Fain, 10-330 - July 1969 UNITED,STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE IITERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ETA Ct Rhode Is1ar COUNTY: NATIONAL REiGISTER OF 1-IISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM Type all entries - complete applicable sections Providence FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY MUMOER DATE LL.NAME . . ....-...... . ., ... .,.- COMMON: Providence City Hall . . . - AND/OR HISTORIC: . . .. ftLQCATW - - STREET ABC NUMRER: . Dorrance and Washington Streets CITY OR TOWN . Providence . . . STATE CODE COUNTY: CODE -- t2E Island, 02903 1a1 Providence . 007 . ...: .. . *:. . CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS ACCESSIBLE Check One . TO THE PUBLIC C Di stri Ct Building Q Site C Structure 0 Object . -. - CX Public Public ACqUi Si tiOIC - C Private C In Process C Both . . o Being Considered . f Occupied C Unoccupied o Prese,-votion work in progress Yes: . Restricted 0 U nr.str icted 0 Ho PRESENT USE check One or More as ApproprIate C Agricultural C overntnent . .C Park . C Transportation 0 Comments C Commercial C lndust,iol C Private Residence C Other Specify o Educational 0 Military - 0 Religious - C Entertainment C MUS èum ScientiFic IZTOWNER OF PROPERTY . H. :.y.:.. ***. .H7**J.J1 :.;::.i.*::.: in 0 U rx I- ‘en Lu Li 51 OWNER’S N AME: City of Providence STREET ANO NUMBER; City. Hall, Washington and Dorrance Streets CITY OR TOWN: Providence ____ LEGAL_DESCRIP1HON cOURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC; City flail ‘I -l I,, STATE: . . CODE Rhode Island, 02903 rr I±2 STREET AND NUMBER; I Dorrance and Washington Streets CITY OR TOWN: Providence REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS H TITLE OF SURVLY: Historic American Buildins Survey STATE Rhode Island, 02903 CODE 2414 n 0 C z -4 -C Ph z -I S -C z C S S I, S OF SURVEY; 1962 OLPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: : LX Federal [ State C county Otocol . Library of Congress STRCLT ANON UNIICR: . . , Independence Avenud and 1st Street, S. E. . CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE Washington . District of Columbia 11 *hl 0 z -o Vt C Vt I’S 0 z r -- 0
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· Providence,Jthodo Island, l9?l’ pp. 5-7. - LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES I LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY 0 DEFINING THE
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Fain, 10-330 -
July 1969UNITED,STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE IITERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
ETA Ct
Rhode Is1arCOUNTY:
NATIONAL REiGISTER OF 1-IISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM
C Agricultural C overntnent . .C Park . C Transportation 0 Comments
C Commercial C lndust,iol C Private Residence C Other Specify
o Educational 0 Military - 0 Religious
- C Entertainment C MUS èum ScientiFic
IZTOWNER OF PROPERTY . H. :.y.:.. ***. .H7**J.J1 :.;::.i.*::.:
in
0
U
rx
I-‘en
Lu
Li
51
OWNER’S N AME:
City of Providence
STREET ANO NUMBER;
City. Hall, Washington and Dorrance StreetsCITY OR TOWN:
Providence
____
LEGAL_DESCRIP1HONcOURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC;
City flail
‘I
-lI,,
STATE: .. CODE
Rhode Island, 02903 rr
I±2
STREET AND NUMBER;I
Dorrance and Washington StreetsCITY OR TOWN:
Providence
REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS HTITLE OF SURVLY:
Historic American Buildins Survey
STATE
Rhode Island, 02903CODE
2414
n0Cz-4-C
Phz-IS-C
zCSSI,S
OF SURVEY; 1962OLPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS:
: LX Federal [ State C county Otocol.
Library of CongressSTRCLT ANON UNIICR: . . ,
IndependenceAvenud and 1st Street, S. E. .
CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE
Washington . District of Columbia 11
*hl
0
z-oVt
CVtI’S
0zr--
0
* DESCRIPTION .. S.:’.
I Check One
I Excellent Q Good 0 Foir 0 Deteriorated 0 Ruin. 0 UnexposedCONDITION
Check One Check One -
Altered C Unaltered 0 Moved Original Sit.
