The Agenda

All of Downtown is in a protected National Historic District. Should buildings like the Fogarty be protected?
I am very much aware of the fact that all of Downtown is protected. One of the assets of Providence is that we have old buildings that have not been taken down, and we also have entire blocks of the city that are still intact, which is very, very important.
Having said that, we are at the point where the city is growing again, and building again, and there is this issue about which are the buildings that deserve protection and which do not necessarily deserve protection.

All of Downtown is in a protected National Historic District. Should buildings like the Police and Fire Building be protected?
My background is real estate development, which is what I have done for the past 25 years, so I am going to make a real big picture to start out. I grew up in Southern Rhode Island on a farm. I love the open space and I love where I grew up. I feel that all of the landscape variety that we have in this state, because we are so small, is very precious. One of the surest ways to preserve places like South County or any of our rural areas, is to make sure our cities are attractive. Putting this in context, part of what ensures the richness and diversity of our state is having healthy urban areas.

All of Downtown is in a protected National Historic District. Should buildings like the Fogarty be protected?
I am not so concerned about the replacement of buildings that do not give a sense of community, or address the street, or provide what I think is a positive direction for urban development. The Fogarty Building has a raised profile that separates it from traffic on the street level. If a new building could address the issues of scale, texture, and how it responds to the buildings around it, then I think it would be appropriate to get rid of.

After the November 13 meeting of the Design Review committee, The Agenda followed up with further questions to get a better understanding of the public comment. Friedrich St. Florian and Friedrich St. Florian, who issued public comment at the meeting, spoke with us about their perspectives. Karen Jessup provided her public letter, and Friedrich St. Florian offered his understanding as an architect in Providence.

The Fogarty Building was designed by Castellucci, Galli, & Planka, an architecture firm that has been in Rhode Island for 54 years. The building’s first floor stands almost six feet above street level, and truly, it does look like a structure made out of elbows.