Providence History

Former Providence YMCA Building // 1889

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral Rectory // c.1878

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Built around the time of its neighbor, the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul in Downtown Providence, this handsome brick masonry building with mansard roof was constructed as the rectory for the larger cathedral next door. Like the corresponding cathedral, this rectory was likely the work of premier ecclesiastical architect, Patrick C. Keely, who designed the structure in the Victorian/Ruskinian Gothic style with polychromatic stone voussoirs, a brownstone Romanesque style arched entry with floral capitals, and a mansard roof with bracketed cornice. Since its construction around 1878, the building has been added onto and connected to the Cathedral, but still retains its architectural significance. The building is home to the Diocese of Providence offices, a library, and remains the rector’s residence.

Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, Providence // 1878

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.

Fleur-De-Lys Studios // 1885

Buildings of New England3 Comments

The Fleur-de-Lys Studios is of the most architecturally significant and unique buildings in New England and can be found on Thomas Street in the College Hill section of Providence. Built in 1885 and a vivid expression of the Queen Anne style and showing the emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement movement in America, the handsome building blending is the result of a partnership between artist, Sydney Richmond Burleigh and architect, Edmund R. Willson as a dedicated creative hub for working artists, a purpose it still serves today under the stewardship of the Providence Art Club, who received the deed of the property in 1939 by Burleigh’s widow. Its design draws heavily on medieval English and Tudor Revival influences, with a striking half-timbered façade, stucco panels, carved heads as hanging pendants, and projecting casement windows that break dramatically from the surrounding colonial streetscape. What truly sets the structure apart, however, is its richly symbolic ornamentation—allegorical figures representing painting, sculpture, and architecture adorn the exterior. More than a century later, the Fleur-de-Lys Studios remains both a National Historic Landmark and a living workspace, preserving its original spirit as a place where art and architecture are inseparably intertwined.

Seril Dodge House // 1791

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.

Dr. George W. Carr Mansion // 1885

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Perched on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, the Dr. George W. Carr Mansion at the corner of Benefit and Waterman streets, stands as one of the most attractive and interesting interpretations of the Queen Anne style in New England. The stately home was built in 1885 for George Wheaton Carr (1834-1907) a medical doctor who served as a surgeon during the Civil War and later as head surgeon for multiple Providence-area hospitals. For his Providence home, Dr. Carr hired architect, Edward I. Nickerson, to furnish plans, which resulted in this mansion with irregular plan, four-story corner corner capped with a conical roof, varied materials in stone, wood shingles, half-timbering, and copper bays. The Carr Mansion was purchased by the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1916, and has served a variety of roles for the school including as student housing and a cafe/lounge.

Former Central Congregational Church – Memorial Hall, RISD // 1853

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

An early example of the Romanesque Revival style, the former Central Congregational Church on Benefit Street in Providence’s East Side is architecturally significant as one of the remaining designs by architect, Thomas Tefft and built from 1853-1856. Thomas A. Tefft (1826-1859) was one of the nation’s first professionally trained architects and was a master of Rundbogenstil, a German-branch of the Romanesque style until his untimely death in Italy when he was just 33. When this church was completed in 1856, Tefft was just thirty years old. The brownstone facade is adorned by triple-arched entrances and corbelling. The congregation grew and decades later, acquired a site in the neighborhood for a larger, Carrere and Hastings-designed church, vacating this building in 1893. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) purchased this former church in 1902 following a donation by Eliza Radeke and her brothers who named the building Memorial Hall. The firm of Hoppin and Ely was hired to update the former church for use by the college, which primarily took place on the interior. The original pair of tall bell towers were damaged during the 1938 hurricane and later were removed in 1950, truncating the verticality of this great Tefft-designed building, but she still shines! Memorial Hall has been incorporated into the RISD campus and houses studio spaces.

Daniel Smith House // c.1750

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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!

John Larchar House // c.1820

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The John Larchar House at 282 Benefit Street in Providence is one of the many stately Federal period homes in the city designed by great architect, John Holden Greene. John Larchar (also spelled Larcher), was born in Providence in 1787 and worked in local businesses, eventually becoming a bank director that was involved in many mercantile pursuits. The residence remained in John’s family long after his death in 1863, and has been maintained so well by subsequent owners. The 2½-story, brick Federal house features stone trim, four chimneys, a central elliptical fanlight doorway, modillion cornice and amazing 12-over-12 windows. The cupola at the roof appears to be a is a mid-19th-century addition, possibly after John’s death. The garage and two-story side addition dates to the 1960s but does not detract from the architectural integrity of the home. 

