Three riffs on the two-story gambrel roof set with their ends to the street, all by “related” (i.e., at one time or another in the same office) architects: Howard K. Hilton for Jacobs (310 Olney Street), and Angell and Swift for Deming. The earlier Jacobs House is more sculptural of the designs, with a semi-circular bay at the southeast and a tower-like massing of bay window and dormer over the entrance, centered on the west side of the building. The mirror-image Colonial Revival houses that Richard Henry Deming built for his daughters, Grace Greene and Maude Fowler, were designed by Angell & Swift, who churned out countless variations on this theme. While the decorative vocabulary is taken from Colonial and Federal sources, it is used in a thoroughgoingly Queen Anne fashion – liberally sprinkled everywhere. Deming did not live to see his daughters occupy these houses, but both enjoyed them for twenty years after their completion.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
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