Browse Items (993 total)
- Collection: Chester Smolski Photographs
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Rhode Island State House, Government Offices
The railroad yard and parking lots that separated Providence's downtown from the Capital Center were locally referred to as a "Chinese wall." This 1983 view shows how the government offices were isolated from the rest of Providence by both these…
Rhode Island: Interstate 95 Construction
This 1960 photograph shows the construction of Interstate 95 at the junction of Route 2, also known as Quaker Lane. The area that is farm land has since been redeveloped as strip malls and large chain stores.
Richard Oscar Burgess House (The “Crayola” House)
A two and a half story house with a slate hip roof, paired gable dormers, corner turret, and stained-glass windows. This is a Queen Anne style home on Westminster Street in Providence's Armory neighborhood.
Richmond: Albert S. Potter Octagonal House
This early Victorian, two-story, wood-frame octagonal home was built in 1857 by watchmaker Albert S. Potter. As of 2016, the house is owned by the Carolina Preservation and Band Society and is listed as a landmark in the National Register of Historic…
Rio de Janeiro: Contrasting Architecture
This photograph shows contrasting styles of architecture in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Here we see a row of 19th century buildings on Rua Acre with the modernist twenty two story building, The Night, at the end of the street. The older buildings are…
Rio Grande Dam
This frame is featuring one of the dams along the Rio Grande. In total there are two large dams and six small diversion dams, all of which make up the Rio Grande Project. The dams actively aide in supplying water to the states of Texas and New Mexico…
River Relocation Construction
River relocation in progress. Waterplace Park is being developed with its bridges (Exchange St., Francis St., and pedestrian walkways) built or under construction. Memorial Boulevard is for now a construction site. The Westin Hotel is being erected…
Roger Williams Old & Renovated Units
Renovated units and old units at the Roger Williams Homes housing project in South Providence photographed around 1974. Most of the units were demolished in the 1980s after decades of neglect. These renovated units were spared and later…
Roger Williams Park in South Elmwood
In 1871, Betsey Williams, great-great-grandaughter of Providence founder Roger Williams, gave the city the 102 acre tract of land with the provision that the land be used for a park or cemetery and that a memorial to Roger WIlliams be included. It…
Roger Williams Park, Japanese Garden
Built in 1935-1936 by the Works Progress Administration in the 430 acre park designed by Horace Cleveland in 1878. The park itself is laid out in the romantic landscape tradition of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) and complements the asymmetry of…
Roger Williams Public Housing
Roger Williams Public Housing Development photographed in 1971. This development was demolished in the 1980s and the was replaced in 2007 by the Williams Woods urbanist development.
Roger Williams Renovated Units
Renovated units in the Roger Williams Homes housing project in South Providence. Many of these units were destroyed in the 1980s after decades of neglect, however these renovated units were spared and later became the Sharlotte Woods Elementary…
Rosecliff
Rosecliff, built 1898-1902, is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum.
The house has also been known as the Herman Oelrichs House or the J. Edgar Monroe House.
