Slide Title
Preview
Date
Spring 3-1974
Description
Joseph Brown was one of the four famous Brown brothers of Providence who were heirs to the shipping fortune of their father. Joseph Brown taught mathematics and astronomy at Brown University, but was also an amateur architect. Brown built this home for himself in 1774. The baroque ogee gable Brown designed distinguished the home from others at the time.
After Joseph’s death in 1785, the house remained in the family. Brothers John and Moses formed the Providence Bank in 1791 and used this building as their headquarters. The original entrance was located on what would now be considered the second floor but was relocated to street level for commercial access to the bank.
Rights
This object from the Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, housed by the Rhode Island College Special Collections, and any of its digital surrogates are the intellectual property of Rhode Island College. This digital object is protected by copyright and/or related rights. The digital material presented here is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This content can be used, shared, or adapted for educational and scholarly purposes. For permissions to use this item please contact digitalcommons@ric.edu. All uses must include appropriate attribution.
Creator 1 Role
Photographer
Building Type
Mansion
Subject Headings
Architecture -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Historic buildings -- Rhode Island -- Providence;
Country Name
United States of America
Region Name
Rhode Island
City Name
Providence
Street Address
50 South Main St.
Recommended Citation
Smolski, Chet, "Historic Joseph Brown House" (1974). Browse All. 269.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/smolski_images/269
Keywords
Jospeh Brown House; Providence, Rhode Island; Providence Bank; architecture; historic buildings;
Notes
Woodward, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources (Providence 1986) 224