Current Events

3 Downcity buildings could be razed

A city ordinance preventing demolition is voided by a Superior Court judge.

BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer | September 27, 2004

PROVIDENCE – Three Downcity buildings, two of which are considered historically significant, could be demolished because a special zoning district created to protect them has been invalidated in court.

The owners of the buildings have submitted applications for city demolition permits, apparently intending to use the cleared land for parking. The buildings under threat are in the Downcity district, which the city created a decade ago to preserve the distinctive 19th- and early 20th-century architecture of the older part of downtown.

They are:
The vacant three-story Providence National Bank Building, which was the longtime home of Fleet Bank's trust department but is sometimes referred to by the name of a more recent tenant, the former Downing Corp. It is adjacent to one of Providence's more unusual structures, the Turks Head Building. Carrying two addresses, 90 Westminster St. and 30 Weybosset St., the building stretches from one street to another, angled like a slightly closed elbow. The Colonial Revival brick frontage on Westminster dates to 1929 and the Weybosset frontage, also inspired by classical design, to 1950.

The vacant First Federal Savings and Loan Building at 110 Westminster St., adjacent to The Arcade, a national historic landmark. The two-story building to be knocked down – its age could not be confirmed – carries the signs of a former tenant, the Buck A Book store.

The three-story George C. Arnold Building, 100 Washington St., at the corner of Mathewson Street. Its current occupants are Kevin's Corner Smoke Shop, Honorbilt apparel, Downtown Liquors and a telemarketing office. Built in 1923, it is the most shallow Downcity building, with a depth of only 12 1/2 feet.

Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini ruled in June that the ordinance underpinning the Downcity district was technically flawed, improperly implemented and is void. City officials are moving to reinstate the district by reenacting the ordinance in a way that would withstand court scrutiny, as well as taking other steps. His ruling is under appeal.

But, for the time being, some property owners believe the city's legal shield has dropped and they are free to knock down what they see as functionally obsolete buildings that stand in the way of economic development.

“Not every building is beautiful” and worthy of preservation, declared developer and property owner Joseph R. Paolino Jr., who filed the successful lawsuit to have the Downcity District nullified.

Jim Litsey, a lawyer and president of the Providence Preservation Society, sees the court decision as ominous. “It would be a real shame if we were to have a building demolition in this interim period just because the Downcity District had what I would call a technical defect,” Litsey said.

Granoff Associates III Ltd. Partnership, owner of the buildings on Westminster and Weybosset streets, is pressing for demolition permits. Edgar Paxson, city building official, said the applications are "substantially complete."

The Granoff partnership, in an unsuccessful overture two years ago to a city board called the Downcity District Design Review Committee, asked for permission to raze one of its buildings and part of the second so it could expand a parking lot. John J. Garrahy, the Granoffs’ lawyer, did not return a telephone call Friday seeking confirmation of that continued intention.

Building Official Paxson has refused to accept the demolition application from PCRL Realty, owner of the George C. Arnold Building, which he called “wholly inadequate.” Pat Cortellessa, owner of PCRL Realty, said he will improve his application and resubmit it. “You might have a window of opportunity” for demolition while the Downcity district is in disarray, Cortellessa said. “So take advantage of the opportunity.”

Cortellessa disclosed that he has discussed with Paolino the possibility of cooperating in the construction of a parking garage by utilizing the land cleared of his building and an adjacent Paolino-owned parking lot on Mathewson Street. Cortellessa and the Granoffs are the only Downcity property owners who have sought demolition permits.

Downcity and the Financial District together comprise a district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A register listing confers no protection from demolition unless government money is involved in the redevelopment of the site.

The Providence National Bank Building and the George C. Arnold Building are considered to be “contributing structures” to the importance and the integrity of the national district. The third building, apparently because it has been drastically modified with a bland 1950s-style facade, is considered non-contributing.

Anecdotes

Whitney Easton  I can’t believe that Mr. Cortollessa may knock this building down. I used to live in it when I was in highschool from 1994-1996. My family was living in Florida from 92-94 and when we returned to Providence we all moved in to this building. There were four apartments total and we rented three of them and rehabed them over the two years we lived there. I used to walk to Classical High everyday, and my friends obviously thought my family was crazy for living there, but it was always a lot of fun standing in the windows of my bedrooms and watching the lines for concerts at the Strand. I remember waking up one morning and the Shepards building right next store was engulfed in fire with flames practically licking my window. I haven’t been back to Providence for a few years (I am living in New Haven now) but I hope that they have not torn down this building, I have a lot of fond memories from my time living there.

Corey Rossi  It’s still there, as of now, May 2006. I went to high school in the old Shepard’s, and this building was always really interesting to me because there seems to be no plausible reason for it to have been built this way. I recently came across this, though:
   i20.photobucket.com/albums/b241/Anak_Krakatau/Providence/38be574c.jpg
I have no idea exactly why that was built, as I’m sure there was retail space on street level of the bigger buildings around it, or why it was built in the middle of the street, or how the f**k it is that Dorrance has apparently gotten narrower since that was taken (or at least it seems like it has). A February 1923 photograph of a fire at Shepard’s shows the western end of the lot where the Arnold building is supposed to be, and it isn’t yet there. I think that the Arnold building is the last remaining section of this strip in the middle of Dorrance, picked up, moved in one piece, and set down atop new (mid-century?) storefronts, at whatever point in time the existing building(s) at the corner of Washington and Matthewson ceased to exist. Also, the side of the Arnold building that faces the parking lot is nothing but a scarred brick wall, so the building might have been placed there when the rest of the Dorrance strip was torn down, as a way of recycling it to add a more attractive false facade to an existing building on that corner of Washington. Of course, the windows and overall exterior detail of the building in the older photograph look somewhat different from the Arnold building, and if the plaque with the name of the builder and date of construction are on the second story now, then it would have been on the first story before it was placed on top of the storefronts, which doesn’t make sense. Where did it come from? And when were the alterations to its appareance done? Over all though, this seems like the only logical origin for this building. If anyone can verify it, please do so. The more information that can be found on this unusual building with an apparently quite unusual past, the better the case for preserving it.

Jeff Allcock  I don’t know how the Geo. Arnold building fared ( I’m writing this in April of 2005 ) but I hope it survived. “ Its current occupants are Kevin’s Corner Smoke Shop, Honorbilt apparel, and Downtown Liquors ...” Businesses supplying some of the things that make a city liveable, where anyone can go for cigarettes or a newspaper, a six-pack of beer or shirts and socks. It’s a short-sighted, one-sided vision of economic development that considers these businesses and the goods and services they provide as obsolete in the Renaissance Providence of creeping parking lots, luxury high-rise condos, swank hotels, but nowhere to get your hair cut, or to buy a used book.

Add your Anecdotes

The information about each building grows as visitors let us know about their experiences. Did you or a member of your family work here? Did you grow up near it as a child? Let us know. All entries will be moderated and may be posted in an edited form. We will use your name unless you tell us otherwise. We will not make your email public.