It was built by Theresa Fair…
Rosecliff Garden
Designed by McKim, Meade and White, particularly Stanford White, Rosecliff was built strictly as a summer residence for Tessie and Herman Oelrich. The money used to finance the construction of Rosecliff came from her father, James Graham Fair, one…
Rosecliff Mansion
On the approach to the entry arch at the south end, the first story, wrapped in its cadence of piers, columns, and carved swag, dominates the facade. The H shaped plan frames a front garden and a seaward-facing terrace with projecting wings. The…
Rouen: Tight Housing
This photograph shows the density and variety of housing in Rouen, a famous and historic city in France. In the medieval period it was one of the largest cities. Today it is is the capital of the Haute-Normadie region and home to many historic sites…
Royalton: Village of South Royaltown in Vermont
Aerial image of the downtown village of South Royalton in Royalton, Vermont from Interstate 89. Royalton is known for the Vermont Law School (Vermont's only law school) as well as being home to beautiful scenery such as the Kent's Ledge hiking trail…
Rural North Carolina
Smolski described this as being part of the "rural slums" of North Carolina. In the 1970s, rural North Carolina was poverty-stricken and held the larger populations of African-American families. This photo is an example of the economic distress and…
Saint Basil Academy (Formerly Jacob Ruppert's Private Estate)
Jacob Ruppert Jr.'s private estate at Eagle's Rest, in Garrison, NY. After his death in 1939, the estate was converted into a school for at-risk children called Saint Basil Academy, opening in 1944. Long before Ruppert or the Academy, the property…
Saint Petersburg: Cathedral of Saint Isaac of Dalmatia
While multiple versions of St. Isaac Cathedral had been attempted in the 18th century none had been completed to specification. At the beginning of the 19th century Alexander I commissioned this final, and much more grand vision of the Saint Isaac's…
Saint Petersburg: Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood
Following the assassination of Alexander the II in 1881, his heir, Alexander III, commissioned the building of this cathedral to memorialize his father. The design, carried out by Alfred Parland, draws heavily from St. Basil in Moscow. Following the…
Saint Petersburg: Renaissance Vinoy Resort
The Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg was built in 1925. The building was constructed in the Mediterranean Revival design complete with cypress-beamed ceilings and handmade tile work. The hotel also has its own private marina…
San Francisco: Cityscape, Alcatraz Island & Sts. Peter and Paul Church
This San Francisco cityscape contains many of its well-known landmarks, including Alcatraz Island on the horizon and Sts. Peter and Paul Church at the left.
Sts. Peter and Paul Church was built in 1924.
Alcatraz Island was developed as a…
San Francisco: Ghiradelli Fountain
Ghiradelli Square was originally the headquarters for the Ghiradelli Choolate Company, which purchased the entire city block in 1893. In the 1960s the square went up for sale and the purchasers readapted it to house a restaurant and shops making it…
San Francisco: Ghiradelli Square
Ghiradelli Square, located in the Fisherman’s Warf area of San Fransisco, was once home to over 40 speciality shops and restaurants. After the square was put up for sale by the Ghiradelli Company, San Fransiscan natives William Roth and his mother…
San Francisco: Ghiradelli Square, Mermaid Fountain
This aerial view of Ghiradelli Square shows Ruth Asawa’s Mermaid Fountain and the former Ghiradelli Chocolate Company buildings readapted for retail use. Since 1982, Ghiradelli Square has been on the National Register of Historic Places. It was…
Santo Domingo Aerial
An aerial view over Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.
Sarcelles: HLMs (Subsidized Housing in France)
This 1973 photograph shows an habitation à loyer modéré (HLMs, English: ”housing at moderated rents”), which is similar to housing projects in the United States built around the same time. The HLM pictured is in Sarcelles, a French commune…
Scarborough with Little Neck Pond (North) & Lake Canonchet (South)
Scarborough beach as seen from the air in 1967. The beach was established as a public park in 1937 and in the late 1980s it under went renovation. Today Scarborough Beach continues to be a major destination for Rhode Island residents.
