The last of the great China Trade houses built in Providence, Corliss-Carrington House presents a unique visage for the usual Providence brick-cube house built for the very rich. The house was designed by renowned architect of the day, John Holden Greene. The partial-width, two-story front porch is spatially and ornamentally anomalous here, much more akin to the double galleries found in Charleston, South Carolina (which had significant trading ties to Providence going back to the eighteenth-century Triangle Trade and reinforced by early nineteenth-century textile production). John Corliss ran out of money before the house’s completion, when Edward Carrington (1773-1843), recently returned from duties as American consul in Canton, China, came to Providence and finished the building, adding the third story and unusual front porch. Like others of his socio-economic stature (and parallel to contemporary newcomer Sullivan Dorr, whose descendants later married Carrington’s), Carrington immediately consolidated his wealth and position by marrying Loriana Hoppin (1774-1861), the daughter of a local family made rich through shipping in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Carrington’s office, attached to the east elevation of the house, provided a space for business transactions discrete from family activities yet conveniently nearby. Descendants of Carrington occupied this house into the 1930s, when it became a museum house for twenty-five years, after which it reverted to single-family use, which it continues to enjoy today. It was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The home had six owners since its construction in 1810 - John Corliss 1810 - 1812, Edward Carrington and descendants 1812 to 1936, Rhode Island School of Design 1936 to 1961, Washington Irving family 1961 to about 1995 (direct descendent of 19th century American writer Washington Irving - Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, etc.), Stephen and Jocelin Hamblett about 1995 - 2019. The Corliss-Carrington House was purchased by Rhode Island business and community leader, Lorne Adrain in 2019.

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Links to the History and Architecture of the House and It's Owners:
Corliss-Carrington House Wikipedia
Corliss-Carrington House Architect John Holden Greene
Providence Preservation Society
Captivating Houses Review
The Old House Life
List of American National Historic Landmarks by State
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey
Carrington Papers - RI Historical Society
Corliss-Carrington Dining Room Wallpaper by DuFour Paris (as at the Hermitage, home of U.S. President Andrew Jackson)
Mrs. Washington Irving nomination of Corliss-Carrington House as National Historic Landmark
Stephen Hamblett bio (bought Corliss-Carrington House about 1995)
Lorne Adrain bio (bought Corliss-Carrington House 2019)