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1-10-1980 The Landmarks of Federal Hill: "The oH spital Trust Tower. A Tower of Italian Travertine Marble" Joseph R. Muratore

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Recommended Citation Muratore, Joseph R. "The Landmarks of Federal Hill: 'The ospH ital Trust Tower. A Tower of Italian Travertine Marble.'" The choE [Providence] 10 Jan. 1980: pp. 18-19. Print.

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' Page1 18/The Echo/January 10, 1980 The Landmarks of Federal Hill By Comm. Joaeph R. Muratore @ 1980

. . Hallan Travertine Marble" · "The Ho1pltal Tru1t Tower. A Tower of is accomplished The planning for the Island Hospital National Bank. itself. Thie Public interest in the Hospi- with a large auto truck lift, Trust Tower went back several c~n carry vehicles to the months before the ground tal Trust Tower first started in which breaking took place on Sep­ 1969, when the bank announ- lower level parking and unload­ tember 8, 1970. The face of the ced plans for the construction of ing areas. Cash is received from . a a high rise office building on the armored care through building is not of Carrara Mar­ & 49 double-door, security lock sys­ ble as many have believed it to company owned land at 35 :had been Westminster · St., and 17 tern. These doors are electri­ be, although, Carrara cally controlled and monitored visited and was considered to be Kennedy Plaza. Following the groundbreak- on television screens, from the used, as it is a beautiful stone for the tower secuiityconsole and the money and one which Michaelangelo ing ceremonies liked to work with. which formally took place in delivery area. The stone selected, was September of 1969, and from its The vault area, is one of the the tower was mas- most interesting facilities of extremely high quality Traver­ inception, sively designed. The framework this building. Thie vault was tine marble, which was mined eteeel designed in an "L'shape" and in an old river bed, approzi­ . consisted of 30 levels of mately 35 miles from Rome. work and rose from a basement divided into two separate areas. . Tivoli was also visited sev­ area of 15 feet below street One area for the surveillance eral times and several suppliers grade, to a roof level height of and control of cash and gold; over 400 ft. above the Provi- the other for the processing and were used in selecting the finest automatic storing and. h~n- stones available. In this search, dence street grade. In all, ten million lbs., or 4,500 dling of securities. A "Retriever the .late Raymond Imperatore, is able to obtain and store, of J m ~ratore Steel Erectors, tons of steel were used to create File" accompanied Mr. Clarence H. the skeleton of the building. almost instantaneously, spe- Gifford, Jr., Chairman of the About 1,200 tons of Traver- cific bins of stocks and bonds. tine were used in the construe- The vault, itself, is con­ Board. His good friend, the late the Tower. It is structed of 24 inch concrete Victor Beretta of The Duras­ tion of interesting to note the system walls with reinforced steel rods. tone Co;, was also very helpful. Its door is composed of lami­ Several members of the local used to transport this massive amount of stone: The initial nated steel and immovable Beret ta family, were also -- wedge-locks, and is a com­ instrumental in facing the cargo traveling from Bagni, de for the Trivoli, Italy, arrived at the pletely safe and pleasant work­ Travertine on cement 1911. The ing area for employees during erecting. The general contrac­ Port of Providence in first cargo~ in a new working hours and is a 24-hour, torss for the construction of the ~ tower were; Conforti · & Eisle, export-import shipping system fort like barrier. is equipped with called the "Lash" (lighter The Tower Inc., of New York City. It was the one of the most modern security At the very beginning of this aboard ship) system. fn the . ' first such shipment destined for systems is manned by article, we must state, that the Island firm. The Trav- The major system existence of this tower is truly a a Rhode Cla~ence H. Gif­ ertine arrived directly from the bank's own security force, as well tribute to Mr. one of the 60 barges and provides protection, ford, Jr., Chairman of the Italy on carried on the ship's maiden as all innovations, fire alarms Board of Hospital evacuation control availa­ It was hie voyage to the United States. and Trust National Bank. eyatem, the barges ble. It is interesting to note, that forethought and vision of the With this is a version of the were dropped at a central point this system expansion of the bank, requir­ protecting the United ing more space for its facilities, and tugged to the port nearest one some to the firms to which they were States Mint in Denver and "---.that caused him to initiate the planning and the building of consigned. In this way, elimi- of the Atomic Energy Commie­ nating the necessity of the eion centers across the United this structure to meet the needs Mother ship, stopping at eev- States. The system incorpo­ of the bank. It was hie hope and eral ports to discharge the rates both visual and audio con­ desire that a building be erected cargo ; nunicatione, with many Tower that would not only be func­ The entire 30-etory tower is Areas. tiQnal to the needs of the bank, .. . .. ' ..,:, ...... ,

