Arguably the most restrained and modestly detailed residence on Stimson Avenue in Providence is this residence, the George H. Dart House, a late-Queen Anne dwelling built in 1893. The original owner, George H. Dart (1845-1897) worked as the President of the Rhode Island Tool Company before his unexpected death in 1897. Four years prior to his death, Mr. Dart hired the local architectural firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, to design this single-family residence, which employs Shingle and Queen Anne detailing under a two-story gambrel roof with overhanging eaves sheltering recessed porches and bay windows.
The period of the late 19th through early 20th centuries provided architects the opportunity of blending the two prominent styles, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival into a single composition, and as a result, this period has provided some of the most whimsical yet stately homes in New England. This modestly sized residence sits on Stimson Avenue, one of the finest streets in Providence, and despite its unassuming size, packs an architectural punch with its materials and detailing. The Henry Waldron House was built in 1893 for Henry A. Waldron, a clerk in Providence. From deed research, it appears a member of his family, Nathan Waldron, a wealthy grocer, purchased the site in 1891 and likely funded some or all of the construction of the residence there. The architectural firm of Hoppin, Read & Hoppin is credited with the design of the residence, which employs a Colonial Revival form with the gambrel roof and Columned and ornate entrance porch with fan motif, while the use of varied siding materials and octagonal tower with pyramidal roof veers into the Queen Anne style.
The Francis and Sarah Cranston House is located on Bowen Street in the College Hill section of Providence, Rhode Island. Built circa 1895 for Francis Augusta Cranston (1837-1909) and his wife, Sarah (Hill) Cranston, the house is one of the best residential examples of Colonial Revival architecture in the city. Francis was the son of Barzillai Cranston, a descendant of Gov. Samuel Cranston, who held office from 1698 to 1727, being elected to office 30 times; serving as governor longer than any other individual in the history of Rhode Island. Francis worked as cashier of the Old National Bank of Providence for over fifty years and built this residence to settle into retirement. The residence is unique for its high-sloping hipped roof with two layers of dormers, corner quoins, Palladian window, and Ionic portico. I could not locate the architect, but if anyone knows, I’d love to give them their deserved credit!
This large house sits on Peabody Avenue in Danvers, Massachusetts, and is thought to be the oldest house built of cement in the United States! Joshua Sylvester Silvester (1803-1888), the house’s original owner, was born in Wiscasset, Maine, and began working in the shoemaking business, expanding his products in England, taking many business trips there. While in England, he is said to have particularly admired Charles Dickens’s estate, Gad’s Hill, and modeled his Danvers home after it. Joshua Silvester not only designed this house, but directly supervised its construction which is of hand-poured cement/stucco by two masons imported to town to work on the house. The fifteen-room residence with octagon-shaped barn was complete by 1858. In 1880, the property was purchased by Isaac B. Howe of Clinton, Iowa. Howe was a civil engineer who had helped to lay out the Transcontinental Railroad and had been superintendent of the Iowa division of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. Howe died within a year of moving to Danvers, but his family continued to live in the house for many years.
According to local histories, this significant Greek Revival style property on Elm Street in Georgetown, Massachusetts, was owned by Josiah Adams (1757-1852), a farmer, a Revolutionary War veteran, and a fourth-generation descendant of the immigrant Robert Adams, who arrived here from Devonshire, England by about 1629. In March 1849, the town’s Congregational Society purchased Adams Hall for eight hundred dollars to house the church vestry, which remained in the building for forty-one months until a new building was built for that purpose next door. Later, Adams Hall was owned by Moses Tenney (1808-1903), operator of a prosperous saw mill in Georgetown, and served at one time in the state senate. The structure retains its significant temple-front with four, two-story Doric columns supporting the portico. Also special on this residence is the use of flush-board siding and the oversized first floor windows.
This important Federal-period house sits in the middle of New Gloucester village in Maine, and dates to the early 19th century with mid-19th century alterations. The original owner was Obediah Whitman, who sold the house soon after to General Samuel Fessenden (1784-1869) lived here while practicing law in New Gloucester. He was an avid abolitionist who served as a congressman and in 1828, he declined the presidency of Dartmouth College. The General’s son, William Pitt Fessenden, resided there from ages three to fourteen. William later became a U.S. Senator and Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury. The third notable owner was artist, Delbert Dana “D.D.” Coombs, who used the second floor for his studio for some years. The update from the mid-19th century of the modest bracketed eaves and two-over-one windows showcases how later owners can update a home without diminishing the original design.
Ulster County, New York, is known for its many stone houses, largely built in the 18th and 19th centuries by Dutch and other European settlers to the region. This stone house in Saugerties was built beginning in 1727 by Hiskia DuBois (Du Boys), who established a 40-acre farm here. The original homestead was the one-and-a-half-story east wing of the present structure and occupied by Hiskia until his death in 1757, afterwhich, the property was inherited by his son David, who would sell the farmstead to Dr. Christoffel “Christopher” Kiersted (1736-1791), the first doctor to take up a residence in present-day Saugerties. After Dr. Kiersted died in 1791, the property was expanded and enlarged to its current composition, likely by his son, John Kiersted. Under the ownership of John, a grove of Black Locust trees were planted in the front yard setting the cottage in a small forest. The DuBois-Kierstede Stone House is currently the home of the Saugerties Historical Society, which operates the structure as the Kiersted House Museum, along with a preserved Dutch Barn on the site.
While Salem is best-known for its First Period and Federal style buildings, the Salem Willows neighborhood features some of the finest Victorian summer cottages in the Boston area. This cottage was built in 1885 by William Marston Bates (1820-1912), a Salem-based dentist, as his summer retreat when not in the office. The Stick style cottage has a steep gable roof with jerkinhead clip at the facade and a wrap-around porch with decorative jigsawn bracketed details. The house is a well-preserved example of the style, examples of which are becoming less-and-less frequent in recent years.
This large Federal style home in Rockport is a rare extant example of a spite house in Maine. The story goes… James McCobb, an Irish immigrant, arrived in what is now Phippsburg in 1731. Living in a log cabin with his Irish-born wife, Beatrice, he raised a large family of 10 children, among whom was Thomas McCobb (1778-1815), who became a sea captain. In 1774, James built a handsome Federal period house for his second wife, Hannah Nichols, with whom he had three children (twin daughters, and a second son, also named Thomas). He married a third time in 1782 to Mary Langdon Storer Hill, who had a son, Mark Langdon Hill, from a previous marriage, who ended up marrying one of McCobb’s daughters, one of the twins, who was a half-sister to Thomas. While Captain Thomas McCobb was away at sea, the Hills, which included Thomas’ half-sister/wife of Mark Langdon Hill, broke his father’s will and took the homestead for themselves. When Captain Thomas McCobb returned from his voyage and discovered what had happened, he vowed to build the most beautiful house in Maine and one that would dwarf the one he had been deprived of. The house was promptly dubbed “The Spite House”.
This house was built in 1806. Ironically, Captain Thomas apparently never married and left no descendants, as a result, when he died in 1815 in Boston, the house was given over to the Hill family. The house had fallen into disrepair and was purchased in 1925 by Donald Dodge of Philadelphia, who moved the house, to save it from demolition, over 85 miles by boat from Phippsburg to Rockport. He also transported a 1796 house from South Harpswell to be used in the construction of the wings that were subsequently added onto the Spite House. The property now sits on Beauchamp Point, not visible from the street, in a desirable enclave of summer residences, with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean.
Located next door to Ms. Matchett’s house on Chatham Street in the suburban Longwood neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, you will find this very unique example of a Colonial Revival style single-family home. Built by 1901 for lawyer Edwin G. McInnis (sometime spelled McInnes) and his wife, Mabel, the house is high-style Colonial Revival with symmetrical facade, rustication, two-story Corinthian pilasters framing the bays, Palladian window, and Federal style entry with fanlight transom. No records of the architect could be located sadly.
Buildings of New England 