Marsden Jasael Perry: A Man of Excessive Taste

(findagrave.com)

BiographyBorn in Rehoboth, MA, 1850Home schooled until age 12Left home for BostonCame to Rhode Island at 21 and made his fortune:

public utilitiesrailroadsBanking

Aspirations to old money

His CollectionsPerry was an avid collector

Chippendale furniturePorcelainsSilverSenators (just kidding!)Shakespeareana

In 1875, R. H. Ives granted the JBH along with the abutting homestead he had built in its yard to Elizabeth Amory Ives, his daughter, and her husband, William Gammell (Brown University Library)

After the death of her husband, Elizabeth gave the property to her two daughters who both married Englishmen (Providence Journal)

Robert Ives Gammell, the fourth son, continued living in the homestead abutting the JBH yard, just now coming to light

However Perry destroyed it soon after its purchase.

Change in the JBHChange in the JBH

Marsden Perry’s Revisions1. He demolished the Hale Ives

house2. He effected several major

renovations to the JBH itself

Part I: The Hale Ives House

(2008 Site Report)

Hard Evidence

Problems

• Last year’s unit identified more contexts before hitting Feature 7 (pictured below)

• But there were consistencies in the soil content

Part II: The John Brown House

Perry’s Excessive Taste

• Perry redecorated the house in the Colonial Revival style– Marble pergola– bathrooms

Perry’s Late RenovationsPerry’s Late Renovations

(accd.edu)

Spanish leather with gilt detailingPainted over walls in whiteElevator installedA few miscellaneous

things

(accd.edu)

No Riders!No Riders!

Special Thanks

• To Dan Santos• To Kirsten Hammerstrom• To Lee Teverow and the staff at the RIHS

Library