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Every city in New England has a similar look. Those street views of Triple Deckers, if they were just pictures and not street views and I asked what city they were it, you couldn't just be like "Worcester" The majority of every city in New England's housing stock is Triple Deckers, some neighborhoods are kept up better than others in each city.
Those pictures could be Worcester, Waterbury, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, New Bedford, Fall River, Lowell, Lawrence, Sprinfield even Boston. Probably any city in New England except Stamford. Using street view is a terrible arguement.
As mentioned before, there are no scenic physical landscape features in Worcester. The irony of the so called CANAL DISTRICT and Water Street is that no canal or water are visible in any part of the neighborhood. It became so polluted and sewer like that they decked it over to hide the ugly sight and smell. Not even the hills of Worcester look very good as most are lined with ugly tenement houses.
While Worcester is old, it has very few remnants from before the industrial age of the mid 1800's. Just a few buildings built prior to 1800 exist in the city. Most of the built city came during and after the industrial revolution. Worcester has no great scenery or beautiful old architecture than can counter the ugly and bland look to much of it. You either have unsightly old brick mills, wooden tenements, or newer bland suburban utilitarian style buildings.
The best thing going for Worcester is that is still has some nice suburban type residential neighborhoods within its boundaries with good single family housing stock.
Maybe Worcester should consider daylighting that water so it might stank less and be more of an asset.
As somebody who grew up in Worcester I don't think I've every gone to Providence to do anything cultural. I've gone to visit friends and go out, but that's pretty much it. Boston sure
Might be a much more common trip if that Worcester to Providence via Woonsocket passenger rail service ever happens.
Which ones in particular? I guess the Concord and Brattleboro ones are the weakest examples, with both lacking balconies and only having one ground floor entrance.
that green woonsocket monstrosity for one, although the city does have many triple deckers.
the manchester one is on the fence. there are a lot of "classic" examples like the street i posted earlier that i think are better representative of the style. not "not" a 3 decker but not what comes to mind when i hear the term.
since we're talking about ugly cities ITT i've got to saw Lewiston damn near takes the cake in New England. looks straight up dystopian in parts not to mention the weather
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Originally Posted by The_General
Im not putting Worcester on the same tier as Providence but when you say Boston and Providence are culturally more important than Worcester, it sounds like you're putting Providence on the same level as Boston.
I don't see how you could take it like that, unless you're being defensive about something. Saying, for example, Milwaukee and Chicago have more cultural offering than South Bend doesn't equate to Milwaukee and Chicago are at the same level.
Ah my bad - misunderstood what you were saying. Yeah, that checks out. My street in Somerville has similar home styles and density to what you'll see in New Bedford or Fall River, but it's lined with big, leafy old trees and it makes a world of difference to the aesthetic.
Yeah, but....
New Bedford was wiped by Dutch Elm disease in the early 1960s. At the time, New Bedford economically was the worst it's ever been and nothing was replanted when thousands of trees died. If you look at old photos, the trees were there.
Really? I thought the St Johnsbury example was pretty solid. No balconies, but it checks the other stylistic boxes. Reminds me of these ones on Mission Hill in Boston:
since we're talking about ugly cities ITT i've got to saw Lewiston damn near takes the cake in New England. looks straight up dystopian in parts not to mention the weather
I took a virtual stroll down Lisbon Street on Google Maps this morning, and was honestly surprised by how not-awful a lot of it looked.
Gotcha. I'm not saying it's on the same level as Boston. But it does occupy a tier between Boston and Worcester. I think the similar city-limit populations (even though Worcester is nearly double the land area) often lead people unfamiliar with one or both to assume they're similar places. They're not and it's still not really close. I actually like Worcester and am happy to see it tracking positively. But there's a big gap between Worcester and Providence (and a bigger gap between Worcester and Boston) that isn't going away for some time.
I'll echo these sentiments. I was actually in Providence last Saturday for drinks and dinner. Didn't know it was also the last Waterfire of the season, so that was a nice positive. I've always felt that Providence has more of an artistic/creative edge than Boston. I think it has an edge on some of the night life fronts as well. The food scene isn't as robust, but it's different and more approachable for those of us who aren't loaded. There are a lot of unique events and activities in Providence (well beyond the well known Waterfire) that Boston has no equal to. There are shows (both national and local) that Boston doesn't get. And it's generally just less stuffy overall which is a nice change of pace from Boston. I still prefer Boston as a city and place to live, but Providence is really the only other New England metro I'd even consider at this point.
Its more affordable, more diverse, less traditional and lacking the solid and moneyed power structure of Irish machine politics and developers that Boston has. I know from personal experience many LGBTQ, Hispanic and black performers events come to Providence and skip Boston. Mostly because Boston venues wont book certain acts that Providence will.Boston doesnt need the risky or risque acts as the city is more image conscious and its police force also fears gang violence (rap concerts) more than Providence's.
PVDFest would probably never happen in Boston and a lot of the more underground rap and reggaeton act wouldnt be welcomed either. In this way Providence sort of reminds me of a bigger better Lowell or a more approachable, less intellectual Cambridge...or a safer New Haven.
Providence is very much the Oakland Baltimore or Tacoma to Boston being San Fran DC or Seattle
New Bedford was wiped by Dutch Elm disease in the early 1960s. At the time, New Bedford economically was the worst it's ever been and nothing was replanted when thousands of trees died. If you look at old photos, the trees were there.
mustve happened in fall river too, no?
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