Quick History Stops: Bristol, RI, Part 3

On the same day I visited Coggeshall Farm at Colt State Park and Linden Place in Bristol, RI, I made many quick history stops around the historic downtown. Throughout this sidewalk hike, I followed the Historic Bristol Walking Tours provided by Bristol Historical and Preservation Society. During the first part, I saw beautifully preserved historic buildings and monuments. In the second part, I continued down Hope Street and walked through an area known as Bristol Waterfront Historic District. For the third part, I admired the diverse architecture of private houses, small businesses, and public buildings.

Cheerful yellow Susan Gorham Cottage was built in the unusual Carpenter Gothic style in 1855 for the widow Susan Gorham, although additions to the house date from 1867. The gingerbread trim, also known as bargeboard, is painted white and carved like a scroll, similar to the waves in the nearby harbor. Nearby is Colt Apartments, named for its original owner Samuel Pomeroy Colt who wanted to house the managers of the United States Rubber Company in the same building. The designer of this property was Colt’s favorite architect, Wallis Eastburne Howe, who also designed Colt Dairy Barn and the Industrial Trust Company building. The 1918 apartments combined Greek Revival columns and a pediment with an understated trim echoing what is found on Gorham Cottage. Contrasting these two houses was Richmond-Herreshoff House, originally built by whaling fleet owner Lemuel Clark Richmond in 1800 and later owned by Charles Frederick Herreshoff III and Julia Ann Lewis Herreshoff. The Herreshoff family had many industrialists, and the house is now owned but apparently not maintained by a yacht museum named in their honor.

Mostly hidden behind dense shrubbery was Seven Oaks, a Gothic Revival style mansion built by James Renwick, Jr. for Augustus Osborn Bourn in 1863. Both of these men were well-known at the time. Bourn started National Rubber Company, a rival to Colt’s organization, while Renwick was an accomplished designer best known for the Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as the Castle, in Washington, DC. As for the rubber companies, these would be merged by Colt in 1892 to form Uniroyal, while Bourn would be a career politician in Rhode Island. Nearby was Chesebrough House, a Second Empire style mini mansion for Caroline Herreshoff Chesebrough, daughter of Charles and Julia. My favorite part of this property was the Victorian Revival style carriage house in back known as the Mumma House built around 1994. We are about the same age! The original carriage house had burned down in 1980, so architect Lombard John Pozzi created a design that fit the historic flair of the area. The colorful roof and bright trim make this house very cute.

Buildings near the center of town have a more industrial look with multiple stories and red brick. Browning House is a Federal style building on the corner of Hope and Constitution Streets built in 1830 by Beriah Browning. The four-story Belvedere at Bristol blends upstairs apartments with ground floor businesses. Across the street, another group of businesses are in a Tudor Revival style building that originally served as the YMCA. The original building was designed by Howe, and Colt likely had a hand (or wallet) in its funding. Contrasting these buildings is Bradford-Dimond-Norris House with its original portion built around 1792 and now serving as a bed and breakfast. The first owner was doctor and politician William Bradford named for his great-great-grandfather William Bradford who was the colonial governor of Plimoth Colony. During the 1830s, Greek Revival style architect Russell Warren added many rooms to the house. His other designs previously mentioned on this blog include Bristol County Courthouse and New Bedford City Hall (now the library) in New Bedford, MA; Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, MA; and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Bristol, RI.

Finally, I had to check out the public buildings. Bristol Post Office is a mid-20^th century building designed to look like an old building by Philemon Fowler Sturges III, who wins best name for this post. Sturges also published a super cute picture book series called I Love, my personal favorite being I Love Trains. Next door is the Rogers Free Library, a Gothic Revival style brownstone named for local banker Robert Rogers by his widow Maria DeWolf Rogers. She donated the library to the town since the couple had no surviving children to inherit their wealth. Maria was the niece of the family patriarch, Captain Charles DeWolf, and also the niece of the temporary owner of Linden Place, Captain James DeWolf. This is an interesting closing note for my trip to Bristol, as it shows once again how much the family contributed to the town while reminding the residents how much the local economy relied on DeWolf-Colt support.