Alfred Lippincott, is relocating to Upstate New York and is selling for $1.2 million one of Westerly’s landmarks –– the painted lady at 59 Elm St. — affectionately dubbed “the purple house.”

This stunning Victorian, circa 1886, boasts an exterior with a foundation of large rough and textured native granite blocks; a three-story tower with notable tall-thin windows; and one-story-high front and back porches with turned spindles, decorative newels and columns.

Of note are the more than 12 different colors he used to paint the exterior. He picked shades of purple and brown, and for the trim yellow and green.

In addition, there are four kinds of decorative exterior shingles with names such as fish scales and daggers. A flared band of shingles encircling the outside of the house between the first and second floors starts and ends at two diamond shaped stained-glass windows decorated with leaf-shaped molding painted gold.

Gallery

Walk through the House of the Week

“The band is like a sash around the house symbolic of a woman,” said Lippincott, an artist who is best known as a fabricator of large-scale sculptures. “The diamond windows are like the belt buckle.”

The tower has an octagonal roof that resembles a cap. Lippincott designed the finial at the peak of the tower as well as a matching smaller one on a similarly shaped roof over the back porch.

In addition, he took charge of the aluminum cresting on the roof. Lippincott also restored the chimney with a textured pattern. And to remain true to the period, he restored the style’s signature brackets under the eaves.

“My first impression of the house was that it was a beautiful lady sound asleep under vinyl and neglect,” he says. “I knew it had potential. It had so many features that were unique to that style of architecture.”

He expanded the house’s land by purchasing a three-car garage that abutted the property. In keeping with the Victorian theme, he covered the garage with decorative shingles.

Also, the grounds, the lot’s size is about 12,453-square-feet, include an organic vegetable garden, a tumbled-tile patio and a gardening shed under the back porch. There’s additional storage under the front porch.

After buying 59 Elm St. in 2002, Lippincott spent more than two years overseeing a top-to-bottom restoration. He included in the house his affection for antique stained-glass windows, and throughout there are pieces he tracked down in wrecking yards.

Most striking is a transom from Belgium, circa 1880s. It’s turned on its side in the dining room.

He placed matching stained-glass in the doors leading from the dining room to a small parlor with a marble fireplace. The over mantle is intricately sculpted, and he says, “It is true to the Victorian period.”

Lippincott added pocket doors between the parlor and the living room, which is off the foyer that houses the grand staircase. Over the staircase’s landing are the diamond-shaped windows that make up the belt buckle of the painted lady.

If he had a pride and joy, he says, it’s the kitchen he designed to be warm, homey and spacious. It sits in the back of the house with views of the garden.

He added windows over the sink, and the table and chairs are next to a bay window. Lippincott brightened the room by adding light-colored oak floors and matching oak trims. The glass-front cabinets have antique wavy glass; the coutertops are granite; and the walls have bead board.

In addition to a six-burner professional oven, the kitchen has a walk-in pantry, broom closet and a back hallway with a coat closet and new half bath. The kitchen has radiant heat.

The living area measures 5,318 square feet. It includes a second floor with two bedrooms, a full bathroom and laundry room with a sink.

“You see how the molding on the second floor is less elaborate than on the first floor,” he says. “On the third floor there isn’t any.”

The master suite at the front of the house on the second floor is two rooms. One includes the tower, and Lippincott uses it as a sitting area/study.

The master bathroom has a day-spa feel with a giant glass enclosed shower-steam room with a tiled bench the width of the bathroom. There’s a linen closet and tile backsplash with a trim of blue tile, which has a swag design

As for the top floor, Lippincott uses it as a bedroom. It has a half bathroom, and the top-floor room in the tower is a meditation room.

The bottom level, which has doors leading to the yard, has a full bathroom, fireplace and two giant rooms.

“The location is great. There’s something to be said about living so near town,” he says. “You can walk everywhere. Parking is never a problem.”

The four bedroom Victorian with three full and two half bathrooms at 59 Elm St. in Westerly is for sale for $1.2 million. There’s gas heat, a house fan, two fireplaces and an unattached three-car garage. The taxes are $6,551. Roberta Huntington Randall, Realtors GMAC, (401) 348-6882 or bertarealestate@aol.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.

fzuckerm@projo.com