Slide Title
Preview

Date
1-1-1994
Description
The area that comprises Kennedy Plaza and Exchange Terrace has been so constantly reworked that hardly ten years passes without its appearance being significantly altered. First created as Exchange Place outside of the train station in 1848, the site’s present spatial arrangement dates to 1898. In the late 1970s funding became available to create auto-free urban zones, and so Kennedy Plaza (renamed in 1964 after the president) became “virtually a large al fresco bus station.” (Woodward, 98). Clarke and Howe’s granite and steel Beaux-Arts Federal Building (1904-1908) sits as “fitting pendant” at the opposite end of the mall from the City Hall (Jordy, 37). Construction required the relocation of railroad tracks and the bridging of the Providence River during much of the 1980s and 1990s revitalization efforts of Providence.
Building Type
Urban plaza
Themes
Urban Redevelopment
Subject Headings
Kennedy Plaza (Providence, RI); Urban parks -- Rhode Island -- Providence; Urban transportation - Rhode Island -- Providence; Burnside Park (Providence, RI); Federal Building -- Rhode Island -- Providence -- 1908
Country Name
United States
Region Name
Rhode Island
City Name
Providence
Street Address
Kennedy Plaza
Recommended Citation
"Kennedy Plaza, Burnside Park" (1994). Browse All. 50.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/smolski_images/50
Keywords
aerial, Kennedy Plaza, downtown, downtown, skyscrapers, financial district, buses, Burnside park, urban parks, plazas, Federal Building, Beaux-Arts
Notes
Bibliography: Jordy, William H. Buildings of Rhode Island. Oxford, 2004. Woodward, W.M. McKenzie. PPS/AlAri Guide to Providence Architecture. Providence Preservation Society, 2003. pp. 97-98.