Excavations on the Grounds of List Art Building

Beginning in the Fall of 2023, a team led by Brown University students is excavating on the grounds of Brown University’s List Art Building, just west of the intersection of College and Prospect Streets. Archival sources indicate that a structure once stood at 58 College Street, an area that now lies between the large building that houses Brown’s Visual Arts and History of Art and Architecture Departments and the Bell Gallery, and Gerard House, the home of Brown’s East Asian Studies Department.

A house was first constructed on the lot at 58 College Street in the mid-1800s, perhaps around or shortly before 1840. A policy record from 1840 describes a 34’ by 24’ wooden two-story dwelling with two additions on the back. Sanborn insurance maps from the turn of the century (pictured) match this description. A 1940 residential assessment of the property describes the house as possessing hardwood flooring, three fireplaces and chimneys, a rough-dressed stone foundation, an oil-burning heating system, and both gas and electric lighting and fixtures. The house was torn down in the early 1960s after its purchase by Brown University to make way for the new List Art Building.

Who Lived at 58 College Street?

Based on archival records (such as census records and newspapers), it seems as though the house was subdivided into several apartments beginning in the early 1900s. There are some interesting connections between the house’s residents and Brown University: a resident named Evangeline Larry, a concert violinist and teacher, advertised lessons at the studio in her apartment in 1900 editions of the Brown Daily Herald. Subsequent BDH issues contain advertisements for rooms to rent in 58 College Street, “suitable for two students.” 58 College also briefly housed the now-inactive Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in the late 1930s. In the 40s, an Armenian immigrant named John Arakel Stone owned the house. In a 1942 BDH article, Stone is named as the “official fitter” of class jackets for junior boys and instructs them to go get fitted at 58 College. After Stone’s death in 1952, ownership of 58 College was passed to his son, and in 1961 the house was sold to Brown University.

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