Browse Items (993 total)
- Collection: Chester Smolski Photographs
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Triple-Decker Interior
The interior of an apartment within a triple-decker home in Central Falls. A couple is seated at the kitchen table. The interior of triple-decker houses varied by social status. A working-class family’s home would include a parlor, kitchen, bedrooms,…
Triple-Decker Showboat- Central Falls
Nestled between the City of Pawtucket and the Towns of Cumberland and Lincoln, Central Falls' History dates back to 1731 and the early History of the Town of Smithfield. This tiny City with 1.5 square miles and over 18,000 residents proudly boasts…
Triple-Deckers
The triple-decker, functioning primarily as a tenement, varied in size and cost. Here Chet Smolski photographs variations on the triple-decker tenement in Central Falls.
Triple-Deckers
An example of a triple-decker tenement in Central Falls. The triple-decker first appeared around 1890 and within a quarter century they predominated inner city neighborhoods in and around Providence, including nearby Central Falls. These deep,…
Triple-deckers from Jenck’s Hill
Elevated view from Jenks Hill in Central Falls with mill smoke stacks visible in the distance.
Triple-deckers in South Providence
"Ubiquitous triple-deckers," in Providence, as noted by Professor Smolski. This area of South Providence was identified as a "blighted" neighborhood in the 1970s, and much of it, including the neighborhood in this image, has since been demolished and…
Triple-Deckers on Eaton St.
Heading west on Eaton Street from Douglas Ave towards Providence College. These triple-deckers are examples of early twentieth-century vernacular housing.
Triple-Deckers on Eaton St.
First appearing in the 1890s, these three unit apartments began to emerge as a popular dwellings for the growing population. This three-story building consists of three identical living units, with one on each floor. While most were designed for…
Triple-Deckers on Fales Street
Dense apartment housing on the corner of Fletcher and Fales St.
Triple-deckers; one in back of garden
Clustered apartment housing in Central Falls was necessary to accommodate a rapidly growing population at the turn of the twentieth century. The population boom was due to a booming textile industry.
Trustrum Dodge Memorial - Block Island
This marker placed by the Block Island Historical Society in 1942 commemorates the spot where Trustrum Dodge lived. Dodge was one of the original settlers of Block Island.
Inscribed on the marker are notable dates in Block Island’s history:
1614…
Trustrum Dodge Memorial- Block Island
This marker placed by the Block Island Historical Society in 1942 commemorates the spot where Trustrum Dodge lived. Dodge was one of the original settlers of Block Island.
Inscribed on the marker are notable dates in Block Island’s history:
1614…
Turk’s Head Building (detail)
The Turks Head building was designed in 1913 by New York architects Howells & Strokes. The building was erected by the Brown Land Co. as an investment for members of the Brown family, and was part of a highway improvement plan that would…
Turku: Housing Built in Russian Style
This photograph shows the density of residential housing in Turku, a city on the southwest coast of Finland. Smolski notes that the houses are built in a style similar to that of Russian housing. This photograph was made in 1974.
Union Station
Union Station was completed in 1898 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. During renovation, on April 26, 1987, a fire broke out, eliminating most of the original interior.
Union Station damaged by fire and excavations to the north
Providence's first railroad station was Union Railroad Depot, a brick edifice built in 1847 and designed by Thomas A. Tefft for the Providence and Worcester, Providence and Stonington, and Boston and Providence Railroads. This building was lost to…
Union Station with Fire Damage
Providence's first railroad station was Union Railroad Depot, a brick edifice built in 1847 and designed by Thomas A. Tefft for the Providence and Worcester, Providence and Stonington, and Boston and Providence Railroads. This building was lost to…
Union Station, Waterplace Park, and Rhode Island State House from Biltmore Hotel
Rhode Island State House, Providence Station, Waterplace Park, Union Station as seen from the Providence Biltmore Hotel. Waterplace Park and the Riverwalk linked to it have a welcoming, well-thought-out design, which has become a focal point of the…
Union Trust Company Building
A 12-story, brick and stone sheathed, steel frame office building. Finished with a melange Renaissance and late Georgian Revival detailing. Corinthian column entrance, bas-relief figures of an Indian and a Puritan, carved by Daniel Chester French,…
Union Trust Company Building (Detail)
The building looks like a skyscraper due to its slender massing. The client for this building was bank president Marsden J. Perry. Building was built by architects Stone, Carpenter & Willson. A 12-story, brick and stone sheathed, steel frame…
University of Colorado - Boulder
The University of Colorado at Boulder has the Flatiron Mountains as a backdrop. This mountain range, consisting of five flatiron rock formations, is iconic for the city of Boulder and the university. Both the suburban campus and the state of…
University of Miami Coral Gables Campus
The University of Miami Coral Gables campus, just south of Miami. This landscape view shows the University Communications building on the left and freshman housing on the right.
University of Miami Coral Gables Campus: Food Court, Resident Halls
The University of Miami main campus is Coral Gables, just south of the city of Miami. This photograph was taken in 1978 and looks south across the food court, with resident halls on the horizon. The school was chartered in 1925 and currently enrolls…
University of Miami Coral Gables Campus: Swimming Pool
The pool at the university of Miami, Croal Gables campus. The campus is located just south of the city of Miami and was chartered in 1925. This photograph dates from the late 1970s.
University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus
The University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus situated along Lake Mendota. The Madison Campus is the oldest and largest in the University of Wisconsin system, established in 1849. Notable architectural landmarks on the campus include the Science Hall…
University of Wisconsin: Sewell Social Sciences Building, Aerial Photograph of Campus
The University of Wisconsin was founded the same year as the incorporation of Wisconsin as a state in 1848. It is located on Lake Mendota and the body of water seen in this photograph is known as University Bay. The carillon tower, seen in this…
Upper South Providence
Blighted area in Upper South Providence near Rhode Island Hospital. In-fill housing eventually filled much of the vacant land.
