Ames House

Ames House, built about 1830 by Samuel Ames 1823 on the corner of Power and Brook Streets, was given to Brown in 1937 by Mrs. John Ormsbee Ames and Frank Mauran, Jr. Twenty-four rooms were remodeled to house thirty-eight graduate students who moved in the next year. In 1949, before the Wriston Quadrangle was built, Ames House was deeded to the city of Providence in return for the Thayer Street School, which stood within the confines of the proposed quadrangle. The city razed the building, and replaced it with the Brook Street Fire Station in 1950. At that time a dormitory at 15 Benevolent House, which was named Russell House, was renamed Ames House. In 1958 the name was given to a dormitory at 150 George Street, which was half of the building at the corner of Thayer Street. In 1961, when the Department of Mathematics moved into the other half of the house, that section was named Howell House, taking its name from the former home of the Mathematics Department on College Street. The building continued to be identified by its two sections, Ames House and Howell House until about 1971, when the name of Howell House was applied to the entire building (now identified as 153-155 Thayer Street).