The annual list of Most Endangered Properties celebrates and draws attention to places of architectural, historical, and cultural significance vulnerable to loss and promotes good, sustainable preservation solutions that save sites and benefit the communities around them. When properties are lost, they are lost forever, like the Ward Baking Co. Administration Building (1901-1908; listed in January 2021 and demolished in February 2021), further eroding the built environment of this city and needlessly wasting embodied energy, materials, and craftsmanship. Further, when we lose structures, we risk losing evidence of living memory, like that of Providence’s historic Cape Verdean community (2022 listing). Preservationists now work to recognize and preserve the memory of places that do not survive or represent conventional architectural integrity.

Learn more about the history and challenges facing 2022’s class of MEPs here.

The 2022 Most Endangered Properties are:

Industrial Trust Building, aka Superman Building (1928)

Broad Street Synagogue, aka Temple Beth El (1910)

Providence Gas Company Purifier House (1899-1900)

Rhodes Street National Register Historic District (1855-1915)

Grace Church Cemetery (1834, 1843, c. 1860)

Cathedral of St. John (1810)

Tockwotton Fox Point Cape Verdean Community

Prince Hall Masonic Temple (1893)

Urban League of Rhode Island Building (c. 1970s)