The Providence Preservation Society since 1956 has served as a watchdog for development projects that would demolish or otherwise degrade the city’s most historically relevant and architecturally significant properties. Leading that organization for more than eight years has been its executive director, Brent Runyon, who previously served in the same role for another nonprofit historic preservation organization in Georgia called Thomasville Landmarks.
Runyon and the organization each year have produced its Most Endangered Properties list, which has included many 19th-century homes in Providence in danger of being razed, along with regular appearances by the Industrial Trust Co. Building, also known as the “Superman” building.
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PBN: What are the biggest threats to historic preservation in Providence today and what can be done to thwart them?
RUNYON: Historic preservation is a community effort. The biggest threat is that people don’t understand how to engage in preserving things that matter to them. The preservation society’s role isn’t to be the sole preservationist; it’s to harness the power of the community, to connect property owners to resources, and to help promote the importance of preservation. To that end, we’ll be developing a toolkit for advocacy that all neighborhoods can use.
PBN: What are your preferences for the future of the “Superman” building, otherwise known as the Industrial National Bank Building, located at 111 Westminster St.?
RUNYON: Our goal is that the building be reused and rehabilitated in a way that is sensitive to what makes it significant. That primarily means careful work to preserve the art and character-defining spaces within it, along with the art deco façade.
Reuse is important for a couple of reasons beyond cultural association. One, the building and its materials represent an incredible amount of embodied energy, energy that would be wasted should the building be torn down. Two, it could represent part of a solution to a great need we are facing. Housing comes to mind.
PBN: Why should historic preservation be important to Providence, and what’s your advice to developers who want to design properties in line with goals of the preservation society while providing a modern experience for occupants?
RUNYON: Relevance is very personal, so historic preservation will not be relevant to everyone. But it does touch on many things that are relevant to people, including history, architecture, art, environmental sustainability, public engagement, civic pride, housing opportunities, sense of place, and more. So, if someone has an interest in one or more of those things, then historic preservation should matter. And we hope real estate developers will see that their projects are more than accounting entries; they affect how people interact with and enjoy their environment.
PPS has always championed excellent design, whether it is a new take on an old style or something contemporary. Many developers think that to win PPS’ vote is to include a red-brick façade and gestures at historical features, which often results in a product that is less than excellent. We urge builders to think about durable and beautiful materials, features that create shadow lines, context of the site, and how a building interacts with people on the street.
PBN: What’s the latest news about the opposition to the Fane Tower project? What is the Providence Preservation Society and others doing now to prevent the project from going forward?
RUNYON: PPS fought the Fane Tower because of the changes it required to the zoning of the parcel and its future impact on public space, namely the riverside parks. Decades of public planning resulted in the idea that buildings nearer the river would be lower than those farther away.
This is a publicly spirited planning principle, one that the Fane group and certain city and state leaders chose to ignore. We urge the I-195 [Redevelopment District] Commission and state leaders to revoke the $25 million subsidy for this project, which has produced no market studies. The state should reallocate that to the “Superman” building and help restore a beloved building in the heart of downtown. As far as we know, there is a suit at the [R.I.] Supreme Court about whether the rezoning change that is making it possible to build the tower is legitimate.
PBN: How do you view the role of Brown University and other colleges in Providence when it comes to the loss of historic properties in the city? Does the university need to be more mindful of historic preservation when it buys up or sells off properties?
RUNYON: Providence’s institutions of higher education are vital to the state in so many ways, not least of which is their ability to produce great architecture. The disconnect, from our point of view, is that many institutions view their campuses as disconnected from the neighborhoods in which they sit. We have seen universities in other cities ignore this fact for too long, with perilous results.
Brown, in particular, is located in one of America’s oldest National Landmark Historic Districts, but their actions are fraying the historic fabric to a degree that may become irreversible. How can institutions like Brown think more broadly about their impact on their current environment and their potential impact on other places? Brown has rejuvenated the Jewelry District and should continue their growth at all levels somewhere besides College Hill.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.
