Tag Archives: Providence RI

Carpionato bids on 195

Through WordPress’s blogger data tool I noticed that interest in a post from months ago had spiked, and then I saw that its subject, the proposal made by Carpionato Group last year to build on much of the vacant Route 195 land … Continue reading

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My upcoming Jane’s Walk

My first Jane’s Walk, one of seven in Providence May 2-4, takes place this coming Saturday. It is free and open to the public. Jane’s Walk is an annual global city touring festival in which citizens volunteer to guide tours … Continue reading

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Blast Past: Biltmore nose job

As mentioned in my last column about the Dean Hotel, the Biltmore almost received a sockdologer right in the kisser back in 2003. I condemned it as a “nose job for the Biltmore” in a column back then, and it … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Column: The Dean and The Sportsman

Word in 2012 that the Sportsman’s Inn, on Fountain Street in downtown Providence, half a block from The Journal, was to become a boutique hotel was not altogether welcome. The likelihood of a cheesy, hip-wannabe hotel with a gauche modernist … Continue reading

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Beauty and the river

This lovely photo appeared in today’s Journal, taken by staff photographer Bob Breidenbach. It shows a reflection in the Woonasquatucket River of the Waterplace Luxury Condominiums as a class of touring students strolls the riverwalk at left, passing from beneath the gently arched Exchange Street … Continue reading

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Past blast: Confusion of the design reviewers

As an enticement to read Thursday’s column about the new Dean Hotel, on Fountain Street in downtown Providence, I offer a blast from the past. In 2006 the city permitted a developer to pull down the building on Fountain next … Continue reading

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Time Lapse advance alert!

Sheila Lennon, Journal uber-blogger, speaks this Thursday. Details below. What is depicted in the photo above? This is a trick question because it is a trick photograph, one that I found on Tuesday afternoon rifling through the Journal photo archives … Continue reading

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Good news for Providence!

Here is great news for the city from Mayor Taveras and the Jewelry District Association! Tip o’ the cap to Lewis Dana for this timely revelation!  

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Blast past: Deep skinny on Parcel 9

Here is a column I wrote in 1999 about a year after the design for Parcel 9 was denounced  by Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. This predates any notion that GTECH would turn a sad situation into a continuing … Continue reading

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(Repost) Waterplace wig-out

A couple more examples of initial design proposals for buildings in Waterplace Park should suffice to nail down the veracity of the idea that a perverse hand was directing the Capital Center Commission and its design review panel in the … Continue reading

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