Five Questions With: Brent Runyon

Brent Runyon is executive director of the Providence Preservation Society, which recently released its list of the most endangered properties in Providence. The list, compiled since 1994, is intended to draw public attention to significant properties most threatened with demolition, by lack of maintenance, investment or other perils. Runyon responded to questions recently about why certain structures make the list.
PBN: The annual list is out. What structures on it this year are you most concerned about because of imminent threat?
Runyon:
When we compile a list each year, we include places that we know may be lost and those that we know may find a quick solution. For 2016, we will grieve most over the Southwest Pavilion at Rhode Island Hospital if it were to be demolished. It is possibly the most architecturally significant building on the list, but because of the way the institution has built around it, the public has lost touch with it. If that building were near a public street, there would be much more of an outcry to save it. The United Presbyterian Church is another one that may not last the winter. We continue to list these historic religious buildings because there are so many that have lost the resources to maintain them, but they were, are and can be community centers in neighborhoods that lack other places to gather. Fortunately, some of the places listed this year are endangered, but have good short-term caretakers. The Providence Revolving Fund is maintaining the utilities, security system and is slowly making emergency repairs to the Tirocchi House, for example. For the long term, many stakeholders are working toward a permanent solution.

PBN: Some of the choices were new to the list. The Tops electrical manufacturing facility, for example. Is there a feeling that notable industrial properties get overlooked by the public, and what makes that building important?
RUNYON:
Providence was the first city in the country to create a scattered-site landmark district (the Industrial and Commercial Buildings District) which recognized the importance of that building type to Providence’s history and its future. At the time, there were also financial incentives for owners to rehabilitate them. Those are now mostly gone. Many of those buildings, though, are the easiest type to adaptively reuse. A portion of the Tops complex is the oldest building in the Jewelry District and is probably very solidly built. Aside from its age, construction and architecture, the Tops complex holds the street in a way that contributes to the urbanity of the neighborhood in a way that a vacant lot does not. The Jewelry District has been evolving for the last 30 or more years and is now poised to become part of a larger downtown core (once the I-195 land is built out). If that area is to become truly walkable and, therefore, livable, the buildings must contribute to the pedestrian experience and be functional for use. We support the new owners in their desire to repurpose the complex for this century.
PBN: Three schools made the list this year: Gilbert Stuart Middle School, Roger Williams Middle School and Meader Street School. What was the reason for their inclusion?
RUNYON:
We listed three historic middle schools that were all built during the Great Depression. Each is monumental and extremely well-built, but they are not in danger of being closed or torn down. We listed them for exactly the opposite reason, which is that they are fully occupied by children and they all need major work. Our goal is to call attention to a couple of things. Our goal is to call attention to a couple of things. One, that it is much less expensive to maintain a building than to tear down and rebuild (This was proven by the rehabilitation of Nathan Bishop, a building of the same vintage.), so the city and state should immediately fund the critical improvements that [are] needed. Two, children learn better in spaces that are healthy, safe and inspiring. It is unconscionable that there is a brand-new technology room at one school that simultaneously has an auditorium that is unsafe and barely functions as the grand performance space it once was and has the potential to be again. We also listed Meader Street School, which is on Almy Street. It is one of the few remaining four-room wooden school houses from the late 19th century, and is the one that has changed the least, so the public can really get a sense of what schooling was in that era. There may be a plan to make use of the school for housing, so we’ll be watching that one closely.
PBN: The Industrial Trust Building, or the “Superman building,” seems to be the most iconic and prominent of the structures on the list. In your opinion, what is the best 2016-era use for it?
RUNYON:
Wouldn’t we all like to see a Trader Joe’s or similar grocery store in the lobby? The development experts say that the lack of parking is holding it back. If that is the major issue, then a use that doesn’t require people who are attached to their cars is probably the answer. The Cranston Street Armory is the other major iconic building on the list, but the Superman building is more important right now, for everyone in the city and the state. Filling up that building will continue the transformation of downtown, enhancing the restaurant and retail scene and imbuing optimism back into the city. I liken it to the work to reinvigorate the Biltmore Hotel in the 1970s. Rescuing that hotel was seen as necessary by business and civic leaders at the time, and I feel a similar concern today.
PBN: Do you have any personal favorites among the choices this year?
RUNYON:
Every building on the list is my personal favorite. Each has a story to tell about the history of Providence and Rhode Island. Most of them would be missed if they were lost.

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