making For emergency p _urposee, the but wouJa be a crea1t to tne taced witn Travertme; security console can initiate an entire banking community it the only building in Rhode emergency evacuation sound area; this, he certainly Island, and only · the second in system, which includes direct achieved. to utilize this ·This majestic tower, rising stone to such an extent. The communication with each from, a commanding location, beige-colored stone, actually is Tower floor and elevator car. A ther,e "Firemen's Service" can call all in the heart of the Providence not marble, but to the eye, business district, is located at is practically no difference elevators directly to the lobby in case of fire, eliminating all pos­ Westminster St., Exchange St. between travertine and lightly tinted marble. Travertine is far sibility of the lifts being and Kennedy Plaza. The thirty­ isolated. story, corporate bank head­ more suitable than marble for The interior design of the quarters, has provided more exterior construction work, Tower is embellished with office space, in Rhode Island because of its greater durability under all weather conditions. vividly-designed furnishings, than any other building. accented by an abundance of The tower is clad in rich, deep The slabs · of Travertine were one and one quarter inch thick, colorful paintings and sculp­ Travertine and contains more tures. All of the wooden Bank than 425,000 gross square feet and were cast in cement, so that in a setting of the entire block, with steel rein­ desks in the Tower, except those of floor space. It is on the first floor, are made of has for three centuries forcements is approximately what teak or rose color. The art works been, the traditional center of ten inches thick, overall. As construction progressed, the range from traditional lands­ commerce for the State of capes to modern sculpture and Rhode Island. steel was laced into a super­ structure, forming a skeleton of are the creations oflocal artists. The tower affords a strikiqg as the the building; and the travertine The 28th floor is known panoramic view of the city, executive floor; on entering the including the historical east facing gradually enclosed the · presenting the Provi­ reception area, a Travertine side; a dramatic view of the Tower, · dence skyline with a distinct backdrop, accentuated by a marble-domed State Capitol to bank logo, welcomes you. the North, and the bay area to landmark. Entering the interior of the The executives offices of the the South. Approaching the city e bank, visitors are introduced to bank are located at the Tower' skyline, one can see a symbol of uppermost floor. Thie area is the progress taking place in this building by its spacious 6,500 ft. Plaza which is graced made up of eight individual Providence. executive offices, a Board of The challenge in building, by waters from a flowing foun­ tain. Guests and customers Director's Room, the Executive One Hospital Trust Plaza was Committee Room, and guest to preserve the charm and char­ may enter directly from the for­ Plaza to the banking floor or dining rooms. The Director's acter of the past, within a Room, is a recreation of the ward moving environment. may proceed in to the building lobby, where ten high speed ele­ former Board Room which was "This tower is a firm expres­ designed in 1918. The 56 year sion of their confidence in the vators are available for use. The lower level of the Tower old Director's table was hoisted bright future of downtown to its new home on the Tower' e Providence as the canter of holds some of the most impor­ tant banking and security f acil­ top floor, prior to the final commerce for Rhode Island." installation of the exterior fac­ Thoae are a few of the words, ities located in this building. It is the first bank in Rhode Island ing. It is twenty feet long, with expressed by Clarence H. Gif­ five-inch thick inlaid top, con­ Chairman of 'the and one of the few in New Eng­ ford, Jr., structed from Cuban maho­ and Henry S. Wood­ land able to receive armored Board bank gany root; the table ia one of the bridae,Jr., President of Rhode cars directly within the original furnishings of the former Board Room. This 1s the fouth high-rise In addition to the outstand­ office building constructed in afforded ing panoramic views Providence since 1967. from the twenty-eighth floor, When fully occupied, this and the handsome, comforta hie building will house 1500 meeting areas available, both workers. The private heliport the Executive Committee Room above the Tower measures 900 and the Directors' Room have square feet on the building's complete communication