Old Providence Custom House and Post Office // 1857

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One of the finest buildings in Downtown Providence, the old Custom House and Post Office is a landmark, showcasing how Federal buildings were once well designed and meant to show stability through high-quality design and materials. The stately building was completed in 1857 from plans by architect, Ammi Young, who became the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1852. Ammi Young designed a number of notable buildings all over New England, with his finest being the many custom houses and other Federal buildings. For the Providence Custom House and Post Office, he utilized granite from quarries in Quincy, Massachusetts for its walls to show strength, with a hipped roof and metal dome and corner quoins as additional design elements. The building can be classified as a blending of Greek Revival and Italianate styles with the use of both pedimented and arched window treatments and blocky form. The building housed federal offices until November 1909, when a new and larger Federal Building was erected a few blocks away. The Federal Government vacated the structure in 1989 and was ultimately bought by the State of Rhode Island and converted to office space for the State Courts System. After extensive renovation at a cost of $550,000, the building was opened by the state in 1992 as the John E. Fogarty Judicial Complex.

Providence Telephone Credit Union Building // 1976

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Located in the western part of Downtown Providence, this period-piece of 1970s architecture is one of the few interesting buildings constructed following the destruction of the surrounding neighborhood as part of the Weybosset Hill Urban Renewal program. The unique two-story brick commercial building was constructed in 1976 as the home to the Providence Telephone Credit Union, which was affiliated with the larger Providence Telephone Company located next door. This building is the work of local architect, Zane Anderson, who designed the edifice with brick facing and projecting cylindrical turrets, arched window openings and rounded corners, all typical design details in historic Downtown buildings, but as a modern interpretation.

Providence Telephone & Telegraph Building // 1916

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Despite the expansion of its Union Street building ten years earlier, by WWI, the growth of the Providence Telephone Company had made its original building inadequate. In 1916, the company began construction on its new Telephone Building at the corner of Washington and Greene streets. The 8-story, Colonial Revival style structure was designed by the Providence architectural firm of Clarke & Howe. The building is steel-frame and largely clad with red brick besides the arcaded first two stories in marble. At the roofline, a center gable projects above the cornice, likely in the 1950s renovation when the elevator headhouse was built on the roof. The building was again expanded in 1971 by a utilitarian addition that does not relate to its original design beyond the use of brick. The building is now home to the regional office of Verizon New England.

Old Providence Telephone Building // 1893

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Located on the narrow Union Street in Downtown Providence, Rhode Island, this stunning late 19th century building was designed by the most prominent architectural firm in the state, Stone, Carpenter & Willson as the home of the Providence Telephone Company. Telephones were originally introduced in Providence in 1879, and by 1893, the need for a centralized office led to the construction of this building. The structure was originally just three stories, but as demand and the use of the telephone grew, so did this building, which added two floors in 1906. The handsome brick and terracotta facade is extremely ornate and includes a more strong Classical base and foliate terracotta friezes and columns above with projecting bays to bring light into the building. The building was again outgrown and the Providence Telephone Company moved into a new, purpose-built office building nearby in 1917. This structure remained professional offices and today, the upper floors have been converted to apartments with lower levels occupied by live/work loft spaces and two commercial storefronts.

Caesar Misch Building // 1903

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One of the many great commercial blocks in Downtown Providence, the narrow Caesar Misch Building runs along Empire Street between Westminster and Chapel streets as a well-preserved early 20th century building. Designed by the architectural firm of Martin & Hall for owner, Caesar Misch (1857-1908) as one of his department stores. Caesar Misch was born in Berlin, Germany and immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Providence. There, he opened a department store and saw immediate success, opening more throughout New England in the early 20th century. After his unexpected death in 1908, his wife, Marion Misch (1869-1941) took control of the business, becoming the first woman in New England to head a department store. The Downtown Providence building stands six-stories and is notable for its brick walls with contrasting elaborate stone frieze and window surrounds.

First Universalist Church of Providence // 1872

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The First Universalist Church of Providence is located in the bustling Downtown of this city and has stood as the surrounding area saw rapid commercialization, destruction under the guise of “urban renewal”, and rebirth. The structure stands as the third sanctuary for the congregation, which was founded in 1821 through the efforts of Reverend John Murray, who is said to be the founder of American Universalism. Designed by prominent local architect, Edwin L. Howland, the church was constructed in 1872 and is an excellent example of the High Victorian Gothic style executed in brick and trimmed with stone. Rather than leaning into the ornate decorative flourishes favored by Gothic Revival purists, Howland’s design reflects a sparer emphasis on form and materials in the spirit of critic John Ruskin’s reinterpretation of the style, a restraint fitting for a Universalist congregation. Inside, the well-preserved nave features a sanctuary lined by broad pointed arches supported by slender colonnettes, all colored by the sunlight filtering through the many stained glass windows.

