Five Questions With: Brent Runyon

BRENT RUNYON is the executive director of the Providence Preservation Society. / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN

The Providence Preservation Society has chosen the Paterson Park neighborhood, part of the Blackstone Park Historic District, as the location for its 39th Festival of Historic Houses. While the list of individual homes open for tours is still being identified, the society has made plans to introduce a less-well-known historic district to the public. The neighborhood is part of a national historic district. It is bounded by the Seekonk River, Angell Street, Blackstone Boulevard and President and Laurel avenues. Executive Director Brent Runyon spoke to the Providence Business News this week about the event, to be held June 15-16.

PBN: Why was this area chosen for the 2019 historic home tour?

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RUNYON: We thought about it about three years ago. It’s a neighborhood we’ve been in twice before, in the ’90s and the early 2000s. It’s one of those neighborhoods that’s really off the beaten track. It has some great history that we want to explore, and quality houses. Clearly representative of a very large majority of Providence homes. More recently, with the threat of [a historic home] demolition on Blackstone, it’s also a good way for us to point out that while these seem to be historic houses, they are not protected.

PBN: The writer H.P. Lovecraft lived in this area. Is his home still standing?

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RUNYON: He lived with his parents in other apartments in the neighborhood. We’re not going inside any. We worked with Donovan Loucks [creator of a Lovecraft website, the H.P. Lovecraft Archive], who identified 15 other houses that we know Lovecraft had some relationship with. We are developing a brand-new tour. We are calling it a Young Lovecraft tour. It will be where he grew up, and some things [that influenced] him until his teens.

PBN: When you organize one of these home festivals, are homeowners jockeying to be included? Or is it the opposite, and you’re cajoling some into opening up their homes?

RUNYON: It varies. Typically, we’re cajoling. Some people are really proud to show it off, but it is a big lift for people. [The process] starts with who do we know. [And who do they know?] And then we evaluate them to see if they’d be suitable for the tour.

PBN: What are some of the can’t-miss items?

RUNYON: Because the area is so related to open space, we’re doing a tour of Gladys Potter Park. One of our former board members will do a presentation on it. And the Blackstone Parks Conservancy will do a tour of some of the parks over there. We really want to highlight the landscape as more than just buildings.

PBN: What are the tour dates?

RUNYON: The preview party is June 13. The primary house tour is June 15. And the walking tour is June 16. [Tickets] will be on sale next week.

Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.

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