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- Collection: Chester Smolski Photographs
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Providence Wiggin Village
Wiggin Village is affordable, section 8 housing located in Providence, RI. The development was built in 1968. There are 285 units in the development managed by Winn Residential and governed by a board of trustees, which includes Wiggin Village…
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…
Historic Joseph Brown House
Joseph Brown was one of the four famous Brown brothers of Providence who were heirs to the shipping fortune of their father. Joseph Brown taught mathematics and astronomy at Brown University, but was also an amateur architect. Brown built this home…
John Brown House 1789
One of America's grandest mansions when completed in 1788, the house at 52 Power Street was home first to John Brown, a businessman, patriot, politician, China Trade pioneer and slave trader who participated in the debates and practices that shaped…
Historic James Burrough House
John Holden Greene built two houses neighboring each other on Power Street. The first of two, pictured here, was built for James Burrough at 160 Power Street. Greene was known for his monitor-on-hip-roof which he featured in this small-scale home.…
Prescott and Mary Clarke House
This English Tudor Revival was built in 1896 for Prescott and Mary Clarke. The sprawling home, designed by Clarke and Spaulding, is considered one of the most exceptional architectural designs on Blackstone Boulevard.
The Proprietors of the Swan…
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…
John Brown House
One of America's grandest mansions when completed in 1788, the house at 52 Power Street was home first to John Brown, a businessman, patriot, politician, China Trade pioneer and slave trader who participated in the debates and practices that shaped…
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…
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…
Mount Hope Court
Multifamily housing on Providence’s East Side in the Mount Hope neighborhood.
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.
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…
Armory District, Wood Street
The Armory Historic District of Providence was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The Cranston Street Armory is visible in the background of these Wood Street houses. Houses in the area vary in style from Greek Revival,…
Prospect Park, State House
The view from Prospect Terrace looking west to the State House. This statue of Roger Williams was erected in the 1930s. Designed by Ralph Walker, the original memorial included steps leading up from Wheaton Street (below) but these plans were scaled…
Independent Man Statue, State House
The “Independent Man” statue, which was erected on the top of the Rhode Island State House in 1899, was removed in 1975 for repairs and to receive a new coat of gold leaf. It was returned in the summer of 1976, and was the only time it left it’s…
Moshassuck Square Apartments
The Moshassuck Square Apartments, designed by architect William D. Warner and constructed in 1972, were a key element in the revitalization of Randall Square. The apartments are built in rows of three and four story cast-stone-trimmed brick…
Eaton Street, Triple Deckers
A view of Eaton St. triple-decker houses, just before the intersection of Douglas Avenue (Rt. 7). These houses were, oftentimes, built in groups of three or more and appeared in rows lining street after street. Eventually, the presence of these…
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.
Washington St. Columbus Day Parade
Washington Street on Columbus Day, 1974. On the left is the Providence Public Library.
Cathedral Square Fountain
According to Woodward, Cathedral Square is the “most problematic of Providence’s open spaces.” Despite being designed by world class architects and urban planners, namely I.M. Pei and Zion & Breen, the space has been universally decried as an…
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…
Financial District
Downtown Providence is the result of a westward expansion from Market Square, the town’s first commercial center. The gradual transition of business activity across the Providence River in the early years of the nineteenth century resulted in…
Fox Point: India Point Park
India Point Park is a park in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island at the confluence of the Seekonk River and Providence River. The park takes its name from the maritime activity connecting Providence with the East and West…
Hartford and Olneyville Neighborhoods
Olneyville, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Providence, is located in the central western section of the city.
Charles A. Hopkins House
Charles A. Hopkins House, built in the French Modern Gothic style. The two units appear as different halves of an asymmetrical composition. The simulated structure enframes openings and decorative panels. The house was built for an insurance agent.
Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Inauguration
On January 3, 1983, Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci was inaugurated as Providence’s mayor for his third term. Having held office for more than 21 years, Buddy is the longest serving mayor of Providence, including during the city's, “Renaissance phase.”…
Charles A. Hopkins House, Parade Street
Pictured on the far left is the Charles A. Hopkins House built in 1875 on Parade Street. Purchased in October 1980 by the Providence Preservation Society, this house was the society’s first restoration project in this neighborhood. The building style…
Downtown Providence
Here is an aerial view of Downtown Providence. Providence is among America’s oldest cities and has been rebuilt many times. Providence has been one of Rhode Island’s strongest economic ports along with Newport. The city was founded by Roger…
First Baptist Church
First Baptist Church was founded by Roger Williams in 1638. The building that stands today on North Main Street was built between 1774 and 1775. This building shows Providence’s increasing wealth and power during this time period. John and Joseph…
Providence Arcade
The Westminster Street end of the Providence Arcade (1828) by Russell Warren and James Bucklin and built for Cyrus Butler. Also known as “Butler’s Folly.” Derived ultimately from the Burlington Arcade of 1818 in London, which influenced two new world…
Downtown Providence
The Biltmore Hotel can be seen in the lower right of the image as well as Kennedy Plaza in the foreground. The Biltmore originally opened in 1922. It was closed in 1975 and reopened in 1979. Towards the center of the photo is the Financial District…
Thomas Aldrich House
Woodward describes the Thomas Aldrich House as an asymmetrical four bay Federal style house. It was moved to Power Street from 39 Benevolent Street in 1950 to make room for the Wriston Quadrangle of Brown University. While it was built by Aldrich, a…
Hartford: Public Housing
The working class housing of the Hartford neighborhood was destroyed when the Route 6 connector was built to alleviate traffic in Olneyville Square. Low-income housing (Hartoford Park Public Housing Project seen here) was built on Corbusian…
Conrad Building
This building was built for investment income as a wedding present for Jerothmul B. Barnaby’s daughter and his son-in-law, after whom it is named. The tower feature on this downtown building is also employed in Nickerson’s Carr House built in 1885.…
Westminster Street from Cathedral Square
According to Woodward, Cathedral Square is the “most problematic of Providence’s open spaces.” Despite being designed by world class architects and urban planners, namely I.M. Pei and Zion & Breen, the space has been universally decried as an…
Providence Skyline
Providence, Rhode Island is the site of 27 high-rises, 16 of which stand taller than 175 feet (53 m). The tallest skyscraper in the city is the Industrial Trust Building (1928), which rises 428 feet (130 m). Due to the what is dubbed the Providence…
Armory District, Cranston Street Armory
Built in 1907 as the home of the Rhode Island National Guard, the Cranston Street Armory is massive -- 165,000 square feet of space, with a central hall the size of two football fields. Throughout its 90 years, the armory has hosted civic functions…
Eighteenth-Century Dutch Farmhouse, Benefit Street
This late eighteenth-century Dutch gambrel-roofed farmhouse stood on Chalkstone Ave. where the parking lot to Roger Williams Hospital stands. Angela Brown Fischer, daughter of John Brown (d. 1979) moved this house opposite the Nightingale-Brown House…
Future Site of Rhode Island Convention Center and Westin Hotel
Future location of the neo-Traditionalist Rhode Island Convention Center (1 Sabin St., 1994) and Westin Hotel and Residences (1993, 2007). Woodward praises the Convention Center for performing acrobatics over the existing street plan as well as its…
Weybosset Hill and Cathedral Square
The Weybosset Hill area is bounded by Empire St. on the east, Broad and Washington Streets on the south and north, and Interstate 95 on the west. Redevelopment of this area stemmed from a 1959 recommendation of the City Plan Commission's master plan…
Old Stone Federal Savings Bank, First Unitarian Church
The Federal Building (Ammi B. Young, 1855-57, 24 Weybosset St.) is just visible to the left of this picture pointed from the financial district towards the East Side. That building was built where the edge of the Providence River and its port…
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…
Providence Station and Rhode Island State House
In 1986, the current Providence Station was built to replace the 1898 Union Station, as part of a redevelopment project to free up land from a mass of train tracks that had hemmed in downtown Providence. It is much smaller than its predecessor,…
Kennedy Plaza, Burnside Park
The area that comprises Kennedy Plaza and Exchange Terrace has been so constantly reworked that hardly ten years passes without its appearance being significantly altered. According to Woodward, tracking all these alterations in order to “fully…
Kennedy Plaza, Financial District, Industrial National Bank Building
According to Jordy, Walker and Gillette’s Industrial National Bank Building (1926-8) is still Providence’s finest skyscraper as it is a “superbly Art Deco culmination of the Providence skyline in a major example of a setback.” Though stepped…
Interior of Providence Train Station
Designed by Marilyn Jordan Taylor of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLC, this is a typical SOM interior where all materials are falsified. The domed interior brings a sense of polite space to the public that finds its origins in the Pantheon and domed…
Construction of Providence Station
In 1986 Providence Station was completed. It replaced the 1898 Union Station as part of a redevelopment project to free up land from a mass of train tracks that had hemmed in downtown Providence. It is much smaller than its predecessor, reflecting…
Upper South Providence
Blighted area in Upper South Providence near Rhode Island Hospital. In-fill housing eventually filled much of the vacant land.
Rhode Island Heritage Festival at State House
11th Annual Rhode Island Heritage Festival, 1988, photographed at the Rhode Island State House.