and summit. audio-visual facilities. The sys­ It is of interest to note how tem selected is flexible enough this bank got its name. The to permit the use of the most Rhode Island Hospital Trust modern audio-visual tech­ National Bank got its unusual niques, including multi-image, name from a group of public­ front and rear projection spirited men, who were simply screens, animation, and over­ trying to do a job. head projection. In the mid 1800's bankers One of the most unique were fond of descriptive names aspects of this Tower is its pri­ for their endeavors. The found­ vate heliport, which overlooks ers bf the bank were in the pro­ Providence from its location at cess of building an urgently the top of the Tower. Providence needed medical facility, the is ideally situated between Bos­ Rhode Island Hospital, which ton and New York, two of the had been authorized by the nation's major commercial and General Assembly in 1863. To financial centers. pay for its construction the While the building is much founders embarked on a fund more than bricks and mortar, it raising campaign. is interesting to consider some The Hospital Trust Tower -A Several large benefactors and of the material that went into a Tower of Italian Travertine a war-conscious public building the size of this Tower. was mined from responded generously so that concret~ marble, which It rests on 512 steel an old river b84, approximately the building of the hospital was filled piles, each designed to 35 miles from Rome. It contains assured. hopefully, the medical support one-hundred tons. about 1200 tons of Travertine. staff would be admitting their There are 2,500 windows above' first patients by 1868, many the first floor; there are more were concerned and wondered, than 10,000 individual pieces of Because the incorporators of could the hospital be able to travertine marble set in, over the new bank wanted to do more keep on functioning? Looking 3,000 pre-castr panels which, than accept deposits, honor ahead, the trustees foresaw the along with the windows, make checks, and make loans. They need for some continuing up the skin of the building. asked for, and were granted, a source of income, to overcome Within the structure there are charter containing trust powers the deficits created in the opera­ 37 miles of electrical wire; over so that the Company could tion of a ho~pital. 280,000 cinder blocks, and more serve as a trustee for people, Consequently, they decided than 15,000 fluorescent light families, and institutions. Its to establish a banking institu­ bulbs, plus hundreds of incan- trust officers would be able to manage tion which could share its earn­ . descent bulbs. protect the estate and ings with the hospital. Again, The building measures 408 assets on behalf of trust clients from the General Assembly, feet above ground level, with a continuoualy, from one genera­ they obtained a charter to designed weight of 100 million tion to another. eatablish the Rhode Island Hos­ pounds. It is bounded by West­ With such a charter, Rhode a pital Trust Company. Some minster Ste ., Exchange Sts., Island Hospital Trust was why a trust company? t may uk, and Kennedy Plaza. There is a new kind of enterprise- the firs 6,500 square foot open Plaza on trust company in New Eng­ its Westminster Street front, land. The new bank accepted its which is graced by a beautiful first deposits early in January, water fountain. 1868: and the new hosoital admitted its first --~~ti;~ts on October 1, 1868. Under the terms of its original charter, the truSt company was to retain enough of its earnings to pay its owi:ie~s, a six per cent return on their mvested capital. O~e-third of the remaining earnings were to go to the hospi­ tal. The trust company charter also . provided that this profit­ ~hanng plan was to continue . so long as no similar act of mcorpora~ion shall be granted by the legislature of this state to others." In 1870, the General Assembly did grant a "similar" charter to the State Deposit and Trust Comp_any. This automati­ cally ~ancelled the obligation of !fosp~tal Trust to share its prof- 1t_swtth the hospital. But the directors of the Bank, many of who~ were also founders of the hospital, had no desire to with­ draw !heir support from the ~e~ s_truggling medical mst1tution. They continued to share the profits of the Bank with the hos­ pital until 1880. At that time the trustees of the hospital and the directors of the Bank worked out a new financial relationship. In . place of the old profit­ sh armg arrangements, the ?Wners of the Bank agreed to l~sue the hospital an outright gift of 100 shares of stock, each wtth a par value of $1,000. In 1968- the directors, looking ahead, decided that the old charter of 1868 was no longer adeq~ate for the present-day fu_nct1ons. Therefore, in 1969, with the approval of the stock­ holders (including the hospi­ tal), it was decided to obtain a federal charter for the Bank and became, the Rhode Island _Ho1pital Trust National Bank. :