The Prentice Mansion

I was driving to class today when my friend Josh called me.  He found out that there was going to be an open house at the Prentice mansion today at two, and invited me to go with him.  Of course I agreed.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, it sits at the corner of Broadway and Tobey streets.  It looks like this:

It was built originally in the 1860s, and greatly expanded and remodeled in the 1880s.  Anyone who walks or drives by it for the first time asks "what's in that house?".  It's by far one of the most extravagant, pretentious Victorian houses I've ever seen.  It's been vacant and locked for about 8 years.  I was very excited to see what the inside had to offer, but also somewhat unprepared for it.  I took pictures, but since there was no electricity, I was forced to use my flash, so they're not of my usual quality.  For the sake of keeping this post to a reasonable length, I'll only post the most important ones, but there are more.

The Grand Staircase.  The scale here is a little misleading.  The newel post in the lower right is actually much taller than I am.

A pocket door on the first floor near the grand staircase.  You can see a bit of the ceiling detail in the upper left.

Probably my single favorite feature of the house:  the interior front doors, which have classic English arts and crafts painted glass, in an impeccable state of preservation.  The entire first floor is full of early Arts and Crafts woodwork.

  

A gas chandelier in the dining room.  This room, for some reason, looks like it was never renovated.  This is what the house would have looked like when it was new in the 1860s.  Very different from the richness of the rest of the house.

The Drawing Room.  Again, classic Arts and Crafts.  Unfortunately, the ceiling in this room lost the detailing that can still be seen in the main hallway.  It's also difficult to make out, but there's a marvelous parquet floor in this room, as there are in most of the others.

Stained glass windows in the elevator shaft.

Here's where it all gets very sad.  One of many standing puddles on the second and third floors.  Another winter, and this house might as well not have a roof.  The entire building is actually beginning to lean inward.

A family of Italian dressmakers lived and worked in the house during the first half of the 20th century.  This was their workshop, on the 3rd floor.  Much of the house actually bears the marks of their presence here.  In some ways, I love its eclecticism, but to be quite frank, a lot of the things they did were awfully tacky.

Last but not least, the view from the tower window.  One of the women on the tour with me remarked at how beautiful it was, and how amazing a state of preservation that Providence is really in, when you see it from a perspective like this.  It's very true.

I left this place feeling many different emotions at once.  I felt blessed to have been able to see it.  I felt furious that someone could care so little for such an amazing place.  I felt hopeful because it's being sold, but also hopeless because there's so much damage.  I felt plain sad more than anything else, because so much has been lost.  I've never believed in prayer, but I may just break down and pray for this house, because its fate is totally out of my hands.