The first building of its type and style, Sydney R. Burleigh’s (1853-1931) charming Arts-and-Crafts Studios is a building unparalleled elsewhere in the country, as its National Historic Landmark status suggests. Inspired by medieval English buildings, which both the artist and his architect, Edmund R. Willson, knew well from first-hand experience, it originally housed studios for Burleigh, a painter of regional reputation, the nationally known Walter Stetson, and other members of the Providence Art Club. The building’s façade is a fine response to its program and tenets of the Arts-and-Crafts Movement, for it unifies sculpture, painting, and architecture, both literally and symbolically, in the allegorical figures at the top of the wall, and presents them publicly as an integral part of everyday life. Burleigh’s widow left the building to the Providence Art Club, which maintains it beautifully in original appearance, condition, and use.
– 2003 Guide to Providence Architecture
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