Summerfield Building // 1913

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Built by the wealthy Harkness family as an investment property, this unique building on Weybosset Street in Downtown Providence, Rhode Island, takes its name from the Boston-based Summerfield Furniture Company, which occupied much of the building for many years. The six-story, reinforced concrete structure was designed by architect, Albert Harkness for his family, who gambled on the young designer who was seemingly inspired by the Chicago School of architecture, with its concrete and steel framing, large plate glass windows, ornamental terra cotta, and broad cornice. After Summerfield Furniture closed, the building was occupied in the mid-20th century by various companies until Johnson & Wales purchased the building, and have maintained the architecturally significant landmark ever-since.

Waite-Thresher Company Factory // 1911

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The Waite-Thresher Company Factory sits on Pine Street between the commercial Downtown and former industrial Jewelry District of Providence.The factory here was built in 1911 and is an excellent example of a light-industrial building of the early 20th century in Providence. The steel-frame building is sheathed with brick walls and retains its double-hung windows set within brick arches and classically designed storefronts. The Waite-Thresher Company was one of many jewelry manufacturing companies in Providence. Founded in 1885 from the merging of multiple companies, the Waite-Thresher Co. began primarily manufacturing thimbles and later became a leader in the American jewelry world as the kings of delicate, ornate filigree rings, pins, and accessories. The company eventually closed in the 1930s and after later uses, the building was acquired by Johnson & Wales University who in the 1980s, restored the building and opened it as the centerpiece of the John Hazen White College of Arts & Sciences on campus.

Warwick Building // 1891

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Downtown Providence has amazing 19th and 20th century commercial blocks of all shapes and sizes. This example at the corner of Weybosset and Richmond streets dates to 1891 and has historically been known as the Warwick Building. While just three-stories tall, the Warwick Building stands out for its two-story domed turret on the corner, rough-faced stone lintels and sills, and brick corbeled cornice. The building is a great, human-scaled addition to Downtown Providence and has served as a vital anchor to the streetscape.

Plantations Clubhouse // 1927

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Tucked away behind Abbott Park, a small green in Downtown Providence, the Plantations Club has stood for 100 years as one of the city’s finest examples of Colonial Revival architecture and was long a vital women’s club organization. This Georgian Revival brick building was designed by the firm of Andrews, Jones, Briscoe & Whitmore, of Boston for the Providence Plantation Club, a women’s social organization founded in 1916. The club was a success, starting with about 150 members and it reached more than 1,300 members, just one year after its inception. As the only female architect of the society, Frances E. Henley got involved in promoting the Club in terms of its visuals and interior design of the building, working closely with the architects. Ms. Henley was the first woman to study architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and the first woman to independently practice architecture in Rhode Island. When the club no longer needed such a building, Johnson & Wales University acquired the building in 1962, and since then, it has been known as Wales Hall, housing a variety of offices and services.

Arnold–Palmer House // 1826

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The Arnold-Palmer House (no, it’s not named after the drink) can be found on Chestnut Street in Downtown Providence, Rhode Island, as a rare surviving Federal period residence to escape the fate of many buildings of the period there from commercialization and later urban renewal. The house was built in 1826 for wealthy Providence merchant Daniel Arnold at a location on upper Westminster Street near Cathedral Square, where it was one of four nearly identical houses whose design was attributed to prominent local architect John Holden Greene. Like many of Greene’s other Federal style designs, the Arnold-Palmer House exhibits a symmetrical primary facade, elaborate fanlight windows, and a monitor-on-hip-roof. The house was actually saved and moved to its present site (facing a surface parking lot) in the 1960s as part of the Weybosset Hill urban redevelopment project.

Beneficent House // 1967

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Located on Chestnut Street in Downtown Providence, this Modernist apartment building is the work of one of the most prolific architects of the 20th century, Paul Rudolph. During Downtown Providence’s period of urban renewal, which saw the demolition of much of Cathedral Square, planners sought a high-rise apartment building to house displaced elderly residents and others who hoped to reside close to downtown shopping and amenities. Working with the owner of the land, the Beneficent Congregational Church, housed in a 1809 building next door, architect Paul Rudolph, who was at the time Dean of Yale’s Architecture School, designed the brick building which employs horizontal bands in concrete which marks off floor levels and provides some breaks in the materiality, which was possibly inspired by Le Corbusier. The building was originally designed in 1963, but after years of delays and budget cuts from rising construction costs, the balconies and other design features were removed from the final product, leading to its present simplicity. While simple, the building retains intrigue, especially with the projecting window bays and offset openings, a departure from the block apartment buildings at the time. What do you think of Beneficent House?

Beneficent Congregational Church // 1809

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Located on Weybosset Street in Downtown Providence, the Beneficent Congregational Church, affectionately nicknamed “Round Top” for its striking dome, is significant architecturally and historically as an early Federal/Greek Revival style church and the oldest in Downtown Providence. The congregation was founded in 1743 during the “First Great Awakening” as a separatist spin-off of College Hill’s First Congregational Church (now First Unitarian Church). The offshoot occurred after when Deacon Joseph Snow, Jr. (1690-1773), a fiery preacher who was also a carpenter by trade, began preaching a more evangelical brand of Congregationalism than the more reserved members of the church could tolerate. Eventually, Father Snow, and his ardent followers established a second congregation on the west side of the Providence River in what was then an area of scattered residences and farms. The current church, the congregation’s second on the site, was constructed in 1809 from designs by Barnard Eddy and John Newman, but it was largely reworked into its present form in 1836 by the firm Tallman & Bucklin, who swapped the original Federal-era details for bolder Greek Revival trim, including the chunky Doric columns of the entrance portico, a paneled parapet, and an octagonal drum beneath the dome. That dome, along with the two-story front portico, survived the remodel unchanged in its overall form, and today it is sheathed in durable copper rather than the gold leaf that once covered it.

Former Providence YMCA Building // 1889

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Founded in 1853, the Providence YMCA holds the distinction of being the second-oldest YMCA in the United States. The YMCA had been born out of anxieties around industrialization and urbanization when young men arrived to the country and were vulnerable to the temptations and sins of alcohol, so a group of evangelical churches created a space for Christian men to spend their time productively at meetings and lessons and have access to recreational facilities. The Providence YMCA was dispersed into three buildings until 1889, when this building at the corner of Westminster and Jackson streets opened to great fanfare. The Young Men’s Christian Association and architects, the Providence firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, featured this new Romanesque Revival building in architectural publications showcasing the original proposal and the final approved design, with prominent oriel bays, spires, arched entrances and intricate roofline punctuated by dormers. The building contained a gymnasium, auditorium, classrooms, libraries, parlors, and reception areas. The 1889 building proved obsolete within a generation, and it was torn down in 1913 to make way for a new office block as the neighborhood commercialized. The YMCA responded by building larger, more purpose-built quarters further west on Broad Street, which was completed in 1915, a structure that still stands today, now repurposed to serve the city’s homeless population through Crossroads Rhode Island.

Former St. Francis Xavier Academy – Xavier Hall // 1894

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The Sisters of Mercy was established in 1831 by Mary Francis Xavier Warde, who was born in Ireland and was orphaned in her teens. At sixteen, she moved to Dublin and met Catherine McAuley, a social service worker who established the Sisters of Mercy in 1831 to provide for the education and social needs of poor children, orphans, the sick, and homeless young women. The organization flourished in Ireland before Sister Warde migrated to Pittsburgh in 1843, opening a convent there. Her educational work on behalf of the Irish immigrants in that city prompted Irish-born Bishop Bernard O’Reilly to invite the Sisters of Mercy to Providence in 1851. They started teaching Sunday school and provided food to the poor and took over the school at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Also in 1851, the sisters opened the first Catholic orphanage in Rhode Island, the second in New England and St. Xavier’s Academy, a boarding and day school combined. The original 1856 building (extant) on Claverick Street was added onto in 1865 with a mansard wing. Before the turn of the 20th century, it was decided that a more substantial structure be built for the academy. The Providence firm of Martin & Hall architects, was selected to design this building, an E-shaped structure that includes the two earlier wings with a new Neo-Gothic/Tudor Revival style facade on Broad Street. The 1894 school building and attached chapel operated here until it ultimately closed in the 1970s. Since then, the building has been purchased by Johnson & Wales University and operates as a residence hall named after its history, Xavier Hall.