PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island School of Design announced Monday that it has received a $4 million anonymous donation to help revitalize the century-old Jesse Metcalf Building at 7-14 North Main St.
The structure, first built in 1914 and was a textile factory, houses about a third of RISD’s academic departments, the arts college said. The six departments located at the Metcalf Building – named after the husband of RISD founder Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf – are ceramics, furniture design, glass, jewelry and metalsmithing, sculpture and textiles.
RISD said the gift will support upgrades to accessibility and ventilation systems at the Metcalf Building, as well as improvements to plumbing, fire protection, lighting, power and communications. Additional renovation stages will be supported by the college’s capital funds and additional philanthropy, RISD said.
“This extraordinary philanthropic investment will have a transformative impact on our students,” RISD President Rosanne Somerson said in a statement. “It accelerates a comprehensive reimagination of the studio and fabrication spaces where our artists and designers engage in the innovative thinking and critical making that are central to our educational model.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
They should change those awful windows. What the heck are they trying to hide in that building to justify the terrible windows. It is a shame that an art school presents such an abomination of a building in a historic district of Providence.