I enjoyed reading “Filling the Gaps: New Housing Popping Up in Previously Vacant East Side Lots” by J. Hogue on June 11. A program that addresses the housing shortage in Providence is welcome.
My concern is not the initiative but the implementation. For the most part, the new structures are undistinguished and add nothing positive to the streetscape. Modern design can be attractive but most of these buildings have few if any redeeming features. We are in danger of jeopardizing what makes Providence so appealing to residents and visitors alike – it’s spectacular assortment of buildings from a span of nearly three centuries.
For decades, Providence was at the backwater of development. There was no incentive for investors to level city blocks and build huge new structures. And thankfully, the Providence Preservation Society was established to save priceless architecture.
Compare our downtown with that of many other cities where rapid building in the mid twentieth century destroyed neighborhoods and produced canyons of square towers of concrete and glass. We are fortunate indeed.
Private developers as well as the universities like Brown, Rhode Island School of Design and Providence College have a responsibility to be sensitive to the surrounding neighborhoods when they build. Too often this is not what I see. Square boxes covered with artificial siding and unadorned windows add nothing positive to neighborhoods.
Yes. We need housing. And we also require buildings that are attractive to behold. We do not need structures that destroy our “sense of place” that is our greatest asset.
– Fraser Lang, East Side
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