Rhode Island
Inside a Work of Art in Providence – Rhode Island Monthly
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
Vigil in Lippitt Park for victims of mass shooting at Brown University
See the Dec. 14, 2025 vigil in Lippitt Park following the mass shooting at Brown University.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, along with Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and others, announced Dec. 14 that they were releasing the person of interest originally detained for the mass shooting at Brown University.
Neronha said that tips “led to us detaining a person of interest,” but that the evidence “now points in a different direction.”
“We have a murderer out there, frankly,” Neronha said.
As attorney general, Neronha and his office will play a large role in the investigation over the shooting. Here’s what to know about the top legal official in Rhode Island.
Who is Peter Neronha?
Neronha is Rhode Island’s 74th attorney general. He was sworn in on Nov. 6, 2018.
As attorney general, Neronha leads an office that “prosecutes criminal cases; represents state agencies, departments and commissions in litigation; initiates legal action when necessary to protect the interests of Rhode Islanders; and oversees the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation,” according to his office.
Previously, Neronha was the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 2009 to 2017. He was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
He began his career in public service as a Rhode Island Special Assistant Attorney General in 1996. He was later appointed Assisted Attorney General, and then joined United States Attorney’s Office as an Assistant United States Attorney in 2002.
Neronha is a fourth generation native of Jamestown, Rhode Island. He has undergraduate and law degrees from Boston College.
Neronha’s relationship to Trump
During President Donald Trump’s second term, Neronha has sued the president and his administration over 40 times.
Some of the lawsuits that he has co-led include ones over withheld education funds and the dismantling of federal agencies like Health and Human Services and those that support public libraries and museums.
Neronha often criticizes the president in his lawsuits. In a press release announcing a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration Nov. 25 for reducing grant funds for projects that could help people experiencing homelessness, Neronha said that the administration continues to “punch down” on vulnerable Americans.
“The President and his Administration don’t care about making life easier or better for Americans; they only care about political capitulation, consolidating power, and further enriching the wealthy,” he said.
In a press conference earlier this year, Neronha said that he sues the Trump administration when the president has broken the law, when Americans have been harmed and when they have the legal standing to bring an action against the administration.
While it’s unclear if Trump has ever commented on Neronha specifically, he has often attacked judges who have tried to block his policies.
The Rhode Island Blood Center is asking for donations after the fatal shooting at Brown University on Saturday.
Several donor centers have extended hours available as they respond to the emergency.
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Anyone interested can sign up for an appointment on the organization’s website.
PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Blood Center’s blood supply was low before Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University, and it is immediately stepping up blood drives to meet the need, an official said Sunday.
“We were definitely dealing with some issues with inventory going into the incident,” Executive Director of Blood Operations Nicole Pineault said.
The supply was especially low for Type 0 positive and negative, which are often needed for mass casualty incidents, she said. Type 0 negative is considered the “universal” red blood donor, because it can be safely given to patients of any blood type.
Pineault attributed the low supply to weather, illness, and the lingering effects of the pandemic. With more people working from home, blood drives at office buildings are smaller, and young people — including college students — are not donating blood at the same rate as they did in the past, she said.
“There are a lot challenges,” she said.
But people can help by donating blood this week, Pineault said, suggesting they go to ribc.org or contact the Rhode Island Blood Center at (401) 453-8383 or (800) 283-8385.
The donor room at 405 Promenade St. in Providence is open seven days a week, Pineault said. Blood drives were already scheduled for this week at South Street Landing in Providence and at Brown Physicians, and the blood center is looking to add more blood drives in the Providence area this week, she said.
“It breaks my heart,” Pineault said of the shooting. “It’s a terrible tragedy. We run blood dives regularly on the Brown campus. Our heart goes out to all of the victims and the staff. We want to work with them to get the victims what they need.”
She said she cannot recall a similar mass shooting in Rhode Island.
“In moments of tragedy, it’s a reminder to the community how important the blood supply really is,” Pineault said. “It’s an easy way to give back, to help your neighbors, and be ready in unfortunate situations like this.”
The Rhode Island Blood Center has donor centers in Providence, Warwick, Middletown, Narragansett, and Woonsocket, and it has mobile blood drives, she noted.
On Sunday, the center’s website said “Donors urgently needed. Hours extended at some donor centers, 12/14.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
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