A. T. Horton, builder
Like its sister properties at 63 and 55 Princeton, the Liscomb House has been meticulously restored and impeccably maintained. Much of the development along 1880s Princeton Avenue focused on the block between Broad and Updike Streets. A likely collaboration between the builder, A.T. Horton, and the owner, Isaac Liscomb, the end result is a highly decorative house with a straightforward layout that anchored a prominent corner in the neighborhood.
True to Queen Anne style, the Liscomb house exhibits a layering of details and textures. Because of the scale of the house and its position on a corner lot, the builder layered the façades with a band of shingles between each floor. At the entrance façade, he added a wide bay window and an intricately carved porch to welcome visitors.
Liscomb was a partner at T.F. Pierce & Co., seller of boots and shoes, located in the Arcade between Westminster and Weybosset Streets. The Liscomb family resided in this house until 1929, when it was acquired by Mary Campbell. The house was ultimately carved into apartments at some point in its history and required extensive restoration by the time it was acquired by the current owners in 2004. The front entry porch has been fully rebuilt using mahogany, with each detail intricately recreated. Though the apartments have been fully modernized, much of the original detail remains.
— Festival of Historic Houses Guidebook, 2017
My partner and I restored that house when we bought the house from the original owners in the early 90’s. The house was always a single family up to that point. The owners that bought it from us cut it up into apartments, that would have been in the early 2000’s. All of the doors, ceiling plaster (medallions and cove moldings were restored by us. At that time, the entire house was rewired. It was still gas lighting when we bought it. We also acquired the original lighting at additional expense, had it restored, wired for electric and mounted back in place. Lord I can go on and on LOL. The house always had an in-law apartment on third floor but it hadn’t been used since the 1940’s as far as I could tell.