The 1841 farmhouse on Mooresfield Road has 12 rooms and 3,500 square feet of living space. The three-acre property includes restored stonewalls. Journal photo / Sandor Bodo

“It’s an Eliza Doolittle transformation” was how Edmond R. Nickerson described the more than two-year restoration of the historic Daniel and Eliza Ann Rodman Homestead, located on the road leading to the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown.

The carpenter, Michael W. Lacasse of Rehoboth, Mass., who got down and dirty, and did the nitty-gritty of reviving the nearly razed property, preferred to refer to the project as a “diamond in the rough.” He did, however, note that he agreed “somewhat” with Nickerson’s reference to Doolittle from George Bernard Shaw’s famous Pygmalion about the efforts to soften a rough-around-the-edges working-class girl.

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Walk through the House of the Week

Lacasse spent months peeling away layers of neglect, disrepair and bad choices on the 1841 farmhouse at 782 Mooresfield Rd. Then he used his carpentry acumen to turn into a jewel the more than 12 rooms (five-to-six bedrooms, three full baths, three staircases and four fireplaces) of nearly 3,500 square feet of living space. It is for sale for $949,000.

He also took charge of cleaning up the three acres of land and the unattached two-car garage. The South County property, he said, now offers a farm setting with restored stonewalls and vistas.

A tour of the property disclosed a cemetery to the west. Nickerson noted that it’s the resting place for many members of the Rodman family, including the patriarch Daniel and matriarch Eliza Ann (Brown) Rodman.

The home remained in the Rodman family until 1902 when it was sold to Providence investors and speculators. Before the late Dr. Andrew A. Manickas, Nickerson’s uncle, bought it in 1985, the property had been a working farm, a dog kennel and home to a menagerie of animals such as goats, chickens and ponies.

“During Manickas’ ownership [he died in 2001 and it was not his primary residence],” Nickerson said, “some limited improvements were made. The cumulative effect of decades of neglect coupled with many unkind improvements took a massive toll on the old homestead.”

One of the “unkind improvements,” Nickerson noted, “was modernizing the exterior in the 1960s with aluminum siding.”

The offending siding was placed on top of the original clapboards and trim. The end result, Nickerson said, was that the historic house lost all of its charm.

The goal of Lacasse’s renovations for the past two years was to return the house to its former glory. Lacasse said that he painstakingly pulled off siding, and was relieved to find “95 percent of the original wooden clapboard intact.” He added, “It was very dry and needed lots of oil.”

Removal of the aluminum uncovered stone piers that once supported a Victorian-style front porch. Lacasse used old photographs of the porch as a guide to rebuilding it. He recreated the columns, and painted the ceiling the traditional sky blue. (The color was believed to have kept the mosquitoes away. Nickerson said the color also mimicked the sky to brighten up a “draconian” day.)

The original owners, the Rodmans, did the most amount of work to the house, putting on two additions in1853 and 1869. The original part of the house, Colonial style, featured the eat-in kitchen, full bathroom, dining room, a narrow staircase and butler’s pantry.

The back porch has become part of the kitchen with a new roof, and is set up as a laundry room. (The kitchen now includes new appliances and butcher-block counters.)

In 1853, a new dining room, 13 feet by 16 feet, was added. The Rodmans put on the front porch and an enlarged entry hall, about 10 feet by 25 feet.

In 1869, high ceilings, about 9 feet, and oversized rooms including a living room about 17 feet by 23 feet, and three bedrooms about 11 feet by 17 feet on the second floor, were added.

In addition, there are two full baths on the second floor. One has a ball-and-claw-foot tub. (The living room boasted the original crystal chandelier, and a fireplace with a marble façade and mantel.)

“As you walk through the house, you see three examples of styles and eras, Colonial, Greek Revival and Victorian,” Nickerson said. “As Rodman [who made Civil War uniforms] became wealthier, the house got grander.”

Lacasse said he took on the basement-to-attic renovation as the “ultimate challenge,” and made an effort to keep everything authentic. (He restored the original wide-plank wood floors throughout the house. The only carpeted room is the family room on the first floor.)

“I tried to repair as much of the original door handles, hooks, moldings and floorboards as possible,” he said. “All the original door and window hardware was removed, polished and lubricated.”

“We didn’t want to shove 2007 into the 1850s,” Nickerson said. “We wanted to use new and quality that looked old.”

The historic house, circa 1841, at 782 Mooresfield Rd., South Kingstown, with an unattached two-car garage, is for sale for $949,000. Tom Denniston at Lila Delman Real Estate, (401) 789-6666, has the listing. It has gas heat and appliances, and features 18 zones of heat, a thermostat in each room. Taxes are $4,300.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 Faye Zuckerman, real estate writer,

75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902; fax (401) 277-8250; or e-mail pjhomes@projo.com. For more information, call (401) 277-7333.