Neighborhood: Downtown Providence

A square, seven story commercial building converted to apartments in the early aughts — a frontrunner to the downtown residential boom

Designed by star-chitect Paul Rudolph, this “modern” building by some standards shows the softer, human side of the Brutalist style of the 1960s

Originally located along N. Main & Canal Sts., across from Roger Williams Park, Providence, the last meat-packing plant survived for about 50 years

Two distinctive buildings joined together as downtown residential lofts — both with unique features, design, and spaces

A beautiful Second-Empire style, iron storefront, six-story commercial building on the edge of Exchange Place until a fire destroyed it in 1925

A former department store turned rock club venue turned loft apartments whose conversion contributed to making Downtown Providence bustle again

A four-turned-five-story 19th-century commercial building goes residential to support 44 micro-lofts and a younger clientele

The story of two central fire stations located on the perimeter of Exchange Place, now Kennedy Plaza.

A wonderful meeting of Brutalist and roadside architecture in a striking circular floor plan that fit the location at the apex of Broadway and Atwells Avenue quite well.

A handsomely-detailed yellow brick commercial building with an active bar on the first floor and currently empty upper floors

A mapping project to trace the origins and evolution of the Cove Basin north of Downtown and south of Smith Hill, from 1823 to present day

A former church mission turned into a series of unsavory businesses establishments until a 30 year old law allowing indoor prostitution was rewritten

A low-slung, semi-circular mid-century modern transportation hub in downtown Providence.

A non-descript downtown commercial building probably faced with enamel and steel details in the 1950s. Razed in 2005 for a condomuium tower that was never built

A simple building located next to the former Sportsman’s Inn (now the Dean Hotel) that was razed for a never-built hotel.

The littlest building in downtown (not including parking lot shelters) that was once home to small coffee shops.

At only 12 1/2 feet deep, the George Arnold building is an anomoly in the Downtown Historic District

A conglomeration of possibly six 1 to 3 story structures bounded by Westminster, Union, and Weybosset Streets razed in 2005 for a proposed parking garage

Parcel 9: A modern, 13-story glass box reflecting the mall, the Westin, Union Station, and Waterplace park.

A modest hotel gets a facelift and an upgrade during the city’s development boom time

Parcel 12: One of a few new hotels built in the late 2010s with barely an effort made to be more than a bland off-the-highway-style, could-be-anywhere hotel.

A former high-art-style consumer banking lobby and offices becomes a 56,000 sf art library and housing for 500 students

A turn-of-the-century hotel with intact, 100-year old wood panelled bar enhanced by stained-glass windows and decorative terra cotta

This converted hotel has been restored to much of its former glory, without those great vertical decorative signs

The iconic “Superman” building, the tallest in the state, might be close to getting a new life as residential apartments

A love it or hate it concrete structure in the Brutalist style — its knobby elbows sticking out as decoration

A turn-of-the-century 6-story downtown commercial building that is now part of the RISD campus

A nine-story commercial building turned residential and joined the ranks of its neightbors in the collective called “Westminster Lofts”

Two 19th-century commercial buildings come together to create a unique hotel with historic character

A five-story red brick former Freemasons hall in very good historic condition converted to commercial space in the 1980s

An over 170-year-old congregation has served the needs of people in the center of Downtown Providence from a 120-year-old church building

“That very Rhode Island, deliberately shabby den of loud music, cheap beer and all kinds of people”

A new 6-story apartment in downtown with 143 studio, 1- and 2-bedroom apartments was developed by Cornish Associates and opened in 2020

A classically-inspired former bank with soaring vaulted ceiling finds new life as a performing arts center

The OneTen tower would have been the tallest building in Providence, and the tallest residential tower in New England at the time.

A mid-century, pre-Brutalist retail amenity in downtown was razed only to avoid maintenance costs

A handsome yellow brick, seven story building with ornate white brickwork designs has become a dozen luxury residences with ground-floor retail

A six-story early Moderne former bank lobby and upper-floor offices was redeveloped in fits and starts into residential apartments

A plethora of pithy postcard images from the turn of the century.

This freight house was part of one of the first major railroad stations in America and one of the few only surviving structures of its architect Thomas A. Tefft

A relatively recent construction for large sporting and entertainment events, modernized in the late 2000’s to connect to the Convention Center

A neo-Georgian building that was home to the original home to the Providence National Bank Company. Razed for a proposed hotel that was never built.

This 60 year-old Art Deco structure was vacated in 2000 for new digs across the highway. It stayed vacant for 6 years until a proposed condo structure took it down.

A sliver of an 1829 structure survives under this turn-of-the-20th-century vaudeville theatre turned movie house turned commercial storefronts

A new building takes advantage of a small space to introduce additional density in an already dense edge of downtown and the Jewelry District

This mid-1800s structure was one the few examples of Providence’s eminent architect Thomas Tefft but burned in 2006.

A former downtown bar forced to move after the building was razed for a hotel that was never built

This over 190 year old structure survived 170 years as an indoor mall but now is a collection of retail and micro-loft styles residential condos

A three-quarters of a billion dollar investment in Downtown Providence, 2005, that was too good to be true

A photo recreation series of a RISD student portfolio taken in 1975 and 1976 — recreated in 2008

A late 19th-century investment building used as commercial space for over 100 years recently turned into residential upper floors.

A masterpiece of the Italian Romanesque style designed by a young newcomer who would later become an architecture star in his relatively short life

This 120-year old station has see fires and rehabilitation, but the remarkably handsome structure is still standing and useful and full of tenants

Old aerials of Providence taken from different vantage points and at different times in its development.

A small mercantile-style building razed for a never-built Sierra Suites Hotel in 2008. This building housed a few well-loved storefronts — New Japan, Cuban Revolution, and the Talk of the Town bar.

Parcel 2: A pair of residential towers built during the mid-2000s post 9-11 boom — condos selling at the time for $300k to $1m.

A mix of retail, parking, hotel rooms, and upscale condominiums. At 31 stories and 358 feet tall, it is currently the 3rd tallest structure in Rhode Island.

The Fletcher building marks the first foray into downtown Providence for RISD and its graduate students

A small, five-story commercial building that underwent a modern renovation into 12 apartments on a busy downtown street

Smaller than its neighbors, this 2-story commercial building joined the ranks of its neightbors in the collective called “Westminster Lofts”