Original site of H.P. Lovecraft's home at 454 Angell St.
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
"I
never can be tied to raw new things,
For I first saw the light in an old town,
Where from my window huddled roofs
sloped down
To a quaint harbor rich with visionings.
Streets with carved doorways where the sunset beams
Flooded old fanlights and small window-panes
And Georgian steeples topped with gilded vanes
-
H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Plaque, Providence, RI
LOVECRAFT'S PROVIDENCE
During a recent family
vacation to the New England area, I visited the home of H.P. Lovecraft:
Providence, Rhode Island. I mainly tried to search for Lovecraft's various
residences around town and including schools, memorials and known locations he
visited. Unfortunately there were a few disappointments on this trip, one
obvious detail before I arrived being that I was already aware that Lovecraft's original home at 454 Angell St.
had been torn down in 1961, there remains only a small apartment building now. I
was also
unable to enter or take pictures of Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery.
Although I was able to see other sites such as Butler Hospital, Hope Street High School,
Brown University, the John Hay Library and Lovecraft's memorial plaque. Due to shortage of time
I was unable to visit every single Lovecraft site including the famous
“Fleur-de-Lys” house.
I had planned to follow a similar tour as
featured on H.P.
Lovecraft.com.
All photos were taken on July 11, 2006.
Original site of H.P. Lovecraft's home at 454 Angell St.
598 Angell Street
Lovecraft’s home from 1904 to 1924
Samuel B. Mumford House, 65 Prospect Street
This house was originally built in 1825 at 66
College Street, but was moved to its current location in 1959.
Lovecraft briefly resided in this room and used it in “The Haunter of the
Dark”.
10 Barnes Street
This was the home of Lovecraft from April 1926 to May 1933.
Slater Avenue Grammar School (Recently renamed School One), 200
University Avenue
Hope Street High School
John Hay Library, 20 Prospect Street
Named after the Brown graduate who was Assistant Private Secretary to
Abraham Lincoln and
Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Theodore
Roosevelt.
It holds the largest collection of Lovecraft manuscripts.
H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Plaque (John Hay Library)
Erected in 1990 through the efforts of S.T. Joshi, Will Murray, Jon Cooke,
and the Friends of H.P. Lovecraft.
featuring Sonnet XXX, Background, of Fungi from Yuggoth
"Howard Phillips Lovecraft,
(1890-1937)
Dedicated to the Centennial of his birth August 20, 1990
By The City of Providence, Brown University, and Friends
of H.P. Lovecraft.
Providence Athenæum, 251 Benefit Street
A frequent haunt of Lovecraft’s, Poe courted Sarah Helen Whitman here.
The
library owns a copy of the American Review in which Poe signed below his
anonymously published poem, “Ulalume.”
Brown University
Although Lovecraft was never able to attend the university, most of
Lovecraft's homes and haunts
are now a part of the growing campus including student dorms and various department
buildings.
Butler Hospital, 345 Blackstone Boulevard
Winfield Lovecraft, H.P.'s father was admitted here in 1893 and remained until
his death on July 19, 1898.
Lovecraft’s mother Sarah was also
admitted to the hospital on March 13, 1919 due to a nervous collapse, she died
while there on May 24, 1921.
Swan Point Cemetery
Burial site of H.P. Lovecraft
