The Rhode Island Department of Health Building was one of five similar structures planned for a state-office complex outlined in a master plan published in 1967. This large and imposing marble-sheathed structure is typical of Edward Durrell Stone’s formal modernism: symmetrical, spare, monumental and vaguely classical. Stone was selected for the project no doubt because of similar governmental commissions elsewhere; regrettably, his reputation far outstripped the quality of his firm’s work throughout most of his career.

Bibliography:

Providence: A Citywide Survey, p. 169

–Providence’s Recent Past (2010), a PPS map by Ned Connors.

Last edited March 19, 2025, by Elisabeth Brown