The Westminster Arcade

by Janet Mansfield Soares

Overview

The stately Westminster Arcade was built in 1828, and this landmark building has been a part of Providence ever since. Now known as the Arcade Providence, it is the oldest surviving shopping mall in the United States, and it was recognized from the beginning as an innovative and beautiful structure. It has survived near-demolition, fires, hurricanes, consumer trends, city planners and commercial developers. Within its walls are fascinating stories of the people who made their livelihood between its double façades. Through archival records, interviews and personal accounts, author Janet Mansfield Soares reveals the challenges faced by its tenants from its beginnings as a competitor to Cheapside to its many transformations that mirror Providence's own volatile history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467145244
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/13/2020
Series:	Landmarks
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Janet Mansfield Soares, a native Rhode Islander, has always been interested in the relationship of buildings and the people within them. She holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary arts from Columbia University and is the author of Louis Horst: Musician in a Dancer's World (Duke University Press, 1994) and Martha Hill and the Making of American Dance (Wesleyan University Press, 2009). Throughout her career, she has published many articles on the creative and visual arts while serving on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Barnard College, Columbia University, from which she is now Professor Emerita.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Acknowledgements 11

Introduction 13

Chapter 1 Rogue Isle 19

Butler's Folly: The Westminster Arcade 22

The Arcade's First Shopkeepers 31

Trolleys and Vaudeville Shows: 1900 42

Three Owners in Succession: 1935-1945 52

Chapter 2 An Insider's View: 1946-1968 55

The Brydon W. Mansfield Arcade Watch Shop 55

A Family Business 59

Transitions 66

Chapter 3 Three Decades and Two New Owners 71

Modest Improvements: 1970s 71

The Gilbane Company to the Rescue: 1980s 75

Johnson & Wales: 1990s 83

Chapter 4 Granoff's Vision: The Arcade Providence 87

Inside and Out 87

Epilogue 99

Notes 107

Bibliography 113

Index 119

About the Author 125