The Best and Worst of New Construction on the East Side–– Architecture Critic Morgan

The Best and Worst of New Construction on the East Side–– Architecture Critic Morgan

The proliferation of new residential construction on the East Side of Providence (and the dwindling number of available lots) forces us to ask why we have allowed the developer's quick-turnover aesthetic to negatively impact the quality of life in the city's premier residential neighborhood.

The low quality of design and construction of so many new houses is alarming. While some of the multi-family units in Fox Point look truly cheap, meeting the demands for homes in the always-desirable East Side usually requires considerable investment.

Yet, pots of money alone do not necessarily make for better design. Just take a look at the five spec houses built at the intersection of Rochambeau, Balton Road, and Cole Avenue. These homes each sold for more than a million dollars, yet they are basically uninspiring boxes tarted up with superficial visual embellishments.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Did the developer really think that a farmhouse, some suburban tract houses, and an example of Las Vegas multi-angled modern was going to be an improvement on the remarkable collection of attractive homes of various periods nearby? Paste-on brick, composite faux wood siding, and snap-in window mullions do not worthwhile houses make.

 

1 Balton Road is the most egregious of this quintet of tacky houses crowded onto land peeled off from a once handsome estate. The homeowners have only a few millimeters of grass to pathetically tie them to the land, a pitifully thin stone veneer, plastic dormers, faux slate roof, and fake paving stones.

Farther up Balton Road is an example of one of the most popular and satisfying domestic designs ever sold in America. After seventy years, this cozy Cape Cod by Boston architect Royal Barry Willis still maintains a modest dignity.

 

 

Compare that with the house on Cole Avenue that looks like an explosion of angles. What is the point of so many materials and a plethora of angles? Other than throwing money at a facade to impress your neighbors, is there an architectural or philosophical rationale behind such cacophony?

 

Another spec house on Phillips Street is more successful in its effort to sympathetically fit with the scale and details of its neighbors. Still, the house looks uncomfortably jammed into its lot, while twin gables, vertical and horizontal siding, and half a dozen different window treatments are squished onto the facade.

 

The pair of duplex town houses being built on the east side of Hope Street (between Overhill and Sixth Street) is more successful. The four dwellings continue the rhythm of other houses on the street. The cost cutting of most new houses is less apparent here: the porch roofs are standing metal seam (although the less visible main roofs have the usual composite shingles). The porches unify the double residences, while distracting details are kept somewhat in check.

 

A house on George Street demonstrates how new construction can express the spirit of the neighborhood and contribute to the quality of town life. The architect, J.P. Couture, has a well-earned reputation in preservation, renovation, and the design of handsome custom houses.

This dwelling is admittedly on a substantial lot, but the key points here are proportions and materials. The masonry foundation, the simple roof gables, and shingled sheathing bespeak quality, while the proportions suggest solidity and repose. Windows are not just punched in willy-nilly. Rather than screaming quick-turnover spec construction, this house looks comfortable and permanent.

The default setting for most of the new houses on the East Side is a tired colonial trope. While traditional styles may be popular in anywhere-and-everywhere U.S.A., the Creative Capital deserves something better. Architects, as well as students at Roger Williams and RISD, constantly address issues such as materials, siting, and contextualism. Let's challenge our best designers to come up with some well-designed, well-built domestic landmarks for tomorrow

 

 

William Morgan is the author of the Abrams Guide to American Houses and the Cape Cod Cottage