You are here

E. B. Olney House

-A A +A
c. 1848. 515 Woonasquatucket Ave.

Of several Gothic Revival cottages built in Allendale, this is the most interesting. Highpitched roofs and Tudor moldings over windows give a vaguely “Gothic” aura to this plainly carpentered house, with specific reference mostly concentrated in the charming entry porch. Note also, however, the paired diamond-shaped terra-cotta chimney flues molded to “medieval” taste. The design seems to have been nominally inspired by one of Andrew Jackson Downing's many books, which, in the 1840s and 1850s, popularized medieval styles as ideal for suburban and country houses. Extant Gothic Revival houses are rare in Rhode Island and seem never to have been very popular. Allendale is the only extant mill village in the state with several of them, all seemingly allocated to those with superior status in the community hierarchy.

Writing Credits

Author: 
William H. Jordy et al.
×

Data

What's Nearby

Citation

William H. Jordy et al., "E. B. Olney House", [North Providence, Rhode Island], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-NP5.

Print Source

Buildings of Rhode Island, William H. Jordy, with Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, 165-165.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,