2019 Calendar Row Exhibition Graphic Header

41.8219° N, 71.4171° W

April 1 - June 30, 2019

The 2019 Exhibition & Program Series, 41.8219° N, 71.4171° W, examines themes of permanence and impermanence, mutability and immutability, and creates intentional links between the two. Although the object of each study differs, both exhibition and program series read the evolution of the urban landscape and the imprints left by human activity.

As PPL undertakes a major renovation and reinvention for the 21st century, the 41.8219° N, 71.4171° W program series looks closely at our building’s continuities and changes over the past 120 years to see what it can tell us about the history and future of our city. Buildings, especially civic spaces, are dreamed up and designed with permanence in mind, and reflect the civic moment of their conception. Fifty or a hundred years later, what can we read in the architecture and siting of a building? How does it reflect its past as well as our present?

Moving beyond our building, the 41.8219° N, 71.4171° W exhibition focuses on the histories of vacant places and open space throughout the city of Providence, utilizing site-specific installations and a digital tour featuring maps, photographs, and information gleaned from PPL’s Special Collections. Our eyes often pass over vacant space, but this exhibition hones in on it, telling the stories of empty lots, parks, parking lots, crumbling foundations, and fields, and re-considering the landscape as a surface on which humans have built and erased repeatedly over the ages.

By starting with PPL’s building as a focal point and rippling outward, 41.8219° N, 71.4171° W explores how our environment illuminates the larger history of Providence and encourages our audience to spend the year looking at their surroundings in new ways.

View Full Exhibition at Rhode Tour
Download a Map of the Exhibition Locations

41.8219° N, 71.4171° W - Highlights from the exhibition Rhode Tour

After the buildings from William Grosvenor's estate were demolished, a developer built the Elmhurst Arboretum condominiums. The 98 units sold for between $49,900 and $62,900 and were in high demand. ~ Date: July 15, 1979
The Elmhurst Academy buildings sat vacant for several years after the school relocated. Author George Popkin mused in a Providence Journal article: "Here in Providence the deserted buildings look lonely and sad, as though they know their span is run. What of the future? House lots may be staked out, construction of homes begun and a new cycle of life born. Meanwhile, strange noises seem to stir at night. In the general stillness imagination becomes triumphant. And occasionally someone will insist that he hears still the sound of voices as he passes the place, waiting, not for decay--but for rebirth." ~ Date: Between 1925-1965
William Grosvenor's country retreat featured distinctive Gothic Revival architecture. This postcard shows the buildings after they were converted for use as a Catholic girls' school. ~ Date: 1907
A portion of the former Grosvenor Estate is now occupied by a senior living facility. Their tidy lawns abut a dense patch of trees along Smith Street. ~ Date: 2019
Jesse and Louisa Metcalf's house, with three stories, a wraparound porch, and numerous outbuildings, sat behind an elaborate wrought iron gate at 229 Woodward Road. ~ Date: c. 1940
The old drive to the Metcalf Estate is now a well-traversed footpath. Notice the distinctive earthworks on which the house once stood. ~ Date: 2019
This broad view of the Metcalfs' estate shows some of the numerous outbuildings, which included a barn, chauffeur's cottage, garage, playhouse, stable, and caretaker's house. The stone wall in the foreground remains, although it is no longer topped by formidable chicken wire. ~ Date: c. 1925-1949
The house at 43 Camp Street appears in the lower right corner of this map, inside a red circle added by the editor. (The house numbers are written along the street.) The name written across the house--B. Reiseroff--was the owner at the time of this map's creation in 1918. Beulah Boyd and her husband Raymond Jackson bought the house around 1934. ~ Date: 1918
The Lippitt Hill Redevelopment Project, an urban renewal program in the 1950s-1970s, tore down 650 dwelling units in the southern portion of the Mt. Hope neighborhood, displacing a huge number of mostly African-American residents. The resulting open space was used for the construction of the Olney Street Baptist Church, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, the University Heights Apartments, and the University Heights shopping center. The playground and field in this photo adjoin the MLK Elementary School and are located in the spot where Beulah Boyd's Beauty Parlor once stood. ~ Date: 2019
The pumping station at the Hope Reservoir, designed by architect Alfred E. Stone, was located near the corner of Brown and Olney Streets. ~ Date: Unknown -- Between 1875 and 1926
The Hope Reservoir had a capacity of 76 million gallons and covered 12.6 acres. It operated as part of a system of open distribution reservoirs, along with the Sockanosset Reservoir and the Fruit Hill Reservoir. ~ Date: 1875
The gated entrance to Dexter Asylum stood at 235 Hope Street. The eight-foot-high stone wall towers above the men standing in the drive. ~ Date: c. 1880-1920
The Dexter Asylum farm land stretched back from Hope Street to Arlington Avenue and over to Angell Street. The land was used to cultivate fruits and vegetables and to house livestock including pigs and dairy cows. The dome of the Central Congregational Church is also visible in this aerial photo. ~ Date: c. 1930-1939
Portions of the Dexter Asylum's impressive, eight-foot stone wall remain. This stretch along Angell Street towers above pedestrians. ~ Date: 2019
The Fuller Iron Works' brick machine shop still stands, at the corner of South Water Street and Pike Street. The attached glass and steel iron works was demolished in 2012. ~ Date: 1902
This photograph of the Fuller Iron Works complex was taken from near the intersection of Tockwotton Street and South Main Street. The dramatic expanses of windows provided excellent diffused light within the foundry and iron works. ~ Date: 1902
Frederic Fuller, owner of Fuller Iron Works, also owned a separate business located across the street that manufactured bells. Fuller placed these ads for his two businesses in the Providence City Directory, the historic equivalent of today's Yellow Pages. ~ Date: 1889
This detailed map of Melrose Park shows the location of the bleachers and grandstand, as well as the dressing room tucked at the corner of Longfellow Street and Melrose Street. ~ Date: 1918
Melrose Park was home to the Providence Grays, a minor league baseball team that was, at different points, part of the Eastern League and the International League. This photo was taken in the team's early days, when their home park was located on Messer Street in Providence's West End. ~ Date: 1879
While this particular circus parade wasn't headed to Melrose Park (it was taken before the park was built), it was quite possibly headed to the Providence Gray's first ballfield, located on Messer Street. Both fields hosted traveling circuses in the early summer, drawing huge crowds. ~ Date: c. 1890-1899

41.8219° N, 71.4171° W Exhibition Catalog

41.8219° N, 71.4171° W Exhibition Partners

Year of The City

John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage

Rhode Tour

The Rhode Island Historical Society

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities