Architectural story:
Built ca.1784, the house at 35-37-39 Street is a one-room-wide double house with two interior chimneys and a gable roof. Originally located at 23-25 Cannon Street, the house had been moved to Mill Street when NRF purchased the building and property in 1969. NRF restored the house and created Comstock Court during a two-year period between 1971 and 1973.
The house has design elements common to mid-eighteenth century architecture, such as window and cornice moldings and simple, well-proportioned pediment doorways.
Restoration story:
The house was originally located in an area of Newport that was in the path of the West Memorial Boulevard construction in the late 1960s. All remaining buildings on Cannon and Levin Streets, along with the streets themselves, were demolished during the construction of this road. In 1966-67, the house was moved in two sections from Cannon to Mill Street in order to save it from demolition.
When NRF purchased the building, it was being used as an auto mechanic shop. We then rebuilt and restored the building, guided by extant examples of early fabric in the interior. It is now an office complex named Comstock Court after NRF’s second director, Francis Comstock, and was used for many years by NRF before it was turned over to a commercial tenant.
People story:
The house was located in a neighborhood that was the home of African-heritage and immigrant folks throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. We are looking forward to learning more about the people who lived and worked at this house.