Valley Falls Mill Complex Gatehouse
This structure is the gate house for the Valley Falls mill complex. It was part of a damn that redirected water into a trench that powered the mill. In the 1970s the Central Falls half of the complex was redeveloped as elderly housing, while the…
Vermont: Burlington Square Mall (Church Street Marketplace, Burlington Town Center), Masonic Temple Building
The Church Street Marketplace, formerly known as the Burlington Square Mall, is a four-block pedestrian mall in the heart of Burlington, VT. This 1983 photograph shows Woolworth’s and looks down Church St. The Woolworth’s store has been replaced by…
Veterans Memorial Public Housing, Woonsocket
The Veterans Memorial Housing Development was built in 1953. The development was designed for low-income elderly in the Woonsocket community. The development recently received renovations and continues to serve as public housing for the elderly.
Veterans Memorial Public Housing, Woonsocket
The Veterans Memorial Public Housing was built in 1953. The development is funded by the Woonsocket Housing Authority and the State of Rhode Island. The units, which are designed for elderly residents, consist of two bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen and…
Veterans Memorial Public Housing, Woonsocket
The Veterans Memorial Public Housing was built in 1953. The development is funded by the Woonsocket Housing Authority and the State of Rhode Island. The units, which are designed for elderly residents, consist of two bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen and…
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
The wall seen in this photo is a memorial to those who served in the Vietnam War. The memorial is located in the Constitution Gardens near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The land was acquired through legislation passed by President Carter.…
View of Center Place & Rhode Island State House
A bland review of Pruitt-Igoe subsidized housing. Photo taken from One Citizens Plaza.
View of docks on Block Island
Looking across the ferry landing on Block Island. On the horizon is the National Hotel (1903) and to the right of the is oldest surviving hotel, the Surf (1873, 1888). This group of buildings conveys the sense of a nineteenth-century seaside…
View of downtown Providence from Prospect Terrace Park
View looking west from Prospect Terrace Park. Cathedral Sq., Providence City Hall, and the Providence Biltmore appear on the left side of the photo. In the center of the photo are the yellow brick Union Station buildings and the old train tracks to…
View of Downtown Providence from Prospect Terrace Park
The absence of Fleet Center at 50 Kennedy Plaza is noticeable in this shot of downtown from Prospect Terrace Park and dates the image to pre-1985.
(date of photograph is approximated)
View of Downtown Woonsocket from Court Street Bridge
Downtown Woonsocket photographed from the Court Street Bridge which spans the Blackstone River. The largest building, just left of center, is the Main Street Lonlley building, which was built in 1890.
(date of photograph has been approximated)
View of Fall River and Mount Hope Bay
View of Bragga Bridge and Fall River over Mt. Hope Bay. The bridge eased traffic complications between Cape Cod and Providence for only a short time. The commute from Fall River to Providence is still time consuming in rush hour traffic. The bridge…
View of Providence East Side from State Street & a view of the Cathedral of St. John
Here is a view of Providence’s East Side with three of the oldest churches in the city in the College Hill neighborhood. To the left of the image is a view of the Cathedral of St. John, which is located on North Main Street. This church was built…
Virginia Gardens
Virginia Gardens is a Village in Dade County that broke away from neighboring town Miami Springs in 1947 after a disagreement over a ban on horses. This 1978 photograph shows the town hall and community center of Virginia Gardens. The village takes…
Walt Disney World, Florida: Main Street U.S.A.
The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida is the first park to be opened at the Florida Amusement Park. The design was based on Disneyland, a California amusement park opened in 1955, except on a grander scale. The Magic Kingdom is one of…
Walt Disney World: Cinderella’s Castle, Magic Kingdom
Opening in 1971, Walt Disney World in Florida was the second park envisioned by American animator Walt Disney. This photograph show’s Cinderella’s Castle, an icon of Disney’s Magic Kingdom, and a major tourist attraction.
Walt Disney World: Indian Village in Frontierland
Frontierland is one of the themed lands in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. It is based on the 19th century American West. This photograph shows an Indian Village and train tracks of the Walt Disney World Railroad passing in the background.
Walt Disney World: Mickey’s 50th Birthday
November 18, 1978 marked Mickey Mouse’s 50th Birthday. Several times that year, Walt Disney World celebrated with a special parade in his honor that spanned the entire magic kingdom Main Street. The characters were staged on oversized floats…
Warren/Barrington: Aerial Photograph
This aerial photograph was taken over Warren and looks west across Barrington and to Narragansett Bay. This photograph shows the distinctive shoreline of Belcher Cover and Tyler Point. Barrington had been a part of Warren from the 1747 until 1770.…
Warwick: Midland Mall, Warwick Mall and CCRI’s Knight Campus
Although now considered a dead mall, the construction of the Midland Mall (renamed the Rhode island Mall in 1985), completed in 1968, was a milestone in the states economic history as it initiated the shift of retail trade from Providence into the…
Washington Capitol
A view of the expansive United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The Capitol building covers approximately four acres of land and is host to 3-5 million visitors every year. First built in 1793, the home of the Senate and House of…
Washington Circle - Washington D.C.
The George Washington Equestrian Statue stands at the center of Washington Circle. The bronze statue depicts George Washington on horseback fighting the 1776 Battle of Princeton. Clark Mills sculpted the Washington Circle statue, as well as another…
Washington D.C. Cityscape
A distant view of the Washington D.C. cityscape. The Washington Monument, the most prominent fixture in the D.C. skyline, was completed in 1886.