Aunt and nephew both chose as architect their soon-to-be neighbor Alpheus Morse to design ample Italianate houses, hers in wood, his in Danvers pressed brick with brownstone trim. The choice of materials for each significantly affects their presence: the masonry Angell House (built for about $75,000) achieves a strong and dignified monumentality; while the wooden Gorham House (relatively inexpensive at a cost of $20,000) seems merely big. Morse had introduced this scale of domestic architecture on northern Benefit Street with the Rhodes House, but these two were to be the last. After their construction, northern Benefit Street was largely built out, and the wealthy and stylish began to eschew the densely built lower slope of College Hill for more ample and elevated settings.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
The house pictured is the Angell House, 30 Benefit Street. The neighboring house to the south is the Gorham House, at 34 Benefit Street, built 1864-67.
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