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Henry H. Kitson’s fine, life-sized statue of Providence Mayor Thomas A. Doyle (1827-1886) originally stood in front of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, at the western re-intersection of Westminster and Weybosset Streets. When urban renewal removed the intersection, this statue was moved here, practically an admission that the image of Providence’s most urbanistic nineteenth-century mayor would not be much seen in the new Cathedral Square. Doyle was much concerned with maintaining and improving the city’s infrastructure, including regularization of the city’s erratic street patterns, civic improvements (the new City Hall came about on his watch as mayor), and new and improved school buildings. That his statue was moved to what proved to be a more visible location as part of an otherwise misguided redevelopment project is curiously appropriate.

– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture

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© 2024 Guide to Providence Architecture. All rights reserved. Design by J. Hogue at Highchair designhaus, with development & support by Kay Belardinelli.