This one is right across from 31 Gilmore; a sad block on a sad street in a sad part of town. All non-boarded windows on the bottom floor (side not pictured) are shattered. I know the inside is trashed just by the way the back door is kicked in.
Nearby Houses:
None yet photographed. Please take a picture if you see one.
I could cry sometimes when I see some of these houses. They remind me of photographs I’ve seen of murder victims; beaten, bloody and violated. I often travel through Providence on GoogleMaps and try to imagine what these streets and houses might have looked like when they were newly built and full of life and promise.
My Father was born on Robinson St. in 1919 and his sister, on Bogman, in 1914. Back then, the South side was still poor and full of immigrants but was vibrant, upwardly mobile and relatively safe. Someday, this neighborhood – and Providence generally – may be reborn. The beauty of (many of) these houses and streets are still there to be appreciated; you just have to be willing to imagine it.
Thank you for this blog. Sometimes I think that I’m the only one who finds this kind of thing interesting. A past that I never personally knew pulls me back here and the ghosts in these streets and houses are waiting to be recognized and acknowledged.
You are not the only one. In part, this website was setup to find out who else might care. We’re looking for voices.
This is tool to display we have not forgotten the blight on our blocks.
From where are you visiting, treestump?
I believe whoever bought and renovated 31 Gilmore bought this as well- I walk this neighborhood daily and the construction guys always had their power cords running from this building to the other. This is a sad area, I live in the midst of it. 2 years ago it was not so bad, things seemed to be improving slowly.
Toad I think you’re right. I’ve seen a bit of activity there but was waiting to see any progress before confirming a “win.” Last week I just narrowly missed talked to a gentlemen whom I was guess might be the new owner. He pulled off in his truck just as I rounded the corner on foot.
We should watch this house.
It almost hurts to read some of these postings.
I, too, feel quite sad as I scroll through these pages. It seemed that Providence at one time showed such promise. Now it seems to have retracted backward. I often wonder if it will get worse.
When I moved here, I was amazed at places like the West End and the Armory where some of these huge old places were turned around. But it seemed like perhaps the ones that were renovated into $1500 per month rental showplaces and condos were the ones that stayed “stable” and the others, well…the others were in a much more precarious position.
I moved here with the goal of finding someplace that during this “renaissance” would eventually be the kind of walkable, liveable neighborhood with stores and coffee shops and happy neighbors that I guess everybody dreams about. But since I couldn’t afford one of the showplaces, I moved a little further out. I bought what I could afford. It isn’t getting any better here. It has stayed pretty much the same…not great, not terrible. But, as I’ll go into, somewhat strained.
Here, we have seen an interesting turn of events. People are looking for housing, it would seem, because some of these places are no longer available even as “affordable” and yet substandard housing. Families are doubling up, people are cranky, and though we aren’t yet blighted over here, things feel tense.
So sad. Some of these places have little yards, some neat details, large amounts of square footage, and were built before we discovered vinyl and multi-density fiberboard. Underneath the fire damage, the weedy driveways, the broken windows and the missing copper, as I look at the pictures I want to see the neighborhood.
It seems to be getting harder to do that.
It is sad, and makes you wonder what went wrong. A lot of years ago a friend of mine was a project manager for what was then the largest real estate comapany in the world (Olympia & York). I remember that in our discussions he mentioned that his company was looking into Providence. Their theory was that with the “de-regulation” of various businesses, such as banking and insurance, state borders were essentially disappearing. Geography, low prices, a harbor and proximity to New York and Boston made Providence an obvious choice for “home offices” and distribution centers. Somehow it didn’t work out, I suppose an unfriendly business climate and very high taxes didn’t help.
Since very little of the national economy is expanding, it may be a while before we get another shot.
An aside, at the time mentioned Olympia & York was doing a large project in Boston. The demand for bribes, “slow downs” with permits, and the various political shake downs known as “linkage” caused them to be amenable to a purchse offer from someone local. The new owner (Harold Brown) was indicted for “bribing” a City Councillor, although a close reading of the story coupled with a knowledge of Boston politics indicates the City Councillor was shaking down the owner. The political “weapon” used is a Boston law that allows the Building Department 90 days to approve a permit, this can be altered with a little “grease”. If they take longer than the 90 days, there is little you can do. After all, they are only trying to “make the city safe”. When you are carrying the debt service on $350,000,000, imagine the interest cost for every day of “slow down”. Not to mention the delay in “progress payments” some of which go to pay the interest. Anyway, that is what politics can do.
“(Reuters) – Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.”
Those lawmakers would be Representatives Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Anthony Weiner.
Although there is somewhat of a “here we go again” air to this, it is likely that lenders have severely tightened standards in reaction to the current turmoil, Actually thy are being asked to reduce standards to a level which is more restrictive than they were in the middle 90′s. Although it may seem otherwise, only a tiny portion of the sub-prime mortgages went bad, and even then 60% were in only 12 counties of the U.S.
Buy:Lipothin.SleepWell.Advair.Benicar.Lasix.Cozaar.Acomplia.Female Cialis.Zocor.Zetia.Amoxicillin.Buspar.Prozac.Nymphomax.Aricept.Seroquel.Female Pink Viagra.Ventolin.Lipitor.Wellbutrin SR….