Five Questions With: Dory Skemp

THE GOTHIC Revival Style home of American artist Charles Dana Gibson has been on the market for several years. / COURTESY COLDWELL BANKER RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE
THE GOTHIC Revival Style home of American artist Charles Dana Gibson has been on the market for several years. / COURTESY COLDWELL BANKER RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE

In Bristol, the Gothic Revival home of American artist Charles Dana Gibson (creator of the Gibson Girl illustrations) has been on the market for several years. Called Longfield, it was designed by Rhode Island architect Russell Warren, and built in 1848. This is a beautiful home that is waiting for someone with a passion for restoration, said Realtor Dory Skemp, of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Barrington, who has had the listing since 2014. Unoccupied since 2004, the house is on the National Register of Historic Places. Skemp spoke recently with the Providence Business News about the property and house, which is listed for $544,000.
PBN: How unusual is this property? How rare is it that a Russell Warren-designed structure comes on the market?
SKEMP:
It doesn’t happen too often, but it does happen. This is a rare listing because, one, Russell Warren, and two, the size of the lot, it’s 1.2 acres and three, the condition is not good. It needs a lot of work. The listing is rare if you take all those pieces. It was built in 1848 and was in the same family until 1972. It was the home of [the grandfather of] the artist, Charles Dana Gibson, and his wife, Abby DeWolf. Abby DeWolf was part of the very wealthy DeWolf family in Bristol. They spared no expense on this house. There are a lot of details you can see, still.
PBN: The house is on the National Register of Historic Places and in a local historic district. How does this limit or restrict what can be done to the interior or exterior?
SKEMP:
The local historic district is an arm of the zoning board. They only affect the exterior. It could possibly have control over the interior if somehow what you’re doing on the interior is affecting the exterior.
PBN: Tell me about the features of the house itself. What does it include?
SKEMP:
You still have your windows, which are Gothic-arched windows. You have an incredible [mahogany] staircase that is all intact. It is beautiful. Some of the [three marble] fireplaces are intact. Some have crumbled and broken. We’ve got stacked up doors and pieces of wood that are all there, if people wanted to recreate [historical features]. It still has some very beautiful hood moldings over the doors. That’s in the interior as well as the exterior. When this house was built in 1848, no expense was spared. It has some original and very unusual, interior, full-length shutters. They’re like plantation shutters but they’re huge and they slide along a track. They don’t fold, like plantation shutters. Some of the windows are broken. They would have to do some restoration on the glass.
PBN: What is the site like? Are there additional structures?
SKEMP:
There are no other buildings on the site. It was originally a landscaped lawn.
PBN: Does it have to be used as a residence? What other options?
SKEMP:
Right now, within the code of zoning regulations, it can be used as a single-family or a two-family, or a [bed-and-breakfast.] If you want to do anything else, you have to go to the town and get either a use variance or a zoning change.

No posts to display