NPS Form 10-900-b QMB No 1024-0018 (Jan. 1987) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places .... on ,non Multiple Property Documentation Form JAN ^ J 1b9° NATIONAL This form is for use in documenting multiple property groups relating to one or several historic contexts. See instrucflSh^R-Gkwiaftnes for Completing National Register Forms (National Register Bulletin 16). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the requested information. For additional space use continuation sheets (Form 10-900-a). Type all entries. A. Name of Multiple Property Listing Historic and Architectural Resources of Providence CRI) > 1656-present B. Associated Historic Contexts Historic and Architectural Development of Providence CRI] , 1656-present C. Geographical Data Incorporated limits of City of Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island LJSee continuation sheet D. Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this documentation form meets the National Register documentation standards and sets forth requirements for the listing of relatecLproperties consistent with the National Register criteria. This submission meets the procedural and professional requjTrejriefitSfSet forth in 36 CFR Part 60 and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Planning and Evaluation. Signature of certifying official Date State or Federal agency and bureau I, hereby, certify that this multiple property documentation form has been approved by the National Register as a basis for evaluating related propejJ4es/jtco; listing in the National Register. V E. Statement of Historic Contexts Discuss each historic context listed in Section B. ble to Pawtucket, and the Providence River, the name given the tidal stream south of the coming together of the Woonas­ quatucket and Moshnssuck Rivers. These rivers and harbor I. PROVIDENCE: THE TEXTURE OF were Providence's principal link to the world for most of its URBAN DEVELOPMENT first 200 years. During the nineteenth century, the rivers saw intensive industrial development. Neglected in the twenti­ eth century, they nevertheless remain a prominent topo­ graphical feature of potential scenic value. The city of Providence has a special sense of place, a The pre-eminent urban center and capital of Rhode unique physical character evocative of its 350-year history Island, Providence is a medium-size, post-industrial, North­ yet clearly part of the present. One of the oldest of America's east city. The 1980 population was 156,804, a decrease of cities, Providence has been built and rebuilt by her citizens over 22,000 from 1970 and 100,000 less than its all-time many times creating a complex layering of different genera­ peak in 1940. Just over four-fifths of this population is. white, tions' building needs,, plans for civic growth, and architec­ while over ten percent is black, and slightly more than one tural tastes. Providence's streets and neighborhoods are not percent is Asian. Far more significant although statisti­ museum set-pieces; they exhibit all the variety which a long cally unrecorded is the ethnic composition of this popula­ history and a diverse population have created. This lack of tion. Large immigrant groups of Irish, Italians, Portuguese, uniformity is part of Providence's charm, for the city's social, Armenians, Russian Jews, and more recently His- economic, and architectural history can be read in the physi­ panics and Southeast Asians comprise important and dis­ cal form of individual buildings and in the differences tinct segments of the population. Not only are these groups among neighborhoods. Providence's topography and his­ present in Providence, but they also retain their ethnic toric roads are keys to the city's particular atmosphere, for identities, even after several generations. While ethnic neigh­ the land and the roads have influenced the overall pattern of borhoods are now less strictly defined than in years gone development more than have plans or conscious decision by, several maintain their flavor: Fox Point continues as a making. Portuguese stronghold, while Federal Hill is a center of Providence's topography its hills, plains, and bodies of Italian culture. Providence today is ethnically pluralistic, water is a product of millions of years of geologic evolu­ dominated neither by one ethnic group nor by a homogenous tion. Situated at the head of Narragansett Bay and at the population. confluence of the Seekonk, Moshassuck, and Woonasqua- Providence's buildings and structures are situated across tucket Rivers, the city spreads over a topographical basin. Its this landscape in a pattern of distinctive neighborhoods. The low center, at the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonas- site of the earliest settlement here coincides with the center quatucket Rivers, is enclosed on the north by Smith Hill. of today's city, and the earliest roads North and South The steep north-south ridge of College Hill and Mount Hope Main, Angell, Olney, Weybosset, Westminster, and Broad separates the Moshassuck River Valley from the Seekonk Streets, some of them pre-existing Indian paths fan out River, the city's boundary to the east, dividing Providence from this settlement. Providence's radiating road pattern, into east and west sides. Federal Hill rises gently west of the tempered somewhat by topographical peculiarities, estab­ central basin and falls steeply to the Woonasquatucket River. lished the organizational framework for the city's expansion The land farther north and west of the rivers rises sometimes beyond its original settlement. Beyond the central business gently, sometimes abruptly, to an undulating upland, reach­ district, which follows an irregular grid pattern, the street ing a maximum height of more than 200 feet at Neutaconka- system follows no particular plan: grids of varying sizes and nut Hill on Providence's western border. In the southwest a pints of straight parallel blocks nre flung randomly across the low rising plain extends from the.shore of Narragansett Bay. landscape, and only rarely is the street pattern related to the Water plays an important role in the city's geography. topography. The railroad tracks follow the riverbeds of the Providence Harbor is the north end of Narragansett Bay. The Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck through the city, and harbor's two main tributaries are the Seekonk River, naviga­ limited-access highways are superimposed on the city and See continuation sheet NPS Form 10-000-* (MO) OMB Afprovd No. 10244018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page _J_ only occasionally follow the railroads or shorelines. Perhaps incremental. The earliest buildings lined the east side of the most telling aspect of Providence's urban character as a North and South Main Streets along the Great Salt Cove, a metropolitan center is its lack of apparent borders: the city sprawling tidal estuary formed by the Providence River. Un­ spreads seamlessly across political boundaries into Paw- like many other New England settlements, there was no tucket, North Providence, Johnston, and Cranston. central common space around which the town was organ­ Providence is a city of old buildings and old neighbor­ ized nor any sort of formal plan. This unplanned quality has hoods. The area on and around Main and Benefit Streets, remained a constant factor in Providence's metropolitan where settlement first occurred, retains an impressive num­ development and reinforces a certain intimacy of scale ber of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century buildings. throughout the city; such texture is at odds with the grand Immediately west of the Providence River is Downtown, a schemes of most urban planning. nineteenth- and early twentieth-century commercial district Providence's location at the head of Narragansett Bay which culminates at its eastern end in a compact cluster of made it attractive as a port, and much of the city's develop­ tall office buildings. To the north and west of Downtown, ment in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries took the rivers are lined with industrial buildings. South of Down­ place because of or in response to maritime activity. The town and along the west side of the Providence Harbor are west side of North and South Main Streets followed by docks and warehouses. Beyond the commercial center and India Point and the west side of the Providence River industrial corridors, however, Providence is largely a residen­ filled with wharves and warehouses. The income from sea tial city, a web of neighborhoods, each distinct in character trade provided the means for construction of the mansions yet difficult to delineate. The neighborhoods represent irreg­ for merchants as well as dense residential development in ular, concentric bands of growth from the early core. The Fox Point for sailors, chandlers, and other tradesmen. earlier nineteenth-century areas are located closer to the cen­ During the nineteenth century industrialization played a ter, though those on the west side have been somewhat leading role in the transformation of the small maritime eroded by highway construction and urban blight. Later community into a large city. The Woonasquatucket and development in the nineteenth century is generally farther Moshassuck Rivers were built up with mills, creating a from Downtown, and the great variety of building