Saturday 17th July 2021
200,000 square foot apartment building proposed for vacant lot between Friendship and Pine St. Friendship Partners
Stealth planning is bad for everyone. Wouldn’t the public want to know such a major intrusion into the cityscape as a 12-story apartment block in the heart of the jewelry district?
The city may actually be reviewing plans for the steel and glass giant on Friendship and Pine Streets to rise. But to the public, the project’s disclosure was a point in the Providence Business News announcing that the 225-unit apartment complex did not need a full committee review as the planning staff on the Downtown Design Review Committee were already considering the proposal. Translation: Let us not do any serious analysis of this scheme that could slow down its construction.
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Pine Street location of the new apartments – Colosseum Club on the left. PHOTO: Will Morgan
Another deja vu, as Yogi Berra aptly put it. In February, GoLocal reported on an almost identical building by the same development and design team (Providence’s New Apartments: Wrong Building, Wrong Place). This pretty but inappropriately placed piece of modernism has been held up by structural challenges and strong resistance in the neighborhood.
Rendering of the proposed 151 Chestnut Street. Pebb Capital.
Gerner Kornik + Valcarel’s work lends itself well to commercial development, although it doesn’t waste a lot of energy on innovation or artistic expression. The box-shaped package that will curve around the former Colosseum Club has the benefits of lush balconies, a greenhouse, and a rooftop pool. It wouldn’t be out of place in Taipei, Dallas or Sao Paulo.
The former Colosseum Club on Pine Street has more character than any new building in the Jewelery District. PHOTO: Will Morgan
The objection to the friendship bloc has nothing to do with style. Trying to create believably personable skyscrapers by using brick veneer or smacking on historicist details, like the Omni Providence Hotel, is ridiculous. But why can’t we aim for a visually interesting composition that breaks up the crowd? There is simply no getting around the practice of calling in architects to clad a building after the bean counters have dictated its configuration. We have not earned the right to call the area an innovation or knowledge district when we greet such nasty, visually uninspiring clunkers.
Chestnut Commons. Aside from the fun lobster color, what but despair would make you live here? PHOTO: Will Morgan
Why couldn’t we create a technological marvel that could challenge climate change? How about an energy-efficient cross-laminated timber frame like the dramatic and pretty RISD dorm by Nader Tehrani? Tehrani’s company was responsible for the brilliant incorporation of the Hospital Trust into the RISD’s library and dormitory. Again, why can’t we turn the Industrial Trust into housing? This landmark has a lot more history and flair than the block of GKV architects could ever dream of.
Why are we being offered an Anywhere, Anywhere box while one of America’s finest skyscrapers lies fallow? Cost is a major stumbling block or convenient excuse (why not use some of the Biden infrastructure funds?). But there is really a lack of imagination. It is simply easier to cast a spell over building contractors and architects than to adapt a building whose restoration on several levels would make a significant contribution to providence.
Beneficent House shows that it is possible to create an architecturally significant block of flats. Though planned balconies have been scrapped, this 1969 Jewelery District building remains one of the controversial modern architect Paul Rudolph’s masterpieces. PHOTO: Will Morgan
Another reason is accountability. Just as Pope Francis declared vaccination a moral duty, architecture and urban planning also demand ethical responsibility. Architecture is an inevitable art, so mistakes will be with us for a long time. To throw down a huge piece of graph paper design in the heart of the city without proper public scrutiny is a waiver of that responsibility.
In Providence, however, we always deal with design-by-accountant. Money and making money at the community’s expense seem to be the driving principle behind development rather than making the city a place we would proudly call home. Aside from giving residents a good view of the city, we should ask the developers what the real benefits of the Friendship block are. Do we need this building? Is it best for the jewelry district? We sure do something better.
GoLocal architecture critic William Morgan has written about design and cities for a variety of newspapers, including the New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Christian Science Monitor.
On the subject of matching items
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