Chestnut Street Loft

Downtown | Residential Interior Commendation

This renovation by Jack Ryan achieved a compelling synthesis of old and new, celebrating the original materials, details and scale of this former jewelry manufacturing space while adding contemporary design elements, such as the walnut room dividers, that complement and update the space. The result is an elegant yet rugged loft that gives the historic structure breathing room and a new life.

The Studley

86 Weybosset Street, Downtown – Office to Residential Conversion Commendation
With a housing shortage and an office glut, projects like these are needed in Rhode Island – but they are difficult. With The Studley, Paolino Properties removed and reengineered two elevator shafts, rebuilt a rear stairwell, and replaced and modernized the 1894 building’s mechanical systems. The 65-unit apartment building contains studios and one-bedroom apartments, with 14 units that are deed-restricted as affordable housing.

Baba’s Original New York System

424 Smith Street, Smith Hill – Streetscape and Legacy Business Award

Baba’s is one of Providence’s most beloved legacy businesses, and its Smith Street sign and storefront have been a neighborhood landmark since the 1920s. When the Toprak family undertook the restoration of the Baba’s neon sign (Hot Weiners!), they were placemaking, showing that a relatively small project can have a major impact on the neighborhood and the City.

The Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul

30 Fenner Street, Downtown – Exterior Restoration Award

The Cathedral is one of Providence’s landmark buildings and a rare local example of the Romanesque and Gothic Revival styles. Completed in 1889, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and is made entirely of Portland Brownstone. This restoration project led by DBVW Architects went beyond the call, integrating in-depth materials research and an innovative documentation phase that used drones to laser scan the highest points of the building and an industrial ropes technician who rappelled down the building to document conditions. The four-year project models sensitive, rigorous and research-based restoration methods.

Farm Fresh RI State House Marble Project

10 Sims Avenue, Valley – Creative Salvage and Reuse Award

When Farm Fresh RI discovered huge hunks of marble six feet underground during the excavation that preceded the construction of their Sims Avenue building, they took an unconventional route, creating a unique salvage and reuse project that combined elements of public history, public art, preservation and landscape design. The property was the site of Norcross Brothers’ stone-cutting facility where Georgia marble was shipped, cut and planed on-site and used in the construction of the Rhode Island State House. Marble pieces were turned into benches and sculpture, acquired by institutions like the Providence Art Club and Rhode Island Historical Society, and auctioned off to raise funds for Farm Fresh, transforming construction scraps into art.

Restoring public buildings can be challenging when project budgets are tight and administrative staff have so many properties to manage. In this case, Providence Public Schools and StudioJAED led a heroic restoration of Hope High’s auditorium and cupola that was careful and sensitive, and maintained the historic authenticity of these beloved parts of the building while bringing them up to code. Hope High was listed on PPS’s Most Endangered Places list in 2001, 2002 and most recently in 2020. We are thrilled to celebrate this project and the project leaders now that the cupola is again a civic beacon in the City’s skyline.

Knead Doughnuts

900 Smith Street, Elmhurst – Community Revitalization Award

This masterful little project created a dynamic community landmark out of a mundane 1980s commercial building at the “flatiron” intersection of Smith Street and Wabun Avenue. Architect Jack Ryan removed the one-story building’s street-facing wall, uncovering the original 1949 sawtooth facade and using it to give shape to a lively new cafe patio. The resulting “third space” is a cheerful neighborhood draw that enlivens the streetscape on this busy urban stretch.

The Alexander Company and DBVW Architects’s renovation and adaptive reuse of this nearly 115,000 square-foot campus of nine brick buildings took years to complete due to the project’s complexity. The project utilized federal and state historic tax credits, which required all work to comply with the National Park Service’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. All of the buildings, which date to the late 19th century, had their masonry repointed and much of the original hardwood was saved. Paragon Mill was on PPS’s Most Endangered Places List in 2018 and is now home to over 100 sought-after residential and commercial units.

Seeing Providence Chinatown

56 Empire Street, Downtown – Community Heritage Award

Jeffrey Yoo Warren’s painstaking reconstruction of Providence’s Chinatown (1904-1914) combines archival research, 3D modeling and VR technology to bring back the look and feel of this once vibrant downtown community. What makes this project sing is Warren’s commitment to community collaboration, including with Chinatown descendants and Asian and Asian-American youth, who often participate in his Chinatown walks. This is an outstanding model of truly participatory, research-informed public history of a marginalized community whose stories have been erased.

The new home for Brown University’s LGBTQ+ Center combined the preservation and adaptive reuse of two historic residences with a new contemporary entrance, elevator addition and outdoor gathering space. Horizontal wood paneling was used to recall clapboard siding, while angular geometry provides a subtle nod to the buildings’ original decorative bay windows. KITE Architects preserved the warm, domestic feel of the older buildings, adding modern punctuation marks to create a place of celebration, connection and pride.

William Smith House

James Street, Fox Point – Single-Family Residential Interior Award

John Holden Greene can rest easy: the interior attic renovation of this stately James Street home, completed by architect Jack Ryan, is a respectful and beautiful update. Ryan modified the staircase, exposed the ceiling’s wood beams – showcasing the 200-year old structure of the house – refinished the pine flooring, and removed wood partitions to create a light-filled living space and bathroom.

Having already undertaken an extensive restoration of the 18th century cottage, Doug Still and Superintendent of Parks Wendy Nilsson turned their attention to the sycamore tree. With Still’s longtime friend Ron Henderson, founder of the landscape architecture firm LIRIO, as their collaborator, the Parks Department brought over master Japanese gardener Fujimoto Kurato to learn about indigenous Japanese techniques for tree conservation. The workshop was a 48 hour whirlwind. Before Master Fujimoto even arrived in the States, Still and his fellow Parks employees harvested wood from black locust trees elsewhere in Roger Williams Park — sometimes considered a weed — to use in the construction of the “hoozue,” or supports to go under the target branch.

Jamie Duggan is a preservationist and educator based in Montpelier, Vermont. He is currently the Director of Preservation for the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, primarily assigned to the State Historic Sites program. He is responsible for the maintenance and repair of significant state-owned historic properties, including 80+ buildings and structures and over 1,300 acres of land that recount the history of Vermont from the arrival of the Native Americans 9,000 years ago to the roaring 1920s of President Calvin Coolidge. His preservation management plans support enhancing energy efficiency and climate resiliency and prepare and protect our historic sites from potential threats, impacts, and emergencies.

Nicole Robertson, AIA, LEED AP, is a partner at the award-winning architecture firm GRO Architects with offices located in Manhattan, Shanghai and Jersey City. Her projects range in size, program, and complexity with a design portfolio that includes numerous ground-up multi-family and private residential buildings, the design for religious institutions such as the Montgomery Mosque for the Muslim Federation of New Jersey, and the adaptive reuse of historic structures such as the 125,000sf commercial project for Warren at Bay which will be completed in Fall 2024.

Alex Scott-Whitby is the founding director of Scott Whitby Studio an architecture and urban design practice based in Soho, London. The studio works on projects of varying scales and complexities with clients and community groups that seek to improve and enhance their existing (mostly historic) structures for generation to come. Recent projects includes the rejuvenation of the Jubilee Pool in Penzance, UK, The refurbishment of the Church House in London, and retrofitting of Westminster Chapel.

Zulmilena Then is a native Brooklynite preservationist who believes in historic preservation’s power as a social justice tool. To lift the predominantly Black and Brown East New York community, she established Preserving East New York (PENY) in 2015. Through PENY’s efforts, the community earned its fourth landmark in 2017 after a 36-year designation gap. Zulmilena’s career trajectory began at the firm Michael Ivanhoe McCaw Architects, where she honed her expertise in managing historic preservation projects focused mainly in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedstuy.