Dr. Downtown, David Brussat: Dr. Downtown’s Snowy Providence
Monday, February 09, 2015
David Brussat, GoLocalProv's Dr. Downtown
The doctor loves when new snow piles up on the edges of steps, statues, railings, pediments, balustrades, cornices, rooflines, stringcourses, lampposts and other ornate features of our built envionment. Dr. Downtown took these photos from excursions in recent years, during which great piles of snow seem to have become more regular than they were when the doctor first landed in Providence back in 1984. Most readers, he suspects, will find the locations of the snowy enchantments below eminently recognizable.
Related Slideshow: Dr. Downtown’s Snowy Providence
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The Hiker
Kennedy Plaza
The Hiker commemorates soldiers who fought for the American empire in Cuba. They suffered bullets and mosquitos, but not snowflakes. Here the doctor was charmed by the trooper’s braving a frontal blizzard that plastered his face, torso and legs with snow but left his backside bare. He does not seem to care.
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Roger Williams
City Hall
Nobody, not even Dr. Downtown, knows what Roger Williams looked like. His features have not come down to us through a bust of his head nor a portrait of his visage. His fictional appearance is equally conjectural in this photograph. Snowflakes hurrying by obscured the disapproval of his expression looking down on us from City Hall (1878).
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Shepard’s Clock
Westminster St.
This is a super clock, and not just because of the Roman numerals that remind us of the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory. The clock has been a favorite meeting place for Rhode Islanders for years, including the doctor, and blizzard conditions make it no less enticing. Note that the crest atop the clock has a crest of its own.
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Lampposts
Westminster St.
Lampposts such as these installed along the former pedestrian mall when it reopened to traffic in 1989 help raise Westminster Street to a world-class level of beauty. The design, made during the brief Paolino mayoral administration, enchants Dr. Downtown. With or without snow, classical lampposts mingle nicely with the young trees and the old buildings. Bellissimo!
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Soldiers & Sailors
Kennedy Plaza
The Civil War figures on this 1871 memorial are warmly dressed, and a good thing, too, as they stand cloaked in a cold white substance recently fallen from the sky. The adhesive snow renders the folds of their clothing ecstatic. The doctor has consumed doughnuts at the base of this statue many a time, but never in the snow.
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Columns at City Hall
Fulton St.
One of classical architecture’s great contributions to civilization has been to offer a gentle place of rest to snow, allowing the eye of passersby to rest on beauty they might otherwise overlook. This bank of pillars at City Hall upholds the third story of that pile of architecture. It was part of the doctor’s lofty residential view in 1999-2010.
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Old Journal Building
Fulton & Eddy Sts.
During the same span of years this ornate corner of the Providence Journal Building (1906) also served as part of Dr. Downtown’s view. The Beaux Arts detailing also serves to supply snow with graceful seating that remains free of street-level grime. And yet the fluffy stuff eventually evolves into nothingness, as is the fate of all snow.
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Comfort Station
Weybosset St.
This is all that remains of the elegant comfort station, designed by the firm of Martin & Hall, that opened in 1913. Mostly chopped away in 2013 after it was expanded to include a police substation in the 1990s, it now serves almost exclusively as a repository for snow. But it does so with consummate grace, and is a joy to pass by on the way to PPAC.
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Bust of Dante
John Hay Library
The bust of Dante in front of the John Hay Library (1910) seems to frown at the crown of snow on his poetic pate, but scholars assume that he adores the classical balustrade upon which his gaze is so clearly affixed. Dr. Downtown hesitates to contemplate the degree of ire his visage would reflect if he were to glance at the Rock to his right.
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Column
Swan Point Cemetery
O to have one’s life memorialized with an ornament whose vitality plays a trick, turning winter’s assault of snow into an augmentation of beauty. The living should stroll the cemetery after a sudden storm, when even the most humble grave wears a dainty white cap. Life in death, quoth the doctor, is all we can hope for, yes?
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