PPS's Festival of Architecture & Design: City Hall and RISD Art Museum
About this Event
This program is part of Providence Preservation Society's Festival of Architecture and Design (Sep 26 - Oct 30, 2026). You can find !
Join DBVW Architects’ Senior Principal Martha Werenfels (FAIA, LEED, AP), and Associate Ben Lueck (AIA) for a tour of City Hall and hear about the $40 million phased project that is currently getting underway to restore City Hall’s dome and roof. The tour includes access to the spectacular space beneath the dome and to an adjacent flat roof where participants can view the historic copper, cast iron, and slate details that will be restored. City Hall (1874-1878), with its distinctive mansard roof, is a classic example of the Second Empire style, originating in France in the 1850s to 1870s. It is also one of Providence’s most prominent and distinctive buildings.
After the tour, we walk across Kennedy Plaza, cross the river, and spend about 45 minutes at RISD Museum with Maureen O’Brien, Curator of Painting and Sculpture, for a guided exploration of French impressionist paintings dating from the same era as City Hall to further understand the cultural crosscurrents that made French architecture, interiors and visual arts so popular in the United States during this period. O’Brien will introduce viewers to the artistic environment that flourished during that decade, focusing on the paintings of Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet in the Museum’s collection, and on the French capitol’s artistic resurrection after the events of the Franco-Prussian War.
All tickets are fully refundable up to seven days in advance of each program. After that, tickets are nonrefundable because we may not be able to sell the released tickets within a short timeframe. Thanks for your understanding!
Tickets: $45 General / $40 PPS Members
Ages 13 and up.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 44.52 to USD 49.87
