Industrial Trust lit up again! – David Brussat

by David Brussat, Architecture Here and There, contributing writer

Photo, above: The Industrial Trust Bank Building lit up on August 7, 2023, David Brussat

I don’t know how long this has been going on behind my back, but it sure does make me happy. After visiting a friend this evening and driving home in the dusk down Route 95, heading south, I got off the exit to India Street and noticed that the Industrial Trust, long known (wrongly, if understandably) as the Superman Building, had had its glorious amber exterior lights turned on. Their glow had been extinguished since 2013, after Bank America, its tenant, absquatulated from the glorious Art Deco masterpiece, to a chorus of boos.

People debate whether the Industrial Trust or the Rhode Island State House is the most notable building in Providence. I side with the latter, but the Supe is a genuine marvel – though less so without its beautiful exterior lighting, which emphasizes its careful massing and the shoulders that give it strength.

I have frequently called for the lights to be turned back on. I can’t recall exactly what I recommended at the time, and any number of times over the years, but I think it had something to do with how the building’s owner, David Sweetser of High Rock Development, in Boston, should be taken to Kennedy Plaza to be drawn and quartered (joke!).

I hope someone will let me know when the lights were turned on. I have not been downtown at night for a few days at least, and I would like to know when the building owner’s stay of execution went into effect.

The Industrial Trust was completed in 1928 to the design of Walker & Gillette, a firm headquartered in New York City. The developer, High Rock, and the state of Rhode Island have entered a deal to turn the building into apartments, a great idea that will help the city in every way. Maybe the new lights are part of that project. Hurray!

___

To read other articles by David Brussat: https://rinewstoday.com/david-brussat-contributing-writer/

My freelance writing and editing on architecture and others addresses issues of design and culture locally and globally. I am a member of the board of the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, which bestowed an Arthur Ross Award on me in 2002. I work from Providence, R.I., where I live with my wife Victoria, my son Billy and our cat, Gato. If you would like to employ my writing and editing to improve your work, please email me at my consultancy, [email protected], or call (401) 351-0451.