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A1 Preservation Future: A Forecast for the Field
Marisa Angell Brown, Ph.D. candidate, History of Art, Yale University
Richard Longstreth, Professor of Am. Civ. and Director of the Grad. Program in Historic Preservation, GWU
Lynne Bryan Phipps, LEED AP, Principal, Design One Consortium
Edward Sanderson, Executive Director, RIHPHC
Valerie Talmage, Executive Director, Preserve Rhode Island
Charlotte Taylor, Archaeologist, RIHPHC
Join our Keynote Speaker and panelists for a discussion of future trends. Chance of green rehab projects? Possibility of preserving post-war suburbs? Likelihood of rising ocean levels impacting coastal archaeological sites? Probability of open space disappearing? Representing different professions and different perspectives, we will envision what’s next for historic preservation in Rhode Island and beyond. See also C1.
CANCELED A2 Preservation Past: Why Rhode Island Preserves CANCELED
Mack Woodward, Architectural Historian, RIHPHC
Saving historic places in Rhode Island goes back more than two centuries and now is generally accepted as an important aspect of life in the state. Focusing less on what was preserved than on the individuals who did the preserving, this illustrated lecture will track the evolution of attitudes and motives. The lecture’s format will encourage audience participation and discussion: be prepared to share your own preservation stories.
A3 When Green Meant Green: Documenting and Resurrecting Our Landscape Heritage
Ron Henderson, ASLA, AIA, Founding Principal, L+A Landscape Architecture and Assoc. Prof., Tsinghua U.
Karst Hoogeboom, Commissioner, RIHPHC
Al Klyberg, Public historian and former RIHPHC Commissioner
Doug Still, City Forester, Providence Parks Department
This panel will consider our parks, open space, and greenery from their origins to contemporary efforts to understand, record, or restore them. Learn about the parks movement of the 1880s, the development of landscaped boulevards, and urban and regional planning efforts through the 1920s. Then using Elmwood Avenue as an example, consider streets as public landscapes and understand the challenges of restoring them as green spaces. Finally, discover how trees define space, history, and meaning in Roger Williams Park.
A4 Preservation Presents: Meet the Funders Workshop
Ronald Anzalone, Director of the Office of Preservation Initiatives, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Donald Christ, Chairman, Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust
Stanton Geary, President, 1772 Foundation
Owen Heleen, Senior Community Philanthropy Officer, Rhode Island Foundation
Sue Ellen Kroll, Program Officer, RI Council for the Humanities
Keith Lang, Executive Director, The Champlin Foundations
Brent Leggs, Program Assistant, National Trust for Historic Preservation –Northeast Office
Sarah Zurier, Special Projects Coordinator, RIHPHC
Meet representatives from organizations that fund educational programs, planning projects, and bricks-and-mortar work at historic buildings. Hear about their priorities, deadlines, and what makes a successful application. Panelists will be available immediately following for brief one-on-one conversations.
A5 Tales of Three Cities: Preservation by Community
Fred Love, Member, Pawtucket Historic District Commission
Lisa Milano, Downcity Program Manager, Providence Revolving Fund
Tina Regan, Member, Providence Historic District Commission and neighborhood resident
Pieter Roos, Executive Director, Newport Restoration Foundation
Historic preservation blossomed in Rhode Island on a community-by-community basis beginning in the 1950s. In 1957, Providence began its pioneering College Hill study; North Kingstown and South Kingstown were the first towns to adopt district zoning in 1959. Panelists will discuss how citizens, professionals, and visionaries embraced historic preservation to counter such threats as urban renewal, highway construction, and disinvestment in Newport, Pawtucket, and the West Side of Providence.
A6 The Future of the Past: Student Roundtable
RISD Students and Critic Markus Berger, Department of Interior Architecture
RWU Students and Asst. Dean Janet Zwolinski, School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation
SRU Students and Asst. Prof. Catherine Zipf, Department of Cultural and Historic Preservation
In this panel, students will explore their motivations for studying the field, where they hope to go after graduation, and what their current projects are. If you are interested in preservation and allied fields, join us to hear from the next generation of preservationists.
A7 Ethnic Heritage in Historic Places
Virginia Adams and Quinn Stuart, PAL
Kristen Costa, and Marjory O’Toole, Little Compton Historical Society
Stephanie Fortunato, Graduate Student, Public Humanities Program at Brown University
Mercedes Monteiro, Heritage Coordinator, RIHPHC
In 1997, the Museum of Work and Culture opened its doors to tell the story of Woonsocket’s French Canadian community. Revisit the MOWC, where the doors will open wider to include other ethnic experiences. Then check out other projects like “Terra Vida, Terra Nova – The Portuguese in Little Compton” and the investigation of Providence’s ethnic neighborhoods by students in Roger Williams University’s Historic Preservation program.
A8 Historic Preservation and Life Safety
Virginia Branch, AIA, Associate, Durkee Brown Viveiros & Werenfels Architects
Cornelis de Boer, AIA, Principal, Haynes/de Boer Associates
Virginia Hesse, Principal Historic Architect, RIHPHC
Christine Malecki West, AIA, LEED, Associate, William Kite Architects
Code officials to be announced
AIA/RI presents a roundtable discussion about bringing older structures into compliance with modern life safety standards while attempting to meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. We will hear architects’ and code officials’ experiences with Rhode Island’s six-year-old Rehab Code and the reasons for its creation. Looking at recent projects, we will review the inevitable negotiations between fire and building officials and designers.
A9 Three Cheers for Trinity Square WALKING TOUR
Joseph Newsome, Lead Community Development Consultant, Trinity Restoration, Inc.
Anna Shapiro, Director, Firehouse 13
Anne Tait, Artist-in-residence, Grace Church Cemetery and Asst. Prof. of Art, RWU
Historic Trinity Square marks the gateway to South Providence, Elmwood and West Elmwood. New investment, programming, and planning are reinvigorating individual properties and the area at large. This tour will visit three sites where artists and visionaries are using preservation incentives to create community spaces: Grace Church Cemetery, Trinity Church and Parish House, and Firehouse 13.
SOLD OUT A10 Parkis Avenue Revival WALKING TOUR SOLD OUT
Michael Lozano, Director of Real Estate Development, Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services
Carol Ventura, Director of Development, Rhode Island Housing
Stroll along Parkis Avenue, part of the Parkis-Comstock National Register District, to discover one of Southside Providence’s most historic and beautiful streets. Witness the ongoing rehab of grand historic homes that were built by merchants and manufacturers, underwent a long period of decline, and are being reborn as mixed-income, affordable rental and ownership housing. Walk and talk about the strategic partnerships, community participation, and complex financing that make neighborhood revitalization possible.
SOLD OUT A11 Around the Armory WALKING TOUR SOLD OUT
Kari Lang, Executive Director, West Broadway Neighborhood Association
Barry Preston, Principal, Armory Revival Company
Clark Schoettle, Executive Director, Providence Revolving Fund
Two monuments anchor Dexter Training Ground Park: a bronze statue of philanthropist Ebenezer Knight Dexter and the majestic Cranston Street Armory. The blocks surrounding the park are filled with historic schools, churches, commercial buildings, and residences, from modest workers’ cottages to substantial Queen Anne homes. Tour the historic district with representatives from three organizations that work with residents to champion the neighborhood through community activism, non-profit preservation investment, and private development.
SOLD OUT A12 Northwest Territory: Elmhurst and Mount Pleasant BUS TOUR SOLD OUT
Robert O. Jones, Architectural Historian, RIHPHC
Where would you find Rhode Island’s first National Register district of triple-deckers, the last surviving Italianate country villa of noted architect Thomas A. Tefft, a century-old Frederick Law Olmsted parkway, the last Colonial farm to operate within Providence’s city limits, and one of the “Five Distinguished Modern Buildings” of 1964? Elmhurst and Mount Pleasant, of course! Explore the area’s historic places with regard to both conventional and newly evolving perspectives on historical and architectural significance.
B1 Preserve the Past: Plan for the Future
Ronald Anzalone, Director of the Office of Preservation Initiatives, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Pamela Kennedy, Deputy Director, RIHPHC
Jared Rhodes, Chief of Statewide Planning (invited)
Clark Schoettle, Executive Director, Providence Revolving Fund
Review municipal programs—historic district zoning, tax credits, demo delay—to see if preservation goals are incorporated. Discover how RIHPHC and Statewide Planning advise communities, plan for statewide preservation targets, and will implement Land Use 2025’s cultural resources component. And learn about federal preservation initiatives, like Preserve America, that assist preservation efforts where you live.
B2 Preservation Modern: Our More Recent Past
Ned Connors, Preservation consultant
David Fixler, AIA, President, DOCOMOMO-US/New England
Robert O. Jones, Architectural Historian, RIHPHC
Sally Zimmerman, Preservation Specialist, Historic New England
Modern architecture is among the most threatened and least understood classes of historic resources in America today. In Rhode Island, good examples of Modern are few. As we approach 2010, when buildings erected before 1960 become eligible for the National Register, learn about regional initiatives to record and rescue recent architecture AND history for future generations, and their implications for Rhode Island.
B3 The times they are a-changin’: How the 1960s Changed the Preservation Landscape
Eric Hertfelder, Executive Director of Fort Adams Trust and RIHPHC alumnus
Al Klyberg, Public historian and former RIHPHC Commissioner
Ken Orenstein, Real Estate counselor and former director of the Providence Foundation
Dan Varin, State Planner (retired)
Elizabeth “Bonnie” Warren, Preservation consultant and RIHPHC alumna
The 1960s were bracketed by state legislation creating two enduring public institutions for preservation: local historic district commissions in 1959 and the RI Historical Preservation Commission in 1968. For the Commission’s 40th anniversary, this session will recall the forces at the local and national levels that led to the creation of the RIHPC, and the players who helped to bring it about.
B4 Old at Heart: Innovative Preservation Programs for Youth
Rob Goldman, President, Living History
Adeola Oredola, Executive Director, Youth in Action Rhode Island
Smithfield High School students and Tom Spadoni, Teacher
Al Vega, Program Manager, MYTOWN (Multicultural Youth Tour of What’s Now)
Kids today… are participating in and leading programs that empower them to interpret, restore, and steward historic places. Through MYTOWN, Boston teens are studying local history to create historical walking tours. SHS industrial arts students are restoring a historic house. MET School students from Providence are living the history of the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment. And YIA members raised funds, negotiated financing, met with officials, and worked with a project team to redevelop their headquarters at 672 Broad Street in Providence.
B5 Teaching Old Sites New Tricks
C. Morgan Grefe, Director, Goff Center for Education and Public Programs, Rhode Island Historical Society
Keith W. Stokes, Chairman, Touro Synagogue Foundation
John Tschirch, Director of Academic Programs, Preservation Society of Newport County
Across the nation, historic site staffs are re-imagining their historic houses, battlefields, mills, and houses of worship to deepen their context and broaden their appeal. Closer to home, John Brown House Museum, Touro Synagogue, and The Breakers are adapting new forms of inquiry and interpretation, as well as incorporating new (and tried-and-true) technology. Learn how new visual thinking strategies, broader socio-cultural history, audio-tours, and website applications can change visitor experiences at historic sites.
B6 Recent Preservation Investment Tax Credit Projects
J. Michael Abbott, AIA, Principal, Newport Collaborative Architects
Joe Garlick, Executive Director, NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley
Roberta Randall, Principal Historic Architect, RIHPHC
Scott Wolf, Executive Director, Grow Smart Rhode Island
Using state and federal preservation investment tax credits, developers and local non-profits are investing over $1.75 billion in Rhode Island’s historic buildings, saving landmarks while creating housing and revitalizing neighborhoods. View recent projects, hear about proposed changes to the Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit, and talk about the program’s future.
SOLD OUT B7 Insiders’ Broadway WALKING TOUR SOLD OUT
Kent Millard, Broadway resident
Tina Regan, Member, Providence Historic District Commission and neighborhood resident
First laid out in 1834, Broadway is the gateway to Providence’s Federal Hill and West End neighborhoods and one of the primary thoroughfares within the vast Broadway-Armory National Register District. In recent years, new owner-occupants have moved in, retail operations have set up shop, and street trees have been replanted. See the stately Victorian mansions, hear the rich history, and learn about the ongoing challenges as we promenade along Providence’s grandest street.
B8 Time Travel: Elmwood Avenue BUS TOUR
Rachel Newman Greene, Neighborhood Plan Coordinator, Elmwood Foundation
Ron Henderson, ASLA, AIA, Founding Principal, L+A Landscape Architecture and Assoc. Prof., Tsinghua U.
What was once a cartpath through an agricultural hinterland is now a four-lane state highway that passes through a densely urbanized neighborhood on its way to Interstate 95. This tour will explore Elmwood Avenue’s evolving landscape and changing housing stock. Picture Elmwood as a landscaped boulevard, crisscrossed with tracks for horsecars and trolleys and platted with suburban homes. Remember the influx of immigrants and new housing. Witness the transformation made by the automobile, from vast expanses of asphalt to the design of roadside architecture. And bracket the tour with glimpses of Elmwood’s rural landscape.
B9 Providence’s Greatest Hits—and Misses BUS TOUR*
Mack Woodward, Architectural Historian, RIHPHC
Providence has had many resoundingly successful preservation projects, several serving as national models. But the community has also lost important historic resources. This citywide tour will focus on stories of ever-changing attitudes
towards historic preservation. We will visit residential, commercial and industrial buildings as well as landscapes and open space. Potential sites include the Arcade, Bowen Street triple-deckers, PPAC, Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse…
and that’s just for starters.
B10 Second Shift: Providence Mills in 2008 BUS TOUR*
Richard Greenwood, Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation, RWU
Virginia Hesse, Principal Historic Architect, RIHPHC
A decade ago, a tour of Providence’s industrial architecture would have found many vacant and underused buildings. Since 2002, with the creation of Providence’s Industrial and Commercial Buildings District and the adoption of the state’s Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit, many industrial landmarks have become prime sites for redevelopment. This tour will explore the changing industrial landscape, from colonial water-powered mills to the rise and fall of the manufacturing city to present-day rehab projects for housing, commercial space, and the arts.
B11 West Side Wheels BICYCLE TOUR*
Lisa Aurecchia, Program Coordinator, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council
Bob Azar, AICP, Director of Current Planning, City of Providence
Betsy O’Neill, Graduate Student, Public Humanities Program at Brown University
Hop on a bike to explore the West Side, a hub for urban bike culture! Spin around the historic neighborhoods to see revitalization efforts and plans for transportation improvements. Ride along the banks of the Woonasquatucket to learn about environmental and recreational projects: fish ladders, dams, parks, and a bike path planned to run 5.7 miles from Providence to Johnston. Along the way, pass landmarks like Atlantic Mills and the Steel Yard — home to the Recycle-A-Bike workshop. Bring your own bike, lock, and helmet, and we will secure them until tour time. WEATHER PERMITTING
C1 Preservation Future: A Conversation
Robert Leaver, Owner and Founder, New Commons
Philip Cryan Marshall, Professor of Historic Preservation, RWU
This panel takes a broad perspective on the future of historic preservation. Themes include: connections between past, present, and future; the rise of urban living; economic and quality-of-life disparities; political, professional, and environmental changes; and system-based approaches to historic preservation. The audience will be invited to become “speakers” about trends and issues they will face in coming years and how they prepare to meet them. See also A1.
C2 The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of the Parking Lot
Trudy Coxe, CEO, The Preservation Society of Newport County
Joanna Doherty, Community Planner, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor
Jeffrey Emidy, Project Review, RIHPHC
Ginny Leslie, Member, Warwick Historic District Commission
Ron Onorato, RIHPHC Commissioner and Honors Professor of Art History, URI
Lombard Pozzi, Architect
Deming Sherman, Past President, Providence Preservation Society
Six panelists from different professions and different regions each present two preservation stories: a success where a landmark was saved and a missed opportunity… oh, fill in the blank. The rapid-fire format will draw out lessons learned, mistakes repeated, villains, heroes, and telling connections. Sites t.b.a. but may include Eagle Square, Ocean House, Royal Mill, Stone Villa, Leroy Theatre, etc. Add your examples to the list.
