Asa Messer Elementary School at Bridgham

About this Property

#Reason for Demolition

The decisions for closure and demolition at this school, Gilbert Stuart Middle School, and others has hit the public hard and fast. It is unusual for the City of Providence’s school district to have so many new building initiatives at the same time.

In both cases, the announcements came before public input was considered. The processes by which parents were notified and their concerns are heard was circumvented or truncated. In a public meeting for the Gilbert Stuart school in December of 2022, the school district’s deputy superindent of operations, Zack Scott, faced pointed questions from Representative Patricia Serpa. He avoided the line of questioning until he finally admitted that “he and the city school district’s leadership team were the ones who deliberated on the school closures — not the community.”¹

Gilbert Stuart school, much older and more stately-looking as a Greek revival building, received the most attention from the media and preservation community. Asa Messer at Bridgham, at only about 45 years old, did not get much attention, nor did we find news stories that detailed the reasoning behind the demolition of this newer building.

Architecture

The building is full of flat shapes and rectangles. It is built into a hill as Westminster street descends into Olneyville Square. On the western side of the site, the building is two stories tall. As the building moves east towards Bridgham Street, it sinks into the hill. The eastern side appears to be a single story with entrances slightly above street-level. The exterior is mainly brown brick with sections of plastered cement in light tan.

The eastern side of the building has more of a Frank-Lloyd-Wright-esque Prairie style to it, with alternating masses and windows arranged in a rotated L-pattern. The style may be considered as heavily-influenced by mid-century modern but done on a city school system budget. We are unsure about the interior layout and how the school keeps interior spaces accessible on both levels.

#Current Events

Asbestos abatement has begun at the site in the summer of 2025. For more on the plan to replace the school, refer to the Providence School’s “Rebuild” page for the Asa Messer school.

#History

The building was constructed after 1970 and therefore its history is not described in any of the state or national register reports. The Providence Historical Aerial Viewer shows the building in an aerial from 1981 but not previous to that photo.

More Reading

• Lancaster, Jane. Education for Everybody: Why They Named a School After Asa Messer, PVD Eye, July 10 2024.
• Lancaster, Jane. Palaces for the People’s Children? A Very Short History of Providence Public Schools , PVD Eye, May 21 2024.

#In the News

Public testimony from a current Asa Messer Elementary teacher

A late public testimony letter was received by the City of Providence in regards to Asa Messer. It was written by Joe Parillo, a current PE and Health teacher at Asa Messer in 2025.

It contains the following points:

• Asa Messer was recognized by the state/Governor, and Board of Education for being the best Elementary school in Providence, and one of the best in the state — they moved to being a 3 Star Elementary School in 2025 (a fact that we have not been able to verify)
• They have improved attendance to pre-pandemic levels and higher
• The current teacher described the building as “highly-rated“ building that is “fully wheelchair accessible”
• The teacher mentioned recent investments in the building, such as a new heating system, library renovations, a new roof within the last 4-5 years

The points being made were about how the current school is not in disrepair like others, the staff and students are happy and improving performance, and therefore, what is the rush to demolish and rebuild? The plan is to move students to Carl G. Lauro Memorial on the West Side as a swing space, but that building has already been mothballed and is likely in worse condition that Asa Messer is currently.

We have saved a copy of the letter to this archive as well: Joe Parillo testimony

Demolition of middle school is flashpoint — Some say process lacked financial transparency

by Nish Kohli
Providence Journal | August 8, 2025 (abridged)

The planned demolition of a historic middle school has some community members saying that the city’s school construction process lacks financial transparency, communication with the public and sustainability considerations.

In 2023, the Providence Public School District approved a tentative plan to demolish the West End’s Gilbert Stuart Middle School.

In April 2025, the city’s School Building Committee approved the plan, paving the way for demolition to begin in August, after which construction will start on a school for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade at the same spot.

The district estimates that the construction project will take two academic years to complete.

But some are asking whether a full demolition of the building was necessary, and whether rehabilitating it would have been a better option.

The school district initially commissioned an architectural feasibility study for the site, which placed a nearly $63 million price tag on demolition and reconstruction. The same study suggested that the cost to rehabilitate the existing structure would be about $12 million less.

“There are definitely times where historic schools do not work for people today and they need to be demolished and new buildings need to be built,” said Marisa Brown, executive director of the Providence Preservation Society. “If you’re going to end up recommending demolition, I think you have to give the public a lot of information about how you got there.”

Why is the district building a new school?

The Providence Public School District’s main justification for constructing a new building is that the layout of Gilbert Stuart Middle School isn’t suitable to be converted to a school for pre-K to grade 8.

“Reflecting on what we heard from public engagement, the new school is designed to better meet accessibility and access needs for students in younger grades and those with mobility issues as well as better support multilingual learners with specific configurations for Spanish and English-speaking classrooms,” Rhode Island Department of Education spokesperson Victor Morente told The Providence Journal in a statement. “The new school setup will allow for a dual language school within the Pre K-8 model, which the current building cannot accommodate.”

The district has been discussing its vision to introduce pre-K to grade 8 schools in the city for several years now, and it also plans to demolish and rebuild with those models at Asa Messer Elementary School and Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School in the coming months.

Proponents of pre-K to grade 8 schools argue that the model allows for tightknit bonds between students, teachers and families, strong school spirit and an easier transition to adolescence. Although some studies have shown academic decline when students enter traditional middle schools, other research has found little difference in student achievement between pre-K to grade 8 schools and separated elementary and middle schools.

[…]

“When you close down or demolish any school building, there’s a real sense of institutional mourning and grieving,” he said. “I think one flaw in a takeover model is that community outreach isn’t the same.”

— Kohli, Nish. “Demolition of middle school is flashpoint - Some say process lacked financial transparency.” Providence Journal (RI), PFO-Journal ed., sec. News, 8 Aug. 2025, p. A1. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.