DESCRIOE THE PRESENT AND ORtGINAL II known PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
The Providence City Hall was constructed in 1875-1878 from thedesigns ofSamuel.F. J. Thayer, a Boston architect who won a competitionentered by twenty or more. It is a large free-standing rectangular -
building, nine bays wide and thirteen bays deep, of iron and brick con-struction faced with granite, and it stands at the end of an open plazain the city’s dowr&town section. It is of three storeys above a hi,full-storey, basement and has an additional storey and attic space con-tamed,within a high, angular mansard roof rising above.a panelled eaves
* jiarapet. Like many other public buildings of the post-1850 period inthis country and abroad, it was designed in the manner of the Louvre andTuileries Palaces in Paris, which were being enlarged and further elaborated at this time France’s Second Empire. Official architecturethus inspired was characterised by tall and wide façades, conspicuouslyarticulated, and by imposing interior spaces, liberally ornamented.
The main or entrance front faces east, and its chief feature is its-. centre pavilion surmounted by a high square dome of convex mansard form.
The walls are constructed of smooth-faced ashlar above the high basement -
which is finished with horizontal rustication. The large, recessed,round-arched main entrance portal of the central east pavilion is en-framed by paired Tuscan columns on pedestals, carrying a flat entablature "
and forming an unpedimented aedicule. Leading up to this entrance fromsidewalk level or one might say flowing dawn to sidewalk level is aperron whose curving sides, with panelled railings, widen with a flourish ctowards the bottom, where there are two "triumphal" columns on ornamentalpedestals, intended as torchres. Unemphasisedwindow openings flank themain entrance at both basement and first-storey levels. Surmounting theentrance is another aedicule with paired columns supporting a pediment -
which lets into the parapet banding the roof; this enframement containsa two-storey round-headed window and is flanked by similar windows. :Further above, beneath the bulging mansard dome, is a fourth or true t.6.
attic storey with paired round-headedwindows between pilasters thecentre pair was originally sheltered by a small pediniented portico.Finally, above an entablature, comes the dome with ornamental copper-work at its base and crest and with ornamental copper bull’s-eye doniiers.Other features of this façade are the groupings in the end.pavilions oftall, tripartite windows, serated by columns,on the second floor, withbull’s eye windows above in the third floor; further above, three-part
* dormers a 1911 change from the original design in the mansard breakthrough the eaves parapet.
On all four sides the building is horizontally divided at basement,first-floor, second-floor and e ayes levels by mou]dings, belt coursesand of course the main cornice. However, on its ‘sides and rear the -
building is much plainer ih1composition and is given elaboration only atits corners, where the tall, tripartite window and column treatment usedon the east front is repeated. These elevations otherwise have simple,regularly-spaced ranges of’plaimwindows at each flobr level and large,but plain, arched entrance centered at See Continuation Sheet.
street level. -. . -. - -. :-:: .,..! -
15/ Es
___ ________ ___________
nr.n’oo Check Or or Aloe n., A/pr.;’rt’te
o Pre-Columbon 0 16th C.uty - çj lath Century * * 0 20th Century
o i 5th Century jJ 170, Century * I 9th Can fury - * ,
SPECIFIC DATEISt If Appllcnbe nndKrtown].87..l878
AEA5 or SIGNI rICAr4C c Check One or Alore ae Appropriate -
o Prehistoric 0 Engineering -. 0 Rligion/Phl. C Other Specify * *
* -
D Industry - losophy * *
C Agriculture lnve, fan *‘ J Science
Archi lecture Lands Cop. 0 Sculpture
______________________________
C Art . Architecture 0 SociolfHunon
________________________
* o Con,merc. C Litorotur. itorion
_________________________
o Communication, 0 Military fl Theater
________________________
* C. Conservation Q Music 0 Tronsportotion
________________________
5TATEMENT or SIGNIFICAeICE * -
Samuel F. J. Thayer, architect of the Providence City Hall, wasa lifelong resident, of Boston and of course knew well Bryant andOilman’s Boston City Hall of 1866, which "set off a nation-wide pro-
* gramme of public building in the Second Empiremode." To-day, few ofthese buildings remain: the old Boston.City Hall, that of Philadelphia,
o the St. Louis Post Office, the Executive Office Building and the firstCorcoran Gallery in Washington are the best knon among the few sur-
I- rivors. As they had been doing for some time, Americans were stillu’ turning to Europe for artistic inspiration, and they were turning there
for guidance in architectural taste during the years when Napoleon IIIwas re-using and inflating French XUII-Century styles. At its dedi-cation the Providence City Hall was- lauded as an equal of the greatcivic buildings of "the continent," and an engraving of the H6tel deyUle in Paris was included in the souvenir pamphlet.
