The Arcade | |
Location | 130 Westminster Street and 65 Weybosset Street, Providence, Rhode Island |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°49′26.238″N71°24′38.048″W / 41.82395500°N 71.41056889°W |
Built | 1828 |
Architect | Russell Warren; Tallman & Bucklin |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
Part of | Customhouse Historic District (ID75000058) |
NRHP reference No. | 71000029 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | May 6, 1971 [1] |
Designated NHL | May 11, 1976 [2] |
Designated CP | February 20, 1975 |
The Westminster Arcade (also known as the Providence Arcade, Arcade Providence, or The Arcade) is an historic shopping center at 130 Westminster Street and 65 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island erected in 1828. It is notable as the first enclosed shopping mall in the United States [3] and has been lauded as a fine example of commercial Greek Revival architecture. It served as a shopping center for many years before falling into decline in the late 20th century. It has since been closed for renovation and rehabilitation several times, and most recently reopened its doors in October 2013 as a residential and commercial mixed-use building. [4] [5] [6] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
The Arcade was developed as a commercial business venture by Cyrus Butler. Its preliminary design called for two floors of shops, and a third floor was added to the plans before construction began. The building was designed by Russell Warren and Tallman & Bucklin. Their design called for an arcaded lane of shops with skylights in the roof providing illumination, in emulation of similar structures then found in some European cities. Construction of the mall roughly followed the original plan, but some hasty alterations were made to meet the need for a vestibule and stairway on the Weybosset Street side of the building to provide access to the third floor. These were not well-constructed and required repairs in the 1940s. [7]
At the time of the Arcade's opening, there were few retail stores on the west side of the Providence River. [8] Most shopping was located on the east side or Cheapside district. [8] The arcade was slow to attract customers and was known as "Butler's Folly" for many years because of its distance from the retail districts. [8] This changed when a fashionable hat shop opened next door which attracted wealthy female customers to the neighborhood. [8] After that, Westminster Street and downtown developed into a major shopping area. [8]
In June 1843, President John Tyler toured New England while considering a potential third-party bid for re-election. [9] One of Tyler's several Providence stops was at the Westminster Arcade, where he reportedly shook hands with 5,000 people. [9]
The building served as a shopping center well into the 20th century. It fell into disrepair but was rehabilitated by architects Irving B. Haynes & Associates and Gilbane Properties, and it reopened in 1980. It closed again in 2008 for renovations. It reopened in October 2013 as a mixed-use commercial and residential "micro-loft" space under real estate developer Evan Granoff of Granoff Associates LLC working with Northeast Collaborative Architects. [5] [10]
The Arcade was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. [2] [7]
The Arcade is a long, narrow building extending between Westminster and Weybosset Streets, north of Orange Street in downtown Providence. The two street-facing sides consist of Greek temple fronts, with six massive Ionic columns 45 feet (14 m) high. These massive columns were quarried eight miles (13 km) away in Johnston and hauled over dirt roads by teams of oxen. The columns on the Westminster Street side are topped by a triangular pediment; the Weybosset Street side has a block-and-panel railing above a simple entablature. Behind these fronts are open vestibule areas with stairs leading to the upper levels. The stairs leading to the third level are somewhat crowded beneath the roofline, particularly on the Weybosset Street side, where the vestibule was a late addition occasioned by the decision to add a third floor. The long sides of the building are relatively unadorned, as it was expected by the architects that structures would eventually be built abutting them. [7]
The interior consists of a main avenue 13 feet (4.0 m) on the ground floor, above which the second and third floor lanes are protected by richly decorated cast iron railings capped in mahogany. The skylit roof extends the length of the building, its ridgeline aligned at the Westminster end with the top of the triangular pediment. Emphasis in all of the building's construction was on the use of fireproof materials; granite, brick, and cast iron are all used, and the roof was made of tin. [7]
Quincy Market is a historic building near Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed between 1824 and 1826 and named in honor of mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt. The market is a designated National Historic Landmark and a designated Boston Landmark in 1996, significant as one of the largest market complexes built in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. According to the National Park Service, some of Boston's early slave auctions took place near what is now Quincy Market.
The Arcade in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, is a Victorian-era structure of two nine-story buildings, joined by a five-story arcade with a glass skylight spanning over 300 feet (91 m), along the four balconies. Erected in 1890, at a cost of $867,000, the Arcade opened on Memorial Day, and is identified as one of the earliest indoor shopping arcades in the United States. The Arcade was modified in 1939, remodeling the Euclid Avenue entrance and adding some structural support. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
The Beneficent Congregational Church is a United Church of Christ Congregationalist church located at 300 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.
Downtown is the central economic, political, and cultural district of the city of Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is bounded on the east by Canal Street and the Providence River, to the north by Smith Street, to the west by Interstate 95, and to the south by Henderson Street. The highway serves as a physical barrier between the city's commercial core and neighborhoods of Federal Hill, West End, and Upper South Providence. Most of the downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Downtown Providence Historic District.
The Museum of Newport History is a history museum in the Old Brick Market building in the heart of Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It is owned and operated by the Newport Historical Society at 127 Thames Street on Washington Square. The building, designed by noted 18th-century American architect Peter Harrison and built in the 1760s, is a National Historic Landmark.