Ives Rowhouses // 1814

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The Ives Rowhouses stand at 270-276 Benefit Street in Providence and are an important and intact example of a Federal period row from the early 19th century. These four, three-story brick rowhouses were built between 1814-19 as investment property for Thomas Poynton Ives, a successful local merchant and partner in the firm of Brown & Ives, who lived nearby on Power Street. Each of the houses has a three-bay facade with pedimented fanlight doorways. The one residence was significantly altered in 1948 by the massive archway for vehicular access at the rear. The houses stand out in Providence, as fairly uncommon rowhouses, which never took off quite like they did in Boston and other New England cities. The row is today neighbors with the National Historic Landmark Hopkins House.

Stephen Hopkins House // 1743

Buildings of New England1 Comment

The Stephen Hopkins House is a Colonial-era house in the East Side neighborhood of Providence, and has survived waves of commercialization and redevelopment for nearly 300 years. The home is associated with Founding Father of the United States, Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785), who served as Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and was a signer of both the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. In 1742, Stephen Hopkins purchased a one-story cottage built in 1707 on Main Street, and enlarged the original house to its present size by 1743, incorporating the original cottage as the rear ell. The eight-room residence was occupied by Gov. Hopkins, his family, as well as enslaved Africans who lived under the same roof until his death in 1785. During his ownership, George Washington slept here, twice. After 150 years of successive ownership, in 1928, the house was moved to its current location at the corner of Hopkins and Benefit Streets to facilitate the construction of the new Providence County Courthouse complex. The Hopkins House was restored by architectural historian and architect, Norman M. Isham, and is owned by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, operating it as a historic house museum. The Gov. Stephen Hopkins House is a National Historic Landmark.

Ambrose Burnside House // 1866

Buildings of New England1 Comment

What do this unique Victorian house and sideburns have in common? Well, you are about to find out!

The Ambrose Burnside House is sited on an oddly shaped, and sloping corner lot on Benefit Street in Providence’s East Side neighborhood, and is one of the most unique Second Empire style residences in New England. The house was built in 1866 for General Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881), a Union general in the American Civil War, who returned to Providence and was about to begin a term as governor, followed by two terms in the United States Senate. Ambrose Burnside hired local architect, Alfred Stone, to design his new city mansion, which upon completion, was deemed one of the most “modern residences” in Providence. Built of brick with Nova Scotia stone with a concave slate mansard roof and one-of-a-kind rounded corner bay, the Ambrose Burnside House does not disappoint! Ambrose Burnside died in 1881 and the property was occupied by his sister-in-law until the property was sold in 1884 and housed the Providence Children’s Friend Society House for Aged Women and the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Children, providing shelter and food for elderly women and children of color without parents or guardians. After WWII, the Burnside House was converted to apartments.

Now, to the sideburns… Ambrose Burnside was noted for his unusual beard, joining strips of hair in front of his ears to his mustache but with the chin clean-shaven; the word burnsides was coined to describe this style. The syllables were later reversed to give sideburns.

Tully Bowen House // 1853

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Designed by great architect, Thomas Tefft, this three-bay, three-story brownstone house located at 389 Benefit Street in Providence, was built for Tully D. Bowen, a cotton manufacturer. The house, one of the finest Italianate style mansions in the state, is constructed of brownstone and features a recessed arched entrance surrounded by a flat-headed Doric-pilastered frame, pedimented first-floor windows resting on brackets with the alternation of flat and pedimented heads at the second story, and quoining at the corners. The property also retains its original Tefft-designed brick and brownstone carriage house. Thomas Tefft, who was just 27 at the time of designing this house and corresponding brownstone and iron gate, would become one of America’s finest architects before he died in Florence with a fever in 1859 at just 33 years old. The residence was converted to 12 apartments in 1941 and the carriage house was converted to residential use as well. Even with the subdividing the interior spaces of the residence and carriage house, the Bowen property remains in a great state of preservation and is one of the finest homes in Providence.