Rhode Island
GoLocalProv | News | Brain Scientist and Landlord Battle Over Providence’s “Last Great Estate”
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Battle over the control of Providence’s “Last Great Estate” rages in Superior Court PHOTO: Dustin Dezube courtesy of Uprise RI, Howard Newton his website, and property GoLocal file via Mott & Chace
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE — SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
On one side of a growing legal battle is Newton Howard — a man that has attracted press attention from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Business Insider for his wealth, scientific accomplishments, and quirkiness.
On the other side is Dustin Dezube, a controversial landlord and developer that some Providence housing activists call a “slumlord.”
The two are battling over what GoLocal deemed in 2021 as “The Last Great Estate” in Providence — located on the corner of Blackstone Boulevard and Rochambeau Avenue, surrounded by an 8-foot-tall wall on all sides.
Dezube asserts he won an auction and rightfully owns the property, and Howard, in part, disputes that the auction house was properly registered in Rhode Island thus the sale should be voided.
The home was designed by Eliezer B. Homer in 1915 for the Rhode Island School of Design instructor William Bridgham and his wife Clara. The expansive grounds include multiple structures with approximately 10,000 square feet of living space.
The estate is unmatched in the city of Providence.
Inside of of the buildings at the Rochambeau estate PHOTO: File via Mott & Chace
Howard Newton PHOTO: via YouTube screengrab Ruptly — the Berlin, Germany-based news organization bankrolled by Russia
Business Insider calls Newton a billionaire. Forbes does not. But the scientist who has moved from the estate Providence to his full-time residence in the tony Georgetown section of Washington, DC makes news all the time, for one thing or another.
Howard is a scientist’s scientist and his CV is 13 pages long and features, among other things, his 30 U.S. and seven international patents. One of his U.S. patents is titled, “Device for monitoring activities of daily living and physiological parameters to determine a condition and diagnosis of the human brain and body.”
Newton initially put the Rochambeau estate up for sale in 2021, and then it was marketed for auction by a New York-based Concierge Auction — a firm specializing in high-end properties.
Dining room in the main house of the estate PHOTO: file via Mott & Chace
Dustin Dezube testifying at a public hearing PHOTO: YouTube, Uprise RI
Legal Battle, Thousand Pages of Legal Filings
In March of 2022, Dustin Dezube had the highest bid and court documents show a signed purchase and sale agreement at a price of $4 million.
Prior to the auction, the property was on the market with an asking price of $7.9 million.
The auction was just the beginning of a legal battle that sparked over 50 court filings totaling hundreds of pages — between Newton, Dezube, and Concierge Auction.
Dezube, maybe Providence’s most controversial landlord, has been slammed by criticism for the condition of his rental properties. Uprise RI reported on protests against Dezube.
On nearly the exact same day in 2021 when Dezube was the high bidder for the “Great Estate,” protesters were marching on Dezube’s office on Wickenden Street.
“Organizing as the Providence Living Tenants Union, at least 22 renters experiencing terrible conditions in apartments throughout Providence created a list of demands. Joined by allies, they marched to the Providence Living offices at 296 Wickendon and taped the demands to the door [of] Providence Living,” reported Uprise RI.
Dezube now wants to tear down his Wickenden Street office building — the location of the protests — and replace it with a new five-story apartment complex. That proposal brought out dozens of neighbors who testified against Dezube’s project.
Transformers in front of Howard Hewton’s Home in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC PHOTO Brett Davis Flickr CC:2.0
Legal Battle in Georgetown Over Transformers
And, while Newton is knee-deep in litigation in Rhode Island, he has also been battling with his neighbors in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC over his giant Transformers on his property.
Yes, giant Transformers — the Hasbro toy tied to the movie series.
Howard’s conflict in DC has attracted both governmental regulatory action and press coverage — local, national, and even international. In March of 2021, the DCist first wrote about the dispute.
“The neighborhood commission — ANC 2E, which covers Georgetown, Burleith and Hillandale —unanimously rejected Newton Howard’s request for a permit to keep two large sculptures of the iconic Transformers in front of his $4 million home on Prospect Street NW. They stand just a few blocks from Georgetown University, where he works as a research professor in computational neurology and functional neurosurgery. (That’s brain science for the rest of us),” wrote the DCist.
The legal battle has raged for years over the fate of the Transformers.
While Newton is embroiled in litigation, he declined to respond to questions for this article, as did Dezube and his attorney.
Related Articles