“New” Home of the Providence Preservation Society–Architecture Critic Will Morgan

Saturday, July 08, 2023

William Morgan, Architecture Critic

 

The Providence Preservation Society has a new home, or rather an old home that has been made new. While only a domestically-scaled 3500-square-foot building, the transformative renovation to the Old Brick School on Meeting Street is a noteworthy example of sustainable conservation. In the words of PPS Executive Director Brent Runyon, “The Old Brick School House has statewide importance for many reasons and PPS is a proud steward of this history.”

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

 

Compared to the major civic buildings between Benefit Street and North Main–the Old State House, the Arsenal, and St. John’s Cathedral–PPS’s headquarters is a modest two-story brick box nestled up against the RISD’s “What Cheer” studios and maintenance shops. Despite its size it has rich, outsized history. Built in 1769, the Old Brick School House is one of the oldest public schools in America. Its second floor was also the home of Brown University when it moved in from Warren and was awaiting on the construction of University Hall. Later a school for Blacks in the middle of the 19th Century, it became a “Fresh Air” school for tubercular pupils in 1908. At the end of World War II, special education got a boost with the founding of the Meeting Street School here.

 

 

One of the unavoidable issues that necessitated PPS’s renovation of the schoolhouse was the lack of accessibility, as the only way to reach the second floor was by narrow, twisting staircases. How do you add a new elevator in a 254-year-old building? Do you hide it in the infrastructure, or do you boldly expose it on the exterior? Architect Johnathan Bell opted for a straightforward external box of metal, wood, and glass. Rather than being a discordant element, the elevator pavilion acts as a visual connection between the smaller school and the large industrial building it abuts. By exposing the original 18th-century wall and some of the inside of the school house, one can read something of the building’s history.

 

 

Landscape architect Colgate Searle designed the parking area behind the schoolhouse to collect runoff, an instance of the renovation team’s environmental responsibility. In fact, PPS gets high marks for the quality of everyone involved in the renovation. Besides Bell and Searle, the contractors were Site Specific, assisted by Odeh Engineers. The building needed multiple changes and improvements, but as Runyon states, “historic preservation is an inherently ‘green’ practice.” All systems are new, including a heat pump, a wood roof, and the interior reconfigured for optimal use. A new wall in the hallway recreates a divider that was there in the 18th Century, but reinstated it creates a larger working space for PPS staff. Upstairs,19th-century cast iron columns were removed from the main assembly room, while the wooden truss system from 1870 was restructured.

 

    

The Providence Preservation Society moved into the School House nearly sixty-five years ago, which has served as the heart of one of the nation’s premier preservation organizations. This modest brick structure served as the command post for PPS founder Antoinette Downing, along with those following in her footsteps, in the fight to preserve neighborhoods such as College Hill. This significant project, done right is thoroughly appropriate to the mission of the Society.    

 

The renovation’s relevance to PPS’s work is attested to by the elevator tower bringing light into the School House, and seamlessly connecting past and present. Standing in the glazed elevator foyer, one gets a glimpse of College Hill, the former state house, and early houses beyond. There are always those ready to whine at any changes which seem unsympathetic to the past. Yet, the Historic District Commission strongly advocated for a contemporary solution to the addition, and Bell responded with a handsomely discrete composition. Warren Jagger, the photographer and PPS President during the Old Brick School House renovation, said it best: “I am so proud to see us recognize contemporary design.”

 

 

Related Articles

• Déjà Vu All Over Again: Gano Street Apartments – Architecture Critic Morgan
• Domestic Triumph on Boylston Avenue – Architecture Critic Will Morgan
• New Worker Housing: North Main Street – Architecture Critic Morgan
• A Major Addition to Rhode Island in Newport -– Architecture Critic Morgan
• The Carpenters Union: An Impressive New Home on I-95 – Architecture Critic Morgan
• Can We Make Schools Safe Without Turning Them Into Fortresses? – Architecture Critic Morgan
• People on the Move: RISD’s Architecture Head Leaves for London, Culinary Director at Park
• The “New” License Plate and the Race to the Bottom – Architecture Critic Morgan
• The Edsel of Urban Design — Architecture Critic Will Morgan
• Should Architects Run for Office? – Architecture Critic Morgan
• Trader Joe’s: Great Market, Lost Opportunity–Architecture Critic Morgan
• Former Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Chairman and Top RI Architecture Firm CEO Sentenced in Bribery Case
• Old Miriam Hospital Transformed to Elegant Living on Parade St.—Morgan, Architecture Critic
• Goodbye Fox Point—William Morgan, Architecture Critic
• License Plate Dilemma – Architecture Critic Morgan
• More Storage, Less Livable City – Architecture Critic Morgan
• PPAC Square: Paris in Providence–Architecture Critic Morgan
• The Center of the City – Architecture Critic Morgan
• Pawtucket/Central Falls T Station Lacks Design–Architecture Critic Morgan
• Coffee Exchange Redux – Architecture Critic Morgan
• Faltering Fane Tower – Architecture Critic Morgan
• COLLIER: The City’s Coolest Park–Architecture Critic Morgan
• The Elegance of Weed: Mother Earth–Architecture Critic Morgan
• Brown Performing Arts Center: White Hope or White Elephant? – Architecture Critic Morgan

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.