,rrnNo 10-300

uNlFLDSrATLS DLI’,R:INIENTOFr liii INFERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

N1ATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM

FOR NPS USE ONLY

RECEIVED.

DATE ENTERED3..

fiNAMEHISTORIC Merchants Bank Bti 1dm p.

AND/OR COMMON

flLOCATIONSTREET& NUMBER

32 he s tIBia ste r Street . - FOR PUBLICATION

CITY. TOWN . CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Providence - VICINITY OF No. 2 - Re p. Edward P - BeardSTATE CODE . COUNTY CODE

Rhode Island 44 Providence 107

ficLAssInCATIoN

CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE. 2LOCCUPIED

IBUILDINGISI ?LPRIVATE .ICOMMERCIAL .PARK

BOTH .WORK IN PROGRESS EDUCATIONAL RESIDENCE

PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE .RELIGIOUS

OBJECT IN PROCESS RESTRICTED SCIENTIFIC

CONSIDERED 2.vrs: UNRESTRICTED

..MILITARY -

UOWNER OF PROPERTYNAME -

32 l5astininster Assoc:LatosSTREET & NUMBER

Westminster StreetCITY. TOWN STATE

.Provi den cc - VICINITY OF REodo is [and

flLOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTIONCOURTHOUSE. -

REGISTRYOF DEEDS.ETC. F roviden cc City HallSTREET & NUMBER

25 ICII-rance5treol:

CITY. TOWN - . STATE

Provider cc- Rhode is] and

fiREPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS -

TITLEInterface Providence

DATE19 / S LLOCAL

DEPOSITORY FOR -

SURVEYRECOROS Rhode is land I-u.s torical 1’resryljj Oil Commis si onCITY. TOWN STATE -

SEE INStRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NA TIONAL REGISTER FORMSTYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS

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Providence Ifliodc is 1 and

DESCRIPTION - . .

- CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE

..EXCELLENT _DETERIORATED - _UNALTERED ..XORIGINAL SITE

X_G000 _RUINS CALTERED _MOVED DATE________

FAIR _UNEXPOSED

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL IF KNOWN PHYSICAL APPEARANCE -

The Merchants Bank Building l8S5-1857, Morse and Hall, architects His a six-story brownstone I talianate commercial structure located onWestminster Street at the easternmost part of Providence’s downtownfinancial district - It occupies the western end of a trapezoidallot bounded north and west by Westminster Street, east by -DyerStreet, and south by Gerry Gangway. The eastern half of the block,now a small green space, was occupied hy the Federal-style Union BankBuilding 1816 until its demolition in 1971. Nearby structures aremassive twentieth-century office buildings, hut expansive Market Squareto the east and Hospital Trnst Plaza tC- the west make Merchants I3anka highly visible landmark.

The building reflects the irregular configuration of its site.Formal articulation of the wall surface in brownstone is confinedto the Westminster -Street façade. Because of the- hlique anglebetween the five-bay north and the four-bay west walls, they have been

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treated- -and may he viewed simultaneously--as a si:lgle splayed nine: -

bay fa5ade . The south and east walls, secondary i: importance to thebuilding’s design, are sheathed in brick without a regular fenestration - -

pattern. The east wall was rebuilt in 1971 following the demolitionof the Union- Bank, for -the two buildings shared a -:ommon wall.

The building’s exterior articulation derives from the massive - LRoman palazzo. The first story i.s treated as an arcaded basement,with an off-center entrance portal OIl the north wa 1.1; this doorwaycarries a large segmental pediment which breaks through the entablatureinto the articulation of the second story. A seco:id deorway in thesouthwest corner, now the main entrance to the hui [ding is framed by

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pilasters and its dentil cornice is less asseLtive . The piano nobileis de Lined by nine tall windows with alternating triangular and -

segmental pediments and balustrades with heavy, molded architraves;Centered over the four windows on the west wall, the words "MerchantsBank,’’ now removed, were carved in brownstone. The third throughsixth floors have smaller windows with simpler detailing: the floorsare separated by stringcourses, and the window surrounds are embellishedonly with crosseted corners. All windows are uniform in width, hut -

their height decreases slightly in each successive story above thepiano nobile, thereby countering the verticaL pull of the six storiesand reinforcing the massiveness of the building established by itssplayed façade. The heavy dentil and Inodlll ion cornice proj ects V--strongly from the wall surface, and further re:in forces the massIvenessof the building. The roof is flat.

While the exterior is virtually original , the interior has beenthoroughly remodeled. The most extensive renoyati on appears to haveoccurred in the early part of this cell tury, when the main entrance was

- See continuation shet 1 - - F

Form No. 10-aQUaflev 10-74

U NIIILD ST AlES !ILI’ARIMENI UI- II IN ININItIUR FOR NPS USE ONLYNATIONAL PARK SERvIcE

- RECEIVED

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM - DATE ENTERED

CONTINUATION SHEET I ITEM NUMBER 7 PAGE 2

moved to the southwest corner. The small entrance lobby has simple

plaster walls above marble wainscoting and marble floors. It leads

to an elevator and the staircase in the middle of the south side of

the building. Offices on the upper stories open off a central east-

west hall on each floor. fn general, the renovations have been

effected to maintain the building as a functional commercIal structure. -

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WI 802 405

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Vlorm No. 10-300oRev 10.74

JNIlId SIiINS INP, RIlENI UI: II II. INIER bRNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM

ITEM NUMBER 7 PAIJE

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CONTINUATION SHEET

FOR NPS USE ON LV

RECEIVED

DATE ENTERED -______________

2

fr..,-:

j

3

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15

ST

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-. Q SIGNIFICANCE

PERIOD - AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE-CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

_PREHISTORIC _ARCHEULUGV-PflEHISTORIC _COMMUNITV PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE RELIGION

_1400-1499 ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION _LAW _SCIENCE

_1500-1599 - _AGRICULTURE ._ECONOMICS LITERATURE - _SCULPTURE

_1600-1699 LARCHITECTURE EDUCATION MILITARY _SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN

_17001799 _ART _ENGINEERING _MUSIC THEATER

£18001899 £COMMERCE _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT PHILOS0PHr .,JrRANSPORTATION

_1900 _COMMUNICAT3ONS _INDUSTIRY P0LITICS/GOVERNMENT _OTHER ISPECIFY

- _INVENTION

SPECIFICDATES 1855- 1857 BUILDER/ARCHITECT Alpheus C. Morse Clifton

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Hail

The Merchants Bank Bu.i l-:ling, designed by the prominent Providencearchitects Alpheus C. Morse and Clifton A. Hall during their short-lived collaboration, was completed in 1857. The best-preserved of thetwo remaining brownstone façade buildings in down town Providence - - theother is Thomas Tefft’ s Bank -of North America Building in 1855 in theCustom House Historic District --it derives its signi ficance from itshigh architectural quality and, as the home of Merchants Bank from 1857

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until the corporation’s merger with the Providence National Bank in1920, from its key Position in the history of Providence’s financial,district.

While the shift in the 1850’s to a preference for Italian Renaissancestyle allowed for increased plasticity in the articulation of the façade,both buildings in the Italian manner and those preceding them builtin the Greek Revival style partook of the austerity o-f Roman Classicism,in which the unity of the building block was maintained. Perhapsnowhere else in Providence architecture is this better exempli Lied thanin the Merchants -Eank. Paced with the problems of an irregularlyshaped site, Morse and Hall made a virtue out of adversity, takingadvantage of the bend in Westminster Street to create the splayed nine-bay -façade which successfully counters the height of this tallestbuilding in Providence at the time of its construction.

Upon its completion, the building was enthusiastically reviewedin the Providence Daily Journal: -

This structure...is in every respect creditable to- its builders and an ornament to the city While -

the whole mechanical work is excellent, . . the designof the building both on the outside and inside, reflects the highest credit upon its archi tects , Messrs.Morse and Flail. The severe, accurate and refilled tasteof Mr. Aipheus C. Morse, and his thorough knowledge of hisart, are conspicuous throughoutJ

1-Henry-Russeli Hitchcock, Architecture: Nineteenth and TwentiethCenturies Baltimore: Penguin I ok7l957 p. 737

2"The Merchants Bank Building," Providence Daily Journal 24th March1857, p. 4. - - -

- See continuation sheet’ 3

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Fp.’4, No. 10-aeOn -

Iflev. th.74I

UNI’IEb S’I’,]bS bI]’,I-tINIENb’ UFIIIE NIERIUINATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM

FOR NPS USE ONLY

RECEIVED -

[PATE ENTERED

-

ITEM NUMBER 8

The article made especial notebuilding on such an irregular site andfor their ability to design ‘‘a buildingbeaut i ful and imposing in town" 3 on the

CONTINUATION SHEET 3 PAGE 2

of the difficulties of l:ocating apraised the architects furtherwhich is among the mosttrapezoidal site. -

Merchants Bank began business i.n 1818 ill the Bowen Estate to theeast of the Brick Market in Market Square, hut by 1824 had outgrownthese quarters. The bank purchased the lot to the west of the UnionBank on Westminster Street, and three years later moved to the groundfloor of the Union Bank Building. Plans to construct a hui iding -

-- adjacent to tile Union Bank did not come to fruition until the mid-1850’s, probably because of -financial troubles suffered by all RhodeIsland banks in the 1830’s.4

By the 1850’s, the area around the intersection of Westminsterand Weyhosset streets, known as Turk’s I-lead i nce the e ighteenthcentury, was emerging as a commercial and financial center forProvidence, spurred on by the growing ilrdustriaiization of the state.The Union Bank o-f 1816 appears to be the first financial institutionto locate -in -the area west of the Providence River. In 1843, the ---- -

Providence Washington Insurance Company built the Washington Buildingson Washington Row James C. Bucklin, architect; demolished 1916 , whichfurther defined the financial character of the area. Thomas Tefft’ sBank of North America was constructed on Weyhosset Street in 1855.ContempOrary with the construction of Merchants Bank between 1855and 1857, Ammi B. Young’s Custom House was erected on WeyhossetStreet. These buildings -formed a core that firmly established the f:.t -

Turk’s Head area as Providence’ s f:nancial district. The area wasknown as "Bank Street" by the early 1860’s when the Rhode Island1-lospital Trust Company located its offices across the street fromthe Merchant’s Bank. Their on gina] structure was replaced in 1919by their current Beaux-Arts structure York and Sawyer, architectsdisplacing the remain in g Wash ington Buildings , and the facili ties wereenlarged by the completion of a modern tower i.n 1973 .Joliii CarlWarnecke and Associates, architects . Other adjacent structures

b i d. - - -

4judith A. Gerling, "History of the Merchants Bank Building," , -

Providence, 1976, p. 2, Xerox.

- See continuation sheet 4 --

- - -- G’o 192 -155

C " - -‘-_ - fl - -‘_ ‘ - - ,

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Ftifm ? 10-3UOa -

Rev. 10-141 -

IJNI1IiI SIA1ILS II1’/RINII-:N-! OF! lIE INFERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE -

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET 4 ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 3

- built to house financial institutions include the Exchange Bank -

Building 1-15 Exchange Street, 1845, Tailman and Bucklin, architects;later addition at 59-63 Westminster Street, 1886, Stone, Carpenterand Willson, architects , the Industrial Bank Tower Exchange Plaza,1928, Walker and Gillette, architects , and the Old Stone BankTower 40 Westminster Street, 1972. Other financial institutionshave taken over existing buildings in the area: Ami ca Insurancelocated its home office in the Bannigan Building 10 WeyhossetStreet, 1896, Winslow and Bigelow, architects.