:z
From the first the Providence City-Hall was thought of as averyimportant structure; much interest was expressed, even outside Provi-
W* dence. Competitors included Charles B. Atwood, Ware and Van Brunt,
* w T. N. Clark, NcKim and Mead. * Both the Architectural Sketch Book andthe American Architect and Building News published articles on thecompetition and on Thayerts winning design and his ideas for interiordecoration. The Providence City Hall took place among the importantbuildings of its era;- it holds place as an important relic of them.
- Architecturally valuable in itself, the building is visually en-hanced by its siting at one end of a long plaza, the only green andplanted ttrark in the city’s downtown-area. At the opposite end ofthis plaza, to the east, is located the later, handsomeFederal Build-ing which about matchestho City Hall in height and width of elevation;
- the spread-out coinolox of the railroad station closes the north side,while the south side is walled by tall modern business buildings. Thearea remains the core of governmental, commercial and financial activity. Thus, in design-and inplacement the City Hall is an architec-tural lar&cark of Providence ard a sort of anchor which keeps coherently, in pleading visual order, a very important downtown space. This
* See Continuation Sheet.
- ‘. Form ü-OOa UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT 5r TIlE INTERIOR 5T41C
/ July 1969 NATIONAL PARK SERICE Rhode Island
/ . NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES couNTy
I’ - - ProvidenceINVENTORY - NOMINATiON FORM - -________________
*FOR tIPS USE ONLY
CNTRV NUMt9ER DATE
/ Contznt;5it:on Sheet
/ Number nfl entries
7.Description
Entering from the east portal at first-floor level, one oasses througha monumentalbarrel-vaulted hall and sees ahead the dramatic upward sweep
f of the great marble staircase.; which rises in one long run to a landingwhere it divides into two shorter lateral runs terminating at the secondfloor. Interior accommodationis laid out around -the stair court, whichrises sixty feet to a barrel-vaulted skylight. Corridors, or galleries,twelve feet wide, extend entirely around this court on all floors; all ofthe princinal rooms open off these galleries. On the first floor, themayorts suite is-at the north-east and the offices of other important off i-cials at the south-east. On the secondfloor, the two-storey--high councilchamberoccupies a large central space at the front of the building.
- Much of the original interior decoration remains, including panelledand incised wainscoting of light-coloured wood, etched glass lights inmany doors, polished granite columns, cast-iron stair halusters carryinga brass hand-rail. The walls of the mayor’s office are of plaster reliefin an intricate vine pattern somewhat,resembling a pressed-leatherdesign,and the plaster ceiling there has a more open floral pattern, also’ inrelief.
The council chamber is decorated with the same light-coloured woodwainscoting as elsewhere, and paired pilasters with gold stencilling attop and bottom- are spacedalong the walls. Above the main entrance aspectators’ balcony is supported on two pairs of Ionic columns. The ceiling is decorated with concentric rings of rold stencilling. Trim issimpler in the numerous offices, meeting-rooms etc. occupying the remainderof the building. -
8. Significance.
remarkably well-built and well-preserved building is a fine and vigorousmonument to the XIX-Century flourishing of its city and to the dominantarchitectural style of its era, both in. this country and elsewhere. Byitself it is worthy of preservation, and the disappearanceof so many companions of its era secondsthe motion for preservation.
P 0 * VO .082
I-
- _: -
______________
-. American Architect and Puilding Newt;: Vol. 1, p. 99; Vol. 2, p. 376;Vol. 3, p. UO, Vol 1:, p. 113. * 1576-1878.
Architectural Sketch Book Boston, 18Th, Vol. 1, p1. 23, 21.* The Civic and Architectural Development of Provi-Cady, John flutchins:
dence, 1636-1950150, 21E3.
Providence, Rhode Island,- 1957, pp. 137, lb9,
The City: 1809-1908. An Architectural Tour in’Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence,Jthodo Island, l9?l’ pp. 5-7.
- LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES I LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES
DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY 0 DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY