This three-story cross-gable Queen Anne Victorian at 74 Dexter St., in Providence’s Armory District, has an intriguing past. Across the street from the Dexter Training Grounds, it was built as a single-family house in 1890 by prominent merchant George M. Griffin, one of three houses the Griffin family built on the street.

The house was sold in 1938 to a funeral home director, who turned the second and third floors into the owner’s residential unit, added a garage and converted the first floor into a funeral home, first the Trotier home and then the Paquin home. Current owner Peter Bramante laughed when asked if that ever spooked him. “Not really. It was a long time ago,” he said.

Between 1979 and 1995 the first story of the house was used for several commercial uses, including a graphic design studio and a copy/printing center. Bramante and his partner, Tom Nolan, bought the house in 1995. Bramante said they were attracted to both the house and its neighborhood.

“There was a real community feeling, and there was great diversity, not just in terms of ethnicity, but people’s interests and passions,” said Bramante, who is executive director of the Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island. “The park [Dexter Training Grounds] is an amazing asset, and when we saw the quality of the house, the size and space, it was unparalleled to anything else.”

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Bramante and Nolan have converted the former commercial space on the first floor into a rental apartment, and they use the second and third floors as their residence. It’s been a lot of work, from the nitty-gritty basics such as updated wiring, storm windows and insulation, to bringing the exterior back to its original beauty.

But Bramante said much of the house’s original appeal remained intact, and he and Nolan had a stroke of luck when they found the original woodwork and trim from the first floor in a storage space above the garage. Nolan and Bramante have preserved the home’s Victorian charm, although there are a few exceptions, such as the thoroughly modern kitchen that was redone in 2007.

Now, Bramante said, it’s time for a change. “We’re ready to try something different,” he said. “We’re looking [for] a more industrial kind of space, maybe a loft. An entirely different home and lifestyle.”

The exterior of 74 Dexter St. is painted in purple, lavender, green and orange, with elaborate carved panels at the roof peaks. The front door, originally a nondescript dark green, has a mahogany veneer on one side, rosewood on the other. Facing the street are two colorful panels, one depicting zinnias and the other dahlias. In keeping with the floral theme, the front yard is filled with lush plantings. Walkways in brick and stone lead around the house, and there’s a small patio, paved in brick and bluestone, on one side of the house.

The main hallway is painted in blue-and-white. The stairs have mahogany railings and balustrades, with a cast iron lamp set atop the newel post at the bottom of the stairs. On the second floor, a large entryway leads into the grey-and-white living room, with a fireplace flanked by cabinets and built-in shelving.

A hallway leads to a guest bedroom with vibrant yellow walls, a parquet floor and tall windows. A large bathroom off the hallway was renovated in the late ’30s, and Bramante and Nolan decided to keep the tub and pink-and-black tiles from that period. Farther down the hall is a small room that could become another bedroom — it’s got a closet with built-in shelving — but is now being used as a media room. One wall of the media room has a large opening that looks into the dining room, painted in shades of blue and green.

The kitchen is 21st century, with honed granite countertops, a vibrant backsplash of blue and green glass tile, and maple cabinets with stainless steel handles. There are pull-out drawers for convenience, a built-in wine rack, two dishwashers (one large, one small), and all new appliances. The stove has its own griddle, and over the stove there are infra-red heaters, plus two pull-down warming racks, to keep meals hot.

The third floor originally had five very small rooms, which Bramante and Nolan combined to form the master bed and bath. It’s a large space, with exposed beams running overhead and an office space beneath the eaves. There’s a big bathroom with blue-and-white tile, with a whirlpool tub tucked cozily beneath another set of eaves, and a curving shower with a wall of glass brick on one side.

The rental unit on the first floor has a large double parlor, divided by an archway, with a bay window at one end and a fireplace surrounded by Italian tiles at the other. There are two elaborate carved medallions on the ceiling, with chandeliers hanging from the centers. The rest of the first-floor unit includes a bathroom painted in white and lime green, the master bedroom, a smaller room that could be used as another bedroom, an office or den, and a modern kitchen renovated in 2006.

The house at 74 Dexter St. is for sale at $449,000. Square footage, including the first floor rental unit, is about 3,600 square feet. Real estate taxes in 2008 were $4,842. The Realtor is Judy Croyle, (401) 499-7541, e-mail judycroyle@hotmail.com.How to submit a House of the Week

A different House of the Week appears each Saturday in the projoHomes section of

The Providence Journal.

The feature tells the story of the house and the people who have lived in it. If you would like us to consider a house for sale as a subject of this news feature, send a photo, information about the house and why it is of interest, to Christine Dunn or Andy Smith, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902; fax (401) 277-8250; or e-mail pjhomes@projo.com.

For more information,

call Dunn: (401) 277-7913 or Smith: (401) 277-7262.

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