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Rhode Island » Providence » College Hill and East Side » Hope Street and Side Streets » Esther Baker House

Esther Baker House

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1882–1883, Stone, Carpenter and Willson. 179 Hope St. (corner of Manning St.)
  • (Photograph by Patricia Lynette Searl)
  • (Photograph by Patricia Lynette Searl)
  • (Photograph by Andrew Hope)
  • (Photograph by Andrew Hope)

Like the Burnside and Hall houses on Benefit Street by Stone and Carpenter, the Baker House exploits its corner site to good effect, here with a dominating diagonal bay that thrusts its way toward the corner and separates the very disparate street elevations to either side. Despite this disparity the playful mix of materials and delightfully conceived features in this Queen Anne design still manages a tenuous whole, while leaving the parts to captivate the wandering eye by their diversity and threatened discord. The two entrances—one for carriages, the other for arrivals on foot—again require an interior organization around an L-plan hall. No part of Rhode Island, other than College Hill—not even Newport, it would seem—boasted so many mansions with this double approach for visitors. Inside (not open to the public), woodwork and fireplaces are substantially intact.

Writing Credits

Author: 
William H. Jordy et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Horatio N. Campbell House
John A. Mitchell House
Frank B. Lisle House
Jeannette B. Huntoon House
Henry Lippitt Houses

Citation

William H. Jordy et al., "Esther Baker House", [Providence, Rhode Island], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-PR171.

Print Source

Buildings of Rhode Island, William H. Jordy, with Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, 120-120.

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