Cranston Neighborhood Named To National Register
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Historic architecture of numerous periods has combined to place Cranston's Edgewood -Shaw Plat neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places.
Edward F. Sanderson, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, announced that the National Park Service has added the Edgewood Historic District – Shaw Plat to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the Federal Government’s official list of properties throughout the United States whose historical and architectural significance makes them worthy of preservation.
With its concentration of domestic buildings, most constructed between 1880 and 1962, the Edgewood Historic District – Shaw Plat is significant as a suburban subdivision which demonstrates the transformation of Edgewood from an agrarian community to a sparsely settled region of fashionable country houses and summer resorts and finally to a more densely developed, middle-class, streetcar and early automobile suburb.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Shaw Plat
The Shaw Plat is a section within the larger Edgewood Neighborhood in Cranston. It occupies an area of about 25 acres bounded on the north by the Edgewood Historic District – Arnold Farm Plat, Broad Street on the west, Marion Avenue on the south, and Narragansett Bay on the east. Today the Shaw Plat is a quiet suburban residential neighborhood of detached single-family dwellings set back from the street on grassy lots. There are also six two-family houses, one apartment building, two commercial buildings, a school, and the site of the Edgewood Yacht Club.
The prevailing architectural types and styles within the district - Queen Anne, Shingle, Colonial Revival, Bungalow, Four-Square, Dutch Colonial, English Cottage, Garrison Colonial, Ranch, and Modern - reflect its development over the course of more than eight decades. Prior to the Civil War, what is now the Edgewood neighborhood was a patchwork of farmhouses, outbuildings, fences, stone walls, lanes, orchards, and fields, attesting to a rural, agrarian way of life that had persisted since the area was first settled in the early 17th century. In 1853, the 25 acres of land that would become the Shaw Plat was sold to Allen Shaw of Providence, for $3,660. Almost all of the lots that Shaw laid out were very generous in size – about one or two acres. In 1870, Allen Shaw sold the northern portion of his plat (north of Shaw Avenue) to Daniel R. Childs of Swansea, Massachusetts, and two years later, Childs recorded his own development plat of 18 sizeable house lots. This was the first of numerous subdivisions within the Shaw Plat.
The development of Edgewood
Local improvements made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries greatly increased Edgewood’s desirability as a residential neighborhood and finally prompted the first wave of housing construction in the historic district. The improvements included a horse-drawn streetcar line that extended from Providence to Pawtuxet Village in 1879, electrified streetcars on Broad Street by 1892, a municipal water system in 1881, and gas and electrical services put in place by the end of the decade. By 1906, Narragansett Boulevard was completed and connected with Allens Avenue. Other new amenities included Roger Williams Park, the Edgewood Casino, and the Edgewood Yacht Club. Edgewood finally began to experience the demand for new housing that had been anticipated years earlier. As of 1910, the Shaw Plat Historic District had 29 houses.
The historic district experienced its greatest building boom concurrent with the rise of automobile use in metropolitan Providence. Between 1911 and 1930, 41 new houses were constructed displaying numerous variations on the Colonial Revival style, as well as other styles and types of the period such as Bungalow and Four-Square. Many of these new houses had garages, built at the same time or shortly afterwards. This period also saw the introduction of commercial uses in the district, on Broad Street just north of Shaw Avenue. New buildings included the Edgewood Greenhouses, an automobile repair garage, and a long brick commercial building. The old Shaw Avenue School was replaced with the Edward S. Rhodes School in 1931.
World War II
Housing construction almost ground to a halt during the Great Depression and the early years of World War II. Only four houses were built here between 1931 and 1941. Eight new houses were built in the 1940s and 1950s, and they include examples of the Garrison Colonial style as well as three ranch houses. One of the last important buildings to be erected in the district was the Executive House Apartments at 1890 Broad Street, built in 1961-1963 in a U-shaped configuration with a continuous second-floor balcony overlooking a courtyard, and a large, glass-curtain-walled entrance lobby extending into a carport. For the past fifty years, the Shaw Plat has had a stable history, and it has retained its original character to a high degree with almost no substantial changes in its overall configuration.
The National Register nomination for the Edgewood Historic District – Shaw Plat was prepared by preservation consultant Kathryn Cavanaugh. According to Edward F. Sanderson of the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, “The Shaw Plat joins other parts of Edgewood that have been recognized for their history and architecture. The houses along Marion Avenue and Shaw Avenue preserve a pleasant neighborhood character from one hundred years ago.”
In addition to honoring a property for its contribution to local, state, or national history, listing on the National Register provides additional benefits. It results in special consideration during the planning for Federal or federally assisted projects and makes properties eligible for Federal tax benefits for historic rehabilitation projects. Owners of private property listed on the National Register are free to maintain, manage, or dispose of their property as they choose. As the state office for historic preservation, the Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission is responsible for reviewing and submitting Rhode Island nominations to the National Register. nd nominations to the National Register.
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