41 Bradford Street

Bradford Guesthouse, Captain’s House | Formerly Bradford House & Motel

Main house of the Bradford House & Motel, 41 Bradford Street. [2013, Dunlap]

Lewis & Brown, the firm of Reuben Francis Brown, was large enough to command its own wharf, shown on Plate 4 of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Provincetown, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, by the Sanborn Map Company, of February 1902. [Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Digital ID http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3764pm.g038261902]

[2011, Dunlap]

[2009, Dunlap]

[2008, Dunlap]

Halloween. [2021, Dunlap]

[2016, Dunlap]

[2008, Dunlap]

[2012, Dunlap]

An advertisement from the 2012 Tennessee Williams Theater Festival catalog.

[2011, Dunlap]

[2008, Dunlap]

The new sign. [2019, Dunlap]

The new logo for the Bradford appeared on the landing page of the website, as of 2023. [thebradfordptown.com]

The main house was known as the Captain’s House, as of 2023. [thebradfordptown.com/captains-house.htm]

Two distinct forms of Provincetown hospitality, Victorian and motor age, were joined in one operation at the Bradford House & Motel, now called the Bradford Guesthouse.

The main house — now the Captain’s House — was said to have been constructed in 1888 by Reuben Francis Brown (1850-1929), a coal and lumber merchant, for Albina Farrington (Brooks) Brown (1858-1937), his intended wife. His firm, Lewis & Brown, was large enough to command its own wharf — a structure at 229R Commercial Street whose pilings remain to this day. It was originally Lancy’s Wharf, then Lewis & Brown’s Wharf. The firm’s office was in the Lancy Mansion at 230 Commercial Street, which was then denominated 225 Commercial Street.

Albina and Reuben’s son, Roy F. Brown (1889-1967), was a physician, educated at Tufts, Harvard, and the Sorbonne. During World War II, Dr. Brown set up a general hospital in Sydney, Australia, that served the South Pacific theater. It was also during the war that Dr. Brown and his wife, Lillian H. (Small) Brown (1889-1967), sold the Bradford Street house to Thomas F. Cote (1900-1982) and Anna M. (Crawley) Cote (1905-1985), whose father was Frank “Scarry Jack” Crawley.

The motel addition behind the main house was constructed in 1950, according to Town records, though the structure is not shown on the 1959 Sanborn insurance map, suggesting a later construction date. In 1976, the handsome flying stairway in the main house — wallpapered on its underside — was photographed by Joel Meyerowitz and appears in Cape Light as Plate 17. Marilyn Joyce (Cote) Downey (1932-2012) sold the property in 1988 for $500,000 to John E. Brooks and Salvo G. Tringali, doing business as Tri-Brook Realty Trust. After three decades, Tri-Brook sold the property in 2018 for $2.6 million to Patrick J. Wilson, doing business as 43 Towne L.L.C.

Wilson’s husband, Stephen Walker, is a British actor and video anchor who studied at the Urdang Academy, a performing arts school that is now part of City, University of London. In the 2022 season, he won acclaim for his portrayal of the character Bert in Robert Chesley’s play Jerker (1985), directed by David Drake and produced at the Provincetown Theater.

“Our main house with six rooms and hardwood floors throughout is the ideal choice for those who enjoy period furniture and local art in a warm and welcoming environment,” Wilson and Walker say on the Bradford website about the Captain’s House.

¶ Last updated on 18 February 2022.