Scotland: Commando Memorial
The Commando Memorial, a monument in Scotland, is dedicated to the British Commando Forces of World War II who trained in Scottland. A competition was held for the design, and the winner was Scott Sutherland. It is inscribed with the year 1951, but…
Seekonk: Aerial, Strip Mall Development on Route Six
This aerial photograph shows strip mall development along Route Six in Seekonk. Running diagonally across the picture plane is Interstate Highway 195. Largely a residential suburb of Providence, Seekonk is also known for it’s retail shopping along…
Senghenydd: Housing
Senghenydd was a rural community until it was industrialized in the 19th century after coal was discovered in the hills. It is located in Aber Valley. This 1980 photograph shows dense housing and the surrounding hill side. The coal mines have since…
Sheraton Motor Inn Goat Island - Newport
Goat Island is a small island in Narragansett Bay and is part of the city of Newport, Rhode Island. The island is connected to the Easton's Point neighborhood via a causeway bridge. Goat Island is home to the Newport Harbor Light (1842). Native…
Skärholmen: Million Programme Housing
Million Programme style housing in Skärholmen, a suburban district of south-west Stockholm, was built in Sweden during the 1960s as part of a nation wide effort to create one million new homes in a decade. While the project did achieve the goal of…
Skärholmen: Million Programme Housing, Cycle Paths
While the Million Programme, a nation wide effort in the 1960s to create one million new homes in Sweden, has been criticized as creating concrete high-rises that are a blemish on the city’s skyline, many of the home were also small three floored…
Slater Mill Built 1793- First US Textile Mill
Slater Mill Historic Site, also known as Slater Mill or Old Slater Mill, is located on the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, RI. Slater Mill was built in 1793. It served as the first commercially viable water-powered roller cotton-spinning mill in the…
Slater Mill Built 1793- First US Textile Mill
The Old Slater Mill was dedicated exclusively to the production of cotton thread until 1829 and then continuously occupied until 1921 with various owners and renters who altered its physical structure to suit whatever enterprise they brought with…
Smith Hill: Douglas Avenue, Triple Deckers
Triple-deckers photographed on Douglas Ave. This photograph illustrates the architectural variety in the triple-decker style. Most were intended for lower-income families and provided only rudimentary quarters. These proliferated on the side of…
Smith Hill: Eaton Street, Triple Deckers
The triple decker, a house accommodating three units, emerged as a distinct form as early as the 1890s. Primarily a tenement, they are common throughout urban areas in southern New England. These triple deckers on Eaton St. were likely demolished…
Snowshill: Cotswold Stone Houses
Snowshill, pronounced “Snozill”, is a village located on “the edge” of the Cotswolds, a range of hills in England (This England, 148). The area is designated an Area of Natural Beauty (AONB), which is considered to be equivalent to the status of a…
South Main Street, 1972
Looking north on South Main St. the peak of the Office of the Attorney General (150 South Main St.) is just visible on the left. The building in the foreground is now occupied by Ursillo, Teitz & Ritch, Ltd. The building at the north corner of…
South of Boston (Aerial)
An aerial photo showing scattered housing located to the south of Boston, Massachusetts. The photo seems to overlook the town of Brockton, with Waldo Lake and Thirtyacre Pond at the top of the frame and with what is now the West Middle School at the…
South of Boston (Aerial)
An aerial photo showing a housing subdivison located to the south of Boston, Massachusetts.
South Providence 235 Housing CURE
Housing in South Providence built under the Section 235 Housing Act of 1968. While 235 housing allowed families to buy a home through subsidized mortgages, it has also been criticized for effectively segregating the population, putting white…
South Providence Bar
A bar in South Providence. Identified as Manny Peter’s Cafe, it was located on the corner of Prairie and Thurbers Ave. and has since been demolished. Since the 1950s the the Lower South Side has seen considerable decline due in part to the…
South Providence Public Housing
The former Roger Williams Homes public housing project was mostly demolished in the 1980’s after decades of neglect. This particular section was redeveloped in the early 2000’s as the William B. Cooley Health and Science Technology High School.
South Providence, Section 235 Housing
An example of HUD Section 235 housing in South Providence. The HUD Section 235 program was developed to aid lower income families by use of mortgage subsidy payments. The neighborhood has traditionally been home to low-income families and immigrant…
South Providence: Comstock Ave.
The Lower South Side (or Lower South Providence) is a neighborhood in southern Providence, Rhode Island. It is bounded from Upper South Providence by Public Street to the north, Interstate 95, to the south, and Broad Street, and the Providence River…
Spa Beach: St. Petersburg, Florida
The Spa Beach in St. Petersburg, FL is open year round and is a popular beach for locals and tourists. The beach is also connected to the Spa Beach park seen in the foreground. The location of the beach and the need for more tourism dollars coming…
Spain: Valle De Los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen)
A landmark of of 20th century architecture, the Valley of the Fallen was constructed in memorial to those who fell in the Spainish Civil War. Francisco Franco wanted the monument to be built on a scale like that, “of the monuments of old, which defy…