Union Station with Fire Damage

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 fire in 1896, and replaced by a newer Union Station, completed 1898, which consisted of five large brick structures, built by New Haven Railroad. It was considered "a brilliant example of Romanesque architecture" in its time, and the longest building in America. As the city continued to grow, so too did the need for terminal space, ultimately resulting in the paving over of the remnants of the city's inland bay in 1890. Union Station was in the process of being redesigned for office and retail use when it suffered an upper stories fire on April 26, 1987. In the background is the newly built Providence Station with its two story parking garage and campanile as well construction on the river relocation project.

Chester Smolski

Woodward, PPS/AlAri Guide to Providence Architecture (Providence, 2003), 104.

1987-01-01

Rhode Island College

Photograph

Photograph

5168

Edwardian, International Style, Beaux Arts

Providence

United States of America

Stone, Carpenter, & Willson

Architects

Documentary photography -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Railroad stations -- Remodeling for other use -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Union Station (Providence, R.I.); Urban renewal -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Capital Center (Providence, R.I.); Woonasquatucket River (Providence, R.I.); Providence Station (Providence, R.I.); Waterplace Park (Providence, R.I.); Rhode Island State House (Providence, R.I.)

Rhode Island

4 Exchange Terrace

Urban fires, Urban redevelopment