Two houses for sisters-in-law, both designed by the Boston firm of Parker, Thomas & Rice (garnered thanks to a sibling’s marriage), these textbook illustrations capture the ability of strong, early twentieth-century architectural firms with well-trained partners to produce almost-infinite varieties of highly successful revivalist confections for their demanding clients. Ellen Sharpe’s Tudor Revival house, number 87 (pictured here), came first. Occupying a lot equaled only by that of the Woods House, it assumed a different, private posture, removed from the street behind a wall unlike Woods, which at least visually engaged the street a bit more. Her sister-in-law’s house across the street at number 84 (now called Rochambeau House), is based on the eighteenth-century French country houses she so loved, here somewhat loosely interpreted. Mrs Sharpe was an avid gardener and landscape devotee, with many accomplishments: from the campus of Brown University, alma mater to her husband and her son, to the street-tree fund that still continuously provides trees to the city’s neighborhoods. The garden here is definitely worth a peek. Mrs Sharpe left the property to Brown University for use by Romance-language departments, and it still exhibits her exquisite sensibilities.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
When I was a student at Brown 1958-62, the Ellen Sharpe house, known as “87 Prospect,” served as a freshman dormitory. My room was a “triple” on the third floor, behind the two pairs of windows in the shingled section of the photo to right. The first floor was used for social gatherings, that often spread out into the garden in the warmer weather.