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Evans House

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1805. 11 Tarkiln Rd. (pole 2)

The Evans House takes its name from a family who occupied it beginning in the late nineteenth century. Whereas Windy Brow (preceding entry) is aligned with the road on a terrace, this only slightly earlier house in the same format is angled to the road in the old-fashioned manner, south facing and raised on a mound, probably augmented with the dirt of its cellar excavation. The front, which at Windy Brow seems generously stretched in keeping with a trend of the Federal style, is here compact, drawn in toward its central brick chimney. Both have twelve-over-twelve sash on the first story and, unusually, twelve-over-six above; but these windows are smaller. The framing is also heavier, with decisively projecting sills and heavy boards cut in exaggerated diagonals on either end as lintels. No elegant fan over the door, nor side lights to illuminate the hall; this one is narrow, set deep within a broad, simple frame and capped by a small transom with a strongly projecting door head. “Elegance,” says Windy Brow, elegance more attempted than fully achieved, to be sure, as though the country house went to town in quest of the latest fashionable graces. “Shelter,” says the Evans House, in its traditional carpentered vigor, content to stay with country ways.

Writing Credits

Author: 
William H. Jordy et al.
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Citation

William H. Jordy et al., "Evans House", [Smithfield, Rhode Island], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-SM4.

Print Source

Buildings of Rhode Island, William H. Jordy, with Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, 251-252.

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