Mason added a great deal of embellishment that distracts from the Second Empire elements of the roof, which is a low flaring mansard style with large brackets.

[3][4] The ornate two-story tower has an unfinished room at the top that provides a wide view of the city; it is finished at its peak with a pagoda cupola.

[8][9][10][11] However, 514 Broadway is the most striking example of the ‘flamboyant and pretentious’ Italianate homes that allowed Providence's nouveau-riche population to emulate the old-money mansions of Newport.

[12] The house was built in 1867 for John Kendrick, a businessman with the American Supply Co., which made loom harnesses for the textile industry.

Seven years after Laura's death, her son Louis J. Cella Jr. approached the RISD Museum about acquiring the contents of the house.

[19] After twelve years of work cataloging and researching the collection, the museum put on an exhibition: From Paris to Providence: Fashion, Art, and the Tirocchi Dressmakers' Shop, 1915-1947.

[23] In 2011 it was announced that the now defunct non-profit Community Works Rhode Island had acquired the property, with the intention to complete a renovation by 2012.

[24] The West Broadway Neighborhood Association and the Providence Preservation Society came together to run a semi-successful Indiegogo campaign in 2015 to support emergency renovations while the house remained on the market.

[27] By the date of sale in February 2017, Dirt Palace already had a $250,000 grant from the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts to finance the restoration.