The Martha G. Pitman House, c.1743 (59 Bridge Street)

Paint:
Fres~Coat Satin Gloss Exterior

Colors:
Body - Pumpkin (custom formulation)
Trim - Pumpkin (custom formulation)
Door - Colony White #44
Windows - Colony White #44

This house was moved in 1967, from 28 Farewell Street to this Bridge Street location by the Foundation for the Preservation of America's Architectural Heritage (FPAAH). It is a two-story gable roofed building with a central chimney.

This Foundation sought, in particular, to save houses that were slated for demolition to make way for an elderly housing development in the area of Farewell, Coddington, Charles, and North Baptist Streets. Land was purchased, cellar foundations were constructed, and the houses, mostly stripped of their interiors, were moved to new locations.

Momentum stalled within the organization and the buildings were offered to the NRF. The buildings purchased from FPAAH had very little original fabric either interior or exterior. Little in the way if history existed on these buildings, and what FPAAH did to the building was not well documented.

What history there is on the Pitman house comes from Antoinette Downing. She relates that there was a two-story building, set back from Farewell Street on land Richard Clarke gave his daughter (Martha Pitman) in 1743. Pitman gave the property to the Second Congregational Church in 1765. The Stiles map shows a shop or stable at this location (1758).

It is thought a house may have been made from the shop or barn that existed first on the property. When one looks at the house it does not have the normal proportions of a typical Newport houses, which gives some credence to this speculation. Most of the current interior detailing came from the NRF inventory.

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