Here are three fine iterations (with 263 and 281 Olney Street) of turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival, all large in size and scale, with several design approaches. Both Schofield and Tierney show lingering Queen Anne tendencies, especially in the use of the corner tower; that on the Tierney House, by Stone, Carpenter & Willson, is more contained within the hip roof both horizontally and vertically, while Schofield’s erupts into a candlesnuffer roof. The Marvel House, designed by Norman M. Isham, is one of Providence’s most restrained Colonial Revival houses of the style’s first generation. Its front porch is particularly interesting, recalling the work almost a century earlier of Benjamin Latrobe or Thomas Jefferson, especially Pavilion IX at the University of Virginia. Marvel, like many of Isham’s clients, was affiliated with Brown University; he was the director of athletics.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
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