299 Broadway - West End
Gorgeous Victorian across from Julian’s Restaurant, vacant for at least 5 years now and slowly falling into disrepair. Some boarded and broken windows on several floors.
Nearby Houses:
None yet photographed. Please take a picture if you see one.
wow what a GORGEOUS house. I thought all these gorgeous Victorians were bought up and renovated during the West Side’s boom. What a shame
Owned by Broadway Apartments Inc. Looked it up, president of the company and thereby owner is Salvatore Mattera. The house has been in the family for decades.
Current valuation though inaccurate is $509K but that is as of 2007. A lot has changed, property values in Providence have dropped about 40% and that would bring it to $305K today. Wish I had the cash, I love that place.
It is heartening to note that the Providence Preservation Society is planing a tour of the West End. At $45.00 per ticket, I may just take a ride around.
That house is so cool. Great location as well.
[sigh]
Wow…. what a house.
Property values in Broadway/Armory District area have definitely not dropped 40%, unless you are buying a foreclosure or other distressed property.
I drove down Broadway the other day, seems to be 90% law offices and chiroprators. Is much of Broadway still residential? I noticed that the mayor’s father’s place on Broadway had been foreclosed last month, but I couldn’t find it. I believe it was 221B Broadway (shades of Sherlock Holmes).
I think this is the JB Barnabas house. I can’t remember where I found the info, but JB owned a department store in downtown Providence and predeceased a young wife. After his death, her lawyer attempted to romance her and when that didn’t work, ultimately attempted to poison her and ended up killing her traveling companion instead while Mrs. Barnabas was on vacation in Colorado.
The house was originally somewhat simpler (note the simpler French Empire building of much more squarish proportions that seems to be evident when you subtract the towers and dormers. It is said that JB enlarged the house for his bride, adding all of the trim, both towers including the one with the lookout porch, and the round conservatory on the ground floor.
Sources say that at one point it was cut into apartments, but I can’t find anyone who ever lived there in my lifetime, and it isn’t completely dilapidated and I’ve seen homes built in the 1990s with crappier paint jobs, so it does get SOME maintenance.
Another gem that I worry about more than I should.
I have talked to someone who lived in this house in the 70s, so I can confirm that it was indeed apartments at some point. I will try to ask more the next time I see her.
“It is said that JB enlarged the house for his bride, adding all of the trim, both towers including the one with the lookout porch, and the round conservatory on the ground floor.”
In a day and age when ostentatious wealth had difficulty in display, people added towers to their houses. They had minimal useful purpose but were horribly exspensive to build. I once had a house that had them, the tower walls were hand tooled leather (inside).
The carriage house behind this property is amazing as well, a huge round window in the front.
Last I checked, the entrance on the left side of the house was unlocked. Door opened right up. Somebody (probably many people) must be squatting inside! You could hide an elephant in that house!
by left side, I mean right side, on VInton Street