Comments on: 299 Broadway

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:49:03 +0000

by left side, I mean right side, on VInton Street

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:48:40 +0000

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: toad

toad — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:49:42 +0000

The carriage house behind this property is amazing as well, a huge round window in the front.

By: Faust

Faust — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:20:56 +0000

“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).

By: Ubercore

Ubercore — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:19:40 +0000

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.

By: Casey

Casey — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:10:14 +0000

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.

By: Faust

Faust — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:41:18 +0000

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).

By: owen

owen — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:28:30 +0000

Property values in Broadway/Armory District area have definitely not dropped 40%, unless you are buying a foreclosure or other distressed property.

By: Miguel

Miguel — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:23:58 +0000

Wow…. what a house.

By: Stump Blankenship

Stump Blankenship — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:54:36 +0000

That house is so cool. Great location as well.

[sigh]