The Nelson W. Aldrich House, also known as the Dr. S. B. Tobey House, is a Federal-style house at 110 Benevolent Street in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The house was the home of Nelson W. Aldrich, a U.S. Senator from 1881 to 1911. Aldrich was a dominant and controversial figure in the Senate, exercising significant control over the legislative process. This house, one of two surviving properties associated with Aldrich, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. It is now a house museum operated by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
The John Brown House borders the campus of Brown University at 52 Power Street on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island. Completed in 1788, it was the first mansion to be built in Providence and is named after its first owner, John Brown, a statesman, merchant, slave trader, and early benefactor of the University.
The Nightingale–Brown House is a historic house at 357 Benefit Street on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island. It is home to the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage at Brown University. The house is architecturally significant as one of the largest surviving wood-frame houses of the 18th century, and is historically significant as the longtime seat of the Brown family, whose members have been leaders of the Providence civic, social, and business community since the 17th century, and include nationally significant leaders of America's industrialization in the 19th century. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
Bristol Customshouse and Post Office is a historic two-story rectangular Italian palazzo style brick building that was used as a post office and customshouse in Bristol, Rhode Island, United States. The land for the site was acquired for $4,400. The building was designed by Ammi B. Young and completed in 1858 for a cost of $22,135.75. The building roughly measures 46 feet (14 m) by 32 feet (9.8 m) and is constructed of deep red brick and has three arched openings on each of its sides and stories that are lined with sandstone moldings. The archways protrude from the side of the building and the center archway serves as the first floor with the adjacent archways housing large windows that are barred with iron. As it typical of the style, the second floor is more elaborate with a shallow balcony of iron supported by iron brackets and the paneling of the upper facade's surmounting entablature is elaborately decorative. The sides and rear are similar to the front facade, but include blind recesses and the molding is of a browner sandstone.
The Arnold–Palmer House is an historic house at 33 Chestnut Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The Federal style house was built in 1826 for wealthy Providence merchant Daniel Arnold at a location on upper Westminster Street, where it was one of four nearly identical houses whose design was attributed to prominent local architect John Holden Greene by preservationist Norman Isham. This house is the only one of the four still standing, having been moved to its present location in 1967 as part of the Weybosset Hill urban redevelopment project.
The Customhouse Historic District is a historic district encompassing fifteen historic buildings in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The district is bounded by Westminster, Exchange, Dyer, Pine, and Peck Streets, and includes eight buildings associated with the important functions of the business center Providence became in the mid-to-late 19th century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and is completely contained within the Downtown Providence Historic District, listed in 1984.
The Hay and Owen Buildings are a pair of historic commercial buildings in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
The Market House is a historic three-story brick market house in Market Square, in the College Hill, a neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, USA. The building was constructed between 1773 and 1775 and designed by prominent local architects, Joseph Brown and Declaration of Independence signer Stephen Hopkins. The bottom floor of the house was used as a market, and the upper level was used for holding meetings. Similar buildings existed in other American cities, such as Faneuil Hall in Boston and the Old Brick Market in Newport. The building housed the Providence City Council in the decades before the completion of City Hall.
The Merchants Bank Building is a historic commercial building at 32 Westminster Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is a six-story brownstone structure, designed by Alpheus C. Morse and Clifton A. Hall and built in 1855–57. When built, this Italianate structure was one of the first buildings of Providence's financial district, and is now surrounded by much larger modern skyscrapers. It is architecturally reminiscent of Roman palazzos, with an arcaded ground floor, second-level windows topped by alternating segmented-arch and triangular pediments, and a projecting cornice with dentil moulding and modillions. The building served as the headquarters of the Merchants Bank until it merged with Providence National Bank in 1920.
The Shepard Company Building is a historic building at 255 Westminster Street and 72-92 Washington Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. A prominent landmark, it housed Shepard's, Providence's most prestigious department store, and one of the largest in New England, from 1903 to 1974, beginning as a single building built in the 1870s at Clemence and Washington and continually expanding until it occupied the entire block between Westminster, Clemence, Washington and Union Streets.
The U.S. Customshouse is a historic custom house at 24 Weybosset Street in Providence, Rhode Island at the northeast corner at Weybosset and Custom House streets. The customhouse was built between 1855 and 1857 to a design by Ammi B. Young and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1992, the building was purchased by the State of Rhode Island and converted to office space for the State Courts System. The building was opened by the state of Rhode Island as the John E. Fogarty Judicial Complex after an extensive $550,000 renovation.
U.S. Custom House is a historic custom house building located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is a granite, steel-frame structure measuring 252 feet 8 inches (77.01 m) by 139 feet 6 inches (42.52 m). It is an exceptionally distinguished example of Beaux Arts architecture and was built from 1903 through late 1907 from plans by Hornblower and Marshall, a Washington, D.C. firm. The ceiling of the Call Room, located in the pavilion, was painted by Francis Davis Millet (1846–1912). It served as Baltimore's Custom House until 1953. Since that time various Federal agencies have occupied the building.
The Federal Building is a historic post office, courthouse and custom house on Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. It was built in 1908 by Clarke & Howe of limestone and steel and has a courtyard in the center.
The Grove Arcade, also known as the Arcade Building, is a historic commercial and residential building in Asheville, North Carolina, in its downtown historic district. It was built from 1926 to 1929, and is a Tudor Revival and Late Gothic Revival style building consisting of two stacked blocks. The lower block is a rectangular slab with rounded corners; it is capped by the second block, a two-tier set-back story.
James C. Bucklin (1801-1890) was an American architect working in Providence, Rhode Island.
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(help) and Accompanying eight photos, exterior and interior, from c.1924, 1944, 1957, 1967, 1969, 1970 (32 KB)