Perhaps the most visually diffuse house in Providence, this monkey-bread-massed house jumbles together a wide range of geometric forms and decorative details into a strangely appealing yet chaotic crescendo. When this house was designed, the architects, William R. Walker & Son, were reaching a changing-of-the-guard point in their development, with Walker in his early sixties and Son in his late thirties. As an insight into the development of this house’s design, one would love to have a better knowledge of the evolving dynamic of this dynastic firm, which survived through another generation into the 1930s. Or was the client, daughter of rubber magnate Joseph Banigan, insistent on such a highly inflected design? Despite all its idiosyncrasy, it is a fine presence on the street, especially as viewed anywhere from the east on the splendidly lined Orchard Avenue, for which it serves as a fine western terminus.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
– 2010 Festival of Historic Houses Guidebook
PPL has a small photo album highlighting this house:
https://www.provlib.org/wp-content/uploads/finding-aids/053-03-FA.pdf
Hi there! I’m very interested in how I might see more pictures of the Sullivan house. I clicked the link, but they re not in the PDF.