One of Providence’s historic and architectural gems, the Hopkins House immediately reveals its importance through its handsomely landscaped surroundings and the several plaques that adorn its façade, like medals on a military hero. Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785) was a merchant in business with the Brown family, served multiple terms as governor of the colony, signed the Declaration of Independence, and was a friend of George Washington, whom he entertained here (honest!) on two occasions.
The house was built in two separate campaigns: the original section, now the kitchen ell came first, probably a single-room building, similar to the most modest versions of stone-end houses that characterized northern Rhode Island’s earliest house forms; Hopkins built the main block when he acquired the property in the 1740s. It stood originally on South Main Street, at the foot of the hill, on the opposite side of Hopkins Street and faced west. Moved part-way up the hill in the mid-19th century, it was moved a 2nd time to this location in the mid-1920s, when the Providence County Court House, across the street, was built. At that time, the house, owned by the State of Rhode Island, was placed in the hands of the Colonial Dames of America, who have carefully maintained and interpreted it, as they do for so many historic properties across the country. The landscape, designed by descendant Alden Hopkins, is inspired by Virginia gardens, much admired by Stephen Hopkins during his visits there.
The interior is intimate and compelling. The straight-run stair in the center hall was a stylish touch in the 1740s (compare with the common mid-18th-century center-chimney plan that lingered into the 1790s as seen at 18 George). Paneling in both parlors is quite handsome, and the shell cupboard above the west parlor is quite fine.
— 2006 Festival of Historic Houses Guidebook
This prettily sited house, peeping out from behind an elaborate picket fence in the midst of a fantastic garden and emblazoned with markers attesting to its historicity, was for more than forty years the home of Hopkins (1707-1785), colonial governor, Brown-brothers business partner, Declaration of Independence signer, and host to George Washington. Originally located down the hill and on the north side of Hopkins Street, it was built in two stages: the present kitchen ell to the rear first, then the front, added by Hopkins when he bought the house in 1743. On the inside, the central stair hall separates the library on the left (east) from the parlor on the right (west). The parlor has a handsome mantle shelf topped by a carved-shell motif, a popular decorative feature in the mid-eighteenth century. The house came to rest on this site in 1927, when construction began on the court house across the street. Norman M. Isham (1864-1943), one of the country’s first American-architectural historians and restoration architects, restored the building at that time. Descendant Alden Hopkins, a landscape architect at Colonial Williamsburg, designed the gardens after ones in Virginia that Stephen Hopkins had admired on a trip there. Owned by the state, maintained and interpreted by the Rhode Island Chapter of the Colonial Dames of America, and open to the public, it epitomizes the home of a wealthy merchant of the mid-eighteenth century with furnishings appropriate to its time and station. It also serves as a foil for the great houses erected by merchants like Joseph and John Brown in the succeeding generation.
— 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
Stephen Hopkins house, 1707-1743. Colonial: original 1-1/2 story, gable roofed structure built in 1707 by John Field; 2nd story 1743 addition by Stephen Hopkins clapboarded with gable roof; original interior includes a fine shell-carved cupboard in the parlor; the current pedimented entrance in the 1743 section was designed by Norman Ishamin 1927. Stephen Hopkins was a merchant, ten times governor of Rhode Island Colony, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington was a houseguest in 1776. Today the house is operated as a museum by the Colonial Dames with a garden designed by Alden Hopkins of Colonial Williamsburg.
— College Hill National Historic District; 1976
The Hopkins House hasn’t been open since March 2020. As the State of Rhode Island owns the house, it’s too bad Rhode Islanders and visitors to the State can’t see the inside of the House and hear the history.
What would it take to have the Hopkins House open to the public again?