Inside a Work of Art in Providence

The sleek white kitchen has sunny views of downtown Providence. Photography by Angel Tucker

Allison Spain and her husband had just finished their second home renovation project when they saw an 1867 Italianate for sale on Providence’s Benefit Street.

The home had been vacant for years. The roof leaked, trees branched through windows and the rooms were cloaked in layers of dated wallpaper and musty carpeting. 

But it mattered none — Allison was smitten with its ornate details and hardware, the marble fireplaces, the flowers hand-painted by the previous owner, the high ceilings and hardwood floors she knew could be burnished to a bright glow.

Ornate details, a vintage chandelier and marble fireplace frame the living room. Photography by Angel Tucker

“I was overwhelmed by the amount of work it needed, but I just loved it so much,” Allison says. 

They put in a Hail Mary offer, sure that it would be denied. It wasn’t.

William G. Angell, president of the American Screw Company in Providence, built the stately home in 1867. It’s a vestige of Providence’s time as a manufacturing powerhouse, 4,000 square feet of opulence on four floors, with four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths and marble fireplaces scattered throughout. 

A new tile floor in the foyer is similar to one in Allison’s mother’s childhood home in the Azores. Photography by Angel Tucker

For a brief period — 1933 to 1941 — the home was deeded to Swan Point Cemetery. Frances Stanton, a talented artist and member of the Providence Art Club who taught at CCRI, lived there for decades until her death in 2019. It sat vacant until the Spains bought it in July 2023. 

Allison, a Providence native, moved back home to be closer to her parents, who’d settled in Bristol. A nurse by training, she adored the architecture and charm of the old homes in the area. She and her husband, Ben, renovated two houses in the capital city — first on Irving Avenue and then on Savoy Street — before they found the one on Benefit Street.  

“I enjoy bringing things that are in rough shape into something beautiful and making a home,” Allison says. “I think that correlates with nursing a little bit, too. It’s like taking care of things — being a good steward of the property, and then also taking care of the people who live there.”

Ben started demo right after closing, with Allison, their two children and two dogs moving in with her parents. During the days, she helped him pull up carpets, scrape off wallpaper and remove asbestos tiles from the third floor while wearing a respirator mask in the stifling August heat. 

A mirror belonging to former owner Frances Stanton hangs in the dining room. Photography by Angel Tucker

It took them eight hours — per room — to peel off the padding underneath all that carpeting. They refinished and stained the floors an ebony shade, restored most of the windows, which were in terrible shape, and replaced the leaking roof. They couldn’t save Stanton’s delicate flower mural in the kitchen, but tenderly cleaned and restored several mirrors and chandeliers she left behind. 

With all the large projects finished, the family officially moved in in October 2023.

In a final nod to Stanton’s legacy, they painted all the rooms in gleaming white tones.

“Frances was an artist. I just thought, ‘Let’s do an art gallery,’” Allison says. “I mean, you walk into an art gallery and it’s all white. I view this house as a piece of art.”

Homeowner Allison Spain painted the front door a mossy green to match the mail slot’s verdigris. Photography by Angel Tucker