John K. Kendrick–George W. Prentice–Anna Tirocchi House

John K. Kendrick–George W. Prentice–Anna Tirocchi House

John K. Kendrick–George W. Prentice–Anna Tirocchi House Photograph by Andrew Hope
1867, Perez Mason. c. 1881, c. 1931. 514 Broadway

More rambunctiousness appears at number 514, built for a loom harness manufacturer and designed by Perez Mason, an architect from Fall River, Massachusetts, who eventually lived on Broadway himself. A loose, clapboarded hybrid, part mansarded Second Empire palace, part towered villa, the house is uniquely set back from Broadway on a large, landscaped property. Details more than composition attract the eye here: a flaring mansard with cupola topping a spindly tower; bonnet gables of two types; a curious sagging, tentlike hood molding over accent windows; and a plethora of varied brackets and pendant ornamentation. Later owners George W. Prentice, a buttonhook manufacturer, and Anna Tirocchi, a very prestigious dressmaker to the Providence carriage trade, made additions and alterations to the house, which may account for its particular character.

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