Merchants Bank prospered throughout the latterth century and into the twentieth century. itsknown Rhode Island commercial and indus tr

G. Taft, president of the hank from theinl9l2.

National Bank, the huifirst floor continuedwhen the present tenanThe upper stories conttenants at 32 WestminsRhode Island architectFrancis Greene, and Go -

While the building has been well cared for throughout its history,the present owners are aware of the building’s ai-chitectura] andhistorical value, and pldn to refurbish it by taking advantage ofthe Tax Reform Act of 1976. The high quality of its architecture,its importance to the development of Providence’s financial district,and its present role in preservation o-f downtown landmarks make theinclusion of Merchants Bank on the National Register wise at this time.

C

GPO 892 455

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- - - .e - -- - - - VC

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FOR NI’S USE ONLY

RECEIVED

DATE ENTERED

teenwe 1 1Royaldeath

Following

half of the nine-directors were

the 1920 merger of Merchants

ial leaders, including1860’s until his

Bank with the Providencelding was no longer used by its owner. Theto be used by banking institutions unti 1959,t, Automobile Association of America,- moved in.inue to be used as professional offices, andter have included the noted nineteenth-centuryWilliam R. Walker, U.S. Senator Theodore

vernor J. Howard McGrath.

Form Ni. 1O-300ani4. i9-74I

tJNIIEI SlAiliS IIiI’ARIMFNI IF FIlE INFERIOR FOR NI’S USE ONLYNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

RECEIVED

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES - -

INVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED -- -

CONTINUATION SHEET 5 ITEM NUMBER 9 PAGE 4

Grossman, Elizabeth G. "The Victorian Architecture of Downtown -

Providence, 1848- 1890’’, Unpublished Master of Arts Thesis,Brown University. 1973.

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.‘ -_-t_-- -

‘‘The Merchants ‘‘ Bank Bui ldi n g’’ Providence Daily Journal,24th March 1857 p. 4.

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flMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Architectural Development ofpgs. 124, 183, 247.

WGEOGRAPHICAL DATA - -

ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY less than oneUTM REFERENCES

Al 1 91 121 9,91 814 P I 4 6L3,219, 1,01 BI I I I I I IZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING

CIIIIIIIILJIII,I,II DII,tIlIItIIIII I -

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION -

See first paragraph of description, Section 7 -

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

-STATE CODE COUNTY CODE

- STATE - CODE COUNTY CODE

fljFORM.PREPARED BY - -

- NAME/TITLE I

Wiii. McKenzie Woodward -

ORGANIZATION DATE

Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission MardI 1977STREET & NUMBER . TELEPHONE

150 Benefit Street 407-277-2678CITY OR TOWN STATE

Providence Rhode Island

ESTATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATIONTHE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS:

NATIONAL_ STATEX LOCAL

As the designated State Hisloric Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 Public Law 89-665 Ihereby nominate this property for inclusion in the Natiooal.MgisIer and Certify that it has been evaluated according to thecriteria and procedures set forth by the National PrJ

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:C’STATE HISTORIC PRESERvATION OFFICER SIGNATURE

TITLE State Historic Preservation Officer DATE May 3, 1977

FORNPSUSEONLYI HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

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DATE-- DIRECTOR OFFICE OF ARCHEOLOGY- AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION - - -

ATTEST DATE- - - - -

-- - KEEPER OF:THE NATIONAL REGISTER - - - --

- --- -tb; - -:- -

:-- - -.

- -- - -

- - - - - GPO 89 2.453

Cady, John Hutchins. The Civic and- Providence: The Book Shop, 1957,

Gerling, Judith. A.Providence. 1976.

"Hitory of the Merchants Bank Building."Xerox

See continuation sheet S

I -

HERCANTS BANK BUILDINGPROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

Photographer: Warren Jagger

Date: March 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Historic PreservationCommission

Main facade of the building, north and westwalls, view toward the south

A

MERCHANTS BANK BUILDINGPROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

Photographer: Warren Jagger

Date: March 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Nistoric PreservationCommission

Southwest corner of the building

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