Splendidly isolated, as well illustrated by early paintings of Providence, when completed near the crest of College Hill, this substantial Federal house was built by a partner in the firm Brown, Benson & Ives. Benson’s architectural statement was even more ambitious, at least in siting, than that of his partner John Brown, but the design of this house shares only a hint of Brown’s opulence. The house is considerably enlarged from its original form, and both the additions and the fence are Colonial Revival embellishments perhaps even gutsier than the original.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
“In 1792 Moses Brown sold Captain George Benson a lot of land “east of the Baptist
Meeting House” facing Angell Street, and in 1797 William Holroyd sold him an adjoining piece.
Benson was a merchant whose trade was chiefly with South America and China. He entered into
partnership with Nicholas Brown in 1783, in the firm which later (1791) became Brown, Benson
and Ives. He retired from the firm in 1796, the year he is credited with building his Angell Street
House, one of the most important eighteenth century houses in the city. Seth Wheaton, who
bought the house in 1826, left it to his daughter Abby, the wife of Matthew Watson, and the
Watsons retained title to the property until 1872. In 1882 William Grosvenor acquired it, and it
has been in the Grosvenor-Congdon family since then.
The house is a square wooden two story building of conservative Georgian design with
classic modillian and dentil cornice, a hip roof and double parapet rails. The windows have
molded key blocks, and the central entry is distinguished by a fine Roman Doric portico with a
segmental (curved) pediment.
In 1950 when Mr. and Mrs. Congdon acquired the house they restored the interiors,
which had been Victorianized, to their eighteenth century central hall four-room plan, and
stripped the panelling to the natural wood finish. The stair hall runs through the house, and the
staircase, set at the back in two runs, has slender turned balusters and decorated riser ends. The
reeding, rope molding, etc. of the cornices and the “eared” treatment of the door and window
frames and the mantel panels are characteristic of the woodwork of the later eighteenth century.
The mantel wall of the library is panelled, and the mantelpiece in this room is original, but those
in other rooms are of dark marble, and Greek Revival in style. The house, with its lavish use of
detail, is an excellent example of the late Georgian or early Republican style.”
– Historic house marker report about 64 Angell Street, late 1960s. To read the complete report, click here.
Hello, I so appreciate the work of the PPS in keeping our beautiful and historic city beautiful and historic. As the daughter of history teachers, a student of archaeology, and the leader of a church with historic buildings, the presence of our past is a real and significant value to me personally as well as so many of us at the First Unitarian Church at the corner of Benefit and Benevolent. I do need to draw your attention to an important factual error in PPS signage on a house on Benefit St. According to our church records and research, the house attributed to the Rev. Edward B. Hall, a former minister of this church, was actually constructed by the church to house his widow, Louisa Hall, after the reverend’s death. So it ought to have her name on the plaque, rather than his. I think of this every time I pass it – and am sorry it has taken me as long as it has to bring this to your attention. I hope this can be readily corrected – so many of the houses plaques ignore the names of the women who ran those households s the spouses of the men named on them. It would be very nice to at least remedy this instance, where indeed the man named was in fact deceased before it was even created for his widow. Could you let me know if this is possible? I will hope to hear back from someone in your organization. Very best regards in the meantime. Yours, the Rev. Elizabeth Lerner Maclay, Senior Minister, the First Unitarian Church in Providence