Architecture Here and There

Illustrations: Above, the Royal Poincaina Playhouse, in Palm Beach. Below, the Rochambeau Branch with Ann Beha carbuncle; the Providence Savings Bank razed, except for one facade, to make way for a condo tower; the demolished police/fire headquarters

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Tomorrow, in Palm Beach, Fla., the town's Landmarks Preservation Commission meets to consider the matter of the Royal Poinciana Plaza and its elegant 1957 playhouse. A developer has hired Boston-based Ann Beha Architects to design a plan to revitalize the plaza, build condos and tear down the playhouse - all but a single facade, that is.

Does that bring anything to mind? How about the carbuncle slapped onto the face of our beloved friend, the Rochambeau Branch Library on Hope Street? The design of its addition in 2005 belies Ann Beha's reputation as a firm that works with sensitivity in historical contexts. It does indeed work in historical contexts - with the sensitivity of a hand grenade. Yikes!

Does tearing down a lovely building to make way for condos bring anything else to mind? How about the One Ten Westminster project in downtown, whose developer got permission to rip down a lovely old building as long as one facade was preserved and incorporated into the project. Well, the facade's still standing there, but the fabled condo tower is nowhere to be seen. Now the developer wants to remove the remaining facade so as to add several more parking spaces to his grand new vision. Give us a break! And give Palm Beach a break, too.

The boom hanging over the Royal Poinciana Playhouse also reminds us of the fate of our late lamented lovely old 1940 police/fire headquarters, too. Like the playhouse, the headquarters was allowed to sit unoccupied and unused for years until - lo and behold! - it was declared a "public hazard" just in time to be demolished to make way for a developer's scheme - which (surprise!) failed to materialize. Now Providence has another parking lot.

Some day there will be nothing left to do in downtown Providence but park your car and drool.

The bigger issue here, in Palm Beach as well as in Providence, are laws passed to protect the character of local places, and how developers ignore them. That's what seems to be happening in Palm Beach. And of course here in Providence, the work of the Downcity Design Review Commission has long been hobbled by its inability to appreciate the meaning of the words "protect historic character" that are written by law into its charter. Similar difficulties hobble the work of the Capital Center Commission.

When laws enacted to protect historic character are ignored, it's not only beauty that is lost, but democracy as well. Without democracy, the moneybags will have beauty on the run in no time flat, and eventually Providence and Palm Beach will lose their distinctive character before anyone recognizes what has happened. (Then where will be money come from, huh???)

See how all these issues intersect (if you can't already guess) in Thursday's column, which I will try to speed down to Palm Beach on a white horse as fast as possible, with this post leading the way.

 Tags  architecture John Volk Palm Beach preservation Providence RI Royal Poinciana Playhouse

Comments

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BrixMortar said:

The Rochambeau Branch Library annex--hideous as it is--was completed some four years ago, so why not give readers an up-to-date photograph? Even finished, it's still so ugly that it would be both sporting and more ethical to provide a current visual account of its banality.

Link | January 20, 2010 4:56 AM
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David Brussat said:

BrixMortar - I agree with you 100 percent, and I have found an new and updated picture, which was posted to Google this Jan. 5. At the time I wrote the blog, I searched the Journal photo archive and the only others I could find showed only the addition, or showed the building from the south, which didn't give a good idea of how ugly it was from the north. Google had the same pictures then.

You will note in my recent blog reprinting my column on how Providence muffed the decade that most of the uglies are shown in their best light. One reader posted a comment saying he thought at first that I was intending to boast about them, and he wondered that I used such attractive pictures of them.

While it's not always possible, I generally agree that it is unfair to post poor quality pictures of buildings I dislike.

Link | January 20, 2010 9:50 AM
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David Brussat said:

BrixMortar - I realize that I should have posted that picture, and that it actually was on Google before I made use of the outdated one (to send to an opponent of razing the playhouse). Don't know why I did not notice it then, but I am posting it with the blog now. Look again in a few minutes. And thank you for making me look again for a better shot.

Link | January 20, 2010 10:00 AM
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Link | February 8, 2010 1:08 AM
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