Slide Title
Preview
Date
11-1-1978
Description
Pictured on the left, the Equitable Building features a locally cast iron "Venetian" facade that is the best preserved of the few cast-iron facades in the city. The facade was cast by the Builders Iron Foundry. The design of the building incorporates the Victorian custom of splitting the street-level tenants in half - a shop on the ground-level and the principle business a floor up. At the right, is the Wilcox building. It's L-shaped floor plan wraps around the neighboring Equitable building, giving it facades on both Weybosset and Custom House Streets. It is one of the city's first commercial office buildings that was built in the the polychromatic High Victorian Gothic Style. In 1975 the interior of the building was destroyed by fire. The ensuing restoration helped restore community concern to downtown preservation.
Creator 2 Dates
1875
Creator 2 Role
Architect, Wilcox Building
Creator 3 Dates
1872
Creator 3 Role
Architect, Equitable Building
Building Type
Mall
Building Style
Renaissance Revival
Themes
City Beautiful
Subject Headings
Architecture, Victorian -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Historic buildings -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Downtown districts -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Facades
Country Name
United States
Region Name
Rhode Island
City Name
Providence
Street Address
42 Weybosset St
Recommended Citation
Smolski, Chester; Edwin; and Walker and Gould, "Equitable Building and Wilcox Building" (1978). Smolski Images. 1012.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/smolski_images/1012
Keywords
architecture, Victorian, downtown, street scene, architecture, architecture, renaissance revival, cast-iron facade, federal building, customhouse, commercial streets, downtown restoration
Notes
Bibliography: Jordy, William H, Ronald J. Onorato, and William M. K. Woodward. Buildings of Rhode Island. Oxford: New York, 2004, pp. 48-49.