projoHomes
House of the Week: A towering Warwick Victorian with charm and warmth
01:00 AM EST on Saturday, January 10, 2009
The house at 4389 Post Rd., in Warwick, just over the East Greenwich line, makes a grand impression when viewed from outside — a big Victorian with a turret on one side, painted a sunny yellow with an inviting wraparound porch.
Inside, the house has lovely proportions and beautifully maintained Victorian features, including four working fireplaces, double parlors and original woodwork in the kitchen and pantry. For a slightly more modern touch, the three-story house has its own elevator, probably installed in the 1960s or 1970s.
“If someone asks me what I’m going to miss most about the house, I’d say the elevator,” said owner Bert Caldwell.
The Caldwells, Bert and his wife, Ann, have lived in the home for 17 years, moving to Rhode Island from Norwell, Mass., after Ann Caldwell got a job as vice-president of development for Brown University. After Brown, she became president of MGH Institute of Health Professions, which is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. Bert Caldwell manufactured surfaces for tennis courts and running tracks.
Ann Caldwell said the 1875 Victorian is the “newest” house the couple had lived in. “Victorian houses are a lot more comfortable than older houses,” she said. Even so, the Caldwells were initially turned off by what they call “incredibly garish” black-and-pink wallpaper in the house, but eventually they were able to see the home’s advantages. And the offending wallpaper is long since gone.
Decades ago, there may have been a famous visitor to 4389 Post Rd., although no one can confirm the story with any certainty. But word is that President Harry Truman used to play poker there, snuck into a hot game by J. Howard McGrath, the Rhode Islander who was Truman’s attorney general from 1949 to 1952.
Whether Truman ever gambled there or not, the house has a couple of geographic quirks. Although it’s located in Warwick, the mailing address is East Greenwich. And even though the street address is on Post Road, to get to the house by car you need to turn on Bay View Avenue, then take the long driveway next to mailbox number 63 that leads to the to the back of the house.
If you enter the house through the front door, you pass through a small foyer and then into a hallway flanked by a pair of double parlors, each with a working fireplace surrounded by pink marble and elaborate mantelpieces. One of the parlors has built-in shelving, behind leaded-glass doors, on either side of the fireplace. The other parlor has built-in bookcases and a rounded seating area that occupies the base of the turret. Both parlors have big windows to bring in plenty of natural light.
Past the parlors, just opposite the main stairway up to the second floor, a set of French doors leads into the formal dining room painted in grey and white. A pair of Goddard-style carved cabinets, with arched tops and walnut scallop-shell motifs, is set into one of the walls.
The hallway leading to the kitchen has a wet bar behind a set of leaded-glass doors. Opposite the wet bar is a door to the small elevator, which could hold three people — assuming they don’t mind very close contact — or 450 pounds. There’s a red telephone in the elevator just in case you need to make a call.
The main kitchen area has a big center island with a sink. It also includes a full butler’s pantry with sliding glass doors , a breakfast nook, a window seat and a built-in desk, all with original woodwork.
Upstairs, it appears as though a previous owner had converted two rooms into a single master bedroom suite, which now consists of a bathroom, the bedroom and a large sitting room with a fireplace. In one corner of the sitting room is another round seating area inside the turret, only here the turret has been left open past the third floor, where a set of windows lets in the light, and all the way to the pointed top. The sitting room has a door leading out to the second-floor balcony, which has a water view of Greenwich Bay.
There’s one more bathroom, with a double shower, on the opposite side of the sitting room from the master bedroom. A door from that bathroom goes into a guest bedroom, which also has a fireplace and floral patterned red-and-grey wallpaper inside plaster “picture-frame” molding. Completing the second floor is a small office or bedroom, a laundry room and a half bath.
The third floor is where Bert Caldwell keeps his extensive collection of military memorabilia. “This is where macho-land starts,” he announced as he walked up the stairs. The third floor is now filled with everything from toy soldiers to carved shell casings — “trench art” created by soldiers in World War I. Minus the military collection, the third floor features a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a den with built-in shelving and the top half of the open turret.
In addition to the main house, 4389 Post Rd., includes two outbuildings, a two-car garage and a small structure with a loft, currently being used as a gardening shed. The shed has electric power, and although the interior is rough at the moment, it could be turned into an artist’s studio or children’s play area.
This house, at 4389 Post Rd., is offered for sale at $860,000. It has 4,049 square feet of living space on 2.4 acres. Property taxes are $11,488. The Realtors are Gladys Barbosa and Janet Kermes at Lila Delman Real Estate, (401) 855-1401. There will be an open house tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 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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