With elaborate Italianate-style features and a rare sun-bonnet gable over the second-floor balcony, the striking yellow three-story house at Winsor Drive and County Road in Barrington has become a curiosity.

It’s a landmark most notice heading in and out of the East Bay area.

One Winsor Drive, the Royal D. Horton House, circa 1872, stands out as one of the town’s rarest Second-Empire houses. According to documents from the Rhode Island Historical Society, “This style was a revival and collaboration of French Baroque architecture from the 1850s.”

Second Empire refers to the second emperor of France, Napoleon III. Such houses became popular during and post-Civil War era. They are known for details including decorative ornamentation, large rooms, high ceilings and hardwood floors throughout.

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Walk through the House of the Week

Barrington’s 1 Winsor Drive offers 4,118-square-feet of living space; the house sits on more than one-quarter of an acre. Its owners Karen and C.J. Lovett are selling the four-bedroom dwelling for $690,000.

It delivers a textbook mansard roof featuring a steep-pitch and nearly vertical sides. It has decorative bargeboard and pediments over the windows, giant brackets under the eaves, capped dormers and the aforementioned “sun bonnet” over the balcony, which is held up by columns on the County Road side of the house.

The balcony is over a paired-door entrance. There’s a small landing in front of the door accessed via a curved staircase with a banister and pineapple-shaped molding on top of the wooden turned newels.

The porch’s ceiling is painted blue, which was traditional for the era. (The blue was believed to keep away mosquitoes, and brighten up dark days.)

One Winsor Drive’s interior contains as many details as the exterior. The main staircase, all walnut, includes matching walnut paneling above and on the sides of the stairs. A built-in cabinet exists next to the staircase. A torch lamp caps the turned newel.

The main floor has a long wide foyer leading to the massive staircase. Two parlors on either side of the foyer have hardwood floors, ceiling panel molding with medallions and crown molding. There are large tall windows throughout.

One of the parlors, the Lovetts use as an office; the other is the dining room. It has a large crystal chandelier, and a table that seats more than 14. The dining area has raised-panel pocket doors that open to a music room, which has another door leading to the screened-in porch and the kitchen.

“I live out of the porch in the summer,” says Karen Lovett, pointing out the yard, which includes two bricked-in patios, brick paths and arched arbors. “One of the former owners was an award-winning gardener. The yard comes alive in the spring with unusual hydrangea.”

The kitchen sports the home’s signature hardwood floors, moldings and high ceiling. The eating area includes a working fireplace.

“In the morning, we turn it on, and it warms up the room quickly,” Karen Lovett says. “The heat from it flies up the back staircase and heats the upstairs.”

The kitchen has a chair rail, granite countertops, a floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace, two stainless-steel refrigerators and laundry facilities.

The main floor also has a full bathroom. In addition there’s a den with a closet and fireplace.

The Winsor Street entrance is similarly ornate as the one on County Road. It has an ornamental Second Empire overhang with giant brackets under the eaves and curved stairs. The door opens to a small hallway and the house’s back staircase.

On the second floor, there are four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and access via French doors to the balcony with a water view. The master bath has a Jacuzzi, glass-enclosed shower, toilet and bidet, and a double sink.

The master bedroom is the only carpeted room in the house. It has a non-working fireplace, and a giant walk-in closet, which measures 8-by-12 feet. There’s a high shelf above where the clothes hang, and it is reachable via a ladder.

The third floor has five rooms, including a kitchen and bathroom. The Lovetts keep the water turned off because they don’t use the kitchen and bathroom. The top level also has access to the roof.

Karen Lovett says that she was told that level used to be the servants’ quarters. “There isn’t any heating, but the hot air rises in this house,” she said. “It’s rarely cold up here in the winter.”

As for the basement, it also has five rooms and a wide hallway. It includes a potting room with a dirt floor, extra exterior brackets and the house’s original doors.

According to the historical society, the house had a cupola and a wraparound front porch that were removed decades ago. “Still,” reports the Historical Society, “One Winsor Drive boasts lots of Second-Empire elements including the large cornice brackets and the striking capped dormers.”

Karen Lovett adds, “This house is a labor of love. We are always doing projects and working on it.”

The Royal D. Horton House, circa 1872, with 4,118 square feet of living space sits on a quarter-acre of land. It has 200-amp circuit breakers, oil heat, high ceilings, oversized rooms and four bedrooms. It is for sale for $690,000. The taxes are $8,653. The listing agent is Wanda Vanier of Residential Properties, (401) 457-1337 or wvanier@residentialproperties.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 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