About Our Advocacy
Providence Preservation Society was established in 1956 to protect and preserve College Hill’s unusual concentration of 18th– and 19th-century homes. These buildings were under threat in the face of Brown University’s postwar expansion and a city plan that slated a long stretch of historic Benefit Street for demolition. In the early years, PPS’s advocacy focused on College Hill, ranging from public programs, publications and a campaign that led to the establishment of the city’s first Local Historic District in College Hill in 1960.
Today, PPS is a city-wide organization that works across research, education, advocacy, and policy to document, preserve, and celebrate the city’s diverse heritage sites and ensure that communities are able to participate in planning and development decisions that impact their neighborhoods.
PPS advocates for:
- The protection and preservation of architectural and historic landmarks, cultural landscapes and neighborhoods
- Transparent, democratic and community-focused planning processes and outcomes
- Policies and frameworks that benefit the communities that care for and steward the city’s historic buildings and places
Our advocacy is informed by the architectural and social history of Providence’s beloved places, community-based perspectives and knowledge, and our determination of future impacts to place, community or the environment. If a site is at risk, we seek to understand stakeholder and community sentiment before acting unilaterally as we believe that the best advocacy efforts are created and carried out in collaboration with community partners. We also take the long view — our advocacy work includes current campaigns as well as policy development that is geared toward systemic change.
PPS’s advocacy initiatives include the annual Most Endangered Places List and active advocacy campaigns related to the Industrial Trust Building (Superman), Cranston Street Armory, Atlantic Mills, Providence Public Schools, and redevelopment in the North End. Our weekly newsletter, the Providence Post, publishes reported stories on developments across the city with a focus on sites and issues that are particularly relevant to our advocacy work.
