Mrs Clifford was the youngest child of John R. Freeman, who developed this section of town. She, like others of his heirs, took advantage of a provision in his will that bequeathed money to his heirs for the construction of their houses within the Freeman Plat. To design her house, she chose one of the 1930s Providence’s most stylish architects, Albert Harkness. Like his other signature houses of the period, Harkness here appropriated local Late Federal/Greek Revival, threw in a dash of English Regency, and mixed them up with a good dose of light-handed Modernism. The Cliffords built their house on a portion of land formerly occupied by her father’s house, which was demolished following his death in 1932 and its grounds subdivided among family members.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
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