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All photography taken by Brian McDonald.

The American Renaissance and Providence: A Golden Age in Architecture and the Arts

The late nineteenth century saw a rapid acceleration of America’s transformation from an agricultural to an industrial society. The diminishing frontier, exploding immigration, unprecedented technological innovation, and highly networked transportation converged to make the urban center the new organizing entity of American life. Against this backdrop, the American Renaissance period (1876 – 1917) in architecture and the arts emerged.

As a major industrial center, Providence transformed during this period as well. The city was the home of industrial entrepreneurs and attracted record numbers of immigrants to work in their factories. Numerous local companies rose to preeminence in their industries, both nationally and internationally, among them Brown and Sharpe, Corliss Steam Engine Company, Nicholson File, and Gorham Manufacturing Company. By the turn of the century, the nation’s smallest state produced its highest per capita value of manufactured goods. Providence was the center of manufacturing in Rhode Island and among the leaders in the northeast.

The architectural landscape of Providence changed to accommodate this exceptional physical, demographic, and economic growth. Through the design and construction of new schools, universities, and libraries; an ornate and elaborate City Hall; broad, tree-lined thoroughfares such as Blackstone Boulevard and Elmwood Avenue; and the expansive Roger Williams Park, the newly built environment expressed a return to academic classicism, anticipating the subsequent City Beautiful Movement.

The 2009 Providence Preservation Society Fall Symposium will explore this golden age in the city’s history with a look at some of the developments in architecture and design resulting from this era of great change and growth. Its impact and the monuments that remain from the thriving metropolis that was Providence during the American Renaissance continue to shape civic life more than a century later and constitute much of the fabric of the city that the Providence Preservation Society strives to protect and enhance through its mission of advocacy for, and education about, the built environment.

Please join us for this premier educational program held in buildings of the American Renaissance period. It promises to be memorable as well as highly informative. Among our well-respected historians are:

Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D., Commonwealth Professor & Chair of Architectural History, University of Virginia

Ronald J. Onorato, Ph.D., Professor of Art History, University of Rhode Island

Erin Williams, Collections Manager, Culinary Arts Museum, Johnson & Wales University

Thomas S. Michie, Russell B. and Andrée Beauchamp Stearns Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Art of Europe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Emily J. Peters, Ph.D., Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

John R. Tschirch, Director of Academic Programs, The Preservation Society of Newport County

Christopher P. Monkhouse, Eloise W. Martin Curator and Chair, Department of European Decorative Arts, Art Institute of Chicago

Pauline C. Metcalf, Independent Architectural Historian, Interior Design Historian, & Author

Please note the following opportunities for continuing education and academic credits for attending the Symposium:

• Three Continuing Education Credits for Realtors licensed in the Sate of Rhode Island.

• Twelve (12) Learning Units for members of the American Institute of Architects-Rhode Island branch.

• Students in RISD Continuing Education's Historic Preservation (HP) certificate program may receive 3 elective contact hours for attending the Symposium. Please contact RISD|CE's at (401) 454-6200 for more information.