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I look forward to reading the PROJO article when it's available to non-subscribers. As for neighborhood gentrification anywhere, it is largely a function of the real estate market. Formerly undesirable neighborhoods become discovered as desirable (usually by virtue of their preserved architecture or convenient location).
More affluent homebuyers move in to replace less affluent homeowners & renters. Owner occupants of means replace rental slumlord "investors". All said, I don't discount a role racism may have played in the gentrification of Benefit Street & Fox Point.
Benefit Street was gentrified to save it. In the 1950s the houses were occupied by low income residents and the houses were so ill kept, the city was proposing to tear them all down. Fortunately, PPS was formed, and the houses were saved.
The Providence Preservation Society & its Revolving Fund have been responsible for the architectural preservation of entire neighborhoods all across the city. It has preserved the fabric of literally hundreds of historic houses & been largely responsible (along with residents) for the creation of the city's protected Local Historic Districts.
While I haven't always agreed with PPS (their opposition to Fane Tower), I can't imagine what the streetscape of Providence would look today without them. Thank you Antoinette Downing.
It would look more like Fall River. What was being proposed for Benefit was a line of multi story apartment complexes which would have blocked off Benefit St from its water access origins as one of the earliest settlements near the shipping port and the old market.
It would look more like Fall River. What was being proposed for Benefit was a line of multi story apartment complexes which would have blocked off Benefit St from its water access origins as one of the earliest settlements near the shipping port and the old market.
The protected Local Historic Districts have made a crucial difference in Providence. Old towns like Fall River, which largely have only National Register Districts, suffer by comparison. However, Fall River's historic Highland neighborhood has managed to survive fairly well preserved.
Yes, the Highlands have as a neighborhood and FR has made great strides in its waterfront access on that side of the freeway.
However, the point with any city's revival is not to cut it off from its waterfront if it has one. See Newport- much controversy for a long time with those waterfront condos.
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