2008 Woodie Awards
Carothers' Crib: Inside the President's House
Robert Preliasco
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Campus
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Carothers lived in the large white and green house next to Green Hall on Upper College Road from 1991 to 2002. Today this house is used for hosting university functions such as fundraisers, luncheons and holiday parties. It also has a small apartment that can house visiting speakers and other guests of the university. Guests over the years have included Coretta Scott King, Bob Hope, Elie Wiesel and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White.
The house is near Green and Independence halls and mostly hidden by a wall of shrubs. The basement has a tile floor, a fireplace and a small kitchen that Carothers said former URI president Frank Newman (1974-1983) used to entertain students.
It also has asbestos that needs to be removed.
"That's an improvement for a richer time," Carothers said.
Some of the improvements that have been made are on the first floor. The Champlin Foundations donated funds to build a large dining room about five years ago, Carothers said. Before that he had to remove furniture and artwork from the living space to make room for hosting parties.
The living room is the second largest room in the house, filled with Carothers' own furniture and artwork arranged around a central fireplace. It is decorated with an oriental theme, the walls covered with works Carothers brought back from China and India. One prized possession is a Chinese ram statue by the fireplace.
After the dining room was built the house needed a larger kitchen so that Dining Services staff could cook for a larger number of guests during events. Ross Simons Jewelers obliged with the funds.
"I like to tell people I have the only Ross Simons kitchen in the world," Carothers said.
The dining room is connected to a small library that resembles an old-fashioned smoking room.
"This is sort of the man's room, with dark wood and so forth," Carothers said.