KINGSTON – The National Park Service listed the central campus of the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus on its National Register of Historic Places. In his announcement, Jeffrey Emidy, acting director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission noted the school’s educational and architectural significance in the state.
“I will say that while many schools have buildings that share a common architectural vocabulary, few have maintained those common forms, styles and materials over time to the degree found on the URI campus,” said Paul Lusigan, a historian with the National Register of Historic Places, in a statement. “The architecture of the buildings was quite striking.”
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The historic district comprises 29 acres of the Kingston campus main quadrangle, including the Oliver Watson Farmhouse, a wood frame home built in 1796 that the school purchased in 1888.
Most buildings were built with quarry-faced granite ashlar – some sourced from former on-campus quarries – giving the campus a unified look.
Other listed buildings date from around the 1890s, such as the Victorian-style Taft Hall, College Hall and Lippitt Hall, to more recent additions like the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons, built in 1964.
This historical recognition comes at the close of URI’s 125th anniversary, which they celebrated throughout the year. “I am pleased to see our beautiful campus gain recognition and protection through this significant designation,” said URI President David M. Dooley in a statement.
Rhode Island is home to many schools with buildings on the National Register, including Brown University’s University Hall, which was listed in 1966, and the William M. Bailey House on Providence college’s campus, listed in 1973.
The federal government designation identifies sites worthy of preservation for their historical and architectural value. The University of Rhode Island first began in 1888, and was in 1894 designated as Rhode Island’s “land-grant” college, meaning it was given state funds to teach agriculture and engineering throughout the industrial revolution.
Kate Talerico is a PBN contributing writer.