C3 Archaeology in Narragansett Country, 1982 - 2008
John Brown, Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and Narragansett Indian Tribal Medicineman-in-Training
Paul Robinson, Principal Archaeologist, RIHPHC
In 1982, an earth-mover struck a 17th-century Narragansett Indian cemetery. When efforts to preserve the site in-place were unsuccessful, a joint project to excavate and study the site was launched. Panelists will discuss how this particular project represented a turning point in the working relationship between the Narragansett Indian Tribe and the State. They will also review legislation and research that protects RI’s ancient villages and burial grounds.
C4 The Cranston Street Armory’s Next Century
Robert Brunelle, Associate Director of Capital Projects & Property Management, RI-DOA
Kari Lang, Executive Director, West Broadway Neighborhood Association
Rich Lucht, Project Manager—Special Services Group, Consigli Construction
Martha Werenfels, AIA, Principal, Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects
Built in 1907 to house the RI Militia, the mighty Cranston Street Armory has hosted events from dog shows to gubernatorial balls. Since 1998, the State of Rhode Island has been conducting a $3 million phased project to restore the exterior. Join this panel to learn what it takes to restore a 165,300-square foot castle, how neighborhood residents advocate for the building, and what the State is planning for the Armory’s next century.
C5 Saving the Providence Public Schools: Advocacy Case Study
Sara Emmenecker, Director of Preservation Services, Providence Preservation Society
David Finney, AIA, LEED, President, Design Partnership of Cambridge, Inc.
Vance Freymann, PPS Vice President and Director of Project Development, Consigli Construction
Bryan Principe, Coalition to Save West Broadway
Cliff Wood, Providence City Council – Ward 2
The Providence Public School Department adopted a Facilities Master Plan which calls for a massive overhaul of almost all of its properties. With numerous historic buildings threatened with demolition or closure, PPS is collaborating with neighborhood groups and concerned parents to minimize the losses. Glean from their experiences saving Nathan Bishop Middle School and battling over West Broadway Elementary School in order to prepare YOU for a preservation advocacy challenge.
C6 Community Preservation: Protecting Whole Landscapes
Sheila Brush, Director of Programs, Grow Smart Rhode Island
Valerie Talmage, Executive Director, Preserve Rhode Island
Two leading RI preservation organizations are launching new efforts to protect the historic character of our landscapes. PRI’s new Executive Director is building on her experience at the Trust for Public Land in working with new partners in Rhode Island. On its 10th anniversary, GSRI is directing its role as a convener towards the topic of agricultural preservation. The presentation will discuss collaborations between historic preservation and land conservation, with a focus on agricultural protection.
C7 Luongo Memorial Square WALKING TOUR
Thom D’Ovidio, Project Manager, Providence Revolving Fund
Jon Özbek, Manager, Crescent Partners, LLC
Roberta Randall, Principal Preservation Architect, RIHPHC
Wayne Trissler, Senior Construction Manager, Providence Revolving Fund
Just west of downtown, tucked between Broadway and Westminster Street, is a neighborhood of 19th-century houses, industrial buildings, small businesses, and cobblestone streets. Luongo Memorial Square is undergoing a quiet transformation, thanks to the investments of private developers, individual homeowners, and the Providence Revolving Fund. Stroll by residential restoration projects, learn about the Historic Homeowner Tax Credit, and preview the Revolving Fund’s new headquarters, former home of the RI Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
SOLD OUT C8 Peanuts, Pens, Planers, and Pins: West Elmwood WALKING TOUR SOLD OUT
Doug Brown, Principal, Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werefels Architects
Susanna Prull, Preservation Services Coordinator, Preserve Rhode Island
Mack Rance, President, West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation