moved to its current location just decades later. The house was built on the Winslow estate in Marshfield in about 1774 by either Dr. Isaac Winslow or his brother, Maj Pelham Winslow. In 1796, the property was purchased by Bildad Washburn, a noted gravestone carver, and the house was moved to its present site. Reports state that the house was moved by boat and oxcart to its current location, where it became a tavern and residence of Mr. Washburn. In 1804, the house was sold to Major George Russell, a merchant and town clerk, who later served in the War of 1812, who converted the ell into a store where he sold, East and West India goods from his ships. After his death, his daughter ran a dame’s school from the house. The Washburn Tavern is significant as a large Georgian-era house that remains in a great state of preservation.

General John Thomas House // c.1761

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The General John Thomas House at 156 Main Street in Kingston, Massachusetts, is significant as a pre-Revolution Georgian style residence and for its connections with a notable Patriot. General John Thomas (1724-1776) was born in Marshfield and later studied medicine, completing his studies in 1746 at the age of 22. He practiced medicine until being appointed in March 1746, as assistant surgeon by Governor William Shirley in Samuel Waldo’s regiment. Liking military service, in 1747 he traded his post as surgeon for that of a lieutenant. By the time of the French and Indian War he had risen to colonel in the militia. After the war, he married Hannah Thomas in 1761 and either built or moved into this house in Kingston, where he practiced medicine. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, John Thomas was a Brigadier, and briefly resigned from the ranks, disappointed that while four major generals were named, he was not on the list. Congress was then trying to name no more than one major general from each state, and Artemas Ward was given preference. George Washington implored him to remain, and John Thomas returned to service. The Congress resolved that he would be given precedence over all other brigadiers in the army. On the night of March 4, 1776, he led his division to fortify the Dorchester Heights, overlooking the south harbor at Boston, by using cannon that Henry Knox had brought from Fort Ticonderoga. From that position, he threatened the British fleet and the British were forced to withdraw, evacuating Boston on March 17. Thomas was finally named a major general. Soon after, Thomas was assigned to command in Canada and take charge of the Canadian invasion. He joined the army besieging Quebec and remained there until he died of Smallpox in June 1776, not living long enough to see a free America. The John Thomas House is a lasting and important physical vestige of his legacy.

Cobb-Bartlett House // 1754

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The Cobb-Bartlett House at 240 Main Street in Kingston, Massachusetts, was built around 1754 for Gershom Cobb (1717-1799) where he raised his family. The gambrel-roofed Georgian house was built before the revolution, and may have originally been a half-cape and expanded to a full-cape in the late 18th or early 19th century. The property was sold by Cobb in 1768 to Captain Joseph Bartlett, and the property remained in the family for generations after his death in 1788. The house is a well-preserved example of a Cape style house with large, central chimney and clad with cedar shingle siding and roof.