The modern kitchen has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

Step through the sliding glass doors and into the backyard of the Samuel Wilkey House, circa 1790, and you’ll find modern-day living in a late 18th-century Colonial.

Stainless steel kitchen appliances sit on restored wide-plank hardwood floors; new cabinets over granite-top counters are nearby the original glass-front floor-to-ceiling ones.

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In addition, original moldings are featured in the traditional period eggplant color. Pristine horse-hair plaster walls are found throughout the six rooms. The four giant fireplaces with restored wood surrounds and the 12-over-12 windows contribute even more to the historic feel.

“We searched quite a while for a home like this one,” said James Newcomb, who four years ago bought the Samuel Wilkey House at 116 Transit St. in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, near Brown University. “We wanted a house with this kind of detail that was in mint condition.”

Newcomb and his wife, Christina, are relocating, and they are selling the historic house for $529,900. It’s a fine example of a center hall post-and-beam Colonial, which, he reported, is on the National Register of Historic Homes.

It sits sideways on its lot with the end of the clapboard dwelling, with 1,250 square feet of living space, facing the street. The main entrance, which is on the side of the lot, (there’s room to park one car) boasts copper gutters. It has decorative details above the front door, which, he said, are original to the house.

The door, six panels with original wrought-iron latches, opens to a tiny entryway that discloses the home’s two-room plan, and narrow circular staircase. A rope dangling from the top of the stairs assists visitors when climbing the stairs to the second floor.

The home’s real estate agent, Deborah Gold, said, “The rope reminds me of being on a boat.”

The second floor contains two bedrooms, each with a working fireplace, wide-plank hardwood floors and one full bath. A two-story addition, put on in the early 19th century, includes two tiny rooms off the master bedroom. The Newcombs used one room as a closet; the other one served as an office.

One gains access to the third floor, an attic, by a circular staircase, sans rope. The roomy attic offered storage, and potential for additional living space.

Gold noted that in about 1913, the historic house was placed on bricks to keep its wood framing from deteriorating. This raised the basement’s ceiling to a comfortable height.

“I think what’s most unusual about this home is that the ceilings are higher than usual,” Gold said, estimating them at more than seven feet.

The main floor emphasizes the historic nature of the house. The dining room and living room, separated by the foyer and staircase, have exposed beams, oversized fireplaces with restored wooden mantels and surrounds, and are painted in period colors. In the dining room, the full bath with washer and dryer is next to the fireplace, which is the largest in the house.

The kitchen is on the ground-level and is part of the addition put on about 50 years after the house was built in the 1790s. It has granite counters, a double stainless steel sink, and a small eating area.

“I think of this house as a great all-seasons house,” Newcomb said. “In winter, you can sit in the dining room and warm up with the fireplace; in summer the glass doors open up to the back patio next to a garden. It’s great for entertaining.”

What pleased the Newcombs most about the dwelling, he added, “is that the previous owners had cared and improved the vintage home without losing its historic charm.”

The original owner, Samuel Wilkey, was a laborer who lived in the house in the 1790s. According to Richard Hershner, who wrote a research paper about the house in 1976, Wilkey bought the house from landholders John Innes Clark and Joseph Nightingale. (Gold said that she plans to pass Hershner’s paper on the history of the Wilkey house to the new owners.)

“We searched for this house for a long time. Not a lot of these come onto the market,” Newcomb said.

The historic Colonial, circa 1790, with gas heat, two bedrooms and 1,250 square feet of living area, at 116 Transit St., is offered $529,900. Taxes are $4,984. Deborah Gold, of Coldwell Banker, (401) 247-0202, 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.