Saved From the Wrecking Ball

In response to heated objections from preservationists, Brown Urban Environmental Lab (UEL) students, and residents concerned about traffic and lack of parking, Brown has decided to resubmit a revised plan for its proposed new performing arts center. The new plan will relocate the building along the Walk but one block north, between Angell and Olive Streets. By so doing, the project will not require the teardown of any historic houses, much to the delight of the Providence Preservation Society (PPS), which had listed the five houses on its annual “Most Endangered Properties” list in January.

With a smaller footprint than the original site, the new location is not above the bus tunnel and hence will allow the building to put much of its classroom and rehearsal space below ground, thereby significantly reducing the massing of the building. The building will also be designed to be more vertical than horizontal, though well within the height allowed by city regulations.

According to architect and campus designer Collette Creppell, the new building will be surrounded comfortably by other Brown buildings that will range from two to six stories. The building itself will still be designed by the award-winning architect Joshua Prince-Ramus from the New York City–based firm REX.

In addition to the new arts center, the revised plan calls for relocating the 1873 Sharpe House, home to Department of History faculty and staff, to a lot adjacent to the Peter Green House to create more of a residential edge on Brown Street.

In her letter to College Hill residents announcing two public meetings before the City Plan Commission meeting on March 20, Katie Silberman from Brown’s Office of Government and Community Relations explained that the new plan allows the school “to remain true to its most important requirement, a location with adjacency to other arts-centered academic facilities in the heart of the campus to allow access by undergraduate and faculty whose other academic activities are centered on College Hill.”

Both PPS and the College Hill Neighborhood Association had written strong letters in opposition to the original site selection. While encouraged by Brown’s decision to move the site, PPS executive director Brent Runyon, among the most outspoken opponents of the original plan, still has some concerns. “We commend Brown University for their responsiveness to most of the concerns of the neighborhood,” he says. “The newly proposed site will preserve in situ five historic places, including the remarkable UEL and its passionate environmental community. The primary determinant as to whether the new building will contribute to the character of the College Hill Historic District will be its design and how well it engages Angell Street and respects the adjacent Green and Sharpe houses.”