Rhode Island Architecture

Charles Wheaton Jr. House // c.1815

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Charles Wheaton (1761-1863) enlisted in the his local militia at just 14 years old and served in Colonel Robert Elliott’s Regiment of Artillery to protect Narragansett Bay. After the war, Charles settled in Warren, Rhode Island, and married Abigail Miller. They would have at least nine children, with one of their children, Charles Wheaton, Jr., (1791-1863) marrying Abiah Goodwin Turner in 1815, the daughter of a wealthy sea captain. Around the time of their marriage, they built this house on Liberty Street in Warren in the Federal style with a three bay facade, monitor on hip roof, and portico at the entrance with Ionic columns. By the end of the 19th century, the house was enlarged and a bay window was added over the entry portico.

Warren Baptist Church // 1844

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The Warren Baptist Church on Main Street in Warren, Rhode Island, is a landmark example of an ecclesiastical building in the Gothic Revival style completed in stone. Like many communities in Rhode Island, Baptists in Warren, were the first and largest denomination in the community, dating back to the 18th century. The congregation’s first purpose-built church was constructed in 1764 and was burned by the British in 1778 as they left Warren. Its replacement (1784) was demolished for the present building sixty years later. Interestingly, this site is significant additionally as the site of the founding of Brown University. as when Reverend James Manning was called in 1764 to take over the congregation and its new church building, he did so with the proviso that he could open a school for the training of Baptist ministers because all existing colonial colleges at the time provided for training only in the Congregational and Episcopal ministries. The school was located behind the present location of the church and it spent its first four years here in Warren, holding its first commencement in that church until the new school (and Reverend Manning as president) were lured to Providence, where Brown University has remained ever since. The present Warren Baptist Church was built in 1844 and was designed by famed Rhode Island architect, Russell Warren, who is best-known for his work in the Federal and Greek Revival styles, but here shows his expertise and skill in the Gothic mode. The building is notable for its lancet-arched windows and belfry with narrow lancet arched louvered windows set below the clock faces set in triangular trefoil tracery. The congregation also maintains Tiffany windows donated by members of the church.

Maxwell-Barton House // 1803

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Built in 1803 for Captain Level Maxwell (1754-1828), this five-bay, Federal style house built of brick, is located on Main Street in Warren, Rhode Island, and has ties to the community’s maritime past. The original owner, Level Maxwell, was a member of the wealthy Maxwell Family who built their wealth in shipbuilding and the triangle trade. Level Maxwell was a captain and invested in ships, including the schooner Abigail, which would become Warren’s first slave ship in 1789, two years after slave trading had been declared illegal for Rhode Island residents. The Abigail was designed with a middle deck less than five feet high, where the kidnapped Africans would be imprisoned, with sources stating that 64 African men, women and children were forced onto the ship and then imprisoned for two months on the journey across the Atlantic. Eleven enslaved people died on the journey and were likely thrown overboard into the open sea, with the surviving 53 people sold into slavery in the Caribbean, with the Abigail returning home with the profits. It is unclear if Level Maxwell lived in this house or built it for sale, but the property was owned in the mid-19th century by George A. Barton, a merchant. The property was owned in the late 20th century by Mary King, who restored the old house and operated her antique store from the residence. Architecturally, the home exhibits many features of the Hazard-Gempp House nearby on Liberty Street, and was likely constructed by the same builder.

Hazard-Gempp House // c.1800

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This elegant brick Federal style residence in Warren, Rhode Island, was built around the turn of the 19th century, sometime after Liberty Street was laid out in the mid-1790s. An excellent example of the Federal style finished in brick, the three-bay residence features a projecting belt course between the first and second stories, corbels and flared lintels at the windows, a hipped roof surmounted by a small, centered platform, and an elaborate entry with pediment and elliptical fanlight transom. The builder is not known at this time, but the house was owned by George C. Hazard and later inherited by his son, George G. Hazard and later by Mary Jane Hazard, who remarried to Lucius Warner. In the early 20th century, the property was purchased by Gottlieb and Louise Gempp, proprietors of the local American-German Club. Despite having its brick painted, the Hazard-Gempp House remains as one of the town’s great and well-preserved Federal period homes built of brick.

General Nathan Miller – Commander Joel Abbot House // 1789

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The Miller-Abbott House at 33 Miller Street in Warren, Rhode Island, is significant architecturally as well as for its owners, who included a Patriot in the American Revolution and naval officer. The first owner, Nathan Miller (1743-1790) was a prominent local shipbuilder in Warren, Brigadier General of the Rhode Island Militia during the Revolutionary War, and delegate for Rhode Island to the Confederation Congress in 1788. This home was built in 1789, a year prior to his death in 1790; after-which, the general’s daughter, Abigail, and her husband, Charles Wheaton inherited the property and lived here with Nathan’s widow, Rebekah. In 1803, the house was expanded, likely when the right two bays were added to the home. Their daughter Laura married Joel Abbot in 1825 and resided here afterwards. Joel Abbot (1793–1855) was a Naval officer in the War of 1812, and after later important promotions, in 1852, he was made Commander by Commodore Perry. Soon after, Commodore Perry asked Abbot to accompany him on his famous Japan expedition, where U.S. ships sought to explore, surveying, and the establish diplomatic relations and negotiate trade agreements with the various nations in Japan, the first time in history. General Abbot died in Hong Kong in 1855 and his body was returned to Warren for burial. The Miller-Abbot House remains well-preserved despite replacement windows and retains its large side and rear yards in the dense downtown.

Warren Town Hall // 1890

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Warren, Rhode Island, is one of the lesser-visited coastal communities of the state, but retains one of the best waterfront historic districts in all of New England. With a small population of just over 11,000 residents, the downtown is extremely walkable with a tight network of streets, lined with stellar buildings and homes of nearly every architectural style and period, and are largely preserved showcasing what New England communities were like in centuries past. On bustling Main Street, the Warren Town Hall was designed by the Providence-based firm of William R. Walker & Son, architects, and constructed between 1891-1894. Designed in the Romanesque Revival style, the two-story building with five-story central tower also features Classical detailing like the terra cotta swags and brick pilasters. Before the 1938 Hurricane, the tower was even higher, incorporating an open stage topped by a parapet and a clock face on each of the segments of its still extant dome, which now has a slightly reconfigured mini-cupola topping. Additional detailing includes a terra cotta bust of the sachem/leader Massasoit with leafage, above a fluttering ribbon inscribed “Sowams,” the Wampanoag settlement that preceded Warren. The Warren Town Hall remains well preserved by the local government and a visual landmark on the town’s Main Street.

John Larchar House // c.1820

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The John Larchar House at 282 Benefit Street in Providence is one of the many stately Federal period homes in the city designed by great architect, John Holden Greene. John Larchar (also spelled Larcher), was born in Providence in 1787 and worked in local businesses, eventually becoming a bank director that was involved in many mercantile pursuits. The residence remained in John’s family long after his death in 1863, and has been maintained so well by subsequent owners. The 2½-story, brick Federal house features stone trim, four chimneys, a central elliptical fanlight doorway, modillion cornice and amazing 12-over-12 windows. The cupola at the roof appears to be a is a mid-19th-century addition, possibly after John’s death. The garage and two-story side addition dates to the 1960s but does not detract from the architectural integrity of the home. 

Stephen Hopkins House // 1743

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The Stephen Hopkins House is a Colonial-era house in the East Side neighborhood of Providence, and has survived waves of commercialization and redevelopment for nearly 300 years. The home is associated with Founding Father of the United States, Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785), who served as Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and was a signer of both the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. In 1742, Stephen Hopkins purchased a one-story cottage built in 1707 on Main Street, and enlarged the original house to its present size by 1743, incorporating the original cottage as the rear ell. The eight-room residence was occupied by Gov. Hopkins, his family, as well as enslaved Africans who lived under the same roof until his death in 1785. During his ownership, George Washington slept here, twice. After 150 years of successive ownership, in 1928, the house was moved to its current location at the corner of Hopkins and Benefit Streets to facilitate the construction of the new Providence County Courthouse complex. The Hopkins House was restored by architectural historian and architect, Norman M. Isham, and is owned by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, operating it as a historic house museum. The Gov. Stephen Hopkins House is a National Historic Landmark.

Providence County Courthouse // 1926

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S. Main Street Elevation

The Providence County Courthouse complex occupies an entire city block running between Benefit Street and South Main Street and while of immense scale, is broken up into more human-scaled wings and masses that make the building one of the finest and contextual designs in a city full of amazing architecture. The courthouse here replaced the first courthouse, a stunning palace of justice designed by Stone & Carpenter in the High Victorian Gothic style, that was completed in 1877. The old courthouse was soon outgrown and a larger building was planned following WWI. The present courthouse was built between 1926 and 1930 following a design by Jackson, Robertson & Adams in the Georgian Revival style, fitting of its context amongst some of the finest Colonial-era houses and buildings in New England. The building today contains the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Providence County Superior Court, and the local trial court. The South Main Street facade is my favorite with the Guastavino tile roof entry and stunning colonnade at the street level. A multi-stage clocktower emerges from the center of the building, at a height of 216-feet, making the courthouse the 11th tallest building in Providence.

Benefit Street Elevation

Pierce-Guild Lightning Splitter House // 1781

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The Pierce-Guild House at 53 Transit Street in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the most iconic and photographed residences in the state. Known as a “lightning splitter”, the unique name is taken from local folklore that the sharp angle of the gable roof will deflect or split lightning if struck. Whether or not this superstition is true, the unique house form numbers to less than a dozen in Rhode Island. This house, arguably the most well-known for its location off Benefit Street, was originally built in 1781 as a modest 1-1/2-story cottage with a gambrel roof for Daniel Pierce (Pearce), a tailor. In 1844, the property was sold to George Guild, a grocer, who modernized the house by creating the massive gable roof to provide a narrow third floor, which was illuminated by the end windows and a diminutive dormer at the roof. The house retains much of its character, after a restoration by owners in the mid-late 20th century.