In 1857, wealthy druggist Earl P. Mason built the clapboard three-story, Italianate house at 296 Benefit Street. Just thirty-three feet west of the house is this small, two-story, brick carriage house, measuring twenty-five by twenty-seven feet, which served as Mason’s private stable. Nineteenth-century carriage houses are relatively rare survivors throughout the city and are especially rare and unusual in this densely built part of College Hill. Throughout the twentieth century the building, vacant and unused, suffered from deferred maintenance, clearly visible in its missing windows and fallen brick.
SAVED: RISD acquired the building when they purchased the apartment building and adjacent parking lot. It has subsequently been sold numerous times and, as of February, 2019, it appears to be in good condition.
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