Historic sights in Providence
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The Arcade
Designed in 1828, the Arcade, America’s first enclosed shopping center, uses a form developed in Paris and London. Greek Revival in design, the airy, tile-floored passage, its marble steps worn into bows by the passage of bygone feet, has shops and cafés on three floors. It looks like a temple from the outside, while inside it is much like a street – a straight corridor leads to a second entry on Washington St. Bounding the sides of this corridor are ornamented, parallel facades three stories tall, today containing the inexpensive eateries and clothing boutiques that attract a bustling lunchtime crowd from the surrounding business district. Roofed in glass, the interior i…
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Rhode Island State House
Designed by McKim, Mead and White in 1904, the Rhode Island State House rises above the Providence skyline, easily visible from the highways that pass through the city. Modeled in part on St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, this very white building not only has the world’s fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome, it also houses one of Gilbert Stuart’s portraits of George Washington, which you might want to compare to a dollar bill from your wallet. Inside the public halls are the battle flags of Rhode Island military units and a curious Civil War cannon, which sat here for a century loaded and ready to shoot until someone thought to check whether it was disarmed. The …
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