Photographer/Creator

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Date

1-1-1974

Description

Despite being designed by world class architects and urban planners, namely I.M. Pei and Zion & Breen, the space has been universally decried as an utter failure. Intended to be a marvelous piazza, inspired by European models, the forecourt for Providence’s most monumental and important church, the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the square never fulfilled its objective. Where European open spaces rely on activity generators to function, Cathedral Square remains largely empty. Additionally, construction of Cathedral Square and Weybosset Hill further isolated the downtown neighborhood from the west side by truncating Westminster Street.

Notes

Bibliography: Woodward, W.M. McKenzie. PPS/AlAri Guide to Providence Architecture. Providence Preservation Society, 2003. pp. 292-293.

Rights

This object from the Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, housed by the Rhode Island College Special Collections, and any of its digital surrogates are the intellectual property of Rhode Island College. This digital object is protected by copyright and/or related rights. The digital material presented here is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This content can be used, shared, or adapted for educational and scholarly purposes. For permissions to use this item please contact digitalcommons@ric.edu. All uses must include appropriate attribution.

Creator 2 Dates

1969

Creator 2 Role

Architect

Creator 3 Dates

1969

Creator 3 Role

Architects

Recommended Citation

Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, MSS-0041, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.

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Keywords

Cathedral Square, Westminster St., squares, dead downtown, urban renewal, downtown revitalization, poor planning

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