Thomas Alexander Tefft

Tully Bowen House // 1853

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Designed by great architect, Thomas Tefft, this three-bay, three-story brownstone house located at 389 Benefit Street in Providence, was built for Tully D. Bowen, a cotton manufacturer. The house, one of the finest Italianate style mansions in the state, is constructed of brownstone and features a recessed arched entrance surrounded by a flat-headed Doric-pilastered frame, pedimented first-floor windows resting on brackets with the alternation of flat and pedimented heads at the second story, and quoining at the corners. The property also retains its original Tefft-designed brick and brownstone carriage house. Thomas Tefft, who was just 27 at the time of designing this house and corresponding brownstone and iron gate, would become one of America’s finest architects before he died in Florence with a fever in 1859 at just 33 years old. The residence was converted to 12 apartments in 1941 and the carriage house was converted to residential use as well. Even with the subdividing the interior spaces of the residence and carriage house, the Bowen property remains in a great state of preservation and is one of the finest homes in Providence.

Liberty Street School // 1847

Buildings of New England3 Comments

The Liberty Street School building in Warren, Rhode Island, was built in 1847 and beyond its clear architectural significance, it is significant as the third high school building constructed in the state, and is the oldest survivor of its type. Architect Thomas Alexander Tefft, one of the nation’s first professionally trained architects, designed the school when he was just 21 years old! The young architect would later take an excursion around Europe in the mid 1850s, but would fall ill with a fever in Florence, Italy and he died there in 1859. He was just 33 years old when he died. The Liberty Street school building was eventually closed and has sat largely vacant for years. A recent proposal to restore the building and add onto the rear for condominium units has been a site of contention for the town in recent years.