The Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission labeled Tiverton’s Job Gray House one of the rarest and most unusual in the town.

It’s a one-and-a-half-story cottage, circa 1790, with a three-bay façade. It is known as a “half-house” because of the placement of its chimney, staircase and the front entrance. They are located at one end of the house.

A half-house’s concept is that the owners would build an addition on the side of the house, turning the dwelling into a five-room floor plan with a central chimney, stairs and front door.

The half-house at 2930 Main Rd. instead had an addition put on the back, and the staircase and chimney still exists at one end. (The fireplace was covered up and is behind the wall in the family room.) But the front door was covered up more than a century ago, and the main entrance moved to a covered porch on the side of the house.

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Walk through the House of the Week

In 1953, the late Alfred and the late Mary Pereira bought the two-bedroom cottage with 1,328 square feet of living space. It sat on more than 50 acres. It had 1 1/2 bathrooms and oil heat

The Pereiras had subdivided the land so two of their children could build homes. In 2000, the family donated more than 48 acres to the Tiverton Land Trust. The Pereira children are selling their parents’ house, which currently sits on about 3.7 acres, for $320,000.

Alfred Pereira was a city boy, and according to his daughter, Myrtle Letendre, “He loved hanging out of windows of this triple-decker in Fall River to talk to friends in the neighboring apartment building.”

On the other hand, Mary Pereira hailed from the country. She longed to give up their Fall River digs to live on a giant parcel of land near the beach.

During a day trip to Tiverton, the Pereiras drove by 2930 Main Rd., and Mary Pereira, seeing it was for sale, demanded to buy it. “My father thought she was crazy,” Letendre says. “But she fell in love with this low-rambling house all by itself in a giant field near the water.”

Alfred Pereira liked to sit on the covered porch at the side of the house. She says, “He would chat it up with locals.”

Mary Pereira preferred to spend her days in the backyard sitting on the deck off the kitchen. “Lots of times it was a toss up where they were going to sit,” she adds. “Generally, they had dinner in the back overlooking the yard. I guess she won out.”

In the 1950s, the Pereiras added cabinets to the kitchen, which along with the utility/laundry room and dining area is part of an addition that existed when the Pereiras bought the house. There’s a small eating area in the kitchen.

The cellar is accessible through a bulkhead in the backyard. There’s no garage.

To enter the house, a visitor walks through the covered porch and into the living room. The side of the living room houses the staircase to the second floor where there’s one bedroom, a full bathroom, lots of windows and storage space. The bedroom and bathroom walls are covered with paneling.

The master bedroom is on the ground floor and off the family room. The family room houses the half-bath.

“I have fond memories of this house. I remember huge picnics in the yard,” says Letendre, noting the house’s summer feel with an exterior covered with grayish weathered-looking shingles commonly found in New England near the water. “I remember the yard was dotted with raspberry bushes and maple trees.”

The two-bedroom cottage with 1.5 bathrooms at 2930 Main Rd, Tiverton, dates to the 1790s. It has oil heat, and is for sale for $320,000. The taxes are $3,908. Rosemary M. Bowen and Margaret Manning, of Spinnaker Real Estate, (401) 635-2300, spinnakerre@necoxmail.com, has the listing.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.