Corliss–Brackett House
historic house in Rhode Island, United States
The Corliss–Brackett House, also known as the Charles Brackett House, is an historic house in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The house is located at 45 Prospect Street at the southeast corner of Prospect and Angell Streets. According to Richard B. Harrington of the Rhode Island State Historical Preservation Commission, "There remain anywhere very few very formally and more monumentally treated durable masonry examples of the 'Italian (Tuscan) Villa style.'"
Architecture
The house maintains its original exterior appearance. The structure stands three full stories above a low basement; a tower in the house's northwest corner stands a story taller. A two-story service wing to the house's east is separated at street level by a tunnel-like porte-cochère. The house is constructed in the Italian Villa style, which emerged in the United States in the 1840s; the structure is thus slightly retardataire.
History
The house was built between 1875 and 1882 by George Henry Corliss, inventor of the Corliss Steam Engine. Corliss' second wife, Emily Shaw, suffered from an illness for which a doctor recommended she spend her winters in Bermuda. Corliss sought to fulfill the prescription locally by "bringing" the temperate climate of Bermuda to Providence. To this end, he constructed a radiantly heated house, potentially the first in America to employ a radiant heating system controlled by a thermostat.
“Corliss–Brackett House” enters the record as historic house in Rhode Island, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Corliss, Brackett and House can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Corliss–Brackett House” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Corliss, Brackett and House provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5170913. Authority coordinates are 41.828, -71.405. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1875 and 1882.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Corliss–Brackett House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Corliss–Brackett House primary sources, Corliss–Brackett House archive and Corliss research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Corliss–Brackett House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.