Brackett, Charles, House
National Register of Historic Places

Brackett, Charles, House

Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island
Listed
April 2, 1970
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
70000018

About this property

The Corliss–Brackett House, also known as the Charles Brackett House, is an historic house in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The house is located at 45 Prospect Street at the southeast corner of Prospect and Angell Streets. According to Richard B. Harrington of the Rhode Island State Historical Preservation Commission, "There remain anywhere very few very formally and more monumentally treated durable masonry examples of the 'Italian (Tuscan) Villa style.'" The house maintains its original exterior appearance. The structure stands three full stories above a low basement; a tower in the house's northwest corner stands a story taller. A two-story service wing to the house's east is separated at street level by a tunnel-like porte-cochère. The house is constructed in the Italian Villa style, which emerged in the United States in the 1840s; the structure is thus slightly retardataire. The house was built between 1875 and 1882 by George Henry Corliss, inventor of the Corliss Steam Engine. Corliss' second wife, Emily Shaw, suffered from an illness for which a doctor recommended she spend her winters in Bermuda. Corliss sought to fulfill the prescription locally by "bringing" the temperate climate of Bermuda to Providence. To this end, he constructed a radiantly heated house, potentially the first in America to employ a radiant heating system controlled by a thermostat. Other unconventional technologies Corliss integrated into the structure include a hydraulic elevator and concealed insect screens. The house was inherited by screenwriter and relative of Corliss, Charles Brackett in 1929. Brackett donated the structure to Brown University in 1955. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. From 1973 to 2013, the house served as the Admission Office for Brown. It is currently occupied by the Brown University Department of Philosophy. The exterior of its carriage house was used on the television series Doctor Doctor to represent Dr. Stratford's office. National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island Media related to Corliss-Brackett House at Wikimedia Commons

Location

45 Prospect St.
Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island
41.82763, -71.40444

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Dexter, Edward, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Woods-Gerry House
Industrial
0.1 mi
University Hall, Brown University
Industrial
0.1 mi
Congdon Street Baptist Church
Civil War
0.1 mi
College Hill Historic District
Listed
0.2 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Bunker Hill – Rhode Island contingent
1775Revolutionary War
0.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Brackett, Charles, House listed on the National Register?

Brackett, Charles, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 1970.

What type of historic resource is Brackett, Charles, House?

Brackett, Charles, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Brackett, Charles, House?

The period of significance for Brackett, Charles, House is recorded as the industrial era.

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