Noted Warren eyesore finally torn down

Oliveira house crumbled as family fought owner’s will for decades

By Ted Hayes
Posted 3/22/18

The dilapidated old Oliveira house at the corner of Serpentine and Schoolhouse is no more, reduced to a pile of rubble Wednesday by the property’s new owners.

The demolition brings to an end an …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Noted Warren eyesore finally torn down

Oliveira house crumbled as family fought owner’s will for decades

Posted

The dilapidated old Oliveira house at the corner of Serpentine and Schoolhouse is no more, reduced to a pile of rubble Wednesday by the property’s new owners.

The demolition brings to an end an ugly, nearly 30-year battle over the property waged by former owner Peter Oliveira’s estranged son John, who fought in court for years to have his late father’s 1985 will, which bequeathed the property to the Town of Warren Rescue Squad, thrown out.

The case dragged on for more than 20 years, going as far as the Rhode Island Supreme Court, before the court in 2011 threw out the younger Oliveira’s legal challenges and ruled that the will, and the elder Oliveira’s wishes, were valid. By then though, years of neglect had taken their toll.

The damage was so bad that former Fire Chief Al Galinelli once considered using the home for fire and smoke training. However, the decision was ultimately made to sell the property and in April 2017, Lubelia and Alfred W. Hill Jr. purchased it from the rescue squad for $80,000.

Ms. Hill and her brother, Jason Costa, are putting up homes adjacent to the ramshackle house’s former location, but Warren Building Official Tony Carvalho said there are no current plans before him or any other town office to rebuild on the site of the old building. Building there could be problematic due to water table, wetlands and other environmental issues.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.