Built as the barn for the house, designed by Stone & Carpenter, constructed in the 1870s at 104 Congdon Street for the President of the Providence Steam & Gas Pipe Company, this was converted to residential use for Harriet Chase in the early 1950s to designs provided by Harkness & Geddes. Recent renovations were designed by Haynes & de Boer.

The garden, designed by Lydia Jastram around fifty years ago, is a lovely outdoor room, a restful oasis in the midst of the city. Hidden and quite private, it nevertheless enjoys a southern exposure that provides pleasure year round, outside in the summer and viewed year round from the interior through large windows in the former vehicle entrances of this property, which was originally constructed as a barn. The multi-level ground plane is composed of large salvage bluestone paving stones in keeping with the scale of the house. The understory plantings are a wonderful combination of foliage textures while two mature Siebold Viburnums, Japanese Maples and other trees form the “walls and ceiling”.

— 2006 Festival of Historic Houses Guidebook