Providence County RI

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.

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.

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 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.

Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, Providence // 1878

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The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul rises in Providence’s Cathedral Square, a sub-region of the city’s Downtown that was largely reshaped in the mid-late 20th century period of Urban Renewal. The monumental Romanesque style church is the mother church of the Diocese of Providence and was built on the site of the city’s first Roman Catholic parish, established in 1838. Designed by the prolific church architect Patrick Keely, the Providence cathedral broke ground in 1878 and was consecrated over a decade later in 1889. For this commission the blending of Romanesque and Gothic Revival detailing was likely inspired by both H. H. Richardson’s newly completed Trinity Church in Boston and on German and French medieval precedents. The structure is dominated by the two crenelated towers and displays strength with its bold proportions and use of reddish-brown stone. Inside, the cathedral is even more remarkable than its imposing exterior, distinguished by an overall multicolored, small-scale pattern of gray marble moldings and stained glass, complemented by a large Casavant organ with more than 6,600 pipes. Today, the miraculous cathedral is somewhat diminished in beauty due to the surrounding dead plaza, a scar on the built environment in Providence from Urban Renewal. In the 1960s and 70s, the entire western edge of Downtown had been slotted for redevelopment at a time when federal dollars funded mass demolition and rebuilding across American cities. The plan was designed by Modernist architect, I.M. Pei, who had envisioned a European-inspired courtyard, with a mix of residential and retail uses surrounding the church in the new development. Pei worked with the modernist landscape architects Zion and Breen on Cathedral Square, which was called a “conspicuous failure” within just a few years, a sentiment that has lasted a half-century since. The city has more recently pursued redesign proposals aimed at reconnecting Cathedral Square with the surrounding neighborhood, with the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul as the centerpiece.

Deacon Edward Taylor House // 1786

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The oldest building on the iconic Thomas Street in Providence, Rhode Island, is the Deacon Edward Taylor House, a stunning early Federal residence built into the sloping site. The property was developed in 1786 for Edward Taylor, a chaise maker who had a shop on Main Street, also serving as a Deacon of the nearby church. Edward had bought out his brother’s half of the property and had this home built for his family. With its three-story symmetrical, five-bay facade, the house features a stately pedimented entry and flared lintels all atop a brownstone foundation. The property passed through many hands in the 19th and early 20th centuries until 1961, when it was purchased by the Providence Art Club as part of their multi-building campus.

Seril Dodge House // 1791

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Years after Seril Dodge (1759-1802), a silversmith and clockmaker, built a house in 1786 on present-day Thomas Street in Providence’s East Side, he sold the property to the Brown Family and built this stately Federal period home next-door. Built in 1791, this three-story, side-hall brick house features belt courses above the first and second stories, a hipped roof, and flared lintels over the windows and doorway. After less than a decade, Seril Dodge moved back to his hometown of Pomfret, Connecticut, and sold this property to Moses Brown, who gifted the property to his son, Obadiah. Obadiah Brown (1771-1822) was a member of the Quaker faith and was a member of the Society of the Abolition of Slavery providing local jobs for free Blacks and sponsoring them in any legal disputes. Additionally, he helped secure the freedom of enslaved Africans who escaped to the north. This property was leased to the Providence Art Club in 1886 and acquired by the organization in 1906. Under the ownership of the Art Club, the side arcaded carriage entrance was added, likely designed by Stone, Carpenter and Willson, in conjunction with their 1906 renovation to the adjoining Dodge-Brown House. Today the building is known as the “Club House” and is home to the organization’s cafe, with an its intimate bar, and two exhibition spaces that are open to the public.

Dodge-Brown House // 1786

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The Dodge-Brown House on Thomas Street in Providence, Rhode Island, was built in 1786 by Seril Dodge (1759-1802), a silversmith and clockmaker. Seril Dodge was a middle-class resident who did well in Providence circles, as an artisan and shop keeper. The house was originally a two-story residence with central entrance that was raised up in the early 20th century to facilitate a new storefront. Seril Dodge and his family only lived here briefly before moving to a brick house next door. Dodge sold the property to Nicholas Brown II (1769-1841) who rented the home to his stepmother, Avis Binney Brown, who became the widow of one of Providence’s richest men, Nicholas Sr. It continued to stay in Brown family hands through the nineteenth century, but only as an investment. The house was raised one story above street level in 1906, when the handsome Colonial revival storefront was installed from plans by the firm of Stone, Carpenter and Willson. The original front door with elaborate pedimented and pilastered enframement is now a door to a small second floor balcony. Since 1919, the Providence Art Club has owned the building, who for years had the ground retail space occupied as an art store, but now contains a club gallery.

Daniel Smith House // c.1750

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The Daniel Smith House at 362 Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, stands out in the neighborhood as an uncommon gambrel-roofed Georgian-era residence, but it was not built here! The home was built by about 1750 for Daniel Smith, and may possibly date to around 1725 a year after he was deeded land from his father and the same year he married his wife, Dorcas Harris. If the home does indeed date to around 1725, it would likely be the oldest extant house in Providence! The home was originally located across town on Chalkstone Avenue, and moved to the present site on Benefit Street in 1982 to save it from institutional expansion by Roger Williams Hospital. The hospital set a date to demolish the farmhouse, then covered in asbestos siding, and offered the building for free to someone who could move it off the site. After tense weeks and a nearing deadline, Angela Brown Fischer, a real estate executive, agreed to pay the costs to move the building across town to a site on Benefit Street, where it remains today. The home was put back together and restored by Newport-based architect, Richard Long, who worked as principal architect for the Restoration Foundation of Newport before opening a private architectural practice. What a great preservation success story!

Pawtucket Hair Cloth Mill //1864

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Despite its name, this handsome mill structure, known as the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Mill, is actually located in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The building, located on Roosevelt Avenue on the banks of the Blackstone River, is a great example of a Civil War-era mill, built for one of the many wool and cloth companies in New England. Begun in a small factory across the street in 1856, this business became successful after the acquisition of patents for weaving haircloth (most of the raw material for which originally came from Russian horse markets) for upholstery, crinolines, and inner linings. The company is said to have once been the largest producer of haircloth in the world. The Italianate style mill stands pretty much as built, besides the tower that has lost its low pyramidal cap. The building was one of the first commissions by great Rhode Island architect, William Walker, who was just 34 at the time of designing this large, and complicated structure.

Kennedy-Stafford Mill // 1825

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One of the oldest mills in Central Falls, Rhode Island, is this four-story brick building constructed in 1825 is important as one of the earliest extant brick mills in Rhode Island, at a time when such buildings were shifting from wood construction to fire-proof brick or stone construction. Built on one of the first industrial sites in the city, along the Blackstone River, the mill was originally constructed for a John Kennedy as a cotton manufactory. The complex was purchased and expanded in the 1860s by the Stafford Manufacturing Company, who built a new dam on the river and extension to the 1825 building. The structure features a five-story square end tower with freight doors, and a monitor roof which runs the span of the original 1825 building, terminating where the Stafford Company addition begins. Originally, canals flowed directly under the building, powering the building and three mills downstream, but they were filled in by 1965. Elizabeth Webbing started in the Kennedy/Stafford mill buildings in 1933. After over 70 years of making cloth straps used for seat belts, dog collars, luggage straps and more, it ceased operations in March of 2001. The complex, which included 19 nearby mill buildings, was split up and sold off. In 2007 work began on converting the former mill to residential use with the first phase of the project opening to tenants in 2009. It’s another great example of adaptive reuse into housing, the best type of project!