Entry No. 44 — the Providence file — filed under: lovecraft
Fleur-de-Lys Studio
Painter Sydney Burleigh and architect Edmund Willson put up this half-timbered, stuccoed provocation in 1885–86 as working artist studios, with bas-relief allegories of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture worked into the facade. Lovecraft borrowed it for 'The Call of Cthulhu' as the home of the sculptor whose nightmares kick off the whole mess, sneering at it in print as 'a hideous Victorian imitation of seventeenth-century Breton architecture.' Burleigh's widow deeded it to the Providence Art Club next door in 1939 on the condition it remain artist studios, and it has — about six painters work there today. It's been a National Historic Landmark since 1992, and every strange inch of it is legible from the Thomas Street sidewalk.
→ Three more weird outdoor & roadside oddities in Providence — never the same twice
The story
Painter Sydney Richmond Burleigh (1853–1931) and architect Edmund R. Willson put this up in 1885–86 with a Providence chapter of the London-based Art Workers Guild, both men working from medieval English buildings they had studied in person. It was built as working artist studios and never as residences — a two-and-a-half-story wood frame gone half-timbered and stuccoed, with colored panels at the second level carrying allegorical figures of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. The Providence Preservation Society calls it the first of its type and style in the country. Burleigh had helped found the Providence Art Club next door in 1880, the third-oldest continually operating art club in America, and the Fleur-de-Lys is the club's argument in wood and plaster that art belongs on the outside of a building too.
H.P. Lovecraft loathed it, and made it famous for that. In “The Call of Cthulhu,” the sculptor Henry Anthony Wilcox “still lived alone in the Fleur-de-Lys Building in Thomas Street, a hideous Victorian imitation of seventeenth-century Breton architecture which flaunts its stuccoed front amidst the lovely colonial houses on the ancient hill, and under the very shadow of the finest Georgian steeple in America.” The steeple is First Baptist Church in America, across the way; the sightline still checks out from the sidewalk.
Burleigh's widow deeded the building to the Art Club in 1939 on the condition that it remain artist studios, and it has. Six artists work there now, stacked from ground floor to attic — Anthony Tomaselli on the first, Heidi Baxter on the mezzanine, Mary Dorsey Brewster, Lee Dimeo Coffey and Karen Murtha on the second, Faye Stolzman up top. It has been a National Historic Landmark since October 5, 1992.
What it's like
Thomas Street is one short block running uphill off North Main, and the facade is free to anyone standing on the public sidewalk at any hour. Cross to the far side before you look up — the allegorical panels sit at the second level and you need the distance to read them. The interiors are private working studios, open “by appointment or by chance,” so don't try doors; the reliable way onto the block is the Providence Art Club's free public galleries at 11 Thomas, which keep short midday weekday hours and rotate shows every two or three weeks. Tours of the studios are arranged through the club's gallery manager, and the artists hold open houses a few times a year. Steps at every entrance mean the building itself is not wheelchair or walker accessible.
The move: After dinner downtown, walk up Thomas Street and read the facade panels out loud — Painting, Sculpture, Architecture — deliver the Lovecraft insult in your best disapproving voice, then climb four minutes to Prospect Terrace for the skyline at dusk.
📍 Before you go The facade is sidewalk-viewable any hour, free. Interiors are working studios, open 'by appointment or by chance' — the Providence Art Club (11 Thomas St) arranges tours through its gallery manager and holds open houses a few times a year; its own galleries keep short weekday hours (12–3 pm in summer). Street parking on Benefit or North Main; the building's stepped entrances rule out wheelchairs and walkers.
- 📍 Providence
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 7 Thomas St, Providence, RI 02903
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- John Hay Library — Ten minutes uphill, Brown's special collections hold the manuscripts of the story that called this building hideous — 2,000-plus Lovecraft letters, plus four books bound in human skin.
- Lovecraft Arts & Sciences (Weird Providence) — Walk downhill and across the river to the Arcade to buy the weird fiction whose setting you just spent twenty minutes staring at.
- Graduate Center Bar (GCB) — End the night behind a College Hill door that does the opposite of this facade: no sign, no allegory, no explanation — just a brutalist basement, pool tables, and $10 pitchers.
More weird in Providence
Good to know
Can I get inside the studios?
Sometimes. They're private working spaces, described as open by appointment or by chance, and the artists host open houses several times a year. Tours are arranged through the Providence Art Club's gallery manager, Michael Rose, at [email protected]. The facade — which is most of what you came for — needs no permission at all.
What does it cost?
Nothing to look at from Thomas Street, and nothing to walk into the Providence Art Club's public exhibition galleries next door at 11 Thomas. Gallery hours are short, roughly noon to 3 on summer weekdays, so check the current schedule rather than building an afternoon around them.
Where do I park?
Metered street parking on Benefit Street or North Main; Thomas Street itself is a single short block and fills fast. Downtown garages are about a five-minute walk across the river, which is often the less annoying option.
Is it wheelchair accessible?
The building is not — there are steps at the entrances, and it's not accessible by wheelchair or walker. The sidewalk view of the facade and the bas-relief panels is unobstructed and level, and that's the part most visitors actually come for.
What exactly is the Lovecraft connection?
In “The Call of Cthulhu,” the sculptor Henry Anthony Wilcox lives here, and Lovecraft calls the building “a hideous Victorian imitation of seventeenth-century Breton architecture.” In the same sentence he places it under “the finest Georgian steeple in America” — that's First Baptist Church in America, visible from the same spot on the sidewalk.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Wikipedia · providenceartclub.org · guide.ppsri.org
last checked: 2026-08-25