UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

COUNTY,

Providence -

FOR NPS USE ONLYENTRY NUMBER DATE

12iNAME .+:-/

COMMON:

Clemence-IrongHouseAND/OR HISTORIC:

LOCATIONSTREET AND NUMOERI

38 George Waterman RoadCITY OR TOWNI

Johnston

J&E

n0Cz-I

I’Form 10.300July 1969

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM

Type all entries - completeapplicable sections

STATE,

Rhoda Island

STATE

Rhode Island, 02919CODE COUNTY

_______

- ProvidenceCLASSIFICATION

CATEGORYCheck One

.OWNERSHIP STATUS

. -

ACCESSIBLETO THE PUBLIC

C District

Q Site C Structure

C Obiect.

C Public Public Acquisition:

Private i C In Process

Both C Being Considered

.

tj Occupied

0 UnoccupIed

C Preservation workin progress

Yes:Restrict.d

o UnrestrIcted

C No

PRESENT USE Check One or More as Appropriate

D Agricultural C Government .. C Perk, . C Transportation C Comments.

C Commercial C Industriol C Private Residence C Other Spacjfr

C Educational C MIlitary 0 RSligious

C Entertainment Museum - 0 Scsntiic

1

f OWNER OF PROPERTY

I-

- OwNER’S NAME: . .

Society for the Preservation çf New England Antiquities .

- 0,

STREET AND NUMBER: . .

iLl CambridgeStreet .

!

CITY OR TOWN: . . .

floston .

LocATroNovLEoALDEscR IPTION

STATE: CODE

Massachusetts 25

COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC

Johnston Town HanSTREET AND NUMBER:

1351 Hartfo AvenueCITY OR TOWN:

JohnstonSTATE . . CODE

Rhode Island, 02919 . Lb

lNExI5liIqG.St.j RTITLE OF’ SURVEY . . . P1

c z-0

U’

H Historic American Bui1din Survey - . .

-DATE OF SURVEY:1936, 1937, 1939 Federal * C State C County .0 Local .

DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS:

Library of Congress‘

- . -

-

STREET AND NUMBER: -

IndependenceAvenue and 1st Street, S. ECITY OR TOWN: - -

Washington . .

STATE:

District of Columbia fI Z

CODE -

fl-

Li1- . .-... H .-..

**

- -

DESCRIPrION: . --- - :--*Excellent

D Go C Fair OD:teuorat.d 0 Ruin. 0 UnexpesedCONDITION

t7äkono -. CheckOne- L

I and sig!tdter.o C Mc...d J Original SiteDESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND DRIGINAL It known PHYSICAL APPEARANCE - - - -

Probably built cs i68o, although its maxmnoth stone chimney may -:-

-

date from before 1650, the Clemonce-Ironshouse is a one-and-one-half- r.storey Rhode Island stone-ender.11 It has been carefully restored--thiswork based on internal evidence as much as possible, and an excellentand voluminous record, consisting dr text, photographsand drawings, of -

the restoration processhas been compiled. The house is capped by a - ‘--psteep gabled roof, which extends over the rear lean-toat a slightly - - -

reducedpitch; the roof is now covered with heavy, hand-split shingles. :. - -

The house faces south, and a:lriost its entire western end is madeup of - :.- a stone chimney..wall.which rises to conclude in a very large pilastered

- stack. The lean-to part of this chimney wall was built when the house -- - I - --

was restored in the l9bO’s, after evidence was discovered proving that -

the four-room lean-to plan was original. The housets roof may originally - -:have been thatched--a thought suggestedby. the-spacingof the irlins for -

-.-. -the roof framing. rn -

Unlike most houses of the seventeenthcentury in the Providence lii -

- -. -

vicinity, the exterior walls here are studded; they are closed with U-vertical boarding and covered on the exterior with narrow, weathered - -

clapboards. The very small casementwindows, glazed with diamond-shapedpanes of leaded glass, were installed in the courSe of restoration, as -

was the front door, made of three thicknesses of planks bound together -

by knob-headednails. -

a- -:

The four-room plan, which is original, is aliost square in dinen--sions. The entrance leadsinto the keeping-room, fifteen feet square and

with a huge stone fireplace across its west end; here a winding staircase --

beside the fireplace rises to the garret. A fifteen-by-seven-foot bedroom adjoins the keeping-roomin the front of the house. The lean-to 0

across the rear consists of two rooms. A stone fireplace buflt into the Zwest wall of the larger lean-to room was constructed as part of the resto- vtration, making a typical Rhode Island widened chimneywith fireplaces setside by side. There is a cellar reachedthrough a trap-door in the floor,and the garret contains one chamber. -

The magnificent heavy-timber framing of oak is fully exposedonthe interior. The mortise-and-tenon construction is securedwith woodentree-nails; the girts and the summer-beam,which runs perpendiculartothe fireplace, are all chamferedand stopped. As in some other seventeenth-century houses, the sills are set on top of the floor joists, above thevery wide pine floorboards, so that they must be stepped overupon entering the house. The ceiling consists of the exposed joists and floorboards of the garret above. Interior walls and doors are sheathedwithwide vertical boards finished with bevelled and - beadedmoldings alongtheir edges. - - - - - -

- - --- See Continuation Sheet. -

I-

:

- - - - - -

FoqmO-300o UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR - STATE -- - --

-, - July O9 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE -- Rhal e Island - - - -- - -

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY --- : -

- - -

-- INVENTORY. NOMINAT!ON;FORM -

- FOR NPS USE ONLY- --:- -

-

- - - - -- ENTRY NUMBrR DATE -

Continuation Sheet - - - - --

N.m,bn an antiS.. - -

7. -Description. - - - - -- - - -- -

Much - of the material of the house dates from its restoration by the - H -

Rhode Island architect Norman H. Ishan after 1938, although in design and- - --

construc.tion he carefully followed both seventeenth-centurytradition and -- --

-

clear evidence foun3 -in the house itself. In the restoration work every- - - -:thing not part - of the brigina house was removed, including the roof and - - -- ‘ :1later wail coverings, thesashwindows and doors, some adjoining ens and

- a later rear, lean-to--thus leaving only the basic frame and the early-

fireplace. in the. keeping-roan. Structural evidence in the garret indi- - - -

- - --

cated-the-presence--of an original lean-to which -was then reconstructed,- - -: -

and a fireplace was built for the lean-to room. Much of the wall sheath- : -

ing is original, but no internal evidence was left to show the size andtype of the old windows.

- -

;P - -

- 1 - - - -

- - tV

___ -:--

-

I

Lean-to r oms - - -

-- ] --

-: - -

-I

- -- - Stone---- KeepinE-rOom

- - - -- -

--

- with main Chamber --- : - - -

- - -hearth and out- - -

- - -- - -- - side entrance - -

-- - . - It- -

- --- - - r -

- - - - -- -

- Approximation offirst-floor plan not - - -- -

-

- _: - -toscáie. - - - -

- - ‘- -

-

--

-- - -

-- - - - - - I - ___ --I -

- - -

- -

-

- - - - - - - - - - GPO 901.002 -

__

_______

- - -- - - - - - ---- - -

--- -- -- c. .a -

I StGNIFICANCE -F ‘__-

- PERIOD Check One Or More as Appi-oprialo - -

fl Pre-Columbian 16th Century C 18th Century 0 20th Century -

Q 15th Century x:i 17th Century 0 19th Century

- SPECIFIC DATEISI Ii Applicable andKnown ii. I68O -

AREAS OP SIGNIFICANCE Check One or More a. Appropri.l. - - - -

- - -- Aboriginal. C Education -- Political C Urban Planning’ - -

0 PrehistorIc - C Engineering- ‘0 Raligion/Ph.-- Y_ -D 0th.? Specify -

Q Historic C Industry losophy

________________________

C Agriculture 0 Invention C Science -

Architecture C Londscope 0 Sculpture

________________________

C Art Architecture C Social/Human- -

C Commerce - C Literature itorion -

C Communications o Military C Theater -

0 Conservation o Music C Tronsportoljon

________________________

STATEMENTOFSIGNIFICANCE- - -

The Clemence-Ironshouse is one of the earliest dwellings stillpreservedin the state, and ‘t is the most carefully documentedresto-ration of an early Rhode Island house in Providence County. It is anextremely fine example of the Rhode Island "stone-ender" and is main- - - -

tamed as a museum. - --0 - -

- Thomas Clemence, a friend of Roger Williams, officially bought - -

the property, then rart of Providence, on ‘January 9, 1651j, from an -

o Indian, Wissowyamake,although he was already- living there by 1650,according to the tax lists. Active in political affairs, he became I H- -

constable in 1661. He representedthe town of Providence at a Court of - - -

Commissionersat Portsmouth in 1663; at a Court of Deputies at Newport - - -

in 1665 and there again in 1671. In 1667 he was chosen Providencetown treasurer.

- -

z -

- Clenience was one of the-twenty-sevenmen of the area who-stayed - - --

to defend the town while the other citizens evacuatedduring King -Ui Philip’s War in 1676. It is thought that the original house was burnedLU 1 at this time and that the present dwelling may have been a re-building - - - --

against the surviving stone chimney-wall of the destroyedhouse. - - - - - -- - -

HH

- - --- -

-v -. - - - -. -

4.9 MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

-- Cady, John Hutchins: The ThomasClemenceHouse c. 1630, intIOld_TimeNew England,1’ July, 19148 Boston, Massachusetts,19143.

- Downing, Antoinette Fe Early Homes of Rhode Island Richmond, Virginia,1937. - -

U. S. Works ProgressAdministration. FederalWriters’ Project: Rhode -

Island. A Guide ... Boston, Massachusetts,1937, p. 1459.

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINA TES0 DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY

OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES

LATITUDE AND LONGItUDE CDORDtNATESDEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATINGTHE PROPERTY

- LATITUDE LONGITUDE

NWNE

SE

SW

Degrees Minutes-Secondsa

0

0

0

Degrees Minutes Seconds0 -

o --

0 -

0

LATITUDE - LONGITUDE

Degrees Minutes- - Seconds Degrees Minutes Seco ds -

141 o 50-’ 20.72N 71 29 -03.9ë-W

APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY Less thaone acre - -

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE: CODE COUNTY - cODE

STATE: - - - - CODE COUNTY: - - CODE

STATE: - -- - CODE COUNTY: - - - ,- - CODE

STATE: - CODE COUNTY: - - - - - CODE

111. FORM PREPARED BY

III, Consultant - - -

5TATC COn- Rhode Island, 02903 -

-*::NA

Liaison Officer for the Na

Act of 1966 Public Law I hereby certify that this property is included in the

this property for inclusion National Register.

certify that it has been - -

criteria and procethresetService. - The recommended

--- -

nomination is:

-

Chief, Office of Archeology and historic Preservation

C Local C - - -

Date - - - - - -- -

-

ATTEST: - -

- --

Keeper of mc National Register

- - bate

- - DATE

Cormission Nay 27, 1971 - -

ORGANI ZATION

Rhode Island Historical PreservationSTREET AND NUMBER:

State House, 90 Smith Street

fri

rn

aIn

-I

C

n

-I

-o

4-,

GP 0.-s a I .0 $ 7

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Rhode Island

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCOUNTY

ProvidencePROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY

Typeall entries - attach to or enclosewith photographENTRY NUMBER DATE

Z .:-:.-.:

o cOMMON: Clemence-IrongHouse- AND/OR HISTORIC:

i... ..

STREET AND NUMBER:

38 GeorgeWatermanRoadCITY OR TOWN: -

JohnstonSTATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

Rhode Island. 02919 hIt Providence 007

- IPHOTO CREDIT: Clifford M. Renshaw, IIIDATE OF PHOTO: 1971

UJ NEGATIVE FILED AT: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommission,John Brown House 2 Power Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02906

:-I1DESCRIBE VIEW. DIRECTION. ETC.

Exterior from the south-wegt.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESPROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM

FORM 10.301 A10/72

Typeall entries - attach to or enclosewith photograph

L NAMECOMMON AND/OR HISTORIC NUMERIC CODE A..Sn.dbyNPS

Clemence-IronsHouse

2. LOCATIONSTATE

Rhode IslandCOUNTY

ProvidereTOWN

JohnstonSTREET AND NUMBER

38 George WatermanRoad

3. PHOTO REFERENCEPHOTO CREDIT Richard Cheek for DATE

the Society for the Preservation of N.E. Antiquities

December, 1972NEGATIVE FILED AT Society for thePreservationof New EnglandAntiquities, 141 CambridgeSt.,

4. IDENTIFICATION- 1aaton, r1p5. U...21

DEICRIBE VIEW. DIRECTION. ETC.

View of the great hail

GPO 032.009

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Rhode Island

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCOUN

PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY

Type all entries-attach toor enclose with photography ENTRY NUMBER DATE

o COMMON: Ulemence-.LronsHouse- AND/OR HISTORIC:

I- 1LOCATIONu STREET AND NUMBER:

38 Georce WatermanRoadCITY OR TOWN:

JohnstonSTATE: CODE COUNTY: cooe

-- Rhode Island, 02919 Ith Providence. UU

- OTO CREDIT: Laurence E. TilleyC. 1960_1970?

LU EGATIVE FILED AT: LaurenceE. Tilley, 58 The Arcade,W ,j

-.::- :-:i’ °?90L---** :.

DESCRIBE VIEW. DIRECTION. ETC.

Hearth at west end ‘ keeping-room.

GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES

Latitude: 41° 501 20.72" N

I LongitUde 710 29’ 3.98" W

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

PROPERTY MAP FORM

1.1. NAME--....*.* :..:.. . .....

OMMON: Clemence-Iroris HouseAND/OR HISTORIC:

j_LOCATIONSTREET AND HUM BER: -

38 George WatermanRoadCITY OR TOWN:

JohnstonSTATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

Rhode Island Ldj Providence 007LLMA REFE.R.E4C -.

.‘..-.. .... . . -.. ..:......

SOURCE:

U. S. Geological SurveySCALE: 1: 2h,000DATE: l97

REQthREMNTS

Form 10.301July 1969

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

STATE

Rhode Island

Typeall entries - attach to or enclosewith map

COUNTY

ProvidenceFOR NPS USE ONLY

ENTRY NUMBER DATE

z0

I

U

.1-

‘U

Lu

I,TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS

1. Property broundories where required.

2. North arrow.

3. Latitude and longitude reference.