Providence Journal: "House of the Week- East Side Residence has Four Bedrooms and Plenty of Charming Nooks"

PROVIDENCE –– It’s easy to miss the lavender Victorian in a row of historic wood houses at the southern end of Blackstone Boulevard.

Surrounded by trees and greenery, the house almost recedes into the background in the summer months, despite its unusual color.

The house was built in 1883 as an investment property, and it was used as a rental for many years. In 1960, it was purchased by a religious community, The New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, which bought the property for a possible expansion of the private Lincoln School.

But after the school purchased a Rehoboth farm in the early 1980s, the house was sold, at which point it became owner occupied, according to the Providence Preservation Society. According to a description of the property written for a PPS tour, the house has a simple design typical of investment properties, even in the Victorian period, and “even here in an emerging neighborhood of choice.”

The front-entry porch leads to a small vestibule with walls decorated with a whimsical metallic curlicue design. From there, French doors lead to an open living area that could be arranged in any number of ways.

Owner Nancy Evans Lloyd has a large farm-style table and chairs in the front part of the area, and she uses the back section, which has bright red wallpaper and a beamed ceiling, as a family room.

Lloyd said she installed a Vermont Castings gas stove in the family room to make it extra cozy in the winter; she said the house also has a new high-efficiency heating system and a newer roof.

A more formal living room is to the left of the front entry; here, long slender windows face the Boulevard, and the built-in bookshelves and comfortable seating in the room suggest it is a favorite place to curl up and read.

A large galley-style kitchen has seating around an island table. A desk has been fitted in one corner of the kitchen, under a spice rack on one wall, and a rack of pans on another. A window with a charming window seat is at the back end of the kitchen, overlooking the yard. The window seat top lifts up, and there is storage space inside. A laundry room is in another nook off the kitchen. The half bath on the first floor has another touch of whimsy: wallpaper in a rabbit motif.

There are four bedrooms upstairs. The master bedroom is large enough for a sitting area, but two of the bedrooms actually have separate sitting rooms, between the bedrooms and the hall. These small rooms could also be used as mini offices or playrooms. Two of the bedrooms also have closets that are connected. At the back door downstairs, another porch leads down to a brick-paved garden and the back yard. A gravel driveway at the side of the house extends to the yard. At the far end of the yard, a white hammock is tied to tall trees.

Lloyd said the end of her property line abuts city woods and Lincoln School property. She said she once hosted a wedding reception for some friends in the yard, which has a “country in the city” ambience. But the Blackstone Boulevard location puts the house within walking distance of a host of urban amenities, including Wayland Square and a Whole Foods supermarket. The backyard also has an area with an older swing set. Lloyd said her two children grew up in the house, and she is looking for something new now that they are adults.

The house at 25 Blackstone Boulevard is on the market for $449,000. Real estate taxes were $5,728 in 2009. For more information, contact listing agent Sally Herreid of Residential Properties, Ltd., (